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Di Valentino, E., Melchiorri, A., & Mena, O. (2013). Dark radiation sterile neutrino candidates after Planck data. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 018–13pp.
Abstract: Recent Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) results from the Planck satellite, combined with previous CMB data and Hubble constant measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope, provide a constraint on the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom 3.62(-0.48)(+0.50) at 95% CL. New Planck data provide a unique opportunity to place limits on models containing relativistic species at the decoupling epoch. We present here the bounds on sterile neutrino models combining Planck data with galaxy clustering information. Assuming N-eff active plus sterile massive neutrino species, in the case of a Planck+WP+HighL+HST analysis we find m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.36 eV and 3.14 < N-eff < 4.15 at 95% CL, while using Planck+WP+HighL data in combination with the full shape of the galaxy power spectrum from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey BOSS Data Relase 9 measurements, we find that 3.30 < N-eff < 4.43 and m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.33 eV both at 95% CL with the three active neutrinos having the minimum mass allowed in the normal hierarchy scheme, i.e. Sigma m(nu) similar to 0.06 eV. These values compromise the viability of the (3 + 2) massive sterile neutrino models for the parameter region indicated by global fits of neutrino oscillation data. Within the (3 + 1) massive sterile neutrino scenario, we find m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.34 eV at 95% CL. While the existence of one extra sterile massive neutrino state is compatible with current oscillation data, the values for the sterile neutrino mass preferred by oscillation analyses are significantly higher than the current cosmological bound. We review as well the bounds on extended dark sectors with additional light species based on the latest Planck CMB observations.
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Mena, O., & Razzaque, S. (2013). Hints of an axion-like particle mixing in the GeV gamma-ray blazar data? J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 023–12pp.
Abstract: Axion-Like Particles (ALPs), if exist in nature, are expected to mix with photons in the presence of an external magnetic field. The energy range of photons which undergo strong mixing with ALPs depends on the ALP mass, on its coupling with photons as well as on the external magnetic field and particle density configurations. Recent observations of blazars by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope in the 0.1-300 GeV energy range show a break in their spectra in the 1-10 GeV range. We have modeled this spectral feature for the flat-spectrum radio quasar 3C454.3 during its November 2010 outburst, assuming that a significant fraction of the gamma rays convert to ALPs in the large scale jet of this blazar. Using theoretically motivated models for the magnetic field and particle density con figurations in the kiloparsec scale jet, outside the broad-line region, we find an ALP mass m(a) similar to (1 – 3).10(-7) eV and coupling g(a gamma) similar to (1 – 3).10(-10) GeV-1 after performing an illustrative statistical analysis of spectral data in four different epochs of emission. The precise values of m(a) and g(a gamma) depend weakly on the assumed particle density con figuration and are consistent with the current experimental bounds on these quantities. We apply this method and ALP parameters found from fitting 3C454.3 data to another flat-spectrum radio quasar PKS1222+216 (4C+21.35) data up to 400 GeV, as a consistency check, and found good fit. We find that the ALP-photon mixing effect on the GeV spectra may not be washed out for any reasonable estimate of the magnetic field in the intergalactic media.
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Ruiz de Austri, R., & Perez de los Heros, C. (2013). Impact of nucleon matrix element uncertainties on the interpretation of direct and indirect dark matter search results. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 049–19pp.
Abstract: We study in detail the impact of the current uncertainty in nucleon matrix elements on the sensitivity of direct and indirect experimental techniques for dark matter detection. We perform two scans in the framework of the cMSSM: one using recent values of the pion-sigma term obtained from Lattice QCD, and the other using values derived from experimental measurements. The two choices correspond to extreme values quoted in the literature and reflect the current tension between different ways of obtaining information about the structure of the nucleon. All other inputs in the scans, astrophysical and from particle physics, are kept unchanged. We use two experiments, XENON100 and IceCube, as benchmark cases to illustrate our case. We find that the interpretation of dark matter search results from direct detection experiments is more sensitive to the choice of the central values of the hadronic inputs than the results of indirect search experiments. The allowed regions of cMSSM parameter space after including XENON100 constrains strongly differ depending on the assumptions on the hadronic matrix elements used. On the other hand, the constraining potential of IceCube is almost independent of the choice of these values.
