Measuring the ratio of HWWHWW and HZZHZZ couplings through W+W−HW^+W^-H production

For a generic Higgs boson, measuring the relative sign and magnitude of its couplings with the $W$ and $Z$ bosons is essential in determining its origin. Such a test is also indispensable for the 125-GeV Higgs boson. We propose that the ratio of the $HWW$ and $HZZ$ couplings $\lambda_{WZ}$ can be directly determined through the $W^+W^-H$ production, where $H$ denotes a generic Higgs boson, owing to the tree-level interference effect. While this is impractical at the LHC due to the limited sensitivity, it can be done at future $e^+e^-$ colliders, such as a 500-GeV ILC with the beam polarization $P(e^-,e^+)=(-0.8,+0.3)$ in the $jj\ell^{\pm}bb$ and $\ell^{\pm}\ell^{\pm}\ell^{\mp}jj$ channels. The discovery potential of a general ratio and the power to discriminate it from the SM value are studied in detail. Combining the cross section of $e^+e^-\to W^+ W^- H$ with the measurements of $HZZ$ coupling at the HL-LHC, one can further improve the sensitivity of $\lambda_{WZ}$.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

Bar-induced central star formation as revealed by integral field spectroscopy from CALIFA

We investigate the recent star formation history (SFH) in the inner region of 57 nearly face-on spiral galaxies selected from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. For each galaxy we use the integral field spectroscopy from CALIFA to obtain two-dimensional maps and radial profiles of three parameters that are sensitive indicators of the recent SFH: the 4000\AA\ break (D$_n$(4000)), and the equivalent width of H$\delta$ absorption (EW(H$\delta_A$)) and H$\alpha$ emission (EW(H$\alpha$)). We have also performed photometric decomposition of bulge/bar/disk components based on SDSS optical image. We identify a class of 17 "turnover" galaxies whose central region present significant drop in D$_n$(4000), and most of them correspondingly show a central upturn in EW(H$\delta_A$) and EW(H$\alpha$). This indicates that the central region of the turnover galaxies has experienced star formation in the past 1-2 Gyr, which makes the bulge younger and more star-forming than surrounding regions. We find almost all (15/17) the turnover galaxies are barred, while only half of the barred galaxies in our sample (15/32) are classified as a turnover galaxy. This finding provides strong evidence in support of the theoretical expectation that the bar may drive gas from the disc inward to trigger star formation in galaxy center, an important channel for the growth/rejuvenation of pseudobulges in disc galaxies.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, ApJ accepte

Search for a heavy dark photon at future e+e−e^+e^- colliders

A coupling of a dark photon $A'$ from a $U(1)_{A'}$ with the standard model (SM) particles can be generated through kinetic mixing represented by a parameter $\epsilon$. A non-zero $\epsilon$ also induces a mixing between $A'$ and $Z$ if dark photon mass $m_{A'}$ is not zero. This mixing can be large when $m_{A'}$ is close to $m_Z$ even if the parameter $\epsilon$ is small. Many efforts have been made to constrain the parameter $\epsilon$ for a low dark photon mass $m_{A'}$ compared with the $Z$ boson mass $m_Z$. We study the search for dark photon in $e^+e^- \to \gamma A' \to \gamma \mu^+ \mu^-$ for a dark photon mass $m_{A'}$ as large as kinematically allowed at future $e^+e^-$ colliders. For large $m_{A'}$, care should be taken to properly treat possible large mixing between $A'$ and $Z$. We obtain sensitivities to the parameter $\epsilon$ for a wide range of dark photon mass at planed $e^+\;e^-$ colliders, such as Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC), International Linear Collider (ILC) and Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee). For the dark photon mass $20~\text{GeV}\lesssim m_{A^{\prime}}\lesssim 330~\text{GeV}$, the $2\sigma$ exclusion limits on the mixing parameter are $\epsilon\lesssim 10^{-3}-10^{-2}$. The CEPC with $\sqrt{s}=240~\text{GeV}$ and FCC-ee with $\sqrt{s}=160~\text{GeV}$ are more sensitive than the constraint from current LHCb measurement once the dark photon mass $m_{A^{\prime}}\gtrsim 50~\text{GeV}$. For $m_{A^{\prime}}\gtrsim 220~\text{GeV}$, the sensitivity at the FCC-ee with $\sqrt{s}=350~\text{GeV}$ and $1.5~\text{ab}^{-1}$ is better than that at the 13~TeV LHC with $300~\text{fb}^{-1}$, while the sensitivity at the CEPC with $\sqrt{s}=240~\text{GeV}$ and $5~\text{ab}^{-1}$ can be even better than that at 13~TeV LHC with $3~\text{ab}^{-1}$ for $m_{A^{\prime}}\gtrsim 180~\text{GeV}$.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 2 table