Assessment of Human Hemodynamics under Hyper- and Microgravity: Results of two Aachen University Parabolic Flight Experiments

Astronauts complain about fluid shifts from their lower extremities to their head caused by weightlessness during their flight into space. For a study of this phenomenon, RWTH Aachen University and Charité University Berlin participated in a joint project on two parabolic flight campaigns of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in September 2005 and June 2006. During these campaigns, the characteristics of the rapid fluid shifts during hyper- and micro gravity were measured by a combination of PPG and PPGI optoelectronic sensor concepts.

Factorial Moments of Continuous Order

The normalized factorial moments $F_q$ are continued to noninteger values of the order $q$, satisfying the condition that the statistical fluctuations remain filtered out. That is, for Poisson distribution $F_q = 1$ for all $q$. The continuation procedure is designed with phenomenology and data analysis in mind. Examples are given to show how $F_q$ can be obtained for positive and negative values of $q$. With $q$ being continuous, multifractal analysis is made possible for multiplicity distributions that arise from self-similar dynamics. A step-by-step procedure of the method is summarized in the conclusion.Comment: 15 pages + 9 figures (figures available upon request), Late

Lepton Flavor Violating Processes and Muon g-2 in Minimal Supersymmetric SO(10) Model

In the recently proposed minimal supersymmetric SO(10) model, the neutrino Dirac Yukawa coupling matrix, together with all the other fermion mass matrices, is completely determined once free parameters in the model are appropriately fixed so as to accommodate the recent neutrino oscillation data. Using this unambiguous neutrino Dirac Yukawa couplings, we calculate the lepton flavor violating (LFV) processes and the muon g-2 assuming the minimal supergravity scenario. The resultant rates of the LFV processes are found to be large enough to well exceed the proposed future experimental bound, while the magnitude of the muon g-2 can be within the recent result by Brookhaven E821 experiment. Furthermore, we find that there exists a parameter region which can simultaneously realize the neutralino cold dark matter abundance consistent with the recent WMAP data.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. The version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Yukawa-unified natural supersymmetry

Previous work on t-b-\tau Yukawa-unified supersymmetry, as expected from SUSY GUT theories based on the gauge group SO(10), tended to have exceedingly large electroweak fine-tuning (EWFT). Here, we examine supersymmetric models where we simultaneously require low EWFT ("natural SUSY") and a high degree of Yukawa coupling unification, along with a light Higgs scalar with m_h\sim125 GeV. As Yukawa unification requires large tan\beta\sim50, while EWFT requires rather light third generation squarks and low \mu\sim100-250 GeV, B-physics constraints from BR(B\to X_s\gamma) and BR(B_s\to \mu+\mu-) can be severe. We are able to find models with EWFT \Delta\lesssim 50-100 (better than 1-2% EWFT) and with Yukawa unification as low as R_yuk\sim1.3 (30% unification) if B-physics constraints are imposed. This may be improved to R_yuk\sim1.2 if additional small flavor violating terms conspire to improve accord with B-constraints. We present several Yukawa-unified natural SUSY (YUNS) benchmark points. LHC searches will be able to access gluinos in the lower 1-2 TeV portion of their predicted mass range although much of YUNS parameter space may lie beyond LHC14 reach. If heavy Higgs bosons can be accessed at a high rate, then the rare H, A\to \mu+\mu- decay might allow a determination of tan\beta\sim50 as predicted by YUNS models. Finally, the predicted light higgsinos should be accessible to a linear e+e- collider with \sqrt{s}\sim0.5 TeV.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, pdflatex; 3 references adde

Testing Yukawa-unified SUSY during year 1 of LHC: the role of multiple b-jets, dileptons and missing E_T

We examine the prospects for testing SO(10) Yukawa-unified supersymmetric models during the first year of LHC running at \sqrt{s}= 7 TeV, assuming integrated luminosity values of 0.1 to 1 fb^-1. We consider two cases: the Higgs splitting (HS) and the D-term splitting (DR3) models. Each generically predicts light gluinos and heavy squarks, with an inverted scalar mass hierarchy. We hence expect large rates for gluino pair production followed by decays to final states with large b-jet multiplicity. For 0.2 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity, we find a 5 sigma discovery reach of m(gluino) ~ 400 GeV even if missing transverse energy, E_T^miss, is not a viable cut variable, by examining the multi-b-jet final state. A corroborating signal should stand out in the opposite-sign (OS) dimuon channel in the case of the HS model; the DR3 model will require higher integrated luminosity to yield a signal in the OS dimuon channel. This region may also be probed by the Tevatron with 5-10 fb^-1 of data, if a corresponding search in the multi-b+ E_T^miss channel is performed. With higher integrated luminosities of ~1 fb^-1, using E_T^miss plus a large multiplicity of b-jets, LHC should be able to discover Yukawa-unified SUSY with m(gluino) up to about 630 GeV. Thus, the year 1 LHC reach for Yukawa-unified SUSY should be enough to either claim a discovery of the gluino, or to very nearly rule out this class of models, since higher values of m(gluino) lead to rather poor Yukawa unification.Comment: 32 pages including 31 EPS figure

