In this talk I will talk about my recent article where we propose a simpler way to combine the seesaw and the scotogenic approaches, by making dark matter the seed of neutrino mass generation within a low-scale seesaw mechanism. For definiteness we take the inverse seesaw as our template. I will discuss thoroughly both the possibilities of explicit as well as dynamical lepton number violation. For the case of dynamical lepton number violation I will discuss in some detail the phenomenology of invisible Higgs decays with majoron emission, as well as the phenomenology of scotogenic WIMP dark matter.

We present the first lattice-QCD calculation of the unpolarized strange and charm parton distribution functions using large-momentum effective theory (LaMET). We use a lattice ensemble with 2+1+1 flavors of highly improved staggered quarks (HISQ) generated by MILC collaboration, with lattice spacing a ≈ 0.12 fm and Mπ ≈ 310 MeV, and clover valence fermions with two valence pion masses: 310 and 690 MeV. We use momentum-smeared sources to improve the signal up to nucleon boost momentum Pz = 2.18 GeV,  and determine nonperturbative renormalization factors in RI/MOM scheme. We compare our lattice results with the matrix elements obtained from matching the PDFs from CT18NNLO and NNPDF3.1NNLO global fits. Our data support the assumptions of strange-antistrange and charm-anticharm symmetry that are commonly used in global PDF fits.

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: 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.