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Sanjuan, R., Nebot, M., Peris, J. B., & Alcami, J. (2013). Immune Activation Promotes Evolutionary Conservation of T-Cell Epitopes in HIV-1. PLoS. Biol., 11(4), e1001523–10pp.
Abstract: The immune system should constitute a strong selective pressure promoting viral genetic diversity and evolution. However, HIV shows lower sequence variability at T-cell epitopes than elsewhere in the genome, in contrast with other human RNA viruses. Here, we propose that epitope conservation is a consequence of the particular interactions established between HIV and the immune system. On one hand, epitope recognition triggers an anti-HIV response mediated by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs), but on the other hand, activation of CD4(+) helper T lymphocytes (T-H cells) promotes HIV replication. Mathematical modeling of these opposite selective forces revealed that selection at the intrapatient level can promote either T-cell epitope conservation or escape. We predict greater conservation for epitopes contributing significantly to total immune activation levels (immunodominance), and when T-H cell infection is concomitant to epitope recognition (transinfection). We suggest that HIV-driven immune activation in the lymph nodes during the chronic stage of the disease may offer a favorable scenario for epitope conservation. Our results also support the view that some pathogens draw benefits from the immune response and suggest that vaccination strategies based on conserved T-H epitopes may be counterproductive.
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Botella, F. J., Branco, G. C., Nebot, M., & Sanchez, A. (2015). Mixing asymmetries in B meson systems, the D0 like-sign dimuon asymmetry, and generic new physics. Phys. Rev. D, 91(3), 035013–14pp.
Abstract: The measurement of a large like-sign dimuon asymmetry A(SL)(b) by the D0 experiment at the Tevatron departs noticeably from Standard Model (SM) expectations and it may be interpreted as a hint of physics beyond the Standard Model contributing to Delta B not equal 0 transitions. In this work we analyze how the natural suppression of A(SL)(b) in the SM can be circumvented by new physics. We consider generic Standard Model extensions where the charged current mixing matrix is enlarged with respect to the usual 3 x 3 unitary Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, and show how, within this framework, a significant enhancement over Standard Model expectations for Ab SL is easily reachable through enhancements of the semileptonic asymmetries A(SL)(d) and A(SL)(s) of both B-d(0)- (B) over bar (0)(d) and B-s(0)- (B) over bar (0)(s) systems. Despite being insufficient to reproduce the D0 measurement, such deviations from SM expectations may be probed by the LHCb experiment.
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Botella, F. J., Cornet-Gomez, F., Miro, C., & Nebot, M. (2022). Muon and electron g-2 anomalies in a flavor conserving 2HDM with an oblique view on the CDF M-W value. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(10), 915–25pp.
Abstract: We consider a type I or type X two Higgs doublets model with a modified lepton sector. The generalized lepton sector is also flavor conserving but with the new Yukawa couplings completely decoupled from lepton mass proportionality. The model is one loop stable under renormalization group evolution and it allows to reproduce the g – 2 muon anomaly together with the different scenarios one can consider for the electron g – 2 anomaly, related to the Cesium and/or to the Rubidium recoilmeasurements of the fine structure constant. Thorough parameter space analyses are performed to constrain all the model parameters in the different scenarios, either including or not including the recent CDF measurement of the W boson mass. For light new scalars with masses in the 0.2-1.0 TeV range, the muon anomaly receives dominant one loop contributions; it is for heavy new scalars with masses above 1.2 TeV that two loop Barr-Zee diagrams are needed. The electron g-2 anomaly, if any, must always be obtained with the two loop contributions. The final allowed regions are quite sensitive to the assumptions about perturbativity of Yukawa couplings, which influence unexpected observables like the allowed scalar mass ranges. On that respect, intermediate scalar masses, highly constrained by direct LHC searches, are allowed provided that the new lepton Yukawa couplings are fully scrutinized, including values up to 250 GeV. In the framework of a complete model, fully numerically analysed, we show the implications of the recent M-W measurement.
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Botella, F. J., Cornet-Gomez, F., Miro, C., & Nebot, M. (2024). New physics hints from τ scalar interactions and (g-2)e,μ. J. Phys. G, 51(2), 025001–20pp.
Abstract: We consider a flavour conserving two Higgs doublet model that consists of a type I (or X) quark sector and a generalized lepton sector where the Yukawa couplings of the charged leptons to the new scalars are not proportional to the lepton masses. The model, previously proposed to solve both muon and electron g – 2 anomalies simultaneously, is also capable to accommodate the ATLAS excess in pp -> S -> tau(+)tau(-) with gluon-gluon fusion production in the invariant mass range [0.2; 0.6] TeV, including all relevant low and high energy constraints. The excess is reproduced taking into account the new contributions from the scalar H, the pseudoscalar A, or both. In particular, detailed numerical analyses favoured the solution with a significant hierarchy among the vevs of the two Higgs doublets, t(beta)similar to 10, and light neutral scalars satisfying m(A) > m(H) with sizable couplings to tau leptons. In this region of the parameter space, the muon g – 2 anomaly receives one and two-loop (Barr Zee) contributions of similar size, while the electron anomaly is explained at two loops. An analogous ATLAS excess in b-associated production and the CMS excess in ditop production are also studied. Further New Physics prospects concerning the anomalous magnetic moment of the tau lepton and the implications of the CDF M-W measurement on the final results are discussed.
Keywords: lepton sector; extended scalar sector; new physics signals
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Bernabeu, J., Botella, F. J., & Nebot, M. (2014). Novel T-Violation observable open to any pair of decay channels at meson factories. Phys. Lett. B, 728, 95–98.
Abstract: Quantum entanglement between the two neutral mesons produced in meson factories has allowed the first indisputable direct observation of Time Reversal Violation in the time evolution of the neutral meson between the two decays. The exceptional meson transitions are directly connected to semileptonic and CP eigenstate decay channels. The possibility of extending the observable asymmetries to more decay channels confronts the problem of the “orthogonality condition”, which can be stated with this tonguetwister: Given a decay channel f, which is the decay channel f' such that the meson state not decaying to f is orthogonal to the meson state not decaying to f? In this Letter we propose an alternative T-Violation asymmetry at meson factories which allows its opening to any pair of decay channels. Instead of searching which is the pair of decay channels associated to the T-reverse meson transition, we build an asymmetry which tags the initial states of both the Reference and the T-reverse meson transitions. This observable filters the appropriate final states by means of two measurable survival probabilities. We discuss the methodology to be followed in the analysis of the new observable and the results expected in specific examples.
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