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Barragan, C., & Olmo, G. J. (2010). Isotropic and anisotropic bouncing cosmologies in Palatini gravity. Phys. Rev. D, 82(8), 084015–15pp.
Abstract: We study isotropic and anisotropic (Bianchi I) cosmologies in Palatini f(R) and f(R, R μnu R μnu) theories of gravity with a perfect fluid and consider the existence of nonsingular bouncing solutions in the early universe. We find that all f(R) models with isotropic bouncing solutions develop shear singularities in the anisotropic case. On the contrary, the simple quadratic model R + aR(2)/R-P + R μnu R μnu/R-P exhibits regular bouncing solutions in both isotropic and anisotropic cases for a wide range of equations of state, including dust (for a<0) and radiation (for arbitrary a). It thus represents a purely gravitational solution to the big bang singularity and anisotropy problems of general relativity without the need for exotic (w>1) sources of matter/energy or extra degrees of freedom.
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Bernabeu, J., Espinoza, C., & Mavromatos, N. E. (2010). Cosmological constant and local gravity. Phys. Rev. D, 81(8), 084002–7pp.
Abstract: We discuss the linearization of Einstein equations in the presence of a cosmological constant, by expanding the solution for the metric around a flat Minkowski space-time. We demonstrate that one can find consistent solutions to the linearized set of equations for the metric perturbations, in the Lorentz gauge, which are not spherically symmetric, but they rather exhibit a cylindrical symmetry. We find that the components of the gravitational field satisfying the appropriate Poisson equations have the property of ensuring that a scalar potential can be constructed, in which both contributions, from ordinary matter and Lambda > 0, are attractive. In addition, there is a novel tensor potential, induced by the pressure density, in which the effect of the cosmological constant is repulsive. We also linearize the Schwarzschild-de Sitter exact solution of Einstein's equations ( due to a generalization of Birkhoff's theorem) in the domain between the two horizons. We manage to transform it first to a gauge in which the 3-space metric is conformally flat and, then, make an additional coordinate transformation leading to the Lorentz gauge conditions. We compare our non-spherically symmetric solution with the linearized Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric, when the latter is transformed to the Lorentz gauge, and we find agreement. The resulting metric, however, does not acquire a proper Newtonian form in terms of the unique scalar potential that solves the corresponding Poisson equation. Nevertheless, our solution is stable, in the sense that the physical energy density is positive.
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Taoso, M., Iocco, F., Meynet, G., Bertone, G., & Eggenberger, P. (2010). Effect of low mass dark matter particles on the Sun. Phys. Rev. D, 82(8), 083509–14pp.
Abstract: We study the effect of dark matter (DM) particles in the Sun, focusing, in particular, on the possible reduction of the solar neutrinos flux due to the energy carried away by DM particles from the innermost regions of the Sun, and to the consequent reduction of the temperature of the solar core. We find that in the very low-mass range between 4 and 10 GeV, recently advocated to explain the findings of the DAMA and CoGent experiments, the effects on neutrino fluxes are detectable only for DM models with a very small, or vanishing, self-annihilation cross section, such as the so-called asymmetric DM models, and we study the combination of DM masses and spin-dependent cross sections which can be excluded with current solar neutrino data. Finally, we revisit the recent claim that DM models with large self-interacting cross sections can lead to a modification of the position of the convective zone, alleviating or solving the solar composition problem. We show that when the "geometric'' upper limit on the capture rate is correctly taken into account, the effects of DM are reduced by orders of magnitude, and the position of the convective zone remains unchanged.
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BABAR Collaboration(del Amo Sanchez, P. et al), Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., Milanes, D. A., & Oyanguren, A. (2010). Measurement of D-0-(D)over-bar(0) Mixing Parameters Using D-0 -> K-S(0)pi(+) pi(-) and D-0 -> (KSK+K-)-K-0 Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(8), 081803–7pp.
Abstract: We report a direct measurement of D-0-(D) over bar (0) mixing parameters through a time-dependent amplitude analysis of the Dalitz plots of D-0 -> K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) and, for the first time, D-0 -> (KSK+K-)-K-0 decays. The low-momentum pion pi(+)(s) in the decay D*(+) -> D-0 pi(+)(s) identifies the flavor of the neutral D meson at its production. Using 468.5 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) colliding-beam data recorded near root s = 10.6 by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy collider at SLAC, we measure the mixing parameters x = [1.6 + 2.3(stat) +/- 1.2(syst) +/- 0.8(model)] X 10(-3), and y = [5.7 +/- 2.0(stat) +/- 1.3(syst) +/- 0.7(model)] X 10(-3). These results provide the best measurement to date of x and y. The knowledge of the value of x, in particular, is crucial for understanding the origin of mixing.
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CDF Collaboration(Aaltonen, T. et al), & Cabrera, S. (2010). Search for the Production of Scalar Bottom Quarks in p(p)over-bar Collisions at root s=1.96 TeV. Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(8), 081802–7pp.
Abstract: We report on a search for direct scalar bottom quark (sbottom) pair production in p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV, in events with large missing transverse energy and two jets of hadrons in the final state, where at least one of the jets is required to be identified as originating from a b quark. The study uses a collider detector at Fermilab Run II data sample corresponding to 2.65 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity. The data are in agreement with the standard model. In an R-parity conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario, and assuming that the sbottom decays exclusively into a bottom quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits on the sbottom pair production cross section of 0.1 pb are obtained. For neutralino masses below 70 GeV/c(2), sbottom masses up to 230 GeV/c(2) are excluded at 95% confidence level.
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