Tag Archives: Evento scientifico

The High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) is planned to start taking data in 2030: it will deliver proton-proton collisions at 14 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3/ab. The particle physics community will be therefore provided with an unprecedented amount of data, which will allow Standard Model tests and searches for New Physics with a precision never achieved before. The workshop will deal with the state of the art as well as the prospects of particle physics phenomenology in view of the HL-LHC project. It will be structured according to review theory and experimental talks, given by key speakers in the field, and discussion sessions. Special attention will be paid to electroweak physics, top-quark and Higgs phenomenology, progresses in quantum chromodynamics and Monte Carlo event generators. The attendance of young researchers, such as graduate students and young postdocs, is particularly encouraged, as the meeting will represent a unique opportunity to debate in an informal atmosphere the challenges of HL-LHC and future facilities. This workshop is part of the Phenomenology Visiting Institute at LNF, supported by the INFN National Theory Committee (CSN4) to promote the participation of early-career scientists. Some limited funding is available for young participants covering meals in the canteen and/or the guesthouse. Please contact the organizers if you wish to apply for support.

Modern observational astronomy and cosmology are undergoing a profound transformation, driven by revolutionary facilities such as the James Webb Space Telescope and, in the near future, the Square Kilometre Array, Euclid, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the Extremely Large Telescope. These observatories, together with increasingly sophisticated numerical simulations, are providing unprecedented insights into the origin, evolution, and large-scale structure of the Universe. This mini-workshop offers an overview of some of the most exciting developments in contemporary extragalactic astronomy and cosmology, from the foundations of the standard cosmological model to the formation of the first galaxies and the role of large-scale simulations in interpreting observations. Through three complementary lectures, Professor Stephen Wilkins will present the current state of our knowledge, discuss the observational and computational tools that underpin modern astrophysics, and highlight the major open questions that continue to drive research into the nature of dark matter, dark energy, galaxy formation, and the evolution of the Universe.

Speaker: Alessandro Manzardo (Padova Univ.) Il seminario introduce i principi di base della Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) — Analisi del Ciclo di Vita — con l’obiettivo di chiarire cos’è questo strumento, perché può essere utile e in che modo può supportare lo sviluppo del progetto EuPRAXIA. L’incontro sarà dedicato a spiegare come funziona uno studio LCA, che cosa misura, quali output produce e in che modo i risultati possono contribuire a una migliore comprensione degli impatti ambientali associati alla realizzazione e al funzionamento dell’infrastruttura. Una parte specifica sarà dedicata ai dati necessari per avviare lo studio: quali informazioni verranno richieste al team di progetto, perché sono importanti e come saranno utilizzate nell’analisi. Il seminario sarà inoltre un momento di confronto con il team EuPRAXIA, utile per allineare obiettivi, aspettative e disponibilità dei dati.

Speaker: Daniele Lombardo (Sapienza Roma Univ.) Up to now, bounds on the axion-up-charm axial coupling, kA, come only from the baryonic decay Lambda_c -> p a and from D-anti D mixing, which are both affected by large theoretical uncertainties. I will show a novel procedure to infer new constraints on this coupling from D0-meson decays with an axion in the final state. In particular, I will discuss how to compute the differential decay width of the BSM process D0 -> pi pi a and to find a new constraint on  kA via a sensitivity study. In particular, I will focus on the treatment of the form factors appearing in the hadronic matrix element associated with this transition, which can be directly extracted from measurements concerning semi-leptonic four-body D+-meson decays. All these inputs also produce a Dalitz plot, giving important information for future dedicated experimental searches. In conclusion, I will discuss how further constraints on kA$ may be obtained from other complementary decay channels, as for instance the D0 -> K+ K- a$ transition, and from information coming from astrophysics, such as e.g. the cooling of supernovae.

