Maxim Pospelov

Hunting for topological dark matter with atomic clocks

A proposal for detecting dark matter originating from light fields rather than particles makes use of existing networks of atomic clocks to measure time discrepancies between clocks that are spatially separated.

Electric dipole moments as probes of new physics

We review several aspects of flavour-diagonal CP-violation, focussing on the role played by the electric dipole moments (EDMs) of leptons, nucleons, atoms, and molecules, which constitute the source of several stringent constraints on new CP-violating physics. We dwell specifically on the calculational aspects of applying the hadronic EDM constraints, reviewing in detail the application of QCD sum-rules to the calculation of nucleon EDMs and CP-odd pion–nucleon couplings. We also consider the current status of EDMs in the Standard Model, and on the ensuing constraints on the underlying sources of CP-violation in physics beyond the Standard Model, focussing on weak-scale supersymmetry.

Secluded WIMP dark matter

We consider a generic mechanism via which thermal relic WIMP dark matter may be decoupled from the Standard Model, namely through a combination of WIMP annihilation to metastable mediators with subsequent delayed decay to Standard Model states. We illustrate this with explicit examples of WIMPs connected to the Standard Model by metastable bosons or fermions. In all models, provided the WIMP mass is greater than that of the mediator, it can be secluded from the Standard Model with an extremely small elastic scattering cross-section on nuclei and rate for direct collider production. In contrast, indirect signatures from WIMP annihilation are consistent with a weak scale cross-section and provide potentially observable γ-ray signals. We also point out that γ-ray constraints and flavor physics impose severe restrictions on MeV-scale variants of secluded models, and identify limited classes that pass all the observational constraints.

Secluded U(1) below the weak scale

A secluded U(1) sector with weak admixture to photons, O(10{sup -2}-10{sup -3}), and the scale of the breaking below 1 GeV represents a natural yet poorly constrained extension of the standard model. We analyze g-2 of muons and electrons together with other precision QED data, as well as radiative decays of strange particles to constrain the mass-mixing angle (m{sub V}-{kappa}) parameter space. We point out that m{sub V}{approx_equal}214 MeV and {kappa}{sup 2}>3x10{sup -5} can be consistent with the hypothesis of the HyperCP Collaboration, which seeks to explain the anomalous energy distribution of muon pairs in the {sigma}{sup +}{yields}p{mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} process by a resonance, without direct contradiction to the existing data on radiative kaon decays. The same parameters lead to an O(fewx10{sup -9}) upward correction to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, possibly relaxing some tension between the experimental value and theoretical determinations of g-2. The ultrafine energy resolution scan of the e{sup +}e{sup -}{yields}{mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} cross section and dedicated analysis of lepton spectra from K{sup +}{yields}{pi}{sup +}e{sup +}e{sup -} decays should be able to provide a conclusive test of this hypothesis and improve the constraints on the model.

Astrophysical Signatures of Secluded Dark Matter

Abstract We analyze the indirect astrophysical signatures of secluded models of WIMP dark matter, characterized by a weak-scale rate for annihilation into light MeV-scale mediators which are metastable to decay into Standard Model states. Such scenarios allow a significant enhancement of the annihilation cross section in the galactic halo relative to its value at freeze-out, particularly when the mediator is light enough for this process to proceed through radiative capture to a metastable ‘WIMP-onium’ bound state. For MeV-scale vector mediators charged under a hidden U ( 1 ) ′ gauge group, the enhanced annihilation rate leads predominantly to a sizable excess positron flux, even in the absence of astrophysical boost factors.

Ultraviolet modifications of dispersion relations in effective field theory

The existence of a fundamental ultraviolet scale, such as the Planck scale, may lead to modifications of the dispersion relations for particles at high energies in some scenarios of quantum gravity. We apply effective field theory to this problem and identify dimension-5 operators that do not mix with dimensions 3 and 4 and lead to cubic modifications of dispersion relations for scalars, fermions, and vector particles. Further we show that, for electrons, photons and light quarks, clock comparison experiments bound these operators at 10(-5)/M(Pl).

A facility to search for hidden particles at the CERN SPS: the SHiP physics case.

This paper describes the physics case for a new fixed target facility at CERN SPS. The SHiP (search for hidden particles) experiment is intended to hunt for new physics in the largely unexplored domain of very weakly interacting particles with masses below the Fermi scale, inaccessible to the LHC experiments, and to study tau neutrino physics. The same proton beam setup can be used later to look for decays of tau-leptons with lepton flavour number non-conservation, [Formula: see text] and to search for weakly-interacting sub-GeV dark matter candidates. We discuss the evidence for physics beyond the standard model and describe interactions between new particles and four different portals-scalars, vectors, fermions or axion-like particles. We discuss motivations for different models, manifesting themselves via these interactions, and how they can be probed with the SHiP experiment and present several case studies. The prospects to search for relatively light SUSY and composite particles at SHiP are also discussed. We demonstrate that the SHiP experiment has a unique potential to discover new physics and can directly probe a number of solutions of beyond the standard model puzzles, such as neutrino masses, baryon asymmetry of the Universe, dark matter, and inflation.

Particle physics catalysis of thermal big bang nucleosynthesis.

We point out that the existence of metastable, tau>10(3) s, negatively charged electroweak-scale particles (X-) alters the predictions for lithium and other primordial elemental abundances for A>4 via the formation of bound states with nuclei during big bang nucleosynthesis. In particular, we show that the bound states of X- with helium, formed at temperatures of about T=10(8) K, lead to the catalytic enhancement of 6Li production, which is 8 orders of magnitude more efficient than the standard channel. In particle physics models where subsequent decay of X- does not lead to large nonthermal big bang nucleosynthesis effects, this directly translates to the level of sensitivity to the number density of long-lived X- particles (tau>10(5) s) relative to entropy of nX-/s less, approximately <3x10(-17), which is one of the most stringent probes of electroweak scale remnants known to date.

Environmental dependence of masses and coupling constants

We construct a class of scalar field models coupled to matter that lead to the dependence of masses and coupling constants on the ambient matter density. Such models predict a deviation of couplings measured on the Earth from values determined in low-density astrophysical environments, but do not necessarily require the evolution of coupling constants with the redshift in the recent cosmological past. Additional laboratory and astrophysical tests of {delta}{alpha} and {delta}(m{sub p}/m{sub e}) as functions of the ambient matter density are warranted.

Lorentz Violation in Supersymmetric Field Theories

We construct supersymmetric Lorentz violating operators for matter and gauge fields. We show that in the supersymmetric standard model the lowest possible dimension for such operators is five, and therefore they are suppressed by at least one power of an ultraviolet energy scale, providing a possible explanation for the smallness of Lorentz violation and its stability against radiative corrections. Supersymmetric Lorentz noninvariant operators do not lead to modifications of dispersion relations at high energies thereby escaping constraints from astrophysical searches for Lorentz violation.