Search for: All records

Q-balls are non-topological solitons arising in scalar field theories. Solutions for rotating Q-balls (and the related boson stars) have been shown to exist when the angular momentum is equal to an integer multiple of the Q-ball chargeQ. Here we consider the possibility of classically long-lived metastable rotating Q-balls with small angular momentum, even for large charge, for all scalar theories that support non-rotating Q-balls. This is relevant for rotating extensions of Q-balls and related solitons such as boson stars as it impacts their cosmological phenomenology.

arXiv:2302.11589

 

Complex scalars inU(1)-symmetric potentials can form stable Q-balls, non-topological solitons that correspond to spherical bound-state solutions. If theU(1) charge of the Q-ball is large enough, it can support a tower of unstable radial excitations with increasing energy. Previous analyses of these radial excitations were confined to fixed parameters, leading to excited states with different chargesQ. In this work, we provide the first characterization of the radial excitations of solitons for fixed charge, providing the physical spectrum for such objects. We also show how to approximately describe these excited states analytically and predict their global properties such as radius, energy, and charge. This enables a complete characterization of the radial spectrum. We also comment on the decay channels of these excited states.

 

A bstract Non-topological solitons such as Q-balls and Q-shells have been studied for scalar fields invariant under global and gauged U(1) symmetries. We generalize this frame-work to include a Proca mass for the gauge boson, which can arise either from spontaneous symmetry breaking or via the Stückelberg mechanism. A heavy (light) gauge boson leads to solitons reminiscent of the global (gauged) case, but for intermediate values these Proca solitons exhibit completely novel features such as disconnected regions of viable parameter space and Q-shells with unbounded radius. We provide numerical solutions and excellent analytic approximations for both Proca Q-balls and Q-shells. These allow us to not only demonstrate the novel features numerically, but also understand and predict their origin analytically. 

Abstract In this work, we consider the case of a strongly coupled dark/hidden sector, which extends the Standard Model (SM) by adding an additional non-Abelian gauge group. These extensions generally contain matter fields, much like the SM quarks, and gauge fields similar to the SM gluons. We focus on the exploration of such sectors where the dark particles are produced at the LHC through a portal and undergo rapid hadronization within the dark sector before decaying back, at least in part and potentially with sizeable lifetimes, to SM particles, giving a range of possibly spectacular signatures such as emerging or semi-visible jets. Other, non-QCD-like scenarios leading to soft unclustered energy patterns or glueballs are also discussed. After a review of the theory, existing benchmarks and constraints, this work addresses how to build consistent benchmarks from the underlying physical parameters and present new developments for the pythia Hidden Valley module, along with jet substructure studies. Finally, a series of improved search strategies is presented in order to pave the way for a better exploration of the dark showers at the LHC.