Speaker: Roberto Mattacchione (Roma Sapienza Univ.) The fermion mass hierarchy remains one of the most glaring puzzles of the Standard Model (SM). A prominent framework to address this is the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism, where hierarchical Yukawa couplings originate from a spontaneously broken flavor symmetry. In this setup, effective higher-dimensional operators generate fermion masses after heavy vector-like fermions are integrated out. This work systematically evaluates the phenomenological viability of various FN charge textures. We demonstrate that the top and bottom quark masses impose the most stringent constraints, and we introduce a novel analytical method to estimate the FN parameters directly from specific charge assignments. To quantify the naturalness of these scenarios, we define measures of fine-tuning for both individual observables and entire models. Our analysis reveals that reproducing SM phenomenology without extreme fine-tuning requires non-trivial FN configurations. Finally, we establish a robust set of diagnostic tests to evaluate a texture’s viability and apply them to several models from the literature. We find that while minimal textures are generally insufficient, non-minimal textures featuring larger charge separations successfully reproduce SM data. The implications for gauge coupling running and potential ultraviolet (UV) completions are also discussed.

Speaker: Stefano Morisi (Università Federico II Napoli) I propose two alternatives to the axion mechanism for addressing the strong CP problem. The first approach involves imposing CP as an inherent symmetry of the Lagrangian, which is then spontaneously broken. To generate the correct texture for the Yukawa matrices, is assumed a discrete Z2 symmetry that is softly broken by the scalar potential. By identifying a benchmark point for the Yukawa couplings that aligns with the measured quark masses, the CKM matrix, and low-energy flavor-changing constraints, our findings suggest that this model offers a viable solution to the CP problem I also mention a second approach based on SO(10) GUT model.

Speaker: Pablo Figueroa (Valencia Univ.) Low-threshold direct-detection experiments are rapidly expanding their physics reach beyond conventional weak-scale DM searches. First, I will present new constraints on sub-GeV DM derived from the PandaX-4T S2-only search for CEvNS. These limits are competitive with the recent DAMIC-M bounds and provide leading constraints on scalar and asymmetric thermal dark matter models for masses between 20 and 200 MeV. Second, I will discuss the possibility of probing keV-scale thermal solar neutrinos produced by electroweak processes in the solar plasma. Using XENONnT S2-only data, one can place an upper limit on this flux at the level of (\eta \lesssim 1.2\times 10^{8}) times the Standard Model prediction, while paired searches from XENONnT, LZ, and PandaX give slightly weaker limits. Looking ahead, future experiments such as XLZD could improve these sensitivities by several orders of magnitude. Together, these results illustrate how low-threshold direct-detection experiments can probe both dark-sectors and low-energy astrophysical neutrinos

Speaker: Vishakha Lingadahally (Royal Holloway, University of London) The process of top-quark pair production through the decay of scalars in the One-Higgs Singlet extension of the Standard Model is associated with large interference effects between loop-induced ‘SM-like’ Higgs and heavy Higgs amplitudes, as well as QCD continuum background. In this seminar, I will talk about attaching leptonic decays to the di-top final state at NLO and studying the effects of spin correlations. I present NLO phenomenological predictions for the leptonic decays of top pairs produced in the decay of a CP-odd pseudoscalar at the LHC, with full spin correlation effects preserved in the decayed products. I also aim at attaching parton showers and performing analyses of differential cross sections as functions of various parameters to study the significance in searches for new scalars and pseudoscalars beyond the Standard Model.  

Speaker: Sungwoo Youn (IBS, Daejeon) Axions are a well-motivated dark matter candidate arising from the Peccei–Quinn solution to the strong CP problem. The IBS Dark Matter Axion Group (DMAG) is pursuing a comprehensive experimental program to search for axion dark matter using cavity haloscopes, which exploit the axion–photon coupling in strong magnetic fields. In particular, IBS-DMAG has achieved world-leading sensitivity in the GHz frequency range, significantly advancing the exploration of QCD axion parameter space. In this seminar, I will discuss the key experimental techniques underlying these efforts, including high-Q resonant cavities, ultra-low-noise microwave detection, and high-frequency search strategies. I will also present our recent results from the past few years and outline future directions to extend sensitivity and mass coverage.