We seek to quantify the fidelity with which modern population syntheses reproduce observations in view of their use as predictive tools. We compared synthetic populations from the Generation 3 Bern Model of Planet Formation and Evolution (core accretion, solar-type host stars) and the HARPS/Coralie radial velocity sample. We biased the synthetic planet population according to the completeness of the observed data and performed quantitative statistical comparisons and systematically identified agreements and differences. Our nominal population reproduces many of the main features of the HARPS planets: two main groups of planets (close-in sub-Neptunes and distant giants), a bimodal mass function with a less populated `desert', an observed mean multiplicity of about 1.6, and several key correlations. The remaining discrepancies point to areas that are not fully captured in the model. For instance, we find that the synthetic population has 1) in absolute terms too many planets by ~70%, 2) a `desert' that is too deep by ~60%, 3) a relative excess of giant planets by ~40%, 4) planet eccentricities that are on average too low by a factor of about two (median of 0.07 versus 0.15), and 5) a metallicity effect that is too weak. Finally, the synthetic planets are overall too close to the star compared to the HARPS sample. The differences allowed us to find model parameters that better reproduce the observed planet masses, for which we computed additional synthetic populations. We find that physical processes appear to be missing and that planets may originate on wider orbits than our model predicts. Mechanisms leading to higher eccentricities and slower disc-limited gas accretion also seem necessary. We advocate that theoretical models should make a quantitative comparison between the many current and future large surveys to better understand the origins of planetary systems. (Abridged.)

We investigate the origin and stability of extrasolar satellites orbiting close-in gas giants, focusing on whether these satellites can survive planetary migration within a protoplanetary disk. To address this question, we used Posidonius, an N-Body code with an integrated tidal model, which we expanded to account for the migration of a gas giant within a disk. Our simulations include tidal interactions between a $1M_\odot$ star and a $1M_{Jup}$ planet, as well as between the planet and its satellite, while neglecting tides raised by the star on the satellite. We adopt a standard equilibrium tide model for the satellite, planet, and star, and additionally explore the impact of dynamical tides in the convective regions of both the star and planet on satellite survival. We examine key parameters, including the initial satellite-planet distance, disk lifetime (proxy for the planet's final orbital distance), satellite mass, and satellite tidal dissipation. For simulations incorporating dynamical tides, we explore three different initial stellar rotation periods. We find that satellite survival is rare if the satellite has nonzero tidal dissipation. Survival is only possible for initial orbital distances of at least 0.6 times the Jupiter-Io separation and for planets orbiting beyond about 0.1 AU. Satellites that fail to survive are either 1) tidally disrupted, as they experience orbital decay and cross the Roche limit, or 2) dynamically disrupted, where eccentricity excitation drives their periastron within the Roche limit. Satellite survival is more likely for low tidal dissipation and higher satellite mass. Given that satellites around close-in planets appear unlikely to survive planetary migration, our findings suggest that if such satellites do exist, another process should be invoked. In that context, we also discuss the claim of the existence of a putative satellite around WASP-49 A b.