Supersymmetric Flavor Models and the B --> phi K_S Anomaly

We consider the flavor structure of supersymmetric theories that can account for the deviation of the observed time-dependent CP asymmetry in B --> phi K_S from the standard model prediction. Assuming simple flavor symmetries and effective field theory, we investigate possible correlations between sizable supersymmetric contributions to b --> s transitions and to flavor changing processes that are more tightly constrained. With relatively few assumptions, we determine the properties of minimal Yukawa and soft mass textures that are compatible with the desired supersymmetric flavor-changing effect and constraints. We then present explicit models that are designed (at least approximately) to realize these textures. In particular, we present an Abelian model based on a single U(1) factor and a non-trivial extra-dimensional topography that can explain the CP asymmetry in B --> phi K_S, while suppressing other supersymmetric flavor changing effects through a high degree of squark-quark alignment.Comment: 18 pages LaTeX, 3 eps figure

Symmetric Textures in SO(10) and LMA Solution for Solar Neutrinos

We analyze a model based on SUSY SO(10) combined with SU(2) family symmetry and symmetric mass matrices constructed by the authors recently. Previously, only the parameter space for the LOW and vacuum oscillation (VO) solutions was investigated. We indicate in this note the parameter space which leads to large mixing angle (LMA) solution to the solar neutrino problem with a slightly modified effective neutrino mass matrix. The symmetric mass textures arising from the left-right symmetry breaking and the SU(2) symmetry breaking give rise to very good predictions for the quark and lepton masses and mixing angles. The prediction of our model for the |U_{e\nu_{3}}| element in the Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (MNS) matrix is close to the sensitivity of current experiments; thus the validity of our model can be tested in the near future. We also investigate the correlation between the |U_{e\nu_{3}}| element and \tan^{2}\theta_{\odot} in a general two-zero neutrino mass texture.Comment: RevTeX4; 9 pages; 1 figur

Gauge-Fermion Unification and Flavour Symmetry

After we study the 6-dimensional ${\cal N} = (1, 1)$ supersymmetry breaking and $R$ symmetry breaking on $M^4\times T^2/Z_n$, we construct two ${\cal N} = (1, 1)$ supersymmetric $E_6$ models on $M^4\times T^2/Z_3$ where $E_6$ is broken down to $SO(10)\times U(1)_X$ by orbifold projection. In Model I, three families of the Standard Model fermions arise from the zero modes of bulk vector multiplet, and the $R$ symmetry $U(1)_F^{I} \times SU(2)_{{\bf 4}_-}$ can be considered as flavour symmetry. This may explain why there are three families of fermions in the nature. In Model II, the first two families come from the zero modes of bulk vector multiplet, and the flavour symmetry is similar. In these models, the anomalies can be cancelled, and we have very good fits to the SM fermion masses and mixings. We also comment on the ${\cal N}=(1, 1)$ supersymmetric $E_6$ models on $M^4\times T^2/Z_4$ and $M^4\times T^2/Z_6$, SU(9) models on $M^4\times T^2/Z_3$, and SU(8) models on $T^2$ orbifolds.Comment: Latex, 33 pages, minor change

Bi-large Neutrino Mixing and Mass of the Lightest Neutrino from Third Generation Dominance in a Democratic Approach

We show that both small mixing in the quark sector and large mixing in the lepton sector can be obtained from a simple assumption of universality of Yukawa couplings and the right-handed neutrino Majorana mass matrix in leading order. We discuss conditions under which bi-large mixing in the lepton sector is achieved with a minimal amount of fine-tuning requirements for possible models. From knowledge of the solar and atmospheric mixing angles we determine the allowed values of sin \theta_{13}. If embedded into grand unified theories, the third generation Yukawa coupling unification is a generic feature while masses of the first two generations of charged fermions depend on small perturbations. In the neutrino sector, the heavier two neutrinos are model dependent, while the mass of the lightest neutrino in this approach does not depend on perturbations in the leading order. The right-handed neutrino mass scale can be identified with the GUT scale in which case the mass of the lightest neutrino is given as (m_{top}^2/M_{GUT}) sin^2 \theta_{23} sin^2 \theta_{12} in the limit sin \theta_{13} = 0. Discussing symmetries we make a connection with hierarchical models and show that the basis independent characteristic of this scenario is a strong dominance of the third generation right-handed neutrino, M_1, M_2 < 10^{-4} M_3, M_3 = M_{GUT}.Comment: typos correcte

Feeling our way: academia, emotions and a politics of care

This paper aims to better understand the role of emotions in academia, and their part in producing, and challenging, an increasingly normalized neoliberal academy. It unfolds from two narratives that foreground emotions in and across academic spaces and practices, to critically explore how knowledges and positions are constructed and circulated. It then moves to consider these issues through the lens of care as a political stance towards being and becoming academics in neoliberal times. Our aim is to contribute to the burgeoning literature on emotional geographies, explicitly bringing this work into conversation with resurgent debates surrounding an ethic of care, as part of a politic of critiquing individualism and managerialism in (and beyond) the academy. We consider the ways in which neoliberal university structures circulate particular affects, prompting emotions such as desire and anxiety, and the internalisation of competition and audit as embodied scholars. Our narratives exemplify how attendant emotions and affect can reverberate and be further reproduced through university cultures, and diffuse across personal and professional lives. We argue that emotions in academia matter, mutually co-producing everyday social relations and practices at and across all levels. We are interested in their political implications, and how neoliberal norms can be shifted through practices of caring-with