Screening of alternative technologies to incineration for treatment of chemical-agent-contaminated soil

As part of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study, RMA has contracted Argonne National Laboratory to investigate potential remedial alternatives for the cleanup of agent-contaminated soils. The chemical agents of concern include levinstein mustard, lewisite, sarin, and VX. This investigation has been initially divided into three phases: (1) a literature search to determine what, if any, previous studies have been conducted; (2) a technologies-screening critique of remedial technologies as alternatives to incineration; and (3) an investigation of promising alternatives on RMA soil at the laboratory and bench-scale levels. This paper summarizes the document produced as a result of the technologies screening. The purpose of the document was to determine the applicability of 25 technologies to remediation of agent-contaminated soil for a general site. Technologies were critiqued on the basis of applicability to soil type, applicability to the agents of concern at RMA, applicability to other types of contaminants, cost of the treatment, current status of the technology, and residuals produced

Supersymmetric contributions to B -> D K and the determination of angle \gamma

We analyze supersymmetric contributions to B^- -> D^0 K^- and B^- ->\bar{D}^0 K^- processes. We investigate the possibility that supersymmetric CP violating phases can affect our determination for the angle \gamma in the unitary triangle of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskaw mixing matrix. We calculate the gluino and chargino contributions to b--> u(\bar{c}s) and b-->c(\bar{u}s) transitions in a model independent way by using the mass insertion approximation method. We also revise the D^0 - \bar{D}^0 mixing constraints on the mass insertions between the first and second generations of the up sector. We emphasize that in case of negligible D^0 -\bar{D}^0 mixing, one should consider simultaneous contributions from more than one mass insertion in order to be able to obtain the CP asymmetries of these processes within their 1\sigma experimental range. However, with a large D^0-\bar{D}^0 mixing, one finds a significant deviation between the two asymmetries and it becomes natural to have them of order the central values of their experimental measurements.Comment: 20 page

On the possibility of a very light A^0 at low \tan\beta

The searches at LEP II for the processes e^+e^-\to h^0Z and e^+e^-\to h^0A^0 in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) fail to exclude regions of the m_h,m_A plane where \tan\beta <1, thus allowing a very light A^0 (m_A< 20 GeV). Such a parameter choice would predict a light H^\pm with m_{H^\pm}< m_W. Although the potentially large branching ratio for H^\pm \to A^0 W^* would ensure that H^\pm also escaped detection in direct searches at LEP II and the Tevatron Run I, we show that this elusive parameter space is overwhelmingly disfavoured by electroweak precision measurements.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, Revtex, references added, minor additions to tex

Flavor changing Z-decays from scalar interactions at a Giga-Z Linear Collider

The flavor changing decay Z -> d_I \bar{d}_J is investigated with special emphasis on the b \bar{s} final state. Various models for flavor violation are considered: two Higgs doublet models (2HDM's), supersymmetry (SUSY) with flavor violation in the up and down-type squark mass matrices and SUSY with flavor violation mediated by R-parity-violating interaction. We find that, within the SUSY scenarios for flavor violation, the branching ratio for the decay Z -> b \bar{s} can reach 10^{-6} for large \tan\beta values, while the typical size for this branching ratio in the 2HDM's considered is about two orders of magnitudes smaller at best. Thus, flavor changing SUSY signatures in radiative Z decays such as Z -> b \bar{s} may be accessible to future ``Z factories'' such as a Giga-Z version of the TESLA design.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, REVTeX4. A new section added and a few minor corrections were made in the tex

b -> s gamma in the left-right supersymmetric model

The rare decay $b \to s \gamma$ is studied in the left-right supersymmetric model. We give explicit expressions for all the amplitudes associated with the supersymmetric contributions coming from gluinos, charginos and neutralinos in the model to one-loop level. The branching ratio is enhanced significantly compared to the standard model and minimal supersymmetric standard model values by contributions from the right-handed gaugino and squark sector. We give numerical results coming from the leading order contributions. If the only source of flavor violation comes from the CKM matrix, we constrain the scalar fermion-gaugino sector. If intergenerational mixings are allowed in the squark mass matrix, we constrain such supersymmetric sources of flavor violation. The decay $b \to s \gamma$ sets constraints on the parameters of the model and provides distinguishing signs from other supersymmetric scenarios.Comment: 12 figure

