Abstract: We investigate future constraints on early dark energy (EDE) achievable by the Planck and CMBPol experiments, including cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing. For the dark energy, we include the possibility of clustering through a sound speed c(s)(2) < 1 (cold dark energy) and anisotropic stresses parametrized with a viscosity parameter c(vis)(2). We discuss the degeneracies between cosmological parameters and EDE parameters. In particular we show that the presence of anisotropic stresses in EDE models can substantially undermine the determination of the EDE sound speed parameter c(s)(2). The constraints on EDE primordial energy density are however unaffected. We also calculate the future CMB constraints on neutrino masses and find that they are weakened by a factor of 2 when allowing for the presence of EDE, and highly biased if it is incorrectly ignored.

Abstract: We analyze the prospect for observing the intermediate neutral Higgs boson (h(2))in its decay to two lighter Higgs bosons (h(1)) at the presently operating hadron colliders in the framework of the CP-violating minimal supersymmetric standard model using the PYTHIA event generator. We consider the lepton + 4-jets + E-T channel from associate Wh(2) production, with Wh(2) -> Wh(1)h(1) -> l -> l nu lb (b) over barb (b) over bar. We require two, three or four tagged b jets. We explicitly consider all relevant standard model backgrounds, treating c jets separately from light flavor and gluon jets and allowing for mistagging. We find that it is very hard to observe this signature at the Tevatron, even with 20 fb(-1) of data, in the LEP-allowed region of parameter space due to the small signal efficiency, even though the background is manageable. At the LHC, a priori huge standard model backgrounds can be suppressed by applying judiciously chosen kinematical selections. After all cuts, we are left with a signal cross section of around 0.5 fb, and a signal to background ratio between 1.2 and 2.9. According to our analysis this Higgs signal should be viable at the LHC in the vicinity of present LEP exclusion once 20 to 50 fb(-1) of data have been accumulated at root s = 14 TeV.

Abstract: We report the result of a search for the rare decay B-0 -> gamma gamma in 426 fb(-1) of data, corresponding to 226 x 10(6) B-0(B) over bar (0) pairs, collected on the Y(4S) resonance at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider using the BABAR detector. We use a maximum likelihood fit to extract the signal yield and observe 21(-12)(+13) signal events with a statistical significance of 1.8 sigma. This corresponds to a branching fraction B(B-0 -> gamma gamma) = (1.7 +/- 1.1(stat.) +/- 0.2(syst.)) X 10(-7). Based on this result, we set a 90% confidence level upper limit of B(B-0 -> gamma gamma) < 3.2 X 10(-7).

Abstract: In theories with universal extra dimensions (UED), the gamma(1) particle, first excited state of the hypercharge gauge boson, provides an excellent dark matter (DM) candidate. Here, we use a modified version of the SUPERBAYES code to perform a Bayesian analysis of the minimal UED scenario, in order to assess its detectability at accelerators and with DM experiments. We derive, in particular, the most probable range of mass and scattering cross sections off nucleons, keeping into account cosmological and electroweak precision constraints. The consequences for the detectability of the gamma(1) with direct and indirect experiments are dramatic. The spin-independent cross section probability distribution peaks at similar to 10(-11) pb, i.e. below the sensitivity of ton-scale experiments. The spin-dependent cross section drives the predicted neutrino flux from the center of the Sun below the reach of present and upcoming experiments. The only strategy that remains open appears to be direct detection with ton-scale experiments sensitive to spin-dependent cross sections. On the other hand, the LHC with 1 fb(-1) of data should be able to probe the current best-fit UED parameters.

Abstract: In this paper, we report our results on charged hadron multiplicities of heavy quark initiated jets produced in high energy collisions. After implementing the so-called dead cone effect in QCD evolution equations, we find that the average multiplicity decreases significantly as compared to the massless case. Finally, we discuss the transverse momentum distribution of light quark initiated jets and emphasize the comparison between our predictions and CDF data.