Flavour Physics and CP Violation in the Standard Model and Beyond

We present the invited lectures given at the Third IDPASC School which took place in Santiago de Compostela in January 2013. The students attending the school had very different backgrounds, some of them were doing their Ph.D. in experimental particle physics, others in theory. As a result, and in order to make the lectures useful for most of the students, we focused on basic topics of broad interest, avoiding the more technical aspects of Flavour Physics and CP Violation. We make a brief review of the Standard Model, paying special attention to the generation of fermion masses and mixing, as well as to CP violation. We describe some of the simplest extensions of the SM, emphasising novel flavour aspects which arise in their framework.Comment: Invited talk at the Third IDPASC School 2013, January 21st - February 2nd 2013, Santiago de Compostela, Galiza, Spain; 36 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables; version with few misprints correcte

Braneworld inflation from an effective field theory after WMAP three-year data

In light of the results from the WMAP three-year sky survey, we study an inflationary model based on a single-field polynomial potential, with up to quartic terms in the inflaton field. Our analysis is performed in the context of the Randall-Sundrum II braneworld theory, and we consider both the high-energy and low-energy (i.e. the standard cosmology case) limits of the theory. We examine the parameter space of the model, which leads to both large-field and small-field inflationary type solutions. We conclude that small field inflation, for a potential with a negative mass square term, is in general favored by current bounds on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rs.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; references updated and a few comments added; final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Densidade aparente do dolo submetido a diferentes sistemas de preparo do solo e plantio, e diferentes sistemas de rotação de culturas.

A avaliação da qualidade física dos solos influem na determinação da capacidade de desenvolvimento das plantas podendo ser medida pela densidade do solo, estabilidade de agregados, porosidade, condutividade hidráulica, temperatura do solo, trocas gasosas, etc. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a densidade do solo submetido a diferentes sistemas de preparo do solo e plantio, e diferentes sistemas de rotação de culturas. O experimento esta instalado desde 2007 no Campus Experimental da Universidade Federal de Rondonia ? UNIR, localizado na cidade de Rolim de Moura, possuindo os seguintes tratamentos: 1) sistemas de preparo do solo (PDC ? plantio direto continuo, PDA ?plantio direto alternativo, PRA ? plantio alternativo e PRT ? plantio tradicional); 2) rotações de culturas (S/F ?soja/feijão, S/M ? soja/milho, M/F ? milho/feijão e M/M ? milho/milho), levando ? se em consideração as diferentes profundidades do solo analisado (0 ? 10 cm e 10 ? 20 cm). O sistema de PDC obteve uma menor densidade do solo na profundidades de 0 ? 10 e 10 ? 20 cm, já o PRT na camada de 0 ? 10 cm teve uma maior densidade e o PDA apresentou maior densidade na profundidade de 10 ? 20 cm. Logo pode ? se afirmar que o plantio direto por apresentar uma cobertura do solo e sem revolvimento profporciona uma menor densidade aparente do solo

The ν\nu-cleus experiment: A gram-scale fiducial-volume cryogenic detector for the first detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering

We discuss a small-scale experiment, called $\nu$-cleus, for the first detection of coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering by probing nuclear-recoil energies down to the 10 eV-regime. The detector consists of low-threshold CaWO$_4$ and Al$_2$O$_3$ calorimeter arrays with a total mass of about 10 g and several cryogenic veto detectors operated at millikelvin temperatures. Realizing a fiducial volume and a multi-element target, the detector enables active discrimination of $\gamma$, neutron and surface backgrounds. A first prototype Al$_2$O$_3$ device, operated above ground in a setup without shielding, has achieved an energy threshold of ${\sim20}$ eV and further improvements are in reach. A sensitivity study for the detection of coherent neutrino scattering at nuclear power plants shows a unique discovery potential (5$\sigma$) within a measuring time of ${\lesssim2}$ weeks. Furthermore, a site at a thermal research reactor and the use of a radioactive neutrino source are investigated. With this technology, real-time monitoring of nuclear power plants is feasible.Comment: 14 pages, 19 figure

Neutrino Observatories Can Characterize Cosmic Sources and Neutrino Properties

Neutrino telescopes that measure relative fluxes of ultrahigh-energy $\nu_{e}, \nu_{\mu}, \nu_{\tau}$ can give information about the location and characteristics of sources, about neutrino mixing, and can test for neutrino instability and for departures from CPT invariance in the neutrino sector. We investigate consequences of neutrino mixing for the neutrino flux arriving at Earth, and consider how terrestrial measurements can characterize distant sources. We contrast mixtures that arise from neutrino oscillations with those signaling neutrino decays. We stress the importance of measuring $\nu_{e}, \nu_{\mu}, \nu_{\tau}$ fluxes in neutrino observatories.Comment: 9 RevTeX pages, 4 figure

Topological Inflation in Supergravity

We investigate a topological inflation model in supergravity. By means of numerical simulations, it is confirmed that topological inflation can take place in supergravity. We also show that the condition for successful inflation depends not only on the vacuum-expectation value (VEV) of inflaton field but also on the form of its K\"ahler potential. In fact, it is found that the required VEV of the inflaton $\phi$ can be as small as $\simeq 1 \times M_G$, where $M_{G}$ is the gravitational scale.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.