In this review, we provide a short outlook of some of the currently most popular pictures and promising approaches to non-perturbative physics and confinement in gauge theories. A qualitative and by no means exhaustive discussion presented here cover
s such key topics as the phases of QCD matter, the order parameters for confinement, the central vortex and monopole pictures of the QCD vacuum structure, fundamental properties of the string tension, confinement realisations in gauge-Higgs and Yang-Mills theories, magnetic order/disorder phase transition among others.
An unexpected explanation for neutrino mass, Dark Matter (DM) and Dark Energy (DE) from genuine Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) of the Standard Model (SM) is proposed here, while the strong CP problem is resolved without any need to account for fundamen
tal axions. We suggest that the neutrino sector can be in a double phase in the Universe: i) relativistic neutrinos, belonging to the SM; ii) non-relativistic condensate of Majorana neutrinos. The condensate of neutrinos can provide an attractive alternative candidate for the DM, being in a cold coherent state. We will explain how neutrinos, combining into Cooper pairs, can form collective low-energy degrees of freedom, hence providing a strongly motivated candidate for the QCD (composite) axion.
We explore the potential of ultimate unification of the Standard Model matter and gauge sectors into a single $E_8$ superfield in ten dimensions via an intermediate Pati-Salam gauge theory. Through a consistent realisation of a $mathbb{T}^6/(mathbb{Z
}_6times mathbb{Z}_2)$ orbifolding procedure accompanied by the Wilson line breaking mechanism and Renormalisation Group evolution of gauge couplings, we have established several benchmark scenarios for New Physics that are worth further phenomenological exploration.
This review represents a detailed and comprehensive discussion of the Thermal Field Theory (TFT) concepts and key results in Yukawa-type theories. We start with a general pedagogical introduction into the TFT in the imaginary- and real-time formulati
on. As phenomenologically relevant implications, we present a compendium of thermal decay rates for several typical reactions calculated within the framework of the real-time formalism and compared to the imaginary-time results found in the literature. Processes considered here are those of a neutral (pseudo)scalar decaying into two distinct (pseudo)scalars or into a fermion-antifermion pair. These processes are extended from earlier works to include chemical potentials and distinct species in the final state. In addition, a (pseudo)scalar emission off a fermion line is also discussed. These results demonstrate the importance of thermal effects in particle decay observables relevant in many phenomenological applications in systems at high temperatures and densities.
Given the tremendous phenomenological success of the Standard Model (SM) framework, it becomes increasingly important to understand to what extent its specific structure dynamically emerges from unification principles. In this study, we present a nov
el supersymmetric (SUSY) Grand Unification model based upon gauge trinification $[mathrm{SU}(3)]^3$ symmetry and a local $mathrm{SU}(2)_{mathrm{F}} times mathrm{U}(1)_{mathrm{F}}$ family symmetry. This framework is inspired by $mathrm{E}_8 to mathrm{E}_6times mathrm{SU}(2)_{mathrm{F}} times mathrm{U}(1)_{mathrm{F}}$ orbifold reduction pattern, with subsequent $mathrm{E}_6to [mathrm{SU}(3)]^3$ symmetry breaking step. In this framework, higher-dimensional operators of $mathrm{E}_6$ induce the threshold corrections in the gauge and Yukawa interactions leading, in particular, to only two distinct Yukawa couplings in the fundamental sector of the resulting $[mathrm{SU}(3)]^3times mathrm{SU}(2)_{mathrm{F}} times mathrm{U}(1)_{mathrm{F}}$ Lagrangian. Among the appealing features emergent in this framework are the Higgs-matter unification and a unique minimal three Higgs doublet scalar sector at the electroweak scale as well as tree-level hierarchies in the light fermion spectra consistent with those observed in nature. In addition, our framework reveals a variety of prospects for New Physics searches at the LHC and future colliders such as vector-like fermions, as well as rich scalar, gauge and neutrino sectors.
The tremendous phenomenological success of the Standard Model (SM) suggests that its flavor structure and gauge interactions may not be arbitrary but should have a fundamental first-principle explanation. In this work, we explore how the basic distin
ctive properties of the SM dynamically emerge from a unified New Physics framework tying together both flavour physics and Grand Unified Theory (GUT) concepts. This framework is suggested by the gauge Left-Right-Color-Family Grand Unification under the exceptional $mathrm{E}_8$ symmetry that, via an orbifolding mechanism, yields a supersymmetric chiral GUT containing the SM. Among the most appealing emergent properties of this theory is the Higgs-matter unification with a highly-constrained massless chiral sector featuring two universal Yukawa couplings close to the GUT scale. At the electroweak scale, the minimal SM-like effective field theory limit of this GUT represents a specific flavored three-Higgs doublet model consistent with the observed large hierarchies in the quark mass spectra and mixing already at tree level.
