Surveying the SO(10) Model Landscape: The Left-Right Symmetric Case

Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) are a very well motivated extensions of the Standard Model (SM), but the landscape of models and possibilities is overwhelming, and different patterns can lead to rather distinct phenomenologies. In this work we present a way to automatise the model building process, by considering a top to bottom approach that constructs viable and sensible theories from a small and controllable set of inputs at the high scale. By providing a GUT scale symmetry group and the field content, possible symmetry breaking paths are generated and checked for consistency, ensuring anomaly cancellation, SM embedding and gauge coupling unification. We emphasise the usefulness of this approach for the particular case of a non-supersymmetric SO(10) model with an intermediate left-right symmetry and we analyse how low-energy observables such as proton decay and lepton flavour violation might affect the generated model landscape.Comment: 36 pages, 6 figure

Compressed and Split Spectra in Minimal SUSY SO(10)

The non-observation of supersymmetric signatures in searches at the Large Hadron Collider strongly constrains minimal supersymmetric models like the CMSSM. We explore the consequences on the SUSY particle spectrum in a minimal SO(10) with large D-terms and non-universal gaugino masses at the GUT scale. This changes the sparticle spectrum in a testable way and for example can sufficiently split the coloured and non-coloured sectors. The splitting provided by use of the SO(10) D-terms can be exploited to obtain light first generation sleptons or third generation squarks, the latter corresponding to a compressed spectrum scenario.Comment: 35 pages, 10 figures, published versio

Double Beta Decay, Lepton Flavour Violation and Collider Signatures of Left-Right Symmetric Models with Spontaneous D Parity Breaking

We propose a class of left-right symmetric models (LRSMs) with spontaneous D parity breaking, where SU(2)_R breaks at the TeV scale while discrete left-right symmetry breaks around 10^9 GeV. By embedding this framework in a non-supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theory (GUT) with Pati-Salam symmetry as the highest intermediate breaking step, we obtain g_R / g_L ~ 0.6 between the right- and left-handed gauge couplings at the TeV scale. This leads to a suppression of beyond the Standard Model phenomena induced by the right-handed gauge coupling. Here we focus specifically on the consequences for neutrinoless double beta decay, low energy lepton flavour violation and LHC signatures due to the suppressed right handed currents. Interestingly, the reduced g_R allows us to interpret an excess of events observed recently in the range of 1.9 TeV to 2.4 TeV by the CMS group at the LHC as the signature of a right handed gauge boson in LRSMs with spontaneous D parity breaking. Moreover, the reduced right-handed gauge coupling also strongly suppresses the non-standard contribution of heavy states to the neutrinoless double beta decay rate as well as the amplitude of low energy lepton flavour violating processes. In a dominant type-II Seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation, we find that both sets of observables provide stringent and complimentary bounds which make it challenging to observe the scenario at the LHC.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

Signal of Right-Handed Charged Gauge Bosons at the LHC?

We point out that the recent excess observed in searches for a right-handed gauge boson W_R at CMS can be explained in a left-right symmetric model with D parity violation. In a class of SO(10) models, in which D parity is broken at a high scale, the left-right gauge symmetry breaking scale is naturally small, and at a few TeV the gauge coupling constants satisfy g_R ~ 0.6 g_L. Such models therefore predict a right-handed charged gauge boson W_R in the TeV range with a suppressed gauge coupling as compared to the usually assumed manifest left-right symmetry case g_R = g_L. The recent CMS data show excess events which are consistent with the cross section predicted in the D parity breaking model for 1.9 TeV < M_{W_R} < 2.4 TeV. If the excess is confirmed, it would in general be a direct signal of new physics beyond the Standard Model at the LHC. A TeV scale W_R would for example not only rule out SU(5) grand unified theory models. It would also imply B-L violation at the TeV scale, which would be the first evidence for baryon or lepton number violation in nature and it has strong implications on the generation of neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry in the Universe.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, matches published versio

Polyfunctional T cell responses in children in early stages of chronic Trypanosoma cruzi infection contrast with monofunctional responses of long-term infected adults

