Bounds on effective Majorana neutrino masses at HERA

The lepton-number violating process e p \to nu_e l l' X mediated by Majorana neutrinos is studied for the HERA collider for (l l') = (e tau), (mu tau), (mu mu) and (tau tau). Only the muonic decay of the tau is considered. The direct limit on the effective muon Majorana mass, is improved significantly to 4.0 times 10^3 GeV and for the first time direct limits on the analogous effective masses connected with the tau sector are given, namely 4.2 times 10^3 GeV for , 4.4 times 10^3 GeV for and 2.0 times 10^4 GeV for . We find that a more general analysis for an upgraded HERA could improve this values by a factor of up to 40, yet still being orders of magnitude worse than indirect limits.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revised versio

Neutrino physics with multi-ton scale liquid xenon detectors

We study the sensitivity of large-scale xenon detectors to low-energy solar neutrinos, to coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering and to neutrinoless double beta decay. As a concrete example, we consider the xenon part of the proposed DARWIN (Dark Matter WIMP Search with Noble Liquids) experiment. We perform detailed Monte Carlo simulations of the expected backgrounds, considering realistic energy resolutions and thresholds in the detector. In a low-energy window of 2-30 keV, where the sensitivity to solar pp and $^7$Be-neutrinos is highest, an integrated pp-neutrino rate of 5900 events can be reached in a fiducial mass of 14 tons of natural xenon, after 5 years of data. The pp-neutrino flux could thus be measured with a statistical uncertainty around 1%, reaching the precision of solar model predictions. These low-energy solar neutrinos will be the limiting background to the dark matter search channel for WIMP-nucleon cross sections below $\sim$2$\times$10$^{-48}$ cm$^2$ and WIMP masses around 50 GeV$\cdot$c$^{-2}$, for an assumed 99.5% rejection of electronic recoils due to elastic neutrino-electron scatters. Nuclear recoils from coherent scattering of solar neutrinos will limit the sensitivity to WIMP masses below $\sim$6 GeV$\cdot$c$^{-2}$ to cross sections above $\sim$4$\times$10$^{-45}$cm$^2$. DARWIN could reach a competitive half-life sensitivity of 5.6$\times$10$^{26}$ y to the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{136}$Xe after 5 years of data, using 6 tons of natural xenon in the central detector region.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure

Improved bounds on SUSY accompanied neutrinoless double beta decay

Neutrinoless double beta decay induced by light Majorana neutrino exchange between two decaying nucleons with squark/slepton exchange inside one and W exchange inside the other nucleon (so-called vector-scalar exchange) gives stringent limits on R-parity violating interactions. We have extended previous work by including the tensor contribution to the transition rate. We discuss the improved limits on trilinear \Rp -MSSM couplings imposed by the current experimental limit on the \znbb decay half-life of $^{76}$Ge.Comment: replaced by revised version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Gator: a low-background counting facility at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory

A low-background germanium spectrometer has been installed and is being operated in an ultra-low background shield (the Gator facility) at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy (LNGS). With an integrated rate of ~0.16 events/min in the energy range between 100-2700 keV, the background is comparable to those of the world's most sensitive germanium detectors. After a detailed description of the facility, its background sources as well as the calibration and efficiency measurements are introduced. Two independent analysis methods are described and compared using examples from selected sample measurements. The Gator facility is used to screen materials for XENON, GERDA, and in the context of next-generation astroparticle physics facilities such as DARWIN.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, published versio

Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter: Direct Detection vis-a-vis LHC

We explore the phenomenology of Kaluza-Klein (KK) dark matter in very general models with universal extra dimensions (UEDs), emphasizing the complementarity between high-energy colliders and dark matter direct detection experiments. In models with relatively small mass splittings between the dark matter candidate and the rest of the (colored) spectrum, the collider sensitivity is diminished, but direct detection rates are enhanced. UEDs provide a natural framework for such mass degeneracies. We consider both 5-dimensional and 6-dimensional non-minimal UED models, and discuss the detection prospects for various KK dark matter candidates: the KK photon $\gamma_1$, the KK $Z$-boson $Z_1$, the KK Higgs boson $H_1$ and the spinless KK photon $\gamma_H$. We combine collider limits such as electroweak precision data and expected LHC reach, with cosmological constraints from WMAP, and the sensitivity of current or planned direct detection experiments. Allowing for general mass splittings, we show that neither colliders, nor direct detection experiments by themselves can explore all of the relevant KK dark matter parameter space. Nevertheless, they probe different parameter space regions, and the combination of the two types of constraints can be quite powerful. For example, in the case of $\gamma_1$ in 5D UEDs the relevant parameter space will be almost completely covered by the combined LHC and direct detection sensitivities expected in the near future.Comment: 52 pages, 29 figure

