Scars on the CBR?

We ask whether the universe can be a patchwork consisting of distinct regions of matter and antimatter. In previous work we demonstrated that post-recombination matter-antimatter contact near regional boundaries leads to an observable (but unobserved) gamma-ray flux for domain sizes of less than a few thousand Mpc, thereby excluding such domains. In this paper we consider the pre-recombination signal from domains of larger size.Comment: 6 pages, late

The Scale-Invariant Scotogenic Model

We investigate a minimal scale-invariant implementation of the scotogenic model and show that viable electroweak symmetry breaking can occur while simultaneously generating one-loop neutrino masses and the dark matter relic abundance. The model predicts the existence of a singlet scalar (dilaton) that plays the dual roles of triggering electroweak symmetry breaking and sourcing lepton number violation. Important constraints are studied, including those from lepton flavor violating effects and dark matter direct-detection experiments. The latter turn out to be somewhat severe, already excluding large regions of parameter space. None the less, viable regions of parameter space are found, corresponding to dark matter masses below (roughly) 10 GeV and above 200 GeV.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures; v2 JHEP versio

On Cosmological Implication of the Trace Anomaly

We establish a connection between the trace anomaly and a thermal radiation in the context of the standard cosmology. This is done by solving the covariant conservation equation of the stress tensor associated with a conformally invariant quantum scalar field. The solution corresponds to a thermal radiation with a temperature which is given in terms of a cut-off time excluding the spacetime regions very close to the initial singularity. We discuss the interrelation between this result and the result obtained in a two-dimensional schwarzschild spacetime.Comment: 8 pages, no figure

Measurement of the CP asymmetry in Bº → K*º μ+μ- decays

A measurement of the CP asymmetry in Bº → K*º μ+μ- decays is presented, based on 1.0 fb(-1) of pp collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011. The measurement is performed in six bins of invariant mass squared of the μ+μ- pair, excluding the J/ψ and ψ(2S) resonance regions. Production and detection asymmetries are removed using the Bº → J/ψ K*+º decay as a control mode. The integrated CP asymmetry is found to be -0.072 ± 0.040(stat) ± 0.005(syst), consistent with the standard model

Axion hot dark matter bounds

We derive cosmological limits on two-component hot dark matter consisting of neutrinos and axions. We restrict the large-scale structure data to the safely linear regime, excluding the Lyman-alpha forest. We derive Bayesian credible regions in the two-parameter space consisting of m_a and sum(m_nu). Marginalizing over sum(m_nu) provides m_a<1.02 eV (95% CL). In the absence of axions the same data and methods give sum(m_nu)< 0.63 eV (95% CL).Comment: Contribution to Proc. 4th Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs (18-21 June 2008, DESY

A Photometric Method for Quantifying Asymmetries in Disk Galaxies

A photometric method for quantifying deviations from axisymmetry in optical images of disk galaxies is applied to a sample of 32 face-on and nearly face-on spirals. The method involves comparing the relative fluxes contained within trapezoidal sectors arranged symmetrically about the galaxy center of light, excluding the bulge and/or barred regions. Such a method has several advantages over others, especially when quantifying asymmetry in flocculent galaxies. Specifically, the averaging of large regions improves the signal-to-noise in the measurements; the method is not strongly affected by the presence of spiral arms; and it identifies the kinds of asymmetry that are likely to be dynamically important. Application of this "method of sectors" to R-band images of 32 disk galaxies indicates that about 30% of spirals show deviations from axisymmetry at the 5-sigma level.Comment: 17 pages, 2 tables and 6 figures, uses psfig and AAS LaTex; to appear in A