MIT Center for Theoretical Physics — a Leinweber Institute Publications

Dark matter (DM) could be a relic of freeze-in through a light mediator, where the DM is produced by extremely feeble, IR-dominated processes in the thermal Standard Model plasma. In the simplest viable models with the DM mass below the MeV scale, the DM has a small effective electric charge and is born with a nonthermal phase-space distribution. This DM candidate would cause observable departures from standard cosmological evolution. In this work, we combine data from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), Lyman-\(\alpha\) forest, quasar lensing, stellar streams, and Milky Way satellite abundances to set a lower limit on freeze-in DM masses up to \(\sim 20\,\)keV, with the exact constraint depending on whether the DM thermalizes in its own sector. We perform forecasts for the CMB-S4 experiment, the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, and the Vera Rubin Observatory, finding that freeze-in DM masses up to \(\sim 80\,\)keV can be explored. These cosmological probes are highly complementary with proposed direct-detection efforts to search for this DM candidate.

We fully explore the thermal freezeout histories of a vector-portal dark matter model, in the region of parameter space in which the ratio of masses of the dark photon \(A^{\prime}\) and dark matter \(\chi\) is in the range \(1 \lesssim m_{A^{\prime}}/m_{\chi} \lesssim 2\). In this region \(2 \rightarrow 2\) and \(3 \rightarrow 2\) annihilation processes within the dark sector, as well as processes that transfer energy between the dark sector and the Standard Model, play important roles in controlling the thermal freezeout of the dark matter. We carefully track the temperatures of all species, relaxing the assumption of previous studies that the dark and Standard Model sectors remain in thermal equilibrium throughout dark matter freezeout. Our calculations reveal a rich set of novel pathways which lead to the observed relic density of dark matter, and we develop a simple analytic understanding of these different regimes. The viable parameter space in our model provides a target for future experiments searching for light (MeV-GeV) dark matter, and includes regions where the dark matter self-interaction cross section is large enough to affect the small-scale structure of galaxies.

The relationship between the matrix element of a local operator and the Fourier transform of the associated form factor fails for systems such as the nucleon where its intrinsic size is of order its Compton wavelength. Although one can conceive of an intrinsic charge density distribution in the proton, there does not seem to be an unambiguous way to define, compute, or measure it precisely.

The understanding of heavy ion collisions and its quark-gluon plasma formation requires a complicated interplay of rich physics in a wealth of experimental data. In this work we compare for identified particles the transverse momentum dependence of both the yields and the anisotropic flow coefficients for both PbPb and \(p\)Pb collisions. We do this in a global model fit including a free streaming prehydrodynamic phase with variable velocity \(v_\text{fs}\), thereby widening the scope of initial conditions. During the hydrodynamic phase we vary three second order transport coefficients. The free streaming velocity has a preference slightly below the speed of light. In this extended model the bulk viscosity is small and even consistent with zero.

We numerically analyze the complexity of unitary time-evolution and precursor operators in one- and two-qubit systems using the framework of Nielsen complexity geometry. We find that, as expected, the complexities of unitary time evolution operators grow linearly with time, at least initially, for both the one- and two-qubit cases. The precursor operators display switchback-effect-like behavior provided we choose our cost factors so that the resulting complexity geometry is negatively curved.

We introduce a model for heavy ion collisions named Trajectum, which includes an expanded initial stage with a variable free streaming velocity \(v_{\rm fs}\) and a hydrodynamic stage with three varying second order transport coefficients. We describe how to obtain a Gaussian Emulator for this 20-parameter model and show results for key observables. This emulator can be used to obtain Bayesian posterior estimates on the parameters, which we test by an elaborate closure test as well as a convergence study. Lastly, we employ the optimal values of the parameters found in [1] to perform a detailed comparison to experimental data from PbPb and \(p\)Pb collisions. This includes both observables that have been used to obtain these values as well as wider transverse momentum ranges and new observables such as correlations of event-plane angles.

We present a technique for translating a black-box machine-learned classifier operating on a high-dimensional input space into a small set of human-interpretable observables that can be combined to make the same classification decisions. We iteratively select these observables from a large space of high-level discriminants by finding those with the highest decision similarity relative to the black box, quantified via a metric we introduce that evaluates the relative ordering of pairs of inputs. Successive iterations focus only on the subset of input pairs that are misordered by the current set of observables. This method enables simplification of the machine-learning strategy, interpretation of the results in terms of well-understood physical concepts, validation of the physical model, and the potential for new insights into the nature of the problem itself. As a demonstration, we apply our approach to the benchmark task of jet classification in collider physics, where a convolutional neural network acting on calorimeter jet images outperforms a set of six well-known jet substructure observables. Our method maps the convolutional neural network into a set of observables called energy flow polynomials, and it closes the performance gap by identifying a class of observables with an interesting physical interpretation that has been previously overlooked in the jet substructure literature.

Guided by the naturalness criterion for an exponentially small cosmological constant, we present a string theory motivated 4-dimensional \(\mathcal{N}=1\) non-linear supergravity model (or its linear version with a nilpotent superfield) with spontaneous supersymmetry breaking. The model encompasses the minimal supersymmetric standard model, the racetrack K\”ahler uplift, and the KKLT anti-\(\rm D3\)-branes, and use the nilpotent superfield to project out the undesirable interaction terms as well as the unwanted degrees of freedom to end up with the standard model (not the supersymmetric version) of strong and electroweak interactions.

We study the multifield dynamics of axion models nonminimally coupled to gravity. As usual, we consider a canonical \(U(1)\) symmetry-breaking model in which the axion is the phase of a complex scalar field. If the complex scalar field has a nonminimal coupling to gravity, then the (oft-forgotten) radial component can drive a phase of inflation prior to an inflationary phase driven by the axion field. In this setup, the mass of the axion field is dependent on the radial field because of the nonminimal coupling, and the axion remains extremely light during the phase of radial inflation. As the radial field approaches the minimum of its potential, there is a transition to natural inflation in the angular direction. In the language of multifield inflation, this system exhibits ultra-light isocurvature perturbations, which are converted to adiabatic perturbations at a fast turn, namely the onset of axion inflation. For models wherein the CMB pivot scale exited the horizon during radial inflation, this acts to suppresses the tensor-to-scalar ratio \(r\), without generating CMB non-Gaussianity or observable isocurvature perturbations. Finally, we note that the interaction strength between axion and gauge fields is suppressed during the radial phase relative to its value during the axion inflation phase by several orders of magnitude. This decouples the constraints on the inflationary production of gauge fields (e.g., from primordial black holes) from the constraints on their production during (p)reheating.

We present a framework to simulate the dynamics of hard probes such as heavy quarks or jets in a hot, strongly-coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) on a quantum computer. Hard probes in the QGP can be treated as open quantum systems governed in the Markovian limit by the Lindblad equation. However, due to large computational costs, most current phenomenological calculations of hard probes evolving in the QGP use semiclassical approximations of the quantum evolution. Quantum computation can mitigate these costs, and offers the potential for a fully quantum treatment with exponential speedup over classical techniques. We report a simplified demonstration of our framework on IBM Q quantum devices, and apply the Random Identity Insertion Method (RIIM) to account for CNOT depolarization noise, in addition to measurement error mitigation. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of simulating open quantum systems on current and near-term quantum devices, which is of broad relevance to applications in nuclear physics, quantum information, and other fields.

We explore how to improve the hybrid model description of the particles originating from the wake that a jet produced in a heavy ion collision leaves in the droplet of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) through which it propagates, using linearized hydrodynamics on a background Bjorken flow. Jet energy and momentum loss described by the hybrid model become currents sourcing linearized hydrodynamics. By solving the linearized hydrodynamic equations numerically, we investigate the development of the wake in the dynamically evolving droplet of QGP, study the effect of viscosity, scrutinize energy-momentum conservation, and check the validity of the linear approximation. We find that linearized hydrodynamics works better in the viscous case because diffusive modes damp the energy-momentum perturbation produced by the jet. We calculate the distribution of particles produced from the jet wake by using the Cooper-Frye prescription and find that both the transverse momentum spectrum and the distribution of particles in azimuthal angle are similar in shape in linearized hydrodynamics and in the hybrid model. Their normalizations are different because the momentum-rapidity distribution in the linearized hydrodynamics analysis is more spread out, due to sound modes. Since the Bjorken flow has no transverse expansion, we explore the effect of transverse flow by using local boosts to add it into the Cooper-Frye formula. After including the effects of transverse flow in this way, the transverse momentum spectrum becomes harder: more particles with transverse momenta bigger than \(2\) GeV are produced than in the hybrid model. Although we defer implementing this analysis in a jet Monte Carlo, as would be needed to make quantitative comparisons to data, we gain a qualitative sense of how the jet wake may modify jet observables by computing proxies for two example observables: the lost energy recovered in a cone of varying open angle, and the fragmentation function. We find that linearized hydrodynamics with transverse flow effects added improves the description of the jet wake in the hybrid model in just the way that comparison to data indicates is needed. Our study illuminates a path to improving the description of the wake in the hybrid model, highlighting the need to take into account the effects of both transverse flow and the broadening of the energy-momentum perturbation in spacetime rapidity on particle production.

