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Bernabeu, J. (2020). Symmetries and Their Breaking in the Fundamental Laws of Physics. Symmetry-Basel, 12(8), 1316–27pp.
Abstract: Symmetries in the Physical Laws of Nature lead to observable effects. Beyond the regularities and conserved magnitudes, the last few decades in particle physics have seen the identification of symmetries, and their well-defined breaking, as the guiding principle for the elementary constituents of matter and their interactions. Flavour SU(3) symmetry of hadrons led to the Quark Model and the antisymmetric requirement under exchange of identical fermions led to the colour degree of freedom. Colour became the generating charge for flavour-independent strong interactions of quarks and gluons in the exact colour SU(3) local gauge symmetry. Parity Violation in weak interactions led us to consider the chiral fields of fermions as the objects with definite transformation properties under the weak isospin SU(2) gauge group of the Unifying Electro-Weak SU(2) x U(1) symmetry, which predicted novel weak neutral current interactions. CP-Violation led to three families of quarks opening the field of Flavour Physics. Time-reversal violation has recently been observed with entangled neutral mesons, compatible with CPT-invariance. The cancellation of gauge anomalies, which would invalidate the gauge symmetry of the quantum field theory, led to Quark-Lepton Symmetry. Neutrinos were postulated in order to save the conservation laws of energy and angular momentum in nuclear beta decay. After the ups and downs of their mass, neutrino oscillations were discovered in 1998, opening a new era about their origin of mass, mixing, discrete symmetries and the possibility of global lepton-number violation through Majorana mass terms and Leptogenesis as the source of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. The experimental discovery of quarks and leptons and the mediators of their interactions, with physical observables in spectacular agreement with this Standard Theory, is the triumph of Symmetries. The gauge symmetry is exact only when the particles are massless. One needs a subtle breaking of the symmetry, providing the origin of mass without affecting the excellent description of the interactions. This is the Brout-Englert-Higgs Mechanism, which produces the Higgs Boson as a remnant, discovered at CERN in 2012. Open present problems are addressed with by searching the New Physics Beyond-the-Standard-Model.
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Bernabeu, J., & Segarra, A. (2018). Signatures of the genuine and matter-induced components of the CP violation asymmetry in neutrino oscillations. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 063–26pp.
Abstract: CP asymmetries for neutrino oscillations in matter can be disentangled into the matter-induced CPT-odd (T-invariant) component and the genuine T-odd (CPT-invariant) component. For their understanding in terms of the relevant ingredients, we develop a new perturbative expansion in both m2| without any assumptions between m2 and a, and study the subtleties of the vacuum limit in the two terms of the CP asymmetry, moving from the CPT-invariant vacuum limit a 0 to the T-invariant limit m20. In the experimental region of terrestrial accelerator neutrinos, we calculate their approximate expressions from which we prove that, at medium baselines, the CPT-odd component is small and nearly -independent, so it can be subtracted from the experimental CP asymmetry as a theoretical background, provided the hierarchy is known. At long baselines, on the other hand, we find that (i) a Hierarchy-odd term in the CPT-odd component dominates the CP asymmetry for energies above the first oscillation node, and (ii) the CPT-odd term vanishes, independent of the CP phase , at E = 0.92 GeV (L/1300 km) near the second oscillation maximum, where the T-odd term is almost maximal and proportional to sin . A measurement of the CP asymmetry in these energy regions would thus provide separate information on (i) the neutrino mass ordering, and (ii) direct evidence of genuine CP violation in the lepton sector.
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Bernabeu, J., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2019). A Non-Local Action for Electrodynamics: Duality Symmetry and the Aharonov-Bohm Effect, Revisited. Symmetry-Basel, 11(10), 1191–13pp.
Abstract: A non-local action functional for electrodynamics depending on the electric and magnetic fields, instead of potentials, has been proposed in the literature. In this work we elaborate and improve this proposal. We also use this formalism to confront the electric-magnetic duality symmetry of the electromagnetic field and the Aharonov-Bohm effect, two subtle aspects of electrodynamics that we examine in a novel way. We show how the former can be derived from the simple harmonic oscillator character of vacuum electrodynamics, while also demonstrating how the magnetic version of the latter naturally arises in an explicitly non-local manner.
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Bernabeu, J., Di Domenico, A., & Villanueva-Perez, P. (2015). Probing CPT in transitions with entangled neutral kaons. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 139–19pp.
Abstract: In this paper we present a novel CPT symmetry test in the neutral kaon system based, for the first time, on the direct comparison of the probabilities of a transition and its CPT reverse. The required interchange of in <-> out states for a given process is obtained exploiting the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations of neutral kaon pairs produced at a phi-factory. The observable quantities have been constructed by selecting the two semileptonic decays for flavour tag, the pi and 3 pi(0) decays for CP tag and the time orderings of the decay pairs. The interpretation in terms of the standard Weisskopf-Wigner approach to this system, directly connects CPT violation in these observables to the violating R delta parameter in the mass matrix of K-0 – (K) over bar (0), a genuine CPT violating effect independent of Delta Gamma and not requiring the decay as an essential ingredient. Possible spurious effects induced by CP violation in the decay and/or a violation of the Delta S = Delta Q rule have been shown to be well under control. The proposed test is thus fully robust, and might shed light on possible new CPT violating mechanisms, or further improve the precision of the present experimental limits. It could be implemented at the DA Phi NE facility in Frascati, where the KLOE-2 experiment might reach a statistical sensitivity of O (10(-3)) on the newly proposed observable quantities.
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Alonso, I. et al, & Bernabeu, J. (2022). Cold atoms in space: community workshop summary and proposed road-map. EPJ Quantum Technol., 9(1), 30–55pp.
Abstract: We summarise the discussions at a virtual Community Workshop on Cold Atoms in Space concerning the status of cold atom technologies, the prospective scientific and societal opportunities offered by their deployment in space, and the developments needed before cold atoms could be operated in space. The cold atom technologies discussed include atomic clocks, quantum gravimeters and accelerometers, and atom interferometers. Prospective applications include metrology, geodesy and measurement of terrestrial mass change due to, e.g., climate change, and fundamental science experiments such as tests of the equivalence principle, searches for dark matter, measurements of gravitational waves and tests of quantum mechanics. We review the current status of cold atom technologies and outline the requirements for their space qualification, including the development paths and the corresponding technical milestones, and identifying possible pathfinder missions to pave the way for missions to exploit the full potential of cold atoms in space. Finally, we present a first draft of a possible road-map for achieving these goals, that we propose for discussion by the interested cold atom, Earth Observation, fundamental physics and other prospective scientific user communities, together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and national space and research funding agencies.
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