Abstract: We study a supersymmetric version of the seesaw mechanism type III. The model consists of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model particle content plus three copies of 24 superfields. The fermionic part of the SU(2) triplet contained in the 24 is responsible for the type-III seesaw, which is used to explain the observed neutrino masses and mixings. Complete copies of 24 are introduced to maintain gauge coupling unification. These additional states change the beta functions of the gauge couplings above the seesaw scale. Using minimal Supergravity boundary conditions, we calculate the resulting supersymmetric mass spectra at the electroweak scale using full 2-loop renormalization group equations. We show that the resulting spectrum can be quite different compared to the usual minimal Supergravity spectrum. We discuss how this might be used to obtain information on the seesaw scale from mass measurements. Constraints on the model space due to limits on lepton flavour violating decays are discussed. The main constraints come from the bounds on μ-> e gamma but there are also regions where the decay tau -> μgamma gives stronger constraints. We also calculate the regions allowed by the dark matter constraint. For the sake of completeness, we compare our results with those for the supersymmetric seesaw type II and, to some extent, with type I.

Abstract: Based on a spin-flavor extension of chiral symmetry, a novel s-wave meson-meson interaction involving members of the rho nonet and of the pi octet is introduced, and its predictions are analyzed. The starting point is the SU(6) version of the SU(3)-flavor Weinberg-Tomozawa Lagrangian. SU(6) symmetry-breaking terms are then included to account for the physical meson masses and decay constants in a way that preserves (broken) chiral symmetry. Next, the T-matrix amplitudes are obtained by solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation in a coupled-channel scheme, and the poles are identified with their possible Particle Data Group counterparts. It is shown that most of the low-lying even-parity Particle Data Group meson resonances, especially in the J(P) = 0(+) and 1(+) sectors, can be classified according to multiplets of SU(6). The f(0)(1500), f(1)(1420), and some 0(+)(2(++)) resonances cannot be accommodated within this scheme, and thus they would be clear candidates to be glueballs or hybrids. Finally, we predict the existence of five exotic resonances (I >= 3/2 and/or vertical bar Y vertical bar = 2) with masses in the range of 1.4-1.6 GeV, which would complete the 27(1), 10(3), and 10(3)* multiplets of SU(3) circle times SU(2).

Abstract: In the past decade, one of the major challenges of particle physics has been to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of quark flavor. In this time frame, measurements and the theoretical interpretation of their results have advanced tremendously. A much broader understanding of flavor particles has been achieved; apart from their masses and quantum numbers, there now exist detailed measurements of the characteristics of their interactions allowing stringent tests of Standard Model predictions. Among the most interesting phenomena of flavor physics is the violation of the CP symmetry that has been subtle and difficult to explore. In the past, observations of CP violation were confined to neutral K mesons, but since the early 1990s, a large number of CP-violating processes have been studied in detail in neutral B mesons. In parallel, measurements of the couplings of the heavy quarks and the dynamics for their decays in large samples of K, D, and B mesons have been greatly improved in accuracy and the results are being used as probes in the search for deviations from the Standard Model. In the near future, there will be a transition from the current to a new generation of experiments; thus a review of the status of quark flavor physics is timely. This report is the result of the work of physicists attending the 5th CKM workshop, hosted by the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, September 9-13, 2008. It summarizes the results of the current generation of experiments that are about to be completed and it confronts these results with the theoretical understanding of the field which has greatly improved in the past decade.

Abstract: The cross section for jets from b quarks produced with a W boson has been measured in p (p) over bar collision data from 1: 9 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron. The W + b-jets process poses a significant background in measurements of top quark production and prominent searches for the Higgs boson. We measure a b-jet cross section of 2.74 + 0.27(stat) +/- 0.42(syst) pb in association with a single flavor of leptonic W boson decay over a limited kinematic phase space. This measured result cannot be accommodated in several available theoretical predictions.

Abstract: According to recent studies (Amin et al 2008 Phys. Rev. Lett. 100 060503), the effect of a thermal bath may improve the performance of a quantum adiabatic search algorithm. In this paper, we compare the effects of such a thermal environment on the algorithm performance with those of a structured environment similar to the one encountered in systems coupled to an electromagnetic field that exists within a photonic crystal. Whereas for all the parameter regimes explored here, the algorithm performance is worsened by contact with a thermal environment, the picture appears to be different when one considers a structured environment. In this case we show that by tuning the environment parameters to certain regimes, the algorithm performance can actually be improved with respect to the closed system case. Additionally, the relevance of considering the dissipation rates as complex quantities is discussed in both cases. More specifically, we find that the imaginary part of the rates cannot be neglected with the usual argument that it simply amounts to an energy shift and in fact influences crucially the system dynamics.