Bilinear R-parity violating SUSY: Neutrinoless double beta decay in the light of solar and atmospheric neutrino data

Neutrinoless double beta (\znbb) decay is considered within bilinear R-parity breaking supersymmetry, including the full one-loop corrections to the neutrino-neutralino mass matrix. Expected rates for \znbb decay in this model are discussed in light of recent atmospheric and solar neutrino data. We conclude that (a) tree-level calculations for \znbb decay within the bilinear model are not reliable in the range of parameters preferred by current solar and atmospheric neutrino problems. And (b) if the solar and atmospheric neutrino problems are to be solved within bilinear R-parity violating SUSY the expected rates for \znbb decay are very low; the effective Majorana neutrino mass at most 0.01 eV and typical values being one order of magnitude lower. Observing \znbb decay in the next round of experiments therefore would rule out the bilinear R-parity violating supersymmetric model as an explanation for solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations, as well as any hierarchical scheme for neutrino masses, unless new neutrino interactions are present.Comment: 1 reference added, enlarged discussion of loop

A general parametrization for the long-range part of neutrinoless double beta decay

Double beta decay has been proven to be a powerful tool to constrain $B-L$ violating physics beyond the standard model. We present a representation for the long-range part of the general $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay rate allowed by Lorentz-invariance. Combined with the short range part this general parametrization in terms of effective $B-L$ violating couplings will provide the $0\nu\beta\beta$ limits on arbitrary lepton number violating theories.Comment: Talk presented by H. P\"as at the Erice School on Nuclear Physics, 19th course "Neutrinos in Astro, Particle and Nuclear Physics", Erice, Italy, 16-24 September 1997, 2 pages, Latex, requires worldsci.st

Hot and Cold Dark Matter Search with GENIUS

GENIUS is a proposal for a large volume detector to search for rare events. An array of 40-400 'naked' HPGe detectors will be operated in a tank filled with ultra-pure liquid nitrogen. After a description of performed technical studies of detector operation in liquid nitrogen and of Monte Carlo simulations of expected background components, the potential of GENIUS for detecting WIMP dark matter, the neutrinoless double beta decay in 76-Ge and low-energy solar neutrinos is discussed

Inferring progression models for CGH data

Motivation: One of the mutational processes that has been monitored genome-wide is the occurrence of regional DNA copy number alterations (CNAs), which may lead to deletion or over-expression of tumor suppressors or oncogenes, respectively. Understanding the relationship between CNAs and different cancer types is a fundamental problem in cancer studies. Results: This article develops an efficient method that can accurately model the progression of the cancer markers and reconstruct evolutionary relationship between multiple types of cancers using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) data. Such modeling can lead to better understanding of the commonalities and differences between multiple cancer types and potential therapies. We have developed an automatic method to infer a graph model for the markers of multiple cancers from a large population of CGH data. Our method identifies highly related markers across different cancer types. It then builds a directed acyclic graph that shows the evolutionary history of these markers based on how common each marker is in different cancer types. We demonstrated the use of this model in determining the importance of markers in cancer evolution. We have also developed a new method to measure the evolutionary distance between different cancers based on their markers. This method employs the graph model we developed for the individual markers to measure the distance between pairs of cancers. We used this measure to create an evolutionary tree for multiple cancers. Our experiments on Progenetix database show that our markers are largely consistent to the reported hot-spot imbalances and most frequent imbalances. The results show that our distance measure can accurately reconstruct the evolutionary relationship between multiple cancer types. Availability: All the code developed in this article are available at http://bioinformatics.cise.ufl.edu/phylogeny.html. Contact: [email protected]; [email protected] Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics onlin

First Results of the EDELWEISS WIMP Search using a 320 g Heat-and-Ionization Ge Detector

The EDELWEISS collaboration has performed a direct search for WIMP dark matter using a 320 g heat-and-ionization cryogenic Ge detector operated in a low-background environment in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane. No nuclear recoils are observed in the fiducial volume in the 30-200 keV energy range during an effective exposure of 4.53 kg.days. Limits for the cross-section for the spin-independent interaction of WIMPs and nucleons are set in the framework of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). The central value of the signal reported by the experiment DAMA is excluded at 90% CL.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 4 figures. Submitted to Phys. Lett.