The one-loop tadpole in the geoSMEFT

Making use of the geometric formulation of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory we calculate the one-loop tadpole diagrams to all orders in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory power counting. This work represents the first calculation of a one-loop amplitude beyond leading order in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory, and discusses the potential to extend this methodology to perform similar calculations of observables in the near future.

Can we make sense out of "Tensor Field Theory"?

We continue the constructive program about tensor field theory through the next natural model, namely the rank five tensor theory with quartic melonic interactions and propagator inverse of the Laplacian on \mathbf{U(1)^5}𝐔(1)5. We make a first step towards its construction by establishing its power counting, identifying the divergent graphs and performing a careful study of (a slight modification of) its RG flow. Thus we give strong evidence that this just renormalizable tensor field theory is non perturbatively asymptotically free.

The Principles of Renormalisation

Loop diagrams often yield ultraviolet divergent integrals. We introduce the concept of one-particle irreducible diagrams and develop the power counting argument which makes possible the classification of quantum field theories into non-renormalisable, renormalisable and super-renormalisable. We describe some regularisation schemes with particular emphasis on dimensional regularisation. The renormalisation programme is described at one loop order for φ‎4 and QED. We argue, without presenting the detailed proof, that the programme can be extended to any finite order in the perturbation expansion for every renormalisable (or super-renormalisable) quantum field theory. We derive the equation of the renormalisation group and explain how it can be used in order to study the asymptotic behaviour of Green functions. This makes it possible to introduce the concept of asymptotic freedom.

A large-N expansion for minimum bias

Despite being the overwhelming majority of events produced in hadron or heavy ion collisions, minimum bias events do not enjoy a robust first-principles theoretical description as their dynamics are dominated by low-energy quantum chromodynamics. In this paper, we present a novel expansion scheme of the cross section for minimum bias events that exploits an ergodic hypothesis for particles in the events and events in an ensemble of data. We identify power counting rules and symmetries of minimum bias from which the form of the squared matrix element can be expanded in symmetric polynomials of the phase space coordinates. This expansion is entirely defined in terms of observable quantities, in contrast to models of heavy ion collisions that rely on unmeasurable quantities like the number of nucleons participating in the collision, or tunes of parton shower parameters to describe the underlying event in proton collisions. The expansion parameter that we identify from our power counting is the number of detected particles N and as N → ∞ the variance of the squared matrix element about its mean, constant value on phase space vanishes. With this expansion, we show that the transverse momentum distribution of particles takes a universal form that only depends on a single parameter, has a fractional dispersion relation, and agrees with data in its realm of validity. We show that the constraint of positivity of the squared matrix element requires that all azimuthal correlations vanish in the N → ∞ limit at fixed center-of-mass energy, as observed in data. The approach we follow allows for a unified treatment of small and large system collective behavior, being equally applicable to describe, e.g., elliptic flow in PbPb collisions and the “ridge” in pp collisions. We also briefly comment on power counting and symmetries for minimum bias events in other collider environments and show that a possible ridge in e+e− collisions is highly suppressed as a consequence of its symmetries.

Extended DBI and its generalizations from graded soft theorems

We analyze a theory known as extended DBI, which interpolates between DBI and the U(N) × U(N)/U(N) non-linear sigma model and represents a nontrivial example of theories with mixed power counting. We discuss symmetries of the action and their geometrical origin; the special case of SU(2) extended DBI theory is treated in great detail. The revealed symmetries lead to a new type of graded soft theorem that allows us to prove on-shell constructibility of the tree-level S-matrix. It turns out that the on-shell constructibility of the full extended DBI remains valid, even if its DBI sub-theory is modified in such a way to preserve its own on-shell constructibility. We thus propose a slight generalization of the DBI sub-theory, which we call 2-scale DBI theory. Gluing it back to the rest of the extended DBI theory gives a new set of on-shell reconstructible theories — the 2-scale extended DBI theory and its descendants. The uniqueness of the parent theory is confirmed by the bottom-up approach that uses on-shell amplitude methods exclusively.

The axion-baryon coupling in SU(3) heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory

In the past, the axion-nucleon coupling has been calculated in the framework of SU(2) heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory up to third order in the chiral power counting. Here, we extend these earlier studies to the case of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory with SU(3) flavor symmetry and derive the axion coupling to the full SU(3) baryon octet, showing that the axion also significantly couples to hyperons. As studies on dense nuclear matter suggest the possible existence of hyperons in stellar objects such as neutron stars, our results should have phenomenological implications related to the so-called axion window.

What is Leading Order for LFV in SMEFT?

Upcoming searches for lepton flavour change (LFV) aim to probe New Physics (NP) scales up to ΛNP ∼ 104 TeV, implying that they will be sensitive to NP at lower scales that is suppressed by loops or small couplings. We suppose that the NP responsable for LFV is beyond the reach of the LHC and can be parametrised in Effective Field Theory, introduce a small power-counting parameter λ (à la Cabibbo-Wolfenstein), and assess whether the existing dimension six operator basis and one-loop RGEs provide a good approximation for LFV. We find that μ ↔ e observables can be sensitive to a few dozen dimension eight operators, and to some effects of two-loop anomalous dimensions, for ΛNP ≲ 20 − 100 TeV. We also explore the effect of some simplifying assumptions in the one-loop RGEs, such as neglecting flavour-changing effects.

Multi-spin soft bootstrap and scalar-vector Galileon

We use the amplitude soft bootstrap method to explore the space of effective field theories (EFT) of massless vectors and scalars. It is known that demanding vanishing soft limits fixes uniquely a special class of EFTs: non-linear sigma model, scalar Galileon and Born-Infeld theories. Based on the amplitudes analysis, we conjecture no-go theorems for higher-derivative vector theories and theories with coupled vectors and scalars. We then allow for more general soft theorems where the non-trivial part of the soft limit of the (n+1)-pt amplitude is equal to a linear combination of n-pt amplitudes. We derive the form of these soft theorems for general power-counting and spins of particles and use it as an input into the soft bootstrap method in the case of Galileon power-counting and coupled scalar-vector theories. We show that this unifies the description of existing Galileon theories and leads us to the discovery of a new exceptional theory: Special scalar-vector Galileon.

Renormalizability of Alternative Theories of Gravity: Differences between Power Counting and Entropy Argument

It is well known that General Relativity cannot be considered under the standard of a perturbatively renormalizable quantum field theory, but asymptotic safety is taken into account as a possibility for the formulation of gravity as a non-perturbative renormalizable theory. Recently, the entropy argument has however stepped into the discussion claiming for a “no-go” to the asymptotic safety argument. In this paper, we present simple counter-examples, considering alternative theories of gravity, to the entropy argument as further indications, among others, on the possible flows in the assumptions on which the latter is based. We considered different theories, namely curvature-based extensions of General Relativity as f(R), f(G), extensions of teleparallel gravity as f(T), and Horava–Lifshitz gravity, working out the explicit spherically symmetric solutions in order to make a comparison between power counting and the entropy argument. Even in these cases, inconsistencies were found.