B decays and Supersymmetry

I discuss how supersymmetry affects various observables in B decays, and point out the interesting channels in the context of B factories.Comment: LaTex file of working group talk presented at WHEPP-7, HRI, Allahabad, Jan. 200

Stau LSP and comparison with H^+(-) phenomenology

In supersymmetric models with explicit breaking of R-parity the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) may be the lightest stau, \stau_1. Such a scenario would provide a clear sign of R-parity violating SUSY, although its phenomenology may resemble that of a charged Higgs boson, $H^\pm$. We discuss various ways of distinguishing a LSP \stau_1 from $H^\pm$ at future colliders, and address the case of \stau_1 mimicking the signal for $H^\pm$. As an example we suggest that the recent L3 signal for $H^+H^-\to qq'qq'$ and $H^+H^-\to qq'\tau\nu_{\tau}$ could be more easily explained by a LSP \stau_1.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, Revtex, short discussion and references adde

Arsenic speciation in soil using high performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry

A method has been developed to identify and quantify As(III), As(V), and organoarsenic compounds in soil samples from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) by high performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma/mass spectrometry (HPLC/ICP/MS). The soils were extracted using tetrabutylammonium hydroxide (TBAH) and sonication. The percentages of As(III), As(V), and organoarsenic species extracted from soil samples were 30, 50, and 100 respectively. The arsenic species were not altered during the extraction process. They were separated by reversed-phase, ion-pairing, HPLC using a microbore Inertsil-ODS{trademark} column. The HPLC column effluent was introduced into an ICP/MS system using a direct injection nebulizer (DIN). Detection limits of less than 1 pg were readily obtained for each arsenic species. Internal standards are recommended to increase accuracy and precision. Soil samples spiked with arsenic oxide, sodium arsenate, dimethylarsinic acid (DMAA), and chlorovinyl arsenious acid (CVAA) were extracted, identified and quantified with the HPLC/ICP/MS system. The soil samples were analyzed in support of the analytical needs of a thermal desorption treatability study being conducted at the RMA

Calculation of two-loop virtual corrections to b --> s l+ l- in the standard model

We present in detail the calculation of the virtual O(alpha_s) corrections to the inclusive semi-leptonic rare decay b --> s l+ l-. We also include those O(alpha_s) bremsstrahlung contributions which cancel the infrared and mass singularities showing up in the virtual corrections. In order to avoid large resonant contributions, we restrict the invariant mass squared s of the lepton pair to the range 0.05 < s/mb^2 < 0.25. The analytic results are represented as expansions in the small parameters s/mb^2, z = mc^2/mb^2 and s/(4 mc^2). The new contributions drastically reduce the renormalization scale dependence of the decay spectrum. For the corresponding branching ratio (restricted to the above s-range) the renormalization scale uncertainty gets reduced from +/-13% to +/-6.5%.Comment: 41 pages including 9 postscript figures; in version 2 some typos and inconsistent notation correcte

Rare Z-decay into light CP-odd Higgs bosons: a comparative study in different new physics models

Various new physics models predict a light CP-odd Higgs boson (labeled as $a$) and open up new decay modes for Z-boson, such as $Z \to \bar{f} f a$, $Z\to a\gamma$ and $Z\to aaa$, which could be explored at the GigaZ option of the ILC. In this work we investigate these rare decays in several new physics models, namely the type-II two Higgs doublet model (type-II 2HDM), the lepton-specific two Higgs doublet model (L2HDM), the nearly minimal supersymetric standard model (nMSSM) and the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). We find that in the parameter space allowed by current experiments, the branching ratios can reach $10^{-4}$ for $Z \to \bar{f} f a$ ($f=b,\tau$), $10^{-9}$ for $Z\to a\gamma$ and $10^{-3}$ for $Z\to aaa$, which implies that the decays $Z \to \bar{f} f a$ and $Z \to a a a$ may be accessible at the GigaZ option. Moreover, since different models predict different patterns of the branching ratios, the measurement of these rare decays at the GigaZ may be utilized to distinguish the models.Comment: Version in JHEP (discussions added, errors corrected