A radiatively improved fermiophobic Higgs boson scenario

The naive fermiophobic scenario is unstable under radiative corrections, due to the chiral-symmetry breaking induced by fermion mass terms. In a recent study, the problem of including the radiative corrections has been tackled via an effective field theory approach. The renormalized Yukawa couplings are assumed to vanish at a high energy scale $\Lambda$, and their values at the electroweak scale are computed via modified Renormalization Group Equations. We show that, in case a fermiophobic Higgs scenario shows up at the LHC, a linear collider program will be needed to accurately measure the radiative Yukawa structure, and consequently constrain the $\Lambda$ scale.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the 2011 International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS11), Granada (Spain), 26-30 September 201

Looking for anomalous gamma-gamma-H and Z-gamma-H couplings at future linear collider

We consider the possibility of studying anomalous contributions to the gamma-gamma-H and Z-gamma-H vertices through the process e-gamma--> e-H at future e-gamma linear colliders, with Sqrt(S)=500-1500 GeV. We make a model independent analysis based on SU(2)xU(1) invariant effective operators of dim=6 added to the standard model lagrangian. We consider a light Higgs boson (mostly decaying in bar(b)-b pairs), and include all the relevant backgrounds. Initial e-beam polarization effects are also analyzed. We find that the process e-gamma--> e-H provides an excellent opportunity to strongly constrain both the CP-even and the CP-odd anomalous contributions to the gamma-gamma-H and Z-gamma-H vertices.Comment: LaTeX, 33 pages, 16 eps figures, extended section

Quantum Spin Hall Effect in Graphene

We study the effects of spin orbit interactions on the low energy electronic structure of a single plane of graphene. We find that in an experimentally accessible low temperature regime the symmetry allowed spin orbit potential converts graphene from an ideal two dimensional semimetallic state to a quantum spin Hall insulator. This novel electronic state of matter is gapped in the bulk and supports the quantized transport of spin and charge in gapless edge states that propagate at the sample boundaries. The edge states are non chiral, but they are insensitive to disorder because their directionality is correlated with spin. The spin and charge conductances in these edge states are calculated and the effects of temperature, chemical potential, Rashba coupling, disorder and symmetry breaking fields are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, published versio

Aspects of GMSB Phenomenology at TeV Colliders

The status of two on-going studies concerning important aspects of the phenomenology of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) models at TeV colliders is reported. The first study deals with the characteristics of the light Higgs boson spectrum allowed by the (minimal and non-minimal) GMSB framework. Today's most accurate GMSB model generation and two-loop Feynman-diagrammatic calculation of m_h have been combined. The Higgs masses are shown in dependence of various model parameters at the messenger and electroweak scales. In the minimal model, an upper limit on m_h of about 124 GeV is found for m_t = 175 GeV. The second study is focused on the measurement of the fundamental SUSY breaking scale sqrt(F) at the LHC in the GMSB scenario where a stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and decays into a gravitino with c*tau_NLSP in the range 0.5 m to 1 km. This implies the measurement of mass and lifetime of long lived sleptons. The identification is performed by determining the time of flight in the ATLAS muon chambers. Accessible range and precision on sqrt(F) achievable with a counting method are assessed.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures (12 eps files). Report of the GMSB SUSY Working Group, Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, 7-18 June 1999. Revised version v3: A few typos correcte

Measuring the SUSY Breaking Scale at the LHC in the Slepton NLSP Scenario of GMSB Models

We report a study on the measurement of the SUSY breaking scale sqrt(F) in the framework of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) models at the LHC. The work is focused on the GMSB scenario where a stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and decays into a gravitino with lifetime c*tau_NLSP in the range 0.5 m to 1 km. We study the identification of long-lived sleptons using the momentum and time of flight measurements in the muon chambers of the ATLAS experiment. A realistic evaluation of the statistical and systematic uncertainties on the measurement of the slepton mass and lifetime is performed, based on a detailed simulation of the detector response. Accessible range and precision on sqrt(F) achievable with a counting method are assessed. Many features of our analysis can be extended to the study of different theoretical frameworks with similar signatures at the LHC.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures (18 eps files). Revised version v2(published in JHEP): Some important corrections and additions to v

Associated production of a light Higgs boson and a chargino pair in the MSSM at linear colliders

In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), we study the light Higgs-boson radiation off a light-chargino pair in the process e+e- -> h chi^+ chi^- at linear colliders with \sqs=500 GeV. We analyze cross sections in the regions of the MSSM parameter space where the process can not proceed via on-shell production and subsequent decay of either heavier charginos or the pseudoscalar Higgs boson A. Cross sections up to a few fb's are allowed, according to present experimental limits on the Higgs-boson, chargino and sneutrino masses. We also show how a measurement of the process production rate could provide a determination of the Higgs-boson couplings to charginos.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures; figure misplacement fixed; to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

Effect of balconies on air quality in deep street canyons

This study discusses the effect of balconies on the dispersion of vehicular pollutants inside a deep street canyon and on the mass transfer rate between the canyon and the above atmosphere. 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed considering the presence of balconies of different dimensions in a deep street canyon with aspect ratio H/W ¼ 3. The effect of two geometrical parameters has been investigated: the balcony depth and the horizontal distance between two balconies, the other geometrical parameters remaining constant. CFD simulations have been carried out adopting the scale adaptive simulation (SAS) model. Results show that the presence of balconies can determine a significant modification in the flow field inside the street canyon with a less homogeneous dispersion of pollutants emitted by vehicles circulating in the street and a less effective mass exchange with the above atmosphere. At the present models developed to assess pollutant concentration levels in street canyons do not consider the presence of balconies. As consequence, an underestimation of real concentration levels could occur. Therefore, results obtained can give a contribution in the development of more feasible air pollution models in urban areas at local scale, and useful information for design of building facades that minimize the entrapping of vehicular pollutants at pedestrian level in street canyon