Heavy-Higgs Lifetime at Two Loops

The Standard-Model Higgs boson with mass $M_H >> 2M_Z$ decays almost exclusively to pairs of $W$ and $Z$ bosons. We calculate the dominant two-loop corrections of $O( G_F^2 M_H^4 )$ to the partial widths of these decays. In the on-mass-shell renormalization scheme, the correction factor is found to be $1 + 14.6$, where the second term is the one-loop correction. We give full analytic results for all divergent two-loop Feynman diagrams. A subset of finite two-loop vertex diagrams is computed to high precision using numerical techniques. We find agreement with a previous numerical analysis. The above correction factor is also in line with a recent lattice calculation.Comment: 26 pages, 6 postscript figures. The complete paper including figures is also available via WWW at http://www.physik.tu-muenchen.de/tumphy/d/T30d/PAPERS/TUM-HEP-247-96.ps.g

Flavor Physics and the Triviality Bound on the Higgs Mass

The triviality of the scalar sector of the standard one-doublet Higgs model implies that this model is only an effective low-energy theory valid below some cut-off scale $\Lambda$. The underlying high-energy theory must include flavor dynamics at a scale of order $\Lambda$ or greater in order to give rise to the different Yukawa couplings of the Higgs to ordinary fermions. This flavor dynamics will generically produce flavor-changing neutral currents and non-universal corrections to Z -> b b-bar. We show that the experimental constraints on the neutral D-meson mass difference imply that $\Lambda$ must be greater than of order 21 TeV. We also discuss bounds on $\Lambda$ from the constraints on extra contributions to the K_L - K_S mass difference and to the coupling of the Z boson to b-quarks. For theories defined about the infrared-stable Gaussian fixed-point, we estimate that this lower bound on $\Lambda$ yields an upper bound of approximately 460 GeV on the Higgs boson's mass, independent of the regulator chosen to define the theory.Comment: 11 pages, 2 embedded figures, LaTeX; references and discussion of CP violation adde

The Spatial String Tension in the Deconfined Phase of the (3+1)-Dimensional SU(2) Gauge Theory

We present results of a detailed investigation of the temperature dependence of the spatial string tension in SU(2) gauge theory. We show, for the first time, that the spatial string tension is scaling on the lattice and thus is non-vanishing in the continuum limit. It is temperature independent below Tc and rises rapidly above. For temperatures larger than 2Tc we find a scaling behaviour consistent with sigma_s(T) = 0.136(11) g^4(T) T^2, where g(T) is the 2-loop running coupling constant with a scale parameter determined as Lambda_T = 0.076(13) Tc.Comment: 8 pages (Latex, shell archive, 3 PostScript figures), HLRZ-93-43, BI-TP 93/30, FSU-SCRI-93-76, WUB 93-2

Are Topological Charge Fluctuations in QCD Instanton Dominated?

We consider a recent proposal by Horv\'ath {\em et al.} to address the question whether topological charge fluctuations in QCD are instanton dominated via the response of fermions using lattice fermions with exact chiral symmetry, the overlap fermions. Considering several volumes and lattice spacings we find strong evidence for chirality of a finite density of low-lying eigenvectors of the overlap-Dirac operator in the regions where these modes are peaked. This result suggests instanton dominance of topological charge fluctuations in quenched QCD.Comment: LaTeX, 15 pages, 8 postscript figures, minor improvements, version to appear in PR

Statistics of pre-localized states in disordered conductors

The distribution function of local amplitudes of single-particle states in disordered conductors is calculated on the basis of the supersymmetric $\sigma$-model approach using a saddle-point solution of its reduced version. Although the distribution of relatively small amplitudes can be approximated by the universal Porter-Thomas formulae known from the random matrix theory, the statistics of large amplitudes is strongly modified by localization effects. In particular, we find a multifractal behavior of eigenstates in 2D conductors which follows from the non-integer power-law scaling for the inverse participation numbers (IPN) with the size of the system. This result is valid for all fundamental symmetry classes (unitary, orthogonal and symplectic). The multifractality is due to the existence of pre-localized states which are characterized by power-law envelopes of wave functions, $|\psi_t(r)|^2\propto r^{-2\mu}$, $\mu <1$. The pre-localized states in short quasi-1D wires have the power-law tails $|\psi (x)|^2\propto x^{-2}$, too, although their IPN's indicate no fractal behavior. The distribution function of the largest-amplitude fluctuations of wave functions in 2D and 3D conductors has logarithmically-normal asymptotics.Comment: RevTex, 17 twocolumn pages; revised version (several misprint corrected

