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1. New non-supersymmetric flux vacua in string theory

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP12(2023)145  

   Krippendorf, S; Schachner, A (December 2023, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> In this note we construct large ensembles of supersymmetry breaking solutions arising in the context of flux compactifications of type IIB string theory. This class of solutions was previously proposed in [1] for which we provide the first explicit examples in Calabi-Yau orientifold compactifications with discrete fluxes below their respective tadpole constraint. As a proof of concept, we study the degree 18 hypersurface in weighted projective space$$ \mathbbm{CP} $$ $\mathrm{CP}$_1,1,1,6,9. Furthermore, we look at 10 additional orientifolds withh^1,2= 2,3. We find several flux vacua with hierarchical suppression of the vacuum energy with respect to the gravitino mass. These solutions provide a crucial stepping stone for the construction of explicit de Sitter vacua in string theory. Lastly, we also report the difference in the distribution ofW₀between supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric minima. 

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2. Phenomenology of superheavy decaying dark matter from string theory

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)192  

   Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Arina, Chiara; Chianese, Marco; Cicoli, Michele; Maltoni, Fabio; Massaro, Daniele; Osiński, Jacek K (February 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> We study the phenomenology of superheavy decaying dark matter with mass around 10¹⁰GeV which can arise in the low-energy limit of string compactifications. Generic features of string theory setups (such as high scale supersymmetry breaking and epochs of early matter domination driven by string moduli) can accommodate superheavy dark matter with the correct relic abundance. In addition, stringy instantons induce tinyR-parity violating couplings which make dark matter unstable with a lifetime well above the age of the Universe. Adopting a model-independent approach, we compute the flux and spectrum of high-energy gamma rays and neutrinos from three-body decays of superheavy dark matter and constrain its mass-lifetime plane with current observations and future experiments. We show that these bounds have only a mild dependence on the exact nature of neutralino dark matter and its decay channels. Applying these constraints to an explicit string model sets an upper bound of$$ \mathcal{O} $$ $O$(0.1) on the string coupling, ensuring that the effective field theory is in the perturbative regime. 

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3. Notes on gauging noninvertible symmetries. Part I. Multiplicity-free cases

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)154  

   Perez-Lona, A; Robbins, D; Sharpe, E; Vandermeulen, T; Yu, X (February 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> In this paper we discuss gauging noninvertible zero-form symmetries in two dimensions. We specialize to certain gaugeable cases, specifically, fusion categories of the form$$ \textrm{Rep}\left(\mathcal{H}\right) $$ $\mathrm{Rep}\left(H\right)$for$$ \mathcal{H} $$ $H$a suitable Hopf algebra (which includes the special case Rep(G) forGa finite group). We also specialize to the case that the fusion category is multiplicity-free. We discuss how to construct a modular-invariant partition function from a choice of Frobenius algebra structure on$$ {\mathcal{H}}^{\ast } $$ $H^{\ast }$. We discuss how ordinaryGorbifolds for finite groupsGare a special case of the construction, corresponding to the fusion category Vec(G) = Rep(ℂ[G]^*). For the cases Rep(S₃), Rep(D₄), and Rep(Q₈), we construct the crossing kernels for general intertwiner maps. We explicitly compute partition functions in the examples of Rep(S₃), Rep(D₄), Rep(Q₈), and$$ \textrm{Rep}\left({\mathcal{H}}_8\right) $$ $\mathrm{Rep}\left(H_8\right)$, and discuss applications inc= 1 CFTs. We also discuss decomposition in the special case that the entire noninvertible symmetry group acts trivially. 

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4. Bounds on field range for slowly varying positive potentials

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2024)175  

   van_de_Heisteeg, Damian; Vafa, Cumrun; Wiesner, Max; Wu, David H (February 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> In the context of quantum gravitational systems, we place bounds on regions in field space with slowly varying positive potentials. Using the fact that$$ V<{\Lambda}_s^2 $$ $V<{\Lambda }_s^2$, where Λ_s(ϕ) is the species scale, and the emergent string conjecture, we show this places a bound on the maximum diameter of such regions in field space: ∆ϕ≤alog(1/V) +bin Planck units, wherea≤$$ \sqrt{\left(d-1\right)\left(d-2\right)} $$ $\sqrt{\left(d-1\right)\left(d-2\right)}$, andbis an 𝒪(1) number and expected to be negative. The coefficient of the logarithmic term has previously been derived using TCC, providing further confirmation. For type II string flux compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds, using the recent results on the moduli dependence of the species scale, we can check the above relation and determine the constantb, which we verify is 𝒪(1) and negative in all the examples we studied. 

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5. More accurate $$ \sigma \left(\mathcal{GG}\to h\right),\Gamma \left(h\to \mathcal{GG},\mathcal{AA},\overline{\Psi}\Psi \right) $$ and Higgs width results via the geoSMEFT

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2024)170  

   Martin, Adam; Trott, Michael (January 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> We develop Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) predictions ofσ($$ \mathcal{GG} $$ $\mathrm{GG}$→h), Γ(h→$$ \mathcal{GG} $$ $\mathrm{GG}$), Γ(h→$$ \mathcal{AA} $$ $\mathrm{AA}$) to incorporate full two loop Standard Model results at the amplitude level, in conjunction with dimension eight SMEFT corrections. We simultaneously report consistent Γ(h→$$ \overline{\Psi}\Psi $$ $\overline{\Psi }\Psi$) results including leading QCD corrections and dimension eight SMEFT corrections. This extends the predictions of the former processes Γ, σto a full set of corrections at$$ \mathcal{O}\left({\overline{v}}_T^2/{\varLambda}^2{\left(16{\pi}^2\right)}^2\right) $$ $O\left({\overline{v}}_T^2/{\Lambda }^2{\left(16{\pi }^2\right)}^2\right)$and$$ \mathcal{O}\left({\overline{v}}_T^4/{\Lambda}^4\right) $$ $O\left({\overline{v}}_T^4/{\Lambda }^4\right)$, where$$ {\overline{v}}_T $$ ${\overline{v}}_T$is the electroweak scale vacuum expectation value and Λ is the cut off scale of the SMEFT. Throughout, cross consistency between the operator and loop expansions is maintained by the use of the geometric SMEFT formalism. For Γ(h→$$ \overline{\Psi}\Psi $$ $\overline{\Psi }\Psi$), we include results at$$ \mathcal{O}\left({\overline{v}}_T^2/{\Lambda}^2\left(16{\pi}^2\right)\right) $$ $O\left({\overline{v}}_T^2/{\Lambda }^2\left(16{\pi }^2\right)\right)$in the limit where subleadingm_Ψ→ 0 corrections are neglected. We clarify how gauge invariant SMEFT renormalization counterterms combine with the Standard Model counter terms in higher order SMEFT calculations when the Background Field Method is used. We also update the prediction of the total Higgs width in the SMEFT to consistently include some of these higher order perturbative effects. 

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