The parameter ε_K is an important measure of the imbalance between matter and antimatter in the neutral kaon system. In particular, ε_K provides a sensitive probe of new physics and plays a critical role in the global fit of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. As one of the first discovered sources of CP violation, it has been extensively measured in experiment to per-mil precision. The theoretical calculation of ε_K, however, has historically been plagued by large perturbative errors arising from charm-quark corrections. These errors were larger than the expected magnitude of higher-order electroweak corrections in perturbation theory, rendering these contributions irrelevant. Recently, it was discovered that a simple re-parameterization of the theory drastically reduces perturbative errors, making these higher-order electroweak calculations worth-while. We present the two-loop electroweak contributions from the top quark to ε_K. In the traditional normalization of the weak Hamiltonian, this results in a -1% shift in the top quark contribution.

 I will introduce a class of new mechanisms for low-scale baryogenesis and dark matter production that utilize the CP violation within Standard Model meson systems. Mesogenesismechanisms operate at MeV scales and such, remarkably, are experimentally testable. I will first give an overview of B-Mesogenesis; in which baryogenesis proceeds through the oscillation and subsequent decay into a dark sector of neutral B mesons. B-Mesogenesis is testable at current hadron colliders and B-factories, and I will present results of recent studies that pave the way towards constraining (or discovering) this mechanism. Finally, I will present some recent proposals for charged Mesogenesis which relies on the CP violation of charged D and B mesons. 

Solitons in space–time capable of transporting time-like observers at superluminal speeds have long been tied to violations of the weak, strong, and dominant energy conditions of general relativity. The negative-energy sources required for these solitons must be created through energy-intensive uncertainty principle processes as no such classical source is known in particle physics. This talk presents an approach for overcoming this barrier, explicitly constructing a class of soliton solutions that are capable of superluminal motion and sourced by purely positive energy densities. This is the first example of hyper-fast solitons resulting from conventional sources, reopening the discussion of superluminal mechanisms rooted in conventional physics. I will also comment on the place this work takes in the larger literature, including recent contributions to the literature.

Abstract: I will discuss the origin of the proton mass from the Hamiltonian and gravitational form factor formulations. After examining the mass decomposition in the stress-energy-momentum tensor, it is found that the glue part of the trace anomaly can be identified as  the vacuum energy from the glue condensate and gives a CONSTANT restoring pressure which balances that from the traceless part of the Hamiltonian to confine the hadron, much like the cosmological constant Einstein introduced for a static universe.

 The separation of the connected and disconnected sea partons is accommodated with the CT18 parametrization of the global analysis of the parton distribution functions (PDFs). This is achieved with the help of the constraint from the lattice calculation of the ratio of the strange momentum fraction to that of the $\bar u$ or $\bar d$ in the disconnected insertion. We give the second moments for valence, connected and disconnected sea partons to be compared with lattice calculation for each parton degree of freedom.

Recording: https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/x1ImgASuPUJov7Ne_aozqohMBhnDrsmxUdUAUzIWmWvEhWY7eKLDM9DlfRJchRlZ.XhF8I9asiwyoAZR9

Abstract: The exterior dynamics of black holes has played a major role in holographic duality, describing the approach to thermal equilibrium of strongly coupled media. The interior dynamics of black holes in a holographic setting has, in contrast, been largely unexplored. I will describe recent work investigating the classical interior dynamics of various holographic black holes. I will discuss the nature of the singularity, the absence of Cauchy horizons and a new kind of chaotic behavior that emerges in the presence of charged scalar fields.

Meeting Recording:

https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/TkOc8UROEG94RxH0mFCIrlA5PXG4puUGNzbUFMEX_…

Abstract:

I will review applications of superconformal algebra, light-front holography, and an extended form of conformal symmetry to hadron spectroscopy and dynamics.  QCD is not supersymmetrical in the traditional sense -- the QCD Lagrangian is based on quark and gluonic fields -- not squarks nor gluinos. However, its hadronic eigensolutions conform to a representation of superconformal algebra, reflecting the underlying conformal symmetry of chiral QCD. The eigensolutions of superconformal algebra provide a unified Regge spectroscopy of meson, baryon, and tetraquarks of the same parity and twist as equal-mass members of the same 4-plet representation with a universal Regge slope. The pion $q \bar q$ eigenstate is composite but yet has zero mass for $m_q=0.$ Light-Front Holography also predicts  the form of the nonperturbative QCD running coupling:  $\alpha_s(Q^2) \propto \exp{-{Q^2/4 \kappa^2}}$,  in agreement with the effective charge  determined from measurements of the Bjorken sum rule.  One also obtains viable predictions for tests of hadron dynamics such as spacelike and timelike hadronic form factors, structure functions, distribution amplitudes, and transverse momentum distributions. The combined approach of light-front holography and superconformal algebra also provides insight into the origin of the QCD mass scale and color confinement. 

Meeting Recording: https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/4gikhbSI-gtJ3q5r5Zm0UUvryMZYzUJZe_GEJcDt0…

Slides: https://www.dropbox.com/s/33wnv8m3p9fknsv/UofK%20April%2019%2C%202021%2…

Abstract: If dark matter exists, the only way it is guaranteed to couple to visible matter is through gravity. Trying to directly detect dark matter in a terrestrial laboratory through this coupling would be very difficult due to the weakness of gravity. However, it has recently been suggested that an array of quantum-limited mechanical sensors could be constructed to detect heavy (roughly Planck-scale) dark matter candidates purely via gravity. I'll review the basic idea, some applications to other (non-gravitational) dark matter detection, and some current experimental work.

Meeting Recording:

https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/ARInrU5_4b1VJXOaEjtXd1amCNo_XF48f8i9z198J…

Abstract: 

The eikonalized parton-parton scattering amplitude at large energy and large impact parameter, is dominated by the exchange of a hyperbolic surface in walled AdS. Its analytical continuation yields a worldsheet instanton that is at the origin of the Reggeization of the amplitude and a thermal-like quantum entropy. I will construct the entangled density matrix following from the exchanged surface, and show that its von-Neumann entanglement entropy coincides with its thermal-like entropy. The ratio of the entanglement entropy to the transverse growth of the exchanged surface is similar to the Bekenstein entropy ratio for a black-hole, with a natural definition of saturation and the onset of chaos in high energy collisions. The largest eigenvalues of the entangled density matrix obey a cascade equation in rapidity, reminiscent of non-linear QCD evolution of wee-dipoles at low-x and weak coupling. We suggest that the largest eigenvalues describe the probability distributions of wee-quanta at low-x and strong coupling that maybe measurable at present and future hadron-hadron and lepton-hadron colliders. 

Zoom recording:

https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/rqXUhPLxSGTdJhVnJf12XsY8RDdxA0wGsINl0GN9QAjcUWnIAV2MMzKTzonlt-j5.R6ZV7h0kbQBW6cEg

Abstract:

Holography apparently relates certain quantum field theories to quantum theories of gravity. The original instance of this is Maldacena's duality between maximally supersymmetric gauge theories and type II string theory in the presence of D-branes. In the ’t Hooft limit, and at appropriate temperatures, the dual to the gauge theory is described by certain black holes (or rather black p-branes). This allows the remarkable opportunity to perform calculations of quantum black holes through the equivalent gauge theory, and to check the consistency of holographic duality. I will discuss such calculations, and the progress that has been made over the last decade in showing that the predicted gravity behaviour does indeed emerge from thermal gauge theory.

Zoom recording: https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/cgZ6qA4I31INnhMejC1b3qkTBi-EyCcPkqwcoGocj…

Abstract:

Perturbation theory for gravitating quantum systems tends to fail at very late times (a type of perturbative breakdown known as secular growth). We argue that gravity is best treated as a medium/environment in such situations, where reliable late-time predictions can be made using tools borrowed from quantum optics. To show how this works, we study the explicit example of a qubit hovering just outside the event horizon of a Schwarzschild black hole (coupled to a real scalar field) and reliably extract the late-time behaviour for the qubit state. At very late times, the so-called Unruh-DeWitt detector is shown to asymptote to a thermal state at the Hawking temperature.

Zoom recording:

https://uky.zoom.us/rec/share/RBkqDC6mzFriYeAhirHc7p8nkB2euPPOWVfCfRlJj…