27 research outputs found
Probing Lorentz and CPT violation with space-based experiments
Space-based experiments offer sensitivity to numerous unmeasured effects
involving Lorentz and CPT violation. We provide a classification of clock
sensitivities and present explicit expressions for time variations arising in
such experiments from nonzero coefficients in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating
Standard-Model Extension.Comment: 15 page
Gravity, Lorentz Violation, and the Standard Model
The role of the gravitational sector in the Lorentz- and CPT-violating
Standard-Model Extension (SME) is studied. A framework is developed for
addressing this topic in the context of Riemann-Cartan spacetimes, which
include as limiting cases the usual Riemann and Minkowski geometries. The
methodology is first illustrated in the context of the QED extension in a
Riemann-Cartan background. The full SME in this background is then considered,
and the leading-order terms in the SME action involving operators of mass
dimension three and four are constructed. The incorporation of arbitrary
Lorentz and CPT violation into general relativity and other theories of gravity
based on Riemann-Cartan geometries is discussed. The dominant terms in the
effective low-energy action for the gravitational sector are provided, thereby
completing the formulation of the leading-order terms in the SME with gravity.
Explicit Lorentz symmetry breaking is found to be incompatible with generic
Riemann-Cartan geometries, but spontaneous Lorentz breaking evades this
difficulty.Comment: 21 pages REVTeX, references added, accepted in Physical Review
Lorentz and CPT Violation in Neutrinos
A general formalism is presented for violations of Lorentz and CPT symmetry
in the neutrino sector. The effective hamiltonian for neutrino propagation in
the presence of Lorentz and CPT violation is derived, and its properties are
studied. Possible definitive signals in existing and future
neutrino-oscillation experiments are discussed. Among the predictions are
direction-dependent effects, including neutrino-antineutrino mixing, sidereal
and annual variations, and compass asymmetries. Other consequences of Lorentz
and CPT violation involve unconventional energy dependences in oscillation
lengths and mixing angles. A variety of simple models both with and without
neutrino masses are developed to illustrate key physical effects. The
attainable sensitivities to coefficients for Lorentz violation in the
Standard-Model Extension are estimated for various types of experiments. Many
experiments have potential sensitivity to Planck-suppressed effects, comparable
to the best tests in other sectors. The lack of existing experimental
constraints, the wide range of available coefficient space, and the variety of
novel effects imply that some or perhaps even all of the existing data on
neutrino oscillations might be due to Lorentz and CPT violation.Comment: 25 pages REVTe
Dark sectors 2016 Workshop: community report
This report, based on the Dark Sectors workshop at SLAC in April 2016,
summarizes the scientific importance of searches for dark sector dark matter
and forces at masses beneath the weak-scale, the status of this broad
international field, the important milestones motivating future exploration,
and promising experimental opportunities to reach these milestones over the
next 5-10 years
The Forward Backward asymmetries of in the MSSM
The relatively clean theoretical probes of the Standard Model (SM), and the
various theories beyond the SM, provided by radiative, semi-leptonic and
(purely) leptonic decays of B-mesons have become increasingly important. Due to
the large number of possible distributions in the semi-leptonic decays based on
the quark level transition (not just the branching
ratio), these transitions have become very useful. A study of the
Forward-Backward asymmetries for the inclusive decay () is carried out in this paper. This study shall be performed in the SM
and a minimal supersymmetric extensions of the SM, namely the mSUGRA model.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures (5 eps files); modified to JHEP format, accepted
in JHEP, references adde
A Genome-Wide Association Study of Psoriasis and Psoriatic Arthritis Identifies New Disease Loci
A genome-wide association study was performed to identify genetic factors involved in susceptibility to psoriasis (PS) and psoriatic arthritis (PSA), inflammatory diseases of the skin and joints in humans. 223 PS cases (including 91 with PSA) were genotyped with 311,398 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and results were compared with those from 519 Northern European controls. Replications were performed with an independent cohort of 577 PS cases and 737 controls from the U.S., and 576 PSA patients and 480 controls from the U.K.. Strongest associations were with the class I region of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The most highly associated SNP was rs10484554, which lies 34.7 kb upstream from HLA-C (P = 7.8×10−11, GWA scan; P = 1.8×10−30, replication; P = 1.8×10−39, combined; U.K. PSA: P = 6.9×10−11). However, rs2395029 encoding the G2V polymorphism within the class I gene HCP5 (combined P = 2.13×10−26 in U.S. cases) yielded the highest ORs with both PS and PSA (4.1 and 3.2 respectively). This variant is associated with low viral set point following HIV infection and its effect is independent of rs10484554. We replicated the previously reported association with interleukin 23 receptor and interleukin 12B (IL12B) polymorphisms in PS and PSA cohorts (IL23R: rs11209026, U.S. PS, P = 1.4×10−4; U.K. PSA: P = 8.0×10−4; IL12B:rs6887695, U.S. PS, P = 5×10−5 and U.K. PSA, P = 1.3×10−3) and detected an independent association in the IL23R region with a SNP 4 kb upstream from IL12RB2 (P = 0.001). Novel associations replicated in the U.S. PS cohort included the region harboring lipoma HMGIC fusion partner (LHFP) and conserved oligomeric golgi complex component 6 (COG6) genes on chromosome 13q13 (combined P = 2×10−6 for rs7993214; OR = 0.71), the late cornified envelope gene cluster (LCE) from the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (PSORS4) (combined P = 6.2×10−5 for rs6701216; OR 1.45) and a region of LD at 15q21 (combined P = 2.9×10−5 for rs3803369; OR = 1.43). This region is of interest because it harbors ubiquitin-specific protease-8 whose processed pseudogene lies upstream from HLA-C. This region of 15q21 also harbors the gene for SPPL2A (signal peptide peptidase like 2a) which activates tumor necrosis factor alpha by cleavage, triggering the expression of IL12 in human dendritic cells. We also identified a novel PSA (and potentially PS) locus on chromosome 4q27. This region harbors the interleukin 2 (IL2) and interleukin 21 (IL21) genes and was recently shown to be associated with four autoimmune diseases (Celiac disease, Type 1 diabetes, Grave's disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis)
Deuterium and Carbon-13 Scrambling Processes in Isopropyl Cation
The degenerate rearrangement processes in i-propyl cation were studied using the isotopically double-labeled 2-propyl-2-13C1-2-dI cation (A), which was obtained from the corresponding chloride using the molecular beam technique. The first step in the rearrangement is a shift of one of the methyl hydrogens to form n-propyl cation (or a species in its vicinity on the energy surface), followed by rotation of the methylene group. Rotation in one direction (Process I) leads to formation of isopropyl cation with an interchange of the methine proton with a methyl proton while rotation in the other direction (Process II) results in the formation of intermediate protonated cyclopropane. Through corner-to-corner proton shifts, the isotopes are completely scrambled before the reverse process returns the ion to isopropyl. Relative rates of Processes I and II were determined on the basis of the experimentally established composition of the mixture of isotopomers obtained in an early stage of scrambling, using Runge-Kutta integration to simulate the kinetics. It was found that Process I was faster (ki/ki = 3.4), meaning, according to the proposed mechanism, that hydrogen scrambles a little more rapidly than carbon