Luca Merlo
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are typically identified as pseudoscalars whose couplings are shift-symmetry invariant with the exception of their couplings to gauge bosons and their mass term. Additionally, the ALP mass $m_a$ is usually…
The Weakly-Interacting Slim Particle encyclopedia (WISPedia) is a comprehensive reference work dedicated to the systematic compilation of theoretical models, Effective Field Theories, and frameworks involving Weakly Interacting Slim…
Axions and other very weakly interacting slim particles (WISPs), with masses below 1 GeV, arise naturally in many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics. In particular, they could offer a new framework to explain the nature of…
We investigate the role of vector boson fusion (VBF) and associated production with an electroweak boson (V-AP) of beyond-the-Standard-Model Higgses at the LHC in probing CP violation in extended Higgs sectors. Resonant production of a new…
The ALP Automatic Computing Algorithm, ALPaca, is an open source Python library devoted to studying the phenomenology of Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) with masses in the ranges $m_a \in [0.01 - 10]$ GeV. ALPaca provides a flexible and…
We present a comprehensive study of axion-like particles (ALPs) in meson decays, combining effective field theory and ultraviolet models within the open-source tool ALPaca. The analysis accounts for running and matching effects across…
Axion-like particles (ALPs) and heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) are two well-motivated classes of particles beyond the Standard Model. It is intriguing to explore the new detection opportunities that may arise if both particle types coexist.…
We show that the conditions allowing for a spontaneous breaking of the $U(1)_Y$ hypercharge gauge symmetry of the Standard Model (SM) in the early Universe are generically present in extensions of the SM addressing the generation of light…
We present a model where a GeV axion-like-particle (ALP) is predicted in a large portion of the parameter space due to the presence of explicit Peccei-Quinn symmetry-breaking terms in an exotic leptonic sector. The latter provides a…
Over the last fifty years, the United States have experienced hundreds of mass public shootings that resulted in thousands of victims. Characterized by their frequent occurrence and devastating nature, mass shootings have become a major…
In this paper we develop a novel hidden Markov graphical model to investigate time-varying interconnectedness between different financial markets. To identify conditional correlation structures under varying market conditions and…
We present a model where a GeV axion-like-particle (ALP) is predicted in a large portion of the parameter space due to the presence of explicit Peccei-Quinn symmetry-breaking terms in an exotic leptonic sector. The latter provides a…
The role of cryptocurrencies within the financial systems has been expanding rapidly in recent years among investors and institutions. It is therefore crucial to investigate the phenomena and develop statistical methods able to capture…
A convincing explanation of the smallness of neutrino masses is represented by the Type-I Seesaw mechanism, where the two measured neutrino mass differences can be generated by introducing at least two right-handed neutrinos. In an…
The recent tension between local and early measurements of the Hubble constant can be explained in a particle physics context. A mechanism is presented where this tension is alleviated due to the presence of a Majoron, arising from the…
In this paper we develop a linear expectile hidden Markov model for the analysis of cryptocurrency time series in a risk management framework. The methodology proposed allows to focus on extreme returns and describe their temporal evolution…
We elaborate how to apply the Hilbert series method to enumerating group covariants, which transform under any given representation, including but going beyond group invariants. Mathematically, group covariants form a module over the ring…
In this paper, we develop a unified regression approach to model unconditional quantiles, M-quantiles and expectiles of multivariate dependent variables exploiting the multidimensional Huber's function. To assess the impact of changes in…
With no evidence of any exotic particle detected so far beyond the Standard Model, the new physics may lie above the presently accessible energies at colliders and, at low-energies, can be accounted for via an effective description. The…
We develop new matching estimators for estimating causal quantile exposure-response functions and quantile exposure effects with continuous treatments. We provide identification results for the parameters of interest and establish the…