Revamped braneworld gravity
Gravity in five-dimensional braneworld backgrounds often exhibits problematic features, including kinetic ghosts, strong coupling, and the vDVZ discontinuity. These problems are an obstacle to producing and analyzing braneworld models with interesting and potentially observable modifications of 4d gravity. We examine these problems in a general AdS{sub 5}/AdS{sub 4} setup with two branes and localized curvature from arbitrary brane kinetic terms. We use the interval approach and an explicit ''straight'' gauge-fixing. We compute the complete quadratic gauge-fixed effective 4d action, as well as the leading cubic order corrections. We compute the exact Green's function for gravity as seen on the brane. In the full parameter space, we exhibit the regions which avoid kinetic ghosts and tachyons. We give a general formula for the strong coupling scale, i.e. the energy scale at which the linearized treatment of gravity breaks down, for relevant regions of the parameter space. We show how the vDVZ discontinuity can be naturally but nontrivially avoided by ultralight graviton modes. We present a direct comparison of warping versus localized curvature in terms of their effects on graviton mode couplings. We exhibit the first example of DGP-like crossover behavior in a general warped setup.

title: Interval approach to braneworld gravity
abstract: Gravity in five-dimensional braneworld backgrounds may exhibit extra scalar degrees of freedom with problematic features, including kinetic ghosts and strong coupling behavior. Analysis of such effects is hampered by the standard heuristic approaches to braneworld gravity, which use the equations of motion as the starting point, supplemented by orbifold projections and junction conditions. Here we develop the interval approach to braneworld gravity, which begins with an action principle. This shows how to implement general covariance, despite allowing metric fluctuations that do not vanish on the boundaries. We reproduce simple ${\mathbf{Z}}_{\mathbf{2}}$ orbifolds of gravity, even though in this approach we never perform a ${\mathbf{Z}}_{\mathbf{2}}$ projection. We introduce a family of ``straight gauges'', which are bulk coordinate systems in which both branes appear as straight slices in a single coordinate patch. Straight gauges are extremely useful for analyzing metric fluctuations in braneworld models. By explicit gauge-fixing, we show that a general $\mathrm{Ad}{\mathrm{S}}_{5}/\mathrm{Ad}{\mathrm{S}}_{4}$ setup with two branes has at most a radion, but no physical ``brane-bending'' modes.

title: Unified approach to cosmic acceleration
abstract: We present a unified framework for the study of late time cosmic acceleration. Using methods of effective field theory, we show that existing proposals for late time acceleration can be subsumed in a single framework, rather than many compartmentalized theories. We construct the most general action consistent with symmetry principles, derive the background and perturbation evolution equations, and demonstrate that for special choices of our parameters we can reproduce results already existing in the literature. Lastly, we lay the foundation for future work placing phenomenological constraints on the parameters of the effective theory. Although in this paper we focus on late time acceleration, our construction also generalizes the effective field theory of inflation to the scalar-tensor and multifield case for perturbatively constructed backgrounds.

title: Rigorous approach to gravitational lensing
abstract: We revisit a weak gravitational lensing problem by constructing a setup which describes the actual system as accurately as possible and solving the null geodesic equations. Details are given for the case of a universe driven only by a cosmological constant, {lambda}, which confirm the conventional results: The conventional lensing analysis is correct as it is, without any need for correction of O({lambda}). We also treat the cases of the lensing in generic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker backgrounds.

title: Dark energy or modified gravity? An effective field theory approach
abstract: We take an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach to unifying existing proposals for the origin of cosmic acceleration and its connection to cosmological observations. Building on earlier work where EFT methods were used with observations to constrain the background evolution, we extend this program to the level of the EFT of the cosmological perturbations — following the example from the EFT of Inflation. Within this framework, we construct the general theory around an assumed background which will typically be chosen to mimic ΛCDM, and identify the parameters of interest for constraining dark energy and modified gravity models with observations. We discuss the similarities to the EFT of Inflation, but we also identify a number of subtleties including the relationship between the scalar perturbations and the Goldstone boson of the spontaneously broken time translations. We present formulae that relate the parameters of the fundamental Lagrangian to the speed of sound, anisotropic shear stress, effective Newtonian constant, and Caldwell's parameter, emphasizing the connection to observations. It is anticipated that this framework will be of use in constraining individual models, as well as for placing model-independent constraints on dark energy and modified gravity model building.

title: Vacua and instantons of ghost-free massive gravity
abstract: Recently discovered models of ghost-free massive gravity and bigravity are characterized by a nontrivial potential that gives rise to a rich vacuum structure. We review maximally symmetric vacua of the de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley (dRGT) massive gravity and of the Hassan-Rosen (HR) bigravity and discuss their perturbative stability. In particular, we discuss perturbations about self-accelerating vacua in HR bigravity and argue that, analogously to what was found in the case of dRGT gravity, some of them contain strongly coupled modes. We then show that it is impossible to construct regular instantons connecting different classically stable vacua of dRGT gravity without violating energy conservation or the null energy condition.

