Forero, D. V., Morisi, S., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2011). Lepton flavor violation and non-unitary lepton mixing in low-scale type-I seesaw. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 142–18pp.
Abstract: Within low-scale seesaw mechanisms, such as the inverse and linear seesaw, one expects (i) potentially large lepton flavor violation (LFV) and (ii) sizeable non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI). We consider the interplay between the magnitude of non-unitarity effects in the lepton mixing matrix, and the constraints that follow from LFV searches in the laboratory. We find that NSI parameters can be sizeable, up to percent level in some cases, while LFV rates, such as that for μ-> e gamma, lie within current limits, including the recent one set by the MEG collaboration. As a result the upcoming long baseline neutrino experiments offer a window of opportunity for complementary LFV and weak universality tests.
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Forero, D. V., & Guzzo, M. M. (2011). Constraining nonstandard neutrino interactions with electrons. Phys. Rev. D, 84(1), 013002–7pp.
Abstract: We update the phenomenological constraints of the nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSNI) with electrons including in the analysis, for the first time, data from LAMPF, Krasnoyarsk, and the latest Texono observations. We assume that NSNI modify the cross section of elastic scattering of (anti) neutrinos off electrons, using reactor and accelerator data, and the cross section of the electron-positron annihilation, using the four LEP experiments, in particular, new data from DELPHI. We find more restrictive allowed regions for the NSNI parameters: -0.11< epsilon(eR)(ee) < 0.05 and -0.02 < epsilon(eL)(ee) < 0.09 (90% C.L.). We also recalculate the parameters of tauonic flavor obtaining -0.35 < epsilon(eR)(tau tau) < 0.50 and -0.51 < epsilon(eL)(tau tau) < 0.34 (90% C.L.). Although more severe than the limits already present in the literature, our results indicate that NSNI are allowed by the present data as a subleading effect, and the standard electroweak model continues consistent with the experimental panorama at 90% C.L. Further improvement on this picture will deserve a lot of engagement of upcoming experiments.
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Fornengo, N., Lineros, R. A., Regis, M., & Taoso, M. (2011). Possibility of a Dark Matter Interpretation for the Excess in Isotropic Radio Emission Reported by ARCADE. Phys. Rev. Lett., 107(27), 271302–5pp.
Abstract: The ARCADE 2 Collaboration has recently measured an isotropic radio emission which is significantly brighter than the expected contributions from known extra-galactic sources. The simplest explanation of such excess involves a "new'' population of unresolved sources which become the most numerous at very low (observationally unreached) brightness. We investigate this scenario in terms of synchrotron radiation induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) annihilations or decays in extra-galactic halos. Intriguingly, for light-mass WIMPs with a thermal annihilation cross section, the level of expected radio emission matches the ARCADE observations.
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Fujita, Y., Rubio, B., & Gelletly, W. (2011). Spin-isospin excitations probed by strong, weak and electro-magnetic interactions. Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys., 66(3), 549–606.
Abstract: Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions are the most common weak interaction processes of spin-isospin (sigma tau) type in atomic nuclei. They are of interest not only in nuclear physics but also in astrophysics; they play an important role in supernovae explosions and nucleosynthesis. The direct study of weak decay processes, however, gives relatively limited information about GT transitions and the states excited via GT transitions (GT states); beta decay can only access states at excitation energies lower than the decay Q-value, and neutrino-induced reactions have very small cross-sections. However, one should note that beta decay has a direct access to the absolute GT transition strengths B(GT) from a study of half-lives, Q(beta)-values and branching ratios. They also provide information on GT transitions in nuclei far-from-stability. Studies of M1 gamma transitions provide similar information. In contrast, the complementary charge-exchange (CE) reactions, such as the (p, n) or ((3)He, t) reactions at intermediate beam energies and 0 degrees, can selectively excite GT states up to high excitation energies in the final nucleus. It has been found empirically that there is a close proportionality between the cross-sections at 0 degrees and the transition strengths B(GT) in these CE reactions. Therefore, CE reactions are useful tools to study the relative values of B(GT) strengths up to high excitation energies. In recent ((3)He, t) measurements, one order-of-magnitude improvement in the energy resolution has been achieved. This has made it possible to make one-to-one comparisons of GT transitions studied in CE reactions and beta decays. Thus GT strengths in ((3)He, t) reactions can be normalised by the beta-decay values. In addition, comparisons with closely related M1 transitions studied in gamma decay or electron inelastic scattering [(e, e')1, and furthermore with “spin” M I transitions that can be studied by proton inelastic scattering [(p, p')[ have now been made possible. In these comparisons, the isospin quantum number T and associated symmetry structure in the same mass A nuclei (isobars) play a key role. Isospin symmetry can extend our scope even to the structures of unstable nuclei that are far from reach at present unstable beam factories.
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LHCf Collaboration(Adriani, O. et al), Faus-Golfe, A., & Velasco, J. (2011). Measurement of zero degree single photon energy spectra for sqrt(s) = 7 TeV proton-proton collisions at LHC. Phys. Lett. B, 703(2), 128–134.
Abstract: In early 2010. the Large Hadron Collider forward (LHCf) experiment measured very forward neutral particle spectra in LHC proton-proton collisions. From a limited data set taken under the best beam conditions (low beam-gas background and low occurrence of pile-up events), the single photon spectra at root s = 7 TeV and pseudo-rapidity (eta) ranges from 8.81 to 8.99 and from 10.94 to infinity were obtained for the first time and are reported in this Letter. The spectra from two independent LHCf detectors are consistent with one another and serve as a cross check of the data. The photon spectra are also compared with the predictions of several hadron interaction models that are used extensively for modeling ultra-high energy cosmic-ray showers. Despite conservative estimates for the systematic errors, none of the models agree perfectly with the measurements. A notable difference is found between the data and the DPMJET 3.04 and PYTHIA 8.145 hadron interaction models above 2 TeV where the models predict higher photon yield than the data. The QGSJET II-03 model predicts overall lower photon yield than the data, especially above 2 TeV in the rapidity range 8.81 < eta < 8.99.
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