Deciphering Universal Extra Dimension from the top quark signals at the CERN LHC

Models based on Universal Extra Dimensions predict Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitations of all Standard Model (SM) particles. We examine the pair production of KK excitations of top- and bottom-quarks at the Large Hadron Collider. Once produced, the KK top/bottom quarks can decay to $b$-quarks, leptons and the lightest KK-particle, $\gamma_1$, resulting in 2 $b$-jets, two opposite sign leptons and missing transverse momentum, thereby mimicing top-pair production. We show that, with a proper choice of kinematic cuts, an integrated luminosity of 100 fb$^{-1}$ would allow a discovery for an inverse radius upto $R^{-1} = 750$ GeV.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication in JHE

Effect of post harvest ripening on bioactive secondary metabolites and antioxidant activity in mango cv. Amrapali

Mango possesses many bioactive phytonutrients at ripe stage which boost our immune systemagainst many diseases. Post harvest ripening plays a major role in changes in those bioactivephytochemicals and their antioxidant activity. Hence, the present study was undertaken toassess the changes in bioactive phytonutrients and total antioxidant activity during ripeningof mango cv. Amrapali. The fruits were analyzed for total antioxidants, total phenols, totalflavonoids and total carotenoids from the day of harvest to its deterioration. Fruit peel andpulp color was measured with SPH850 spectrophotometer on the basis of the CIE LAB colorsystem (L*, a* and b*). The results revealed that total phenols (36.11 to 66.53mg GAE 100g-1),total flavonoids (14.33 to 34.67mg QE 100g-1), total carotenoids (2.23 to 11.47mg 100g-1) andtotal antioxidant (0.37 to 0.76 mmol Trolox 100g-1) activity increased gradually from day one toninth day after harvest and decreased slightly thereafter up to eleventh day of harvest excepttotal carotenoids, which remained constant. Strong correlations between total phenols (0.94),total flavonoids (0.86) and total carotenoids (0.97) with total antioxidant activity were noticed.Positive relationship between total carotenoids and L*, a*, b* values in mango peel and pulpduring ripening was also observed. It can be concluded that ripening affected the compositionof bioactive phytonutrients and their antioxidant activity in mango andmaximum nutraceuticalscontents were noticed from seven to nine days after harvest

Tkachenko modes and quantum melting of Josephson junction type of vortex array in rotating Bose-Einstein condensate

Using path integral formalism, we show that the Abrikosov-Tkachenko vortex lattice may equivalently be understood as an array of Josephson junctions. The Tkachenko modes are found to be basically equivalent to the low energy excitations (Goldstone modes) of an ordered state. The calculated frequencies are in very good agreement with recent experimental data. Calculations of the fluctuations of the relative displacements of the vortices show that vortex melting is a result of quantum fluctuations around the ordered state due to the low energy excitations (Tkachenko modes)and occurs when the ratio of the kinectic energy to the potential energy of the vortex lattice is 0.001.Comment: revised paper 11 pages with 2 figures, all in Pdf forma

Search for Higgs bosons of the Universal Extra Dimensions at the Large Hadron Collider

The Higgs sector of the Universal Extra Dimensions (UED) has a rather involved setup. With one extra space dimension, the main ingredients to the construct are the higher Kaluza-Klein (KK) excitations of the Standard Model Higgs boson and the fifth components of the gauge fields which on compactification appear as scalar degrees of freedom and can mix with the former thus leading to physical KK-Higgs states of the scenario. In this work, we explore in detail the phenomenology of such a Higgs sector of the UED with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in focus. We work out relevant decay branching fractions involving the KK-Higgs excitations. Possible production modes of the KK-Higgs bosons are then discussed with an emphasis on their associated production with the third generation KK-quarks and that under the cascade decays of strongly interacting UED excitations which turn out to be the only phenomenologically significant modes. It is pointed out that the collider searches of such Higgs bosons face generic hardship due to soft end-products which result from severe degeneracies in the masses of the involved excitations in the minimal version of the UED (MUED). Generic implications of either observing some or all of the KK-Higgs bosons at the LHC are discussed.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures and 1 tabl

Constraining Bosonic Supersymmetry from Higgs results and 8 TeV ATLAS multi-jets plus missing energy data

The collider phenomenology of models with Universal Extra Dimensions (UED) is surprisingly similar to that of supersymmetric (SUSY) scenarios. For each level-1 bosonic (fermionic) Kaluza-Klein (KK) state, there is a fermionic (bosonic) analog in SUSY and thus UED scenarios are often known as bosonic supersymmetry. The minimal version of UED (mUED) gives rise to a quasi-degenerate particle spectrum at each KK-level and thus, can not explain the enhanced Higgs to diphoton decay rate hinted by the ATLAS collaboration of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment. However, in the non-minimal version of the UED (nmUED) model, the enhanced Higgs to diphoton decay rate can be easily explained via the suitable choice of boundary localized kinetic (BLK) terms for higher dimensional fermions and gauge bosons. BLK terms remove the degeneracy in the KK mass spectrum and thus, pair production of level-1 quarks and gluons at the LHC gives rise to hard jets, leptons and large missing energy in the final state. These final states are studied in details by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations in the context of SUSY scenarios. We find that the absence of any significant deviation of the data from the Standard Model (SM) prediction puts a lower bound of about 2.1 TeV on equal mass excited quarks and gluons.Comment: 19 page

Characterization of nutraceuticals in bael powder prepared from fruits harvested at different developmental stages

Bael [Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa], is well known in Indian traditional medical system for its multipurpose use in treatment of various diseases. Fresh ripe fruits are used in various types of shakes and sharbats but bael fruits are mainly used into its processed form like nectar or squash, jelly, candy and murabba. Bael powder is another form of product which has very high pharmaceutical value, long storability and is the pure concentrated form of fruit pulp. The aim of this study is to measure the nutraceutical values in bael powder (dry weight basis) prepared from fruit of CISH B-1 harvested at various stages of growth and development [180–335 days after fruit set (DAFS)] by using a simple HPLC technique and atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The antioxidants value (in terms of FRAP) ranges from 13.45 mmol/g at 180 DAFS (month of November) to 22.6 mmol/g at 335 DAFS (month of April). Maximum polyphenols content (5.99%) was observed at 305 and 335 DAFS (months of March and April). The antioxidants and polyphenols were enhanced significantly with the maturity of the fruits. Marmelosin and psoralen concentrations were highest at 215 DAFS and were found as 737 and 511 µg/g, respectively. Thereafter, both compounds declined significantly in mature fruit powder. Mineral contents in powder also varied with maturity stages. From this study, it may be concluded that powder prepared from immature fruits collected at early stages of development (November-January; 180–245 DAFS), possessed significantly higher amount of potassium, iron, marmelosin, psoralen and tannic acid, whereas, mature fruit powder (harvested during March-April; 305-335 DAFS) contains significantly higher content of zinc, copper, polyphenols and antioxidant