174 research outputs found
Names from Greek Myth in Fundamental Physics
Greek mythology supplies fundamental physics with the names of numerous
(100+) experiments, machines, codes, and phenomena. I present the central
narrative of Greek mythos via these names. Hyperlinks are provided for their
physics counterparts, and the names are collected in myth- and physics-themed
indices.Comment: 12 pages + bibliography + 2 indices; suggestions for more entries
welcome; v2 update: 15 new names + note on unused names & other mythologie
Supernovae and superbursts by dark matter clumps
Cosmologies in which dark matter clumps strongly on small scales are
unfavorable to terrestrial detectors that are as yet unexposed to the clumps. I
show that sub-hectometer clumps could trigger thermonuclear runaways by
scattering on nuclei in white dwarf cores (carbon and oxygen) and neutron star
oceans (carbon), setting off Type Ia-like supernovae and x-ray superbursts
respectively. I consider two scenarios: ``dark clusters" that are essentially
microhalos, and ``long-range dark nuggets", essentially macroscopic composites,
with long-range Yukawa baryonic interactions that source the energy for
igniting explosions. I constrain dark clusters weighing between the Planck mass
and asteroid masses, and long-range dark nuggets over a wider mass range
spanning forty orders of magnitude. These limits greatly complement searches I
had co-proposed in 2109.04582 for scattering interactions of dark clumps in
neutron stars, cosmic rays, and pre-historic minerals.Comment: 8 pages revtex4 + references, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Neutron stars at the dark matter direct detection frontier
Neutron stars capture dark matter efficiently. The kinetic energy transferred
during capture heats old neutron stars in the local galactic halo to
temperatures detectable by upcoming infrared telescopes. We derive the
sensitivity of this probe in the framework of effective operators. For dark
matter heavier than a GeV, we find that neutron star heating can set limits on
the effective operator cutoff that are orders of magnitude stronger than
possible from terrestrial direct detection experiments in the case of
spin-dependent and velocity-suppressed scattering.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Pre-Supernova Neutrinos in Large Dark Matter Direct Detection Experiments
The next Galactic core-collapse supernova (SN) is a highly anticipated
observational target for neutrino telescopes. However, even prior to collapse,
massive dying stars shine copiously in "pre-supernova" (pre-SN) neutrinos,
which can potentially act as efficient SN warning alarms and provide novel
information about the very last stages of stellar evolution. We explore the
sensitivity to pre-SN neutrinos of large scale direct dark matter detection
experiments, which, unlike dedicated neutrino telescopes, take full advantage
of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering. We find that argon-based detectors
with target masses of tonnes (i.e. comparable in size to the
proposed ARGO experiment) operating at sub-keV thresholds can detect
pre-SN neutrinos coming from a source at a characteristic
distance of 200 pc, such as Betelgeuse ( Orionis). Large-scale
xenon-based experiments with similarly low thresholds could also be sensitive
to pre-SN neutrinos. For a Betelgeuse-type source, large scale dark matter
experiments could provide a SN warning siren 10 hours prior to the
explosion. We also comment on the complementarity of large scale direct dark
matter detection experiments and neutrino telescopes in the understanding of
core-collapse SN.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables; v3: extended discussion on
backgrounds, minor improvements, matches published versio
Revisiting Theories with Enhanced Higgs Couplings to Weak Gauge Bosons
Based on recent LHC Higgs analyses and in anticipation of future results we
revisit theories where Higgs bosons can couple to weak gauge bosons with
enhanced strength relative to the Standard Model value. Specifically, we look
at the Georgi-Machacek model and its generalizations where higher "spin"
representations of SU(2)_L break electroweak symmetry while maintaining
custodial SU(2). In these theories, there is not only a Higgs-like boson but
partner Higgs scalars transforming under representations of custodial SU(2),
leading to a rich phenomenology. These theories serve as a consistent
theoretical and experimental framework to explain enhanced couplings to gauge
bosons, including fermiophobic Higgses. We focus on the phenomenology of a
neutral scalar partner to the Higgs, which is determined once the Higgs
couplings are specified. Depending on the parameter space, this partner could
have i) enhanced fermion and gauge boson couplings and should be searched for
at high mass (> 600 GeV), ii) have suppressed couplings and could be searched
for at lower masses, where the Standard Model Higgs has already been ruled out,
and iii) have fermiophilic couplings, where it can be searched for in heavy
Higgs and top resonance searches. In the first two regions, the partner also
has substantial decay rates into a pair of Higgs bosons. We touch briefly on
the more model-dependent effects of the nontrivial SU(2)_C multiplets, which
have exotic signals, such as a doubly-charged Higgs. We also discuss how the
loop induced effects of these scalars tend to reduce the Higgs decay rate to
photons, adding an additional uncertainty when extracting the couplings for the
Higgs boson.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, revtex4; v2, references adde
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