1,588 research outputs found
Phenomenology and Cosmology of an Electroweak Pseudo-Dilaton and Electroweak Baryons
In many strongly-interacting models of electroweak symmetry breaking the
lowest-lying observable particle is a pseudo-Goldstone boson of approximate
scale symmetry, the pseudo-dilaton. Its interactions with Standard Model
particles can be described using a low-energy effective nonlinear chiral
Lagrangian supplemented by terms that restore approximate scale symmetry,
yielding couplings of the pseudo-dilaton that differ from those of a Standard
Model Higgs boson by fixed factors. We review the experimental constraints on
such a pseudo-dilaton in light of new data from the LHC and elsewhere. The
effective nonlinear chiral Lagrangian has Skyrmion solutions that may be
identified with the `electroweak baryons' of the underlying
strongly-interacting theory, whose nature may be revealed by the properties of
the Skyrmions. We discuss the finite-temperature electroweak phase transition
in the low-energy effective theory, finding that the possibility of a
first-order electroweak phase transition is resurrected. We discuss the
evolution of the Universe during this transition and derive an
order-of-magnitude lower limit on the abundance of electroweak baryons in the
absence of a cosmological asymmetry, which suggests that such an asymmetry
would be necessary if the electroweak baryons are to provide the cosmological
density of dark matter. We revisit estimates of the corresponding
spin-independent dark matter scattering cross section, with a view to direct
detection experiments.Comment: 34 pages, 4 figures, additional references adde
Meson-meson Scattering in QCD-like Theories
We discuss meson-meson scattering at next-to-next-to-leading order in the
chiral expansion for QCD-like theories with general degenerate flavours for
the cases with a complex, real and pseudo-real representation. I.e. with global
symmetry and breaking pattern , and . We obtain fully analytical expressions for all
these cases. We discuss the general structure of the amplitude and the
structure of the possible intermediate channels for all three cases. We derive
the expressions for the lowest partial wave scattering length in each channel
and present some representative numerical results. We also show various
relations between the different cases in the limit of large .Comment: 61 page
Dangerous Skyrmions in Little Higgs Models
Skyrmions are present in many models of electroweak symmetry breaking where
the Higgs is a pseudo-Goldstone boson of some strongly interacting sector. They
are stable, composite objects whose mass lies in the range 10-100 TeV and can
be naturally abundant in the universe due to their small annihilation
cross-section. They represent therefore good dark matter candidates. We show
however in this work that the lightest skyrmion states are electrically charged
in most of the popular little Higgs models, and hence should have been directly
or indirectly observed in nature already. The charge of the skyrmion under the
electroweak gauge group is computed in a model-independent way and is related
to the presence of anomalies in the underlