Jeff Asaf Dror

Dark forces coupled to nonconserved currents

New light vectors with dimension-4 couplings to Standard Model states have (energy / vector mass)^2 enhanced production rates unless the current they couple to is conserved. These processes allow us to derive new constraints on the couplings of such vectors, that are significantly stronger than the previous literature for a wide variety of models. Examples include vectors with axial couplings to quarks and vectors coupled to currents (such as baryon number) that are only broken by the chiral anomaly. Our new limits arise from a range of processes, including rare Z decays and flavor changing meson decays, and rule out a number of phenomenologically-motivated proposals.

New constraints on light vectors coupled to anomalous currents

We derive new constraints on light vectors coupled to standard model (SM) fermions, when the corresponding SM current is broken by the chiral anomaly. The cancellation of the anomaly by heavy fermions results, in the low-energy theory, in Wess-Zumino-type interactions between the new vector and the SM gauge bosons. These interactions are determined by the requirement that the heavy sector preserves the SM gauge groups and lead to (energy/vector mass)^{2} enhanced rates for processes involving the longitudinal mode of the new vector. Taking the example of a vector coupled to a vector coupled to SM baryon number, Z decays and flavor-changing neutral current meson decays via the new vector can occur with (weak scale/vector mass)^{2} enhanced rates. These processes place significantly stronger coupling bounds than others considered in the literature, over a wide range of vector masses.

Codecaying Dark Matter

We propose a new mechanism for thermal dark matter freeze-out, called codecaying dark matter. Multicomponent dark sectors with degenerate particles and out-of-equilibrium decays can codecay to obtain the observed relic density. The dark matter density is exponentially depleted through the decay of nearly degenerate particles rather than from Boltzmann suppression. The relic abundance is set by the dark matter annihilation cross section, which is predicted to be boosted, and the decay rate of the dark sector particles. The mechanism is viable in a broad range of dark matter parameter space, with a robust prediction of an enhanced indirect detection signal. Finally, we present a simple model that realizes codecaying dark matter.

Strong tW scattering at the LHC

A bstractDeviations of the top electroweak couplings from their Standard Model values imply that certain amplitudes for the scattering of third generation fermions and longitudinally polarized vector bosons or Higgses diverge quadratically with momenta. This high-energy growth is a genuine signal of models where the top quark is strongly coupled to the sector responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. We propose to profit from the high energies accessible at the LHC to enhance the sensitivity to non-standard top-Z couplings, which are currently very weakly constrained. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach, we perform a detailed analysis of tW → tW scattering, which can be probed at the LHC via pp→tt¯Wj

Mixed Stops and the ATLAS on-Z Excess

pp\to t\overline{t}W\;j

Probing a slepton Higgs on all frontiers

. By recasting a CMS analysis at 8 TeV, we derive the strongest direct bounds to date on the Ztt couplings. We also design a dedicated search at 13 TeV that exploits the distinctive features of the tt¯Wj

Concentrated dark matter: Enhanced small-scale structure from codecaying dark matter

t\overline{t}W\;j