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Mateu, V., & Rodrigo, G. (2013). Oriented event shapes at (NLL)-L-3 + O(alpha(2)(S)). J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 030–29pp.
Abstract: We analyze oriented event-shapes in the context of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) and in fixed-order perturbation theory. Oriented event-shapes are distributions of event-shape variables which are differential on the angle theta(T) that the thrust axis forms with the electron-positron beam. We show that at any order in perturbation theory and for any event shape, only two angular structures can appear: F-0 = 3/8 (1+cos(2) theta(T)) and F-1 = (1 – 3 cos(2) theta(T)). When integrating over theta(T) to recover the more familiar event-shape distributions, only F-0 survives. The validity of our proof goes beyond perturbation theory, and hence only these two structures are present at the hadron level. The proof also carries over massive particles. Using SCET techniques we show that singular terms can only arise in the F-0 term. Since only the hard function is sensitive to the orientation of the thrust axis, this statement applies also for recoil-sensitive variables such as Jet Broadening. We show how to carry out resummation of the singular terms at (NLL)-L-3 for Thrust, Heavy-Jet Mass, the sum of the Hemisphere Masses and C-parameter by using existing computations in SCET. We also compute the fixed-order distributions for these event-shapes at O(alpha(S)) analytically and at O(alpha(2)(S)) with the program Event2.
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Mitsou, V. A. (2013). Shedding light on dark matter at colliders. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 28(31), 1330052–34pp.
Abstract: Dark matter remains one of the most puzzling mysteries in Fundamental Physics of our times. Experiments at high-energy physics colliders are expected to shed light to its nature and determine its properties. This review focuses on recent searches for dark matter signatures at the Large Hadron Collider, also discussing related prospects in future e(+)e(-) colliders.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fassi, F., Ferrer, A., et al. (2013). Measurement of top quark polarization in top-antitop events from proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV using the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 111(23), 232002–19pp.
Abstract: This Letter presents measurements of the polarization of the top quark in top-antitop quark pair events, using 4: 7 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at root s = 7 TeV. Final states containing one or two isolated leptons ( electrons or muons) and jets are considered. Two measurements of alpha P-l, the product of the leptonic spin-analyzing power and the top quark polarization, are performed assuming that the polarization is introduced by either a CP conserving or a maximally CP violating production process. The measurements obtained, alpha P-l(CPC) = -0: 035 +/- 0: 014(stat) +/- 0: 037(syst) and alpha P-l(CPV) = 0: 020 +/- 0: 016(stat)(-0.017)(+0.013)(syst), are in good agreement with the standard model prediction of negligible top quark polarization.
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Vijande, J., Granero, D., Perez-Calatayud, J., & Ballester, F. (2013). Monte Carlo dosimetric study of the medium dose rate CSM40 source. Appl. Radiat. Isot., 82, 283–288.
Abstract: The Cs-137 medium dose rate (MDR) CSM40 source model (Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG, Germany) is in clinical use but no dosimetric dataset has been published. This study aims to obtain dosimetric data for the CSM40 source for its use in clinical practice as required by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO). Penelope2008 and Geant4 Monte Carlo codes were used to characterize this source dosimetrically. It was located in an unbounded water phantom with composition and mass density as recommended by AAPM and ESTRO. Due to the low photon energies of Cs-137, absorbed dose was approximated by collisional kerma. Additional simulations were performed to obtain the air-kerma strength, sic. Mass-energy absorption coefficients in water and air were consistently derived and used to calculate collisional kerma. Results performed with both radiation transport codes showed agreement typically within 0.05%. Dose rate constant, radial dose function and anisotropy function are provided for the CSM40 and compared with published data for other commercially available Cs-137 sources. An uncertainty analysis has been performed. The data provided by this study can be used as input data and verification in the treatment planning systems. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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ALEPH, D. E. L. P. H. I., L3 and OPAL Collaborations, LEP Electroweak Working Group(Schael, S. et al), Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., Fuster, J., Garcia, C., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2013). Electroweak measurements in electron positron collisions at W-boson-pair energies at LEP. Phys. Rep., 532(4), 119–244.