Background: Adults with chronic Trypanosoma cruzi exhibit a poorly functional T cell compartment, characterized by monofunctional (IFN-γ-only secreting) parasite-specific T cells and increased levels of terminally differentiated T cells. It is possible that persistent infection and/or sustained exposure to parasites antigens may lead to a progressive loss of function of the immune T cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: To test this hypothesis, the quality and magnitude of T. cruzi-specific T cell responses were evaluated in T. cruzi-infected children and compared with long-term T. cruzi-infected adults with no evidence of heart failure. The phenotype of CD4+ T cells was also assessed in T. cruzi-infected children and uninfected controls. Simultaneous secretion of IFN-γ and IL-2 measured by ELISPOT assays in response to T. cruzi antigens was prevalent among T. cruzi-infected children. Flow cytometric analysis of co-expression profiles of CD4+ T cells with the ability to produce IFN-γ, TNF-α, or to express the co-stimulatory molecule CD154 in response to T. cruzi showed polyfunctional T cell responses in most T. cruzi-infected children. Monofunctional T cell responses and an absence of CD4+TNF-α+-secreting T cells were observed in T. cruzi-infected adults. A relatively high degree of activation and differentiation of CD4+ T cells was evident in T. cruzi-infected children. Conclusions/Significance: Our observations are compatible with our initial hypothesis that persistent T. cruzi infection promotes eventual exhaustion of immune system, which might contribute to disease progression in long-term infected subjects.Fil: Albareda, María Cecilia. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: de Rissio, Ana María. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Tomas, Gonzalo. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Serjan, Alicia. Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. Hospital General de Agudos "Juan A. Fernández"; ArgentinaFil: Alvarez, María Gabriela. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Viotti, Rodolfo Jorge. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Fichera, Laura Edith. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Esteva, Mónica Inés. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; ArgentinaFil: Potente, Daniel Fernando. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Armenti, Alejandro. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Ministerio de Salud. Hospital Interzonal de Agudos "Eva Perón"; ArgentinaFil: Tarleton, Rick L.. University of Georgia; Estados UnidosFil: Laucella, Susana Adriana. Dirección Nacional de Instituto de Investigación. Administración Nacional de Laboratorio e Instituto de Salud. Instituto Nacional de Parasitología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

MTBVAC-based TB-HIV vaccine is safe, elicits HIV-T cell responses, and protects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Mice

The tuberculosis (TB) vaccine MTBVAC is the only live-attenuated Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-based vaccine in clinical development, and it confers superior protection in different animal models compared to the current vaccine, BCG (Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin). With the aim of using MTBVAC as a vector for a dual TB-HIV vaccine, we constructed the recombinant MTBVAC.HIVA2auxo strain. First, we generated a lysine auxotroph of MTBVAC (MTBVACΔlys) by deleting the lysA gene. Then the auxotrophic MTBVACΔlys was transformed with the E. coli-mycobacterial vector p2auxo.HIVA, harboring the lysA-complementing gene and the HIV-1 clade A immunogen HIVA. This TB-HIV vaccine conferred similar efficacy to the parental strain MTBVAC against Mtb challenge in mice. MTBVAC.HIVA2auxo was safer than BCG and MTBVAC in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice, and it was shown to be maintained up to 42 bacterial generations in vitro and up to 100 days after inoculation in vivo. The MTBVAC.HIVA2auxo vaccine, boosted with modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA).HIVA, induced HIV-1 and Mtb-specific interferon-γ-producing T cell responses and polyfunctional HIV-1-specific CD8+ T cells producing interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and CD107a in BALB/c mice. Here we describe new tools to develop combined vaccines against TB and HIV with the potential of expansion for other infectious diseases

Collider constraints on electroweakinos in the presence of a light gravitino

Using the GAMBIT global fitting framework, we constrain the MSSM with an eV-scale gravitino as the lightest supersymmetric particle, and the six electroweakinos (neutralinos and charginos) as the only other light new states. We combine 15 ATLAS and 12 CMS searches at 13 TeV, along with a large collection of ATLAS and CMS measurements of Standard Model signatures. This model, which we refer to as the G˜ -EWMSSM, exhibits quite varied collider phenomenology due to its many permitted electroweakino production processes and decay modes. Characteristic G˜ -EWMSSM signal events have two or more Standard Model bosons and missing energy due to the escaping gravitinos. While much of the G˜ -EWMSSM parameter space is excluded, we find several viable parameter regions that predict phenomenologically rich scenarios with multiple neutralinos and charginos within the kinematic reach of the LHC during Run 3, or the High Luminosity LHC. In particular, we identify scenarios with Higgsino-dominated electroweakinos as light as 140 GeV that are consistent with our combined set of collider searches and measurements. The full set of G˜ -EWMSSM parameter samples and GAMBIT input files generated for this work is available via Zenodo

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia