Christopher W Murphy

We derive the decay rate of an unstable phase of a quantum field theory in the presence of an impurity in the thin-wall approximation. This derivation is based on the how the impurity changes the (flat spacetime) geometry relative to case of pure false vacuum. Two examples are given that show how to estimate some of the additional parameters that enter into this heterogeneous decay rate. This formalism is then applied to the Higgs vacuum of the Standard Model (SM), where baryonic matter acts as an impurity in the electroweak Higgs vacuum. We find that the probability for heterogeneous vacuum decay to occur is suppressed with respect to the homogeneous case. That is to say, the conclusions drawn from the homogeneous case are not modified by the inclusion of baryonic matter in the calculation. On the other hand, we show that Beyond the Standard Model physics with a characteristic scale comparable to the scale that governs the homogeneous decay rate in the SM, can in principle lead to an enhanced decay rate.

Predictions are made for the forward-backward and charge asymmetries in bottom-quark pair production at hadron colliders. Tree-level exchanges of electroweak (EW) gauge bosons dominant the Standard Model (SM) contribution to the asymmetry near the $Z$-pole. The mixed EW-QCD corrections are computed in an approximate way, and are found to be small in magnitude. These SM predictions are consistent with experimental results from CDF, D0, and LHCb. In particular, CDF and LHCb find that the asymmetry in the invariant mass bin containing the $Z$-pole is larger than in the adjacent bins, as predicted. Several beyond the Standard Model scenarios proposed for the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry, including a 100 GeV axigluon, are disfavored by this combination of SM predictions and measurements. On the other hand, modified $Zb\bar{b}$ couplings can explain the $2\sigma$ discrepancy in the bottom-quark forward-backward asymmetry at LEP1, while being consistent with the results of CDF and LHCb. It is also shown that $t$-channel $W$ exchange makes a non-negligible contribution to the charm-quark charge asymmetry.

We show that the three-body decays of the resonance recently discovered at the LHC are potentially sensitive to effects of new physics. Even if the fully integrated partial decay widths are consistent with the minimal Standard Model there is information that is lost upon integration, which can be uncovered in the differential decay widths. Concentrating on the decay h→Zℓℓ¯, we identify the regions in the three-body phase space in which these effects become especially pronounced and could be detected in future experiments.

We computed the bottom-quark forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron in the standard model (SM) and for several new physics scenarios. Near the Z pole, the SM bottom asymmetry is dominated by tree level exchanges of electroweak gauge bosons. While above the Z pole, next-to-leading order QCD dominates the SM asymmetry as was the case with the top-quark forward-backward asymmetry. Light new physics, MNP≲150  GeV, can cause significant deviations from the SM prediction for the bottom asymmetry. The bottom asymmetry can be used to distinguish between competing new physics (NP) explanations of the top asymmetry based on how the NP interferes with s-channel gluon and Z exchange.

Contrary to popular belief conformality does not require zero beta functions. This follows from the work of Jack and Osborn, and examples in non-supersymmetric theories were recently found by some of us. In this note we show that such examples are absent in unitary N=1 supersymmetric four-dimensional field theories. More specifically, we show to all orders in perturbation theory that the beta-function vector field of such theories does not admit limit cycles. A corollary of our result is that unitary N=1 supersymmetric four-dimensional theories cannot be superscale-invariant without being superconformal.

Electroweak precision data constraints on flavor symmetric vector fields are determined. The flavor multiplets of spin one that we examine are the complete set of fields that couple to quark bi-linears at tree level while not initially breaking the quark global flavor symmetry group. Flavor safe vector masses proximate to, and in some cases below, the electroweak symmetry breaking scale are found to be allowed. Many of these fields provide a flavor safe mechanism to explain the t tbar forward backward anomaly, and can simultaneously significantly raise the allowed values of the Standard Model Higgs mass consistent with electroweak precision data.

... The uniform intensity around the bright spot is due to higher energy electrons refluxing through the whole target, confirmed by the hard x-ray spectrometers. ... This new kind of solid-target geometry, used to measure two-dimensional fast-electron transport features, thus proved ...