We present exoplanets as new targets to discover Dark Matter (DM). Throughout the Milky Way, DM can scatter, become captured, deposit annihilation energy, and increase the heat flow within exoplanets. We estimate upcoming infrared telescope sensitivity to this scenario, finding actionable discovery or exclusion searches. We find that DM with masses above about an MeV can be probed with exoplanets, with DM-proton and DM-electron scattering cross sections down to about \(10^{-37}\)cm\(^2\), stronger than existing limits by up to six orders of magnitude. Supporting evidence of a DM origin can be identified through DM-induced exoplanet heating correlated with Galactic position, and hence DM density. This provides new motivation to measure the temperature of the billions of brown dwarfs, rogue planets, and gas giants peppered throughout our Galaxy.

I develop an Effective Field Theory (EFT) framework to compute jet substructure observables for heavy ion collision experiments. I consider dijet events that accompany the formation of a weakly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma(QGP) medium in a heavy ion collision and look at the simultaneous measurement of jet mass along with the transverse momentum imbalance between the jets accounting for both vacuum and medium evolution. The jets are groomed using a suitable grooming algorithm in order to mitigate effects of soft contamination from Multi-parton interactions as well as the QGP medium. This has the great advantage that we do not have to keep track of the evolution of the QGP medium into subsequent soft hadrons since these are groomed away from the final jet. Treating the energetic jet as an open quantum system interacting with a QGP bath, I write down a factorization formula within the SCET(Soft Collinear Effective Theory) framework, in which the forward scattering regime accounts for the interaction of the medium with the jet. This leads me to a Lindblad type master equation for the evolution of the reduced density matrix of the jet in the Markovian approximation. The resulting solution allows a resummation of large logarithms that arise due to the final state measurements imposed while simultaneously summing over multiple interactions of the jet with the medium. I find that the the decoherence between the hard interaction that creates the jet and the subsequent medium interactions leads to \(\ physical\) Infra-Red(IR) collinear divergences that are otherwise absent in pure vacuum evolution. I show that these IR divergences are completely regulated by the medium induced gluon mass and highlight the need to develop a multi-scale EFT approach in the future to resum the new logarithms that arise from these divergences.

The interactions between two octet baryons are studied at low energies using lattice QCD (LQCD) with larger-than-physical quark masses corresponding to a pion mass of \(m_{\pi}\sim 450\) MeV and a kaon mass of \(m_{K}\sim 596\) MeV. The two-baryon systems that are analyzed range from strangeness \(S=0\) to \(S=-4\) and include the spin-singlet and triplet \(NN\), \(\Sigma N\) (\(I=3/2\)), and \(\Xi\Xi\) states, the spin-singlet \(\Sigma\Sigma\) (\(I=2\)) and \(\Xi\Sigma\) (\(I=3/2\)) states, and the spin-triplet \(\Xi N\) (\(I=0\)) state. The \(s\)-wave scattering phase shifts, low-energy scattering parameters, and binding energies when applicable, are extracted using L\”uscher’s formalism. While the results are consistent with most of the systems being bound at this pion mass, the interactions in the spin-triplet \(\Sigma N\) and \(\Xi\Xi\) channels are found to be repulsive and do not support bound states. Using results from previous studies at a larger pion mass, an extrapolation of the binding energies to the physical point is performed and is compared with experimental values and phenomenological predictions. The low-energy coefficients in pionless EFT relevant for two-baryon interactions, including those responsible for \(SU(3)\) flavor-symmetry breaking, are constrained. The \(SU(3)\) symmetry is observed to hold approximately at the chosen values of the quark masses, as well as the \(SU(6)\) spin-flavor symmetry, predicted at large \(N_c\). A remnant of an accidental \(SU(16)\) symmetry found previously at a larger pion mass is further observed. The \(SU(6)\)-symmetric EFT constrained by these LQCD calculations is used to make predictions for two-baryon systems for which the low-energy scattering parameters could not be determined with LQCD directly in this study, and to constrain the coefficients of all leading \(SU(3)\) flavor-symmetric interactions, demonstrating the predictive power of two-baryon EFTs matched to LQCD.

In this paper we study the chaos exponent, the exponential growth rate of the out-of-time-ordered four point functions, in a two coupled SYK models which exhibits a first order phase transition between the high temperature black hole phase and the low temperature gapped phase interpreted as a traversable wormhole. We see that as the temperature decreases the chaos exponent exhibits a discontinuous fall-off from the value of order the universal bound \(2\pi/\beta\) at the critical temperature of the phase transition, which is consistent with the expected relation between black holes and strong chaos. Interestingly, the chaos exponent is small but non-zero even in the wormhole phase. This is surprising but consistent with the observation on the decay rate of the two point function [arXiv:2003.03916], and we found the chaos exponent and the decay rate indeed obey the same temperature dependence in this regime. We also studied the chaos exponent of a closely related model with single SYK term, and found that the chaos exponent of this model is always greater than that of the two coupled model in the entire parameter space.

We explore the feasibility of determining Mellin moments of the pion’s light cone distribution amplitude using the heavy quark operator product expansion (HOPE) method. As the first step of a proof of principle study we pursue a determination of the second Mellin moment. We discuss our choice of kinematics which allows us to successfully extract the moment at low pion momentum. We describe the numerical simulation, and describe the data analysis, which leads us to a preliminary determination of the second Mellin moment in the continuum limit in the quenched approximation as \(\langle\xi^2\rangle=0.19(7)\) in the \(\bar{\text{MS}}\) scheme at 2 GeV.

Motivated by recent applications of the open quantum system formalism to understand quarkonium transport in the quark-gluon plasma, we develop a set of coupled Boltzmann equations for open heavy quark-antiquark pairs and quarkonia. Our approach keeps track of the correlation between the heavy quark-antiquark pair from quarkonium dissociation and thus is able to account for both uncorrelated and correlated recombination. By solving the coupled Boltzmann equations for current heavy ion collision experiments, we find correlated recombination is crucial to describe the data of bottomonia nuclear modification factors. To further test the importance of correlated recombination in experiments, we propose a new observable: \(\frac{R_{AA}[\chi_b(1P)]}{R_{AA}[\Upsilon(2S)]}\). Future measurements of this ratio will help distinguish calculations with and without correlated recombination.

The fraction of the longitudinal momentum of \({}^3\text{He}\) that is carried by the isovector combination of \(u\) and \(d\) quarks is determined using lattice QCD for the first time. The ratio of this combination to that in the constituent nucleons is found to be consistent with unity at the few-percent level from calculations with quark masses corresponding to \(m_\pi\sim 800\) MeV, extrapolated to the physical quark masses. This constraint is consistent with, and significantly more precise than, determinations from global nuclear parton distribution function fits. Including the lattice QCD determination of the momentum fraction in the nNNPDF global fitting framework results in the uncertainty on the isovector momentum fraction ratio being reduced by a factor of 2.5, and thereby enables a more precise extraction of the \(u\) and \(d\) parton distributions in \({}^3\text{He}\).

Kirkwood discovered in 1933, and Dirac discovered in 1945, a representation of quantum states that has undergone a renaissance recently. The Kirkwood-Dirac (KD) distribution has been employed to study nonclassicality across quantum physics, from metrology to chaos to the foundations of quantum theory. The KD distribution is a quasiprobability distribution, a quantum generalization of a probability distribution, which can behave nonclassically by having negative or nonreal elements. Negative KD elements signify quantum information scrambling and potential metrological quantum advantages. Nonreal elements encode measurement disturbance and thermodynamic nonclassicality. KD distributions’ nonclassicality has been believed to follow necessarily from noncommutation of operators. We show that noncommutation does not suffice. We prove sufficient conditions for the KD distribution to be nonclassical (equivalently, necessary conditions for it to be classical). We also quantify the KD nonclassicality achievable under various conditions. This work resolves long-standing questions about nonclassicality and may be used to engineer quantum advantages.

Jet modification in heavy-ion collisions is an important probe of the nature and structure of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in these collisions and also encodes information about how the wakes that jets excite in a droplet of QGP form and relax. However, in experiment, one cannot know what a particular jet in a heavy ion collision would have looked like without quenching, making it difficult to interpret measurements in terms of individual jet modification. The goal of this Monte Carlo study is to gain insight into the modification of jet observables using the hybrid strong/weak coupling model of jet quenching as a test bed. In this Monte Carlo study (but not in experiment) it is possible to watch \(\textit{the same jet}\) as it evolves in vacuum or in QGP. We use this ability to disentangle the effects of modification of individual jets in heavy ion collisions vs. the effects of differing selection bias on the distribution of two observables: fractional energy loss and groomed \(\Delta R\). We find that in the hybrid model the distribution of groomed \(\Delta R\) appears to be unmodified in a sample of jets selected after quenching, as in heavy ion collisions, and confirm that this lack of modification arises because of a selection bias toward jets that lose only a small fraction of their energy. If instead we select jets in a way that avoids this bias, and then follow these selected jets as they are quenched, we show that there is, in fact, a substantial modification of the \(\Delta R\) of individual jets. We show that this jet modification is principally due to the incorporation of particles coming from the wake that the parton shower excites in the plasma as a component of what an experimentalist reconstructs as a jet. The effects we discuss are substantial in magnitude, suggesting that our qualitative conclusions are more general than the Monte Carlo study in which we obtain them.