Dependence of the leptonic decays of H^- on the neutrino mixing angles theta_{13} and theta_{23} in models with neutrinophilic charged scalars

In the Higgs Triplet Model and the neutrinophilic Two-Higgs-Doublet Model the observed neutrinos obtain mass from a vacuum expectation value which is much smaller than the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs boson in the Standard Model. Both models contain a singly charged Higgs boson (H^-) whose Yukawa coupling is directly related to the neutrino mass (i.e. a "neutrinophilic charged Higgs"). The partial decay widths of H^- into a charged lepton and a neutrino (H^- to l^- nu) depend identically on the neutrino masses and mixings in the two models. We quantify the impact of the recent measurement of sin^2(2theta_{13}), which plays a crucial role in determining the magnitude of the branching ratio of H^- to e^- nu for the case of a normal neutrino mass ordering if the lightest neutrino mass m_0 < 10^{-3} eV. We also discuss the sizeable dependence of H^- to mu^- nu and H^- to tau^- nu on sin^2(theta_{23}), which would enable information to be obtained on sin^2(theta_{23}) and the sign of \Delta m^2_{31} if these decays are measured. Such information would help neutrino oscillation experiments to determine the CP-violating phase \delta.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Probing Majorana Phases and Neutrino Mass Spectrum in the Higgs Triplet Model at the LHC

Doubly charged Higgs bosons (H^++) are a distinctive signature of the Higgs Triplet Model of neutrino mass generation. If H^++ is relatively light (m_{H^++} < 400GeV) it will be produced copiously at the LHC, which could enable precise measurements of the branching ratios of the decay channels H^++ to l_i l_j. Such branching ratios are determined solely by the neutrino mass matrix which allows the model to be tested at the LHC. We quantify the dependence of the leptonic branching ratios on the absolute neutrino mass and Majorana phases, and present the permitted values for the channels ee, emu and mumu. It is shown that precise measurements of these three branching ratios are sufficient to extract information on the neutrino mass spectrum and probe the presence of CP violation from Majorana phases.Comment: 1+19 pages, 22 figures, typos corrected, references added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Lattice Boltzmann Simulations of Droplet formation in confined Channels with Thermocapillary flows

Based on mesoscale lattice Boltzmann simulations with the "Shan-Chen" model, we explore the influence of thermocapillarity on the break-up properties of fluid threads in a microfluidic T-junction, where a dispersed phase is injected perpendicularly into a main channel containing a continuous phase, and the latter induces periodic break-up of droplets due to the cross-flowing. Temperature effects are investigated by switching on/off both positive/negative temperature gradients along the main channel direction, thus promoting a different thread dynamics with anticipated/delayed break-up. Numerical simulations are performed at changing the flow-rates of both the continuous and dispersed phases, as well as the relative importance of viscous forces, surface tension forces and thermocapillary stresses. The range of parameters is broad enough to characterize the effects of thermocapillarity on different mechanisms of break-up in the confined T-junction, including the so-called "squeezing" and "dripping" regimes, previously identified in the literature. Some simple scaling arguments are proposed to rationalize the observed behaviour, and to provide quantitative guidelines on how to predict the droplet size after break-up.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Ground States for Diffusion Dominated Free Energies with Logarithmic Interaction

Replacing linear diffusion by a degenerate diffusion of porous medium type is known to regularize the classical two-dimensional parabolic-elliptic Keller-Segel model. The implications of nonlinear diffusion are that solutions exist globally and are uniformly bounded in time. We analyse the stationary case showing the existence of a unique, up to translation, global minimizer of the associated free energy. Furthermore, we prove that this global minimizer is a radially decreasing compactly supported continuous density function which is smooth inside its support, and it is characterized as the unique compactly supported stationary state of the evolution model. This unique profile is the clear candidate to describe the long time asymptotics of the diffusion dominated classical Keller-Segel model for general initial data.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figure

Patchy He II reionization and the physical state of the IGM

We present a Monte-Carlo model of He II reionization by QSOs and its effect on the thermal state of the clumpy intergalactic medium (IGM). The model assumes that patchy reionization develops as a result of the discrete distribution of QSOs. It includes various recipes for the propagation of the ionizing photons, and treats photo-heating self-consistently. The model provides the fraction of He III, the mean temperature in the IGM, and the He II mean optical depth -- all as a function of redshift. It also predicts the evolution of the local temperature versus density relation during reionization. Our findings are as follows: The fraction of He III increases gradually until it becomes close to unity at $z\sim 2.8-3.0$. The He II mean optical depth decreases from $\tau\sim 10$ at $z\geq 3.5$ to $\tau\leq 0.5$ at $z\leq 2.5$. The mean temperature rises gradually between $z\sim 4$ and $z\sim 3$ and declines slowly at lower redshifts. The model predicts a flattening of the temperature-density relation with significant increase in the scatter during reionization at $z\sim 3$. Towards the end of reionization the scatter is reduced and a tight relation is re-established. This scatter should be incorporated in the analysis of the Ly$\alpha$ forest at $z\leq 3$. Comparison with observational results of the optical depth and the mean temperature at moderate redshifts constrains several key physical parameters.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures; Changed content. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Production of doubly charged scalars from the decay of singly charged scalars in the Higgs Triplet Model

The existence of doubly charged Higgs bosons (H^{\pm\pm}) is a distinctive feature of the Higgs Triplet Model (HTM), in which neutrinos obtain tree-level masses from the vacuum expectation value of a neutral scalar in a triplet representation of SU(2)_L. We point out that a large branching ratio for the decay of a singly charged Higgs boson to a doubly charged Higgs boson via H^\pm\to H^{\pm\pm}W^* is possible in a sizeable parameter space of the HTM. From the production mechanism q'qbar\to W^* \to H^{\pm\pm}H^\mp the above decay mode would give rise to pair production of H^{\pm\pm}, with a cross section which can be comparable to that of the standard pair-production mechanism qqbar\to \gamma^*,Z^* \to H^{++}H^{--}. We suggest that the presence of a sizeable branching ratio for H^\pm\to H^{\pm\pm}W^* could significantly enhance the detection prospects of H^{\pm\pm} in the four-lepton channel. Moreover, the decays H^0\to H^\pm W^* and A^0\to H^\pm W^* from production of the neutral triplet scalars H^0 and A^0 would also provide an additional source of H^\pm, which can subsequently decay to H^{\pm\pm}.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, two figures added in v2, to appear in Physical Review