Abstract: Electroweak measurements performed with data taken at the electron positron collider LEP at CERN from 1995 to 2000 are reported. The combined data set considered in this report corresponds to a total luminosity of about 3 fb(-1) collected by the four LEP experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, 13 and OPAL, at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 130 GeV to 209 GeV. Combining the published results of the four LEP experiments, the measurements include total and differential cross-sections in photon-pair, fermion-pair and four-fermion production, the latter resulting from both double-resonant WW and ZZ production as well as singly resonant production. Total and differential cross-sections are measured precisely, providing a stringent test of the Standard Model at centre-of-mass energies never explored before in electron positron collisions. Final-state interaction effects in four-fermion production, such as those arising from colour reconnection and Bose Einstein correlations between the two W decay systems arising in WW production, are searched for and upper limits on the strength of possible effects are obtained. The data are used to determine fundamental properties of the W boson and the electroweak theory. Among others, the mass and width of the W boson, m(w) and Gamma(w), the branching fraction of W decays to hadrons, B(W -> had), and the trilinear gauge-boson self-couplings g(1)(Z), K-gamma and lambda(gamma), are determined to be: m(w) = 80.376 +/- 0.033 GeV Gamma(w) = 2.195 +/- 0.083 GeV B(W -> had) = 67.41 +/- 0.27% g(1)(Z) = 0.984(-0.020)(+0.018) K-gamma – 0.982 +/- 0.042 lambda(gamma) = 0.022 +/- 0.019.
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Guendelman, E. I., Olmo, G. J., Rubiera-Garcia, D., & Vasihoun, M. (2013). Nonsingular electrovacuum solutions with dynamically generated cosmological constant. Phys. Lett. B, 726(4-5), 870–875.
Abstract: We consider static spherically symmetric configurations in a Palatini extension of General Relativity including R-2 and Ricci-squared terms, which is known to replace the central singularity by a wormhole in the electrovacuum case. We modify the matter sector of the theory by adding to the usual Maxwell term a nonlinear electromagnetic extension which is known to implement a confinement mechanism in flat space. One feature of the resulting theory is that the nonlinear electric field leads to a dynamically generated cosmological constant. We show that with this matter source the solutions of the model are asymptotically de Sitter and possess a wormhole topology. We discuss in some detail the conditions that guarantee the absence of singularities and of traversable wormholes.
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Ramos, A., & Oset, E. (2013). The role of vector-baryon channels and resonances in the gamma p -> K-0 Sigma(+) and gamma n -> K-0 Sigma(0) reactions near the K*Lambda threshold. Phys. Lett. B, 727(1-3), 287–292.
Abstract: We have studied the gamma p -> K-0 Sigma(+) reaction in the energy region around the K*Lambda and K*Sigma thresholds, where the CBELSA/TAPS cross section shows a sudden drop and the differential cross section experiences a transition from a forward-peaked distribution to a flat one. Our coupled-channel model incorporates the dynamics of the vector meson-baryon interaction which is obtained from the hidden gauge formalism. We find that the cross section in this energy region results from a delicate interference between amplitudes having K*Lambda and K*Sigma intermediate states. The sharp downfall is dictated by the presence of a nearby N* resonance produced by our model, a feature that we have employed to predict its properties. We also show results for the complementary gamma n -> K-0 Sigma(0) reaction, the measurement of which would test the mechanism proposed in this work.
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