The optical module of the Baikal deep underwater neutrino telescope

A deep underwater Cherenkov telescope has been operating since 1993 in stages of growing size at 1.1 km depth in Lake Baikal. The key component of the telescope is the Optical Module (OM) which houses the highly sensitive phototube QUASAR-370. We describe design and parameters of the QUASAR-370, the layout of the optical module, the front-end electronics and the calibration procedures, and present selected results from the five-year operation underwater. Also, future developments with respect to a telescope consisting from several thousand OMs are discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 24 figure

Two-loop O(GF2MH4){\rm O}\left(G_F^2M_H^4\right) corrections to the fermionic decay rates of the Higgs boson

We calculate the dominant ${\rm O}\left(G_F^2M_H^4\right)$ two-loop electroweak corrections to the fermi\-onic decay widths of a heavy Higgs boson in the Standard Model. Use of the Goldstone-boson equivalence theorem reduces the problem to one involving only the physical Higgs boson $H$ and the Goldstone bosons $w^\pm$ and $z$ of the unbroken theory. The two-loop corrections are opposite in sign to the one-loop electroweak corrections, exceed the one-loop corrections in magnitude for $M_H>1114\ {\rm GeV}$, and increase in relative magnitude as $M_H^2$ for larger values of $M_H$. We conclude that the perturbation expansion in powers of $G_FM_H^2$ breaks down for $M_H\approx 1100\ {\rm GeV}$. We discuss briefly the QCD and the complete one-loop electroweak corrections to $H\rightarrow b\bar{b}, \,t\bar{t}$, and comment on the validity of the equivalence theorem. Finally we note how a very heavy Higgs boson could be described in a phenomenological manner.Comment: 24 pages, RevTeX file, 4 figures in a separate compressed uuencoded Postscript file or available by mail on request. Fig. 1 not included see Figs. 1, 2 in Phys. Rev. D 48, 1061 (1993

Dynamics of Phase Transitions by Hysteresis Methods I

In studies of the QCD deconfining phase transition or crossover by means of heavy ion experiments, one ought to be concerned about non-equilibrium effects due to heating and cooling of the system. Motivated by this, we look at hysteresis methods to study the dynamics of phase transitions. Our systems are temperature driven through the phase transition using updating procedures in the Glauber universality class. Hysteresis calculations are presented for a number of observables, including the (internal) energy, properties of Fortuin-Kasteleyn clusters and structure functions. We test the methods for 2d Potts models, which provide a rich collection of phase transitions with a number of rigorously known properties. Comparing with equilibrium configurations we find a scenario where the dynamics of the transition leads to a spinodal decomposition which dominates the statistical properties of the configurations. One may expect an enhancement of low energy gluon production due to spinodal decomposition of the Polyakov loops, if such a scenario is realized by nature.Comment: 12 pages, revised after referee report, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Three-Loop O(alpha_s^2 G_F M_t^2) Corrections to Hadronic Higgs Decays

We calculate the top-quark-induced three-loop corrections of O(alpha_s^2 G_F M_t^2) to the Yukawa couplings of the first five quark flavours in the framework of the minimal standard model with an intermediate-mass Higgs boson, with mass M_H << 2M_t. The calculation is performed using an effective-Lagrangian approach implemented with the hard-mass procedure. As an application, we derive the O(alpha_s^2 G_F M_t^2) corrections to the H -> q q-bar partial decay widths, including the case q=b. The couplings of the Higgs boson to pairs of leptons and intermediate bosons being known to O(alpha_s^2 G_F M_t^2), this completes the knowledge of such corrections in the Higgs sector. We express the results both in the MS-bar and on-shell schemes of mass renormalization. We recover the notion that the QCD perturbation expansions exhibit a worse convergence behaviour in the on-shell scheme than they do in the MS-bar scheme.Comment: 23 pages (Latex), 9 figures (Postscript), accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results