The minimal $U(1)_{rm B-L}$ extension of the Standard Model (B-L-SM) offers an explanation for neutrino mass generation via a seesaw mechanism as well as contains two new physics states such as an extra Higgs boson and a new $Z^prime$ gauge boson. Th
e emergence of a second Higgs particle as well as a new $Z^prime$ gauge boson, both linked to the breaking of a local $U(1)_{rm B-L}$ symmetry, makes the B-L-SM rather constrained by direct searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments. We investigate the phenomenological status of the B-L-SM by confronting the new physics predictions with the LHC and electroweak precision data. Taking into account the current bounds from direct LHC searches, we demonstrate that the prediction for the muon $(g-2)_mu$ anomaly in the B-L-SM yields at most a contribution of approximately $8.9 times 10^{-12}$ which represents a tension of $3.28$ standard deviations, with the current $1sigma$ uncertainty, by means of a $Z^prime$ boson if its mass lies in a range of $6.3$ to $6.5$ TeV, within the reach of future LHC runs. This means that the B-L-SM, with heavy yet allowed $Z^prime$ boson mass range, in practice does not resolve the tension between the observed anomaly in the muon $(g-2)_mu$ and the theoretical prediction in the Standard Model. Such a heavy $Z^prime$ boson also implies that the minimal value for a new Higgs mass is of the order of 400 GeV.
Multi-peaked spectra of the primordial gravitational waves are considered as a phenomenologically relevant source of information about the dynamics of sequential phase transitions in the early Universe. In particular, such signatures trace back to sp
ecific patterns of the first-order electroweak phase transition in the early Universe occurring in multiple steps. Such phenomena appear to be rather generic in multi-scalar extensions of the Standard Model. In a particularly simple extension of the Higgs sector, we have identified and studied the emergence of sequential long- and short-lasting transitions as well as their fundamental role in generation of multi-peaked structures in the primordial gravitational-wave spectrum. We discuss the potential detectability of these signatures by the proposed gravitational-wave interferometers.
We investigate the production of primordial Gravitational Waves (GWs) arising from First Order Phase Transitions (FOPTs) associated to neutrino mass generation in the context of type-I and inverse seesaw schemes. We examine both high-scale as well as
low-scale variants, with either explicit or spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry $U(1)_L$ in the neutrino sector. In the latter case, a pseudo-Goldstone majoron-like boson may provide a candidate for cosmological dark matter. We find that schemes with softly-broken $U(1)_L$ and with single Higgs-doublet scalar sector lead to either no FOPTs or too weak FOPTs, precluding the detectability of GWs in present or near future measurements. Nevertheless, we found that, in the majoron-like seesaw scheme with spontaneously broken $U(1)_L$ at finite temperatures, one can have strong FOPTs and non-trivial primordial GW spectra which can fall well within the frequency and amplitude sensitivity of upcoming experiments, including LISA, BBO and u-DECIGO. However, GWs observability clashes with invisible Higgs decay constraints from the LHC. A simple and consistent fix is to assume the majoron-like mass to lie above the Higgs-decay kinematical threshold. We also found that the majoron-like variant of the low-scale seesaw mechanism implies a different GW spectrum than the one expected in the high-scale seesaw. This feature will be testable in future experiments. Our analysis shows that GWs can provide a new and complementary portal to test the neutrino mass generation mechanism.
We analyse the origin of dramatic breakdown of diffractive factorisation, observed in single-diffractive (SD) dijet production in hadronic collisions. One of the sources is the application of the results of measurements of the diagonal diffractive DI
S to the off-diagonal hadronic diffractive process. The suppression caused by a possibility of inelastic interaction with the spectator partons is calculated at the amplitude level, differently from the usual probabilistic description. It turns out, however, that interaction with the spectator partons not only suppresses the SD cross section, but also gives rise to the main mechanism of SD dijet production, which is another important source of factorization failure. Our parameter-free calculations of SD-to-inclusive cross section ratio, performed in the dipole representation, agrees with the corresponding CDF Tevatron (Run II) data at $sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV in the relevant kinematic regions. The energy and hard scale dependences demonstrate a trend, opposite to the factorisation-based expectations, similarly to the effect observed earlier in diffractive Abelian radiation.
