11,325,279 research outputs found
Measurement of the multi-TeV neutrino cross section with IceCube using Earth absorption
Neutrinos interact only very weakly, so they are extremely penetrating.
However, the theoretical neutrino-nucleon interaction cross section rises with
energy such that, at energies above 40 TeV, neutrinos are expected to be
absorbed as they pass through the Earth. Experimentally, the cross section has
been measured only at the relatively low energies (below 400 GeV) available at
neutrino beams from accelerators \cite{Agashe:2014kda, Formaggio:2013kya}. Here
we report the first measurement of neutrino absorption in the Earth, using a
sample of 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons observed with
the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The flux of high-energy neutrinos transiting
long paths through the Earth is attenuated compared to a reference sample that
follows shorter trajectories through the Earth. Using a fit to the
two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we determine the
cross section for neutrino energies between 6.3 TeV and 980 TeV, more than an
order of magnitude higher in energy than previous measurements. The measured
cross section is (stat.) (syst.)
times the prediction of the Standard Model \cite{CooperSarkar:2011pa},
consistent with the expectation for charged and neutral current interactions.
We do not observe a dramatic increase in the cross section, expected in some
speculative models, including those invoking new compact dimensions
\cite{AlvarezMuniz:2002ga} or the production of leptoquarks
\cite{Romero:2009vu}.Comment: Preprint version of Nature paper 10.1038/nature2445
Exclusive decays in the general two-Higgs-doublet models
By employing the QCD factorization approach, we calculated the
next-to-leading order new physics contributions to the branching ratios, CP
asymmetries, isospin and U-spin symmetry breaking of the exclusive decays (), induced by the charged Higgs penguins in the
general two-Higgs-doublet models. Within the considered parameter space, we
found that (a) the new physics corrections to the observables are generally
small in the model I and model III-A, moderate in model II, but large in model
III-B; (b) from the well measured branching ratios and upper limits, a lower
bound of \mhp > 200 GeV in model II was obtained, while the allowed range of
\mhp in model III-B is 226 \leq \mhp \leq 293 GeV; these bounds are
comparable with those from the inclusive decay; (c)the NLO
Wilson coefficient in model III-B is positive and disfavered by the
measured value of isospin symmetry breaking , but still can not be excluded if we take the large errors into
account; (d) the CP asymmetry \acp(B \to \rho \gamma) in model III-B has an
opposite sign with the one in the standard model (SM), which may be used as a
good observable to distinguish the SM from model III-B; (e) the isospin
symmetry breaking is less than 10% in the region of
preferred by the global fit result, but can be
as large as 20 to 40% in the regions of and . The SM and model III-B predictions for are
opposite in sign for small or large values of the CKM angles; (f) the U-spin
symmetry breaking in the SM and the general
two-Higgs-doublet models is generally small in size: .Comment: Revtex, 38 pages with 14 eps figures, minor correction
Antimicrobials: a global alliance for optimizing their rational use in intra-abdominal infections (AGORA)
Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients. The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria. An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs
Large-time Behavior of Solutions to the Inflow Problem of Full Compressible Navier-Stokes Equations
Large-time behavior of solutions to the inflow problem of full compressible
Navier-Stokes equations is investigated on the half line .
The wave structure which contains four waves: the transonic(or degenerate)
boundary layer solution, 1-rarefaction wave, viscous 2-contact wave and
3-rarefaction wave to the inflow problem is described and the asymptotic
stability of the superposition of the above four wave patterns to the inflow
problem of full compressible Navier-Stokes equations is proven under some
smallness conditions. The proof is given by the elementary energy analysis
based on the underlying wave structure. The main points in the proof are the
degeneracies of the transonic boundary layer solution and the wave interactions
in the superposition wave.Comment: 27 page
Z' near the Z-pole
We present a fit to precision electroweak data in the standard model extended
by an additional vector boson, Z', with suppressed couplings to the electron
compared to the Z boson, with couplings to the b-quark, and with mass close to
the mass of the Z boson. This scenario provides an excellent fit to
forward-backward asymmetry of the b-quark measured on the Z-pole and \pm 2 GeV
off the Z-pole, and to lepton asymmetry, A_e, obtained from the measurement of
left-right asymmetry for hadronic final states, and thus it removes the tension
in the determination of the weak mixing angle from these two measurements. It
also leads to a significant improvement in the total hadronic cross section on
the Z-pole and R_b measured at energies above the Z-pole. We explore in detail
properties of the Z' needed to explain the data and present a model for Z' with
required couplings. The model preserves standard model Yukawa couplings, it is
anomaly free and can be embedded into grand unified theories. It allows a
choice of parameters that does not generate any flavor violating couplings of
the Z' to standard model fermions. Out of standard model couplings, it only
negligibly modifies the left-handed bottom quark coupling to the Z boson and
the 3rd column of the CKM matrix. Modifications of standard model couplings in
the charged lepton sector are also negligible. It predicts an additional down
type quark, D, with mass in a few hundred GeV range, and an extra lepton
doublet, L, possibly much heavier than the D quark. We discuss signatures of
the Z' at the Large Hadron Collider and calculate the Z'b production cross
section which is the dominant production mechanism for the Z'.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, minor modifications, one fig. added, results
unchange
Four-dimensional lattice results on the MSSM electroweak phase transition
We present the results of our large scale 4-dimensional (4d) lattice
simulations for the MSSM electroweak phase transition (EWPT). We carried out
infinite volume and continuum limit extrapolations and found a transition whose
strength agrees well with perturbation theory. We determined the properties of
the bubble wall that are important for a successful baryogenesis.Comment: 5 pages, 3figures. Talk presented at Johns Hopkins Workshop on
Nonperturbative Quantum Field Theory Methods and their Applications (19-21
August 2000.
A 2D integrable axion model and Target space duality
A review is given on the recently proposed two dimensional axion model (O(3)
sigma-model with a dynamical Hopf-term) and the T-duality relating it to the
SU(2)xU(1) symmetric anisotropic sigma-model. Strong evidence is presented for
the correctness of the proposed S-matrix for both models comparing perturbative
and Thermodynamical Bethe Ansatz calculations for different types of free
energies. This also provides a very stringent test of the validity of T-duality
transformation at the quantum level. The quantum non-integrability of the O(3)
sigma-model with a non-dynamical Hopf-term, in contradistinction to the axion
model, is illustrated by calculating the 2-->3 particle production amplitude to
lowest order.Comment: LateX, 21 pages, 1 figure. Improved version of a talk delivered at
the Johns Hopkins workshop `Non-perturbative QFT Methods and their
Applications', Budapest, 200
Complexity and integrability in 4D bi-rational maps with two invariants
In this letter we give fourth-order autonomous recurrence relations with two
invariants, whose degree growth is cubic or exponential. These examples
contradict the common belief that maps with sufficiently many invariants can
have at most quadratic growth. Cubic growth may reflect the existence of
non-elliptic fibrations of invariants, whereas we conjecture that the
exponentially growing cases lack the necessary conditions for the applicability
of the discrete Liouville theorem.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
- …