The atmospheres of hot rocky exoplanets (HREs), should they persist, are products of interactions with underlying magma oceans. Spectra collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) hint at a CO/CO$_2$-rich atmosphere on the HRE 55 Cancri e, indicative of such a process. Here, we aim to identify diagnostic features that can be used to infer the composition and geochemical state of HREs. We construct a coupled atmosphere-interior model that computes the equilibrium gas speciation in the atmosphere in the system Si-Mg-Fe-O-C-H-S-N-He. The model accounts for both the equilibrium vaporisation of mineral gases and the partitioning of volatile species between the magma ocean and atmosphere. Using a fiducial planet with the properties of 55 Cancri e, we explore a parameter space that spans volatile mass fractions from 0.1 to 10 times that of the Earth, solar- to Earth-like metallicities, and 12 orders of magnitude in oxygen fugacity fO$_2$. We find fO$_2$ to be the major control of the shape of emission and transmission features. The presence of species such as SO$_2$ and the relative intensities of H$_2$O and CO$_2$ features allow to distinguish the origin of the gas, accreted or outgassed, while the atmospheric mass is more challenging to constrain. Inflated HREs, whose densities are compatible with a nebular atmosphere are rare, but a viable explanation for the planet TOI-1408 c. The majority of HREs, including 55 Cancri e, are too dense to be dominated by H$_2$-rich nebular gas yet too puffy for an Earth-like volatile budget, implying modest atmospheres of mixed heritage that are degenerate in fO$_2$, volatile mass and composition. The MIRI observation of 55 Cancri e disfavours oxidised Earth-like and reduced primoridal atmospheres alike, while the NIRCam data remain inconclusive. Future observations at wavelengths beyond 8 $\mu$m are key to discerning between potential scenarios.

Complex organic molecules (COMs) have been observed to be abundant in the gas phase toward protostars. Deep line surveys have been carried out only for a limited number of well-known high-mass star forming regions using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which has unprecedented resolution and sensitivity. Statistical studies on oxygen-bearing COMs (O-COMs) in high-mass protostars using ALMA are still lacking. With the recent CoCCoA survey, we are able to determine the column density ratios of six O-COMs with respect to methanol (CH$_3$OH) in a sample of 14 high-mass protostellar sources to investigate their origin through ice and/or gas-phase chemistry. The selected species are: acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), ethanol (C$_2$H$_5$OH), dimethyl ether (DME, CH$_3$OCH$_3$), methyl formate (MF, CH$_3$OCHO), glycolaldehyde (GA, CH$_2$OHCHO), and ethylene glycol (EG, (CH$_2$OH)$_2$). DME and MF have the highest and most constant ratios within one order of magnitude, while the other four species have lower ratios and exhibit larger scatter by 1-2 orders of magnitude. We compare the O-COM ratios of high-mass CoCCoA sources with those of 5 low-mass protostars available from the literature, along with the results from experiments and simulations. We find that the O-COM ratios with respect to methanol are on the same level in both the high- and low-mass samples, which suggests that these species are mainly formed in similar environments during star formation, probably in ice mantles on dust grains during early pre-stellar stages. Current simulations and experiments can reproduce most observational trends with a few exceptions, and hypotheses exist to explain the differences between observations and simulations/experiments, such as the involvement of gas-phase chemistry and different emitting areas of molecules.

We show that a ring closely related to the Grothendieck ring of varieties has nilpotent elements, provided that the characteristic of the ground field is equal to $11$ or at least $17$.

DARk matter WImp search with liquid xenoN (DARWIN) will be an experiment for the direct detection of dark matter using a multi-ton liquid xenon time projection chamber at its core. Its primary goal will be to explore the experimentally accessible parameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) in a wide mass-range, until neutrino interactions with the target become an irreducible background. The prompt scintillation light and the charge signals induced by particle interactions in the xenon will be observed by VUV sensitive, ultra-low background photosensors. Besides its excellent sensitivity to WIMPs above a mass of 5 GeV/c2, such a detector with its large mass, low-energy threshold and ultra-low background level will also be sensitive to other rare interactions. It will search for solar axions, galactic axion-like particles and the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136-Xe, as well as measure the low-energy solar neutrino flux with <1% precision, observe coherent neutrino-nucleus interactions, and detect galactic supernovae. We present the concept of the DARWIN detector and discuss its physics reach, the main sources of backgrounds and the ongoing detector design and R&D efforts.

Rare $b$ hadron decays are considered excellent probes of new semileptonic four-fermion interactions of microscopic origin. However, the same interactions also correct the high-mass Drell-Yan tails. In this work, we revisit the first statement in the context of this complementarity and chart the space of short-distance new physics that could show up in rare $b$ decays. We analyze the latest $b \to q \ell^+ \ell^-$ measurements, where $q = d$ or $s$ and $\ell = e$or$\mu$, including the most recent LHCb$R_{K^{(*)}}$ update, together with the latest charged and neutral current high-mass Drell-Yan data, $p p \to \ell \nu$and$p p \to \ell^+ \ell^-$. We implement a sophisticated interpretation pipeline within the flavio framework, allowing us to investigate the multidimensional SMEFT parameter space thoroughly and efficiently. To showcase the new functionalities of flavio, we construct several explicit models featuring either a $Z'$ or a leptoquark, which can explain the tension in $b \to s \mu^+ \mu^-$ angular distributions and branching fractions while predicting lepton flavor universality (LFU) ratios to be SM-like, $R_{K^{(*)}} \approx R^{{\rm SM}}_{K^{(*)}}$, as indicated by the recent data. Those models are then confronted against the global likelihood, including the high-mass Drell-Yan, either finding tensions or compatibility.

We present an inclusive search for anomalous production of single-photon events from neutrino interactions in the MicroBooNE experiment. The search and its signal definition are motivated by the previous observation of a low-energy excess of electromagnetic shower events from the MiniBooNE experiment. We use the Wire-Cell reconstruction framework to select a sample of inclusive single-photon final-state interactions with a final efficiency and purity of 7.0% and 40.2%, respectively. We leverage simultaneous measurements of sidebands of charged current $\nu_{\mu}$ interactions and neutral current interactions producing $\pi^{0}$ mesons to constrain signal and background predictions and reduce uncertainties. We perform a blind analysis using a dataset collected from February 2016 to July 2018, corresponding to an exposure of $6.34\times10^{20}$ protons on target from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. In the full signal region, we observe agreement between the data and the prediction, with a goodness-of-fit $p$-value of 0.11. We then isolate a sub-sample of these events containing no visible protons, and observe $93\pm22\text{(stat.)}\pm35\text{(syst.)}$ data events above prediction, corresponding to just above $2\sigma$ local significance, concentrated at shower energies below 600 MeV.

We report the measurement of the differential cross section $d^{2}\sigma (E_{\nu})/ d\cos(\theta_{\mu}) dP_{\mu}$ for inclusive muon-neutrino charged-current scattering on argon. This measurement utilizes data from 6.4$\times10^{20}$ protons on target of exposure collected using the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber located along the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam with a mean neutrino energy of approximately 0.8~GeV. The mapping from reconstructed kinematics to truth quantities, particularly from reconstructed to true neutrino energy, is validated within uncertainties by comparing the distribution of reconstructed hadronic energy in data to that of the model prediction in different muon scattering angle bins after applying a conditional constraint from the muon momentum distribution in data. The success of this validation gives confidence that the missing energy in the MicroBooNE detector is well-modeled within uncertainties in simulation, enabling the unfolding to a three-dimensional measurement over muon momentum, muon scattering angle, and neutrino energy. The unfolded measurement covers an extensive phase space, providing a wealth of information useful for future liquid argon time projection chamber experiments measuring neutrino oscillations. Comparisons against a number of commonly used model predictions are included and their performance in different parts of the available phase-space is discussed.

We highlight the progress, current status, and open challenges of QCD-driven physics, in theory and in experiment. We discuss how the strong interaction is intimately connected to a broad sweep of physical problems, in settings ranging from astrophysics and cosmology to strongly-coupled, complex systems in particle and condensed-matter physics, as well as to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. We also discuss how success in describing the strong interaction impacts other fields, and, in turn, how such subjects can impact studies of the strong interaction. In the course of the work we offer a perspective on the many research streams which flow into and out of QCD, as well as a vision for future developments.

The relation between the on-shell and $\bar{\rm MS}$ mass can be expressed through scalar and vector part of the quark propagator. In principle these two-point functions have to be evaluated on-shell which is a non-trivial task at three-loop order. Instead, we evaluate the quark self energy in the limit of large and small external momentum and use conformal mapping in combination with Padé improvement in order to construct a numerical approximation for the relation [1]. The errors of our final result are conservatively estimated to be below 3%. The numerical implications of the results are discussed in particular in view of top and bottom quark production near threshold. We show that the knowledge of new ${\cal O}(\alpha_s^3)$ correction leads to a significant reduction of the theoretical uncertainty in the determination of the quark masses.

Searching for planets analogous to Earth in terms of mass and equilibrium temperature is currently the first step in the quest for habitable conditions outside our Solar System and, ultimately, the search for life in the universe. Future missions such as PLATO or LIFE will begin to detect and characterise these small, cold planets, dedicating significant observation time to them. The aim of this work is to predict which stars are most likely to host an Earth-like planet (ELP) to avoid blind searches, minimises detection times, and thus maximises the number of detections. Using a previous study on correlations between the presence of an ELP and the properties of its system, we trained a Random Forest to recognise and classify systems as 'hosting an ELP' or 'not hosting an ELP'. The Random Forest was trained and tested on populations of synthetic planetary systems derived from the Bern model, and then applied to real observed systems. The tests conducted on the machine learning (ML) model yield precision scores of up to 0.99, indicating that 99% of the systems identified by the model as having ELPs possess at least one. Among the few real observed systems that have been tested, 44 have been selected as having a high probability of hosting an ELP, and a quick study of the stability of these systems confirms that the presence of an Earth-like planet within them would leave them stable. The excellent results obtained from the tests conducted on the ML model demonstrate its ability to recognise the typical architectures of systems with or without ELPs within populations derived from the Bern model. If we assume that the Bern model adequately describes the architecture of real systems, then such a tool can prove indispensable in the search for Earth-like planets. A similar approach could be applied to other planetary system formation models to validate those predictions.

We report the first double-differential cross section measurement of neutral-current neutral pion (NC$\pi^0$) production in neutrino-argon scattering, as well as single-differential measurements of the same channel in terms of final states with and without protons. The kinematic variables of interest for these measurements are the $\pi^0$ momentum and the $\pi^0$ scattering angle with respect to the neutrino beam. A total of 4971 candidate NC$\pi^0$ events fully-contained within the MicroBooNE detector are selected using data collected at a mean neutrino energy of $\sim 0.8$~GeV from $6.4\times10^{20}$ protons on target from the Booster Neutrino Beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. After extensive data-driven model validation to ensure unbiased unfolding, the Wiener-SVD method is used to extract nominal flux-averaged cross sections. The results are compared to predictions from commonly used neutrino event generators, which tend to overpredict the measured NC$\pi^0$ cross section, especially in the 0.2-0.5~GeV/c $\pi^0$ momentum range and at forward scattering angles. Events with at least one proton present in the final state are also underestimated. This data will help improve the modeling of NC$\pi^0$ production, which represents a major background in measurements of charge-parity violation in the neutrino sector and in searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model.

The pion decay constant and mass are computed at low temperature within Chiral Perturbation Theory to two loops. The effects of the breaking of Lorentz Symmetry by the thermal equilibrium state are discussed. The validity of the Gell-Mann Oakes Renner relation at finite temperature is examined.

This report summarizes the proceedings of the 2014 Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) scientific program on "High precision fundamental constants at the TeV scale". The two outstanding parameters in the Standard Model dealt with during the MITP scientific program are the strong coupling constant $\alpha_s$ and the top-quark mass $m_t$. Lacking knowledge on the value of those fundamental constants is often the limiting factor in the accuracy of theoretical predictions. The current status on $\alpha_s$ and $m_t$ has been reviewed and directions for future research have been identified.

The collection of planetary system properties derived from large surveys such as Kepler provides critical constraints on planet formation and evolution. These constraints can only be applied to planet formation models, however, if the observational biases and selection effects are properly accounted for. Here we show how epos, the Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator, can be used to constrain planet formation models by comparing the Bern planet population synthesis models to the Kepler exoplanetary systems. We compile a series of diagnostics, based on occurrence rates of different classes of planets and the architectures of multi-planet systems, that can be used as benchmarks for future and current modeling efforts. Overall, we find that a model with 100 seed planetary cores per protoplanetary disk provides a reasonable match to most diagnostics. Based on these diagnostics we identify physical properties and processes that would result in the Bern model more closely matching the known planetary systems. These are: moving the planet trap at the inner disk edge outward; increasing the formation efficiency of mini-Neptunes; and reducing the fraction of stars that form observable planets. We conclude with an outlook on the composition of planets in the habitable zone, and highlight that the majority of simulated planets smaller than 1.7 Earth radii have substantial hydrogen atmospheres. The software used in this paper is available online for public scrutiny at this https URL

In the past decade the study of exoplanet atmospheres at high-spectral resolution, via transmission/emission spectroscopy and cross-correlation techniques for atomic/molecular mapping, has become a powerful and consolidated methodology. The current limitation is the signal-to-noise ratio during a planetary transit. This limitation will be overcome by ANDES, an optical and near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph for the ELT. ANDES will be a powerful transformational instrument for exoplanet science. It will enable the study of giant planet atmospheres, allowing not only an exquisite determination of atmospheric composition, but also the study of isotopic compositions, dynamics and weather patterns, mapping the planetary atmospheres and probing atmospheric formation and evolution models. The unprecedented angular resolution of ANDES, will also allow us to explore the initial conditions in which planets form in proto-planetary disks. The main science case of ANDES, however, is the study of small, rocky exoplanet atmospheres, including the potential for biomarker detections, and the ability to reach this science case is driving its instrumental design. Here we discuss our simulations and the observing strategies to achieve this specific science goal. Since ANDES will be operational at the same time as NASA's JWST and ESA's ARIEL missions, it will provide enormous synergies in the characterization of planetary atmospheres at high and low spectral resolution. Moreover, ANDES will be able to probe for the first time the atmospheres of several giant and small planets in reflected light. In particular, we show how ANDES will be able to unlock the reflected light atmospheric signal of a golden sample of nearby non-transiting habitable zone earth-sized planets within a few tenths of nights, a scientific objective that no other currently approved astronomical facility will be able to reach.

The decay $\eta \to 3 \pi$ proceeds exclusively through isospin violating operators and is therefore an excellent probe to examine the strength of isospin breaking in the strong interaction. The latter can be expressed through the quark mass ratio $Q^2 = (m_s^2 - \hat{m}^2)/(m_d^2 - m_u^2)$. The main object of this thesis is to analyse the decay $\eta \to 3 \pi$ using dispersion relations in order to extract $Q$ as well as other physical quantities. The dispersion relations are a set of integral equations that lead to a representation of the decay amplitude in terms of four unknown subtraction constants. We apply two different methods to determine these. Following the procedure of Anisovich and Leutwyler, we match our dispersive representation to the one-loop result from chiral perturbation theory, thus updating their old analysis. In addition, we also make use of the recent experimental determination of the Dalitz distribution by the KLOE collaboration to obtain information on the subtraction constants. In this way we find $Q = 21.31^{+0.59}_{-0.50}$.

We present a measurement of electron neutrino interactions from the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam using the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber to address the nature of the excess of low energy interactions observed by the MiniBooNE collaboration. Three independent electron neutrino searches are performed across multiple single electron final states, including an exclusive search for two-body scattering events with a single proton, a semi-inclusive search for pion-less events, and a fully inclusive search for events containing all hadronic final states. With differing signal topologies, statistics, backgrounds, reconstruction algorithms, and analysis approaches, the results are found to be consistent with the nominal electron neutrino rate expectations from the Booster Neutrino Beam and no excess of electron neutrino events is observed.