title: Fermi Gamma Ray Line at 130 GeV from Axion-Mediated Dark Matter
abstract: We consider a singlet Dirac fermion with Peccei-Quinn(PQ) symmetry as dark matter. A singlet complex scalar is introduced to mediate between dark matter and the SM through Higgs portal interaction and electroweak PQ anomalies. We show that a resonant annihilation of dark matter with axion mediation can explain the monochromatic photon line of the Fermi LAT data at 130GeV by anomaly interactions while the annihilation cross section with Higgs portal interaction is p-wave suppressed. We discuss the interplay between the direct detection of the fermion dark matter and the collider search of Higgs-like scalars. We also present a ultra-violet completion of the dark matter model into the NMSSM with PQ symmetry.

title: Interplay between Fermi gamma-ray lines and collider searches
abstract: A bstractWe explore the interplay between lines in the gamma-ray spectrum and LHC searches involving missing energy and photons. As an example, we consider a singlet Dirac fermion dark matter with the mediator for Fermi gamma-ray line at 130 GeV. A new chiral or local U(1) symmetry makes weak-scale dark matter natural and provides the axion or Z′ gauge boson as the mediator connecting between dark matter and electroweak gauge bosons. In these models, the mediator particle can be produced in association with a monophoton at colliders and it produces large missing energy through the decays into a DM pair or ZZ, Zγ with at least one Z decaying into a neutrino pair. We adopt the monophoton searches with large missing energy at the LHC and impose the bounds on the coupling and mass of the mediator field in the models. We show that the parameter space of the Z′ mediation model is already strongly constrained by the LHC 8TeV data, whereas a certain region of the parameter space away from the resonance in axion-like mediator models are bounded. We foresee the monophoton bounds on the Z′ and axion mediation models at the LHC 14 TeV.

title: Precise reconstruction of sparticle masses without ambiguities
abstract: We critically reexamine the standard applications of the method of kinematical endpoints for sparticle mass determination. We consider the typical decay chain in supersymmetry (SUSY) ? 02 ? ? 01, which yields a jet j, and two leptons ?n? and ?f. The conventional approaches use the upper kinematical endpoints of the individual distributions mj??, mj?(lo) = min {mj?n,mj?f} and mj?(hi) = max {mj?n,mj?f}, all three of which suffer from parameter space region ambiguities and may lead to multiple solutions for the SUSY mass spectrum. In contrast, we do not use mj??, mj?(lo) and mj?(hi), and instead propose a new set of (infinitely many) variables whose upper kinematic endpoints exhibit reduced sensitivity to the parameter space region. We then outline an alternative, much simplified procedure for obtaining the SUSY mass spectrum. In particular, we show that the four endpoints observed in the three distributions m2??, m2j?n?m2j?f and m2j?n+m2j?f are sufficient to completely pin down the squark mass m and the two neutralino masses m02 and m01, leaving only a discrete 2-fold ambiguity for the slepton mass m. This remaining ambiguity can be easily resolved in a number of different ways: for example, by a single additional measurement of the kinematic endpoint of any one out of the many remaining 1-dimensional distributions at our disposal, or by exploring the correlations in the 2-dimensional distribution of m2j?n?m2j?f versus m2??. We illustrate our method with two examples: the LM1 and LM6 CMS study points. An additional advantage of our method is the expected improvement in the accuracy of the SUSY mass determination, due to the multitude and variety of available measurements.

title: Using Subsystem MT2 for Complete Mass Determinations in Decay Chains with Missing Energy at Hadron Colliders
abstract: We propose to use the MT2 concept to measure the masses of all particles in SUSY-like events with two unobservable, identical particles. To this end we generalize the usual notion of MT2 and define a new MT2(n,p,c) variable, which can be applied to various subsystem topologies, as well as the full event topology. We derive analytic formulas for its endpoint MT2,max(n,p,c) as a function of the unknown test mass c of the final particle in the subchain and the transverse momentum pT due to radiation from the initial state. We show that the endpoint functions MT2,max(n,p,c)(c,pT) may exhibit three different types of kinks and discuss the origin of each type. We prove that the subsystem MT2(n,p,c) variables by themselves already yield a sufficient number of measurements for a complete determination of the mass spectrum (including the overall mass scale). As an illustration, we consider the simple case of a decay chain with up to three heavy particles, X2 → X1 → X0, which is rather problematic for all other mass measurement methods. We propose three different MT2-based methods, each of which allows a complete determination of the masses of particles X0, X1 and X2. The first method only uses MT2(n,p,c) endpoint measurements at a single fixed value of the test mass c. In the second method the unknown mass spectrum is fitted to one or more endpoint functions MT2,max(n,p,c)(c,pT) exhibiting a kink. The third method is hybrid, combining MT2 endpoints with measurements of kinematic edges in invariant mass distributions. As a practical application of our methods, we show that the dilepton W+W− and t samples at the Tevatron can be used for an independent determination of the masses of the top quark, the W boson and the neutrino, without any prior assumptions.

title: The role of interference in unraveling the ZZ-couplings of the newly discovered boson at the LHC
abstract: We present a general procedure for measuring the tensor structure of the coupling of the scalar Higgs-like boson recently discovered at the LHC to two Z bosons, including the effects of interference among different operators. To motivate our concern with this interference, we explore the parameter space of the couplings in the effective theory describing these interactions and illustrate the effects of interference on the differential dilepton mass distributions. Kinematic discriminants for performing coupling measurements that utilize the effects of interference are developed and described. We present projections for the sensitivity of coupling measurements that use these discriminants in future LHC operation in a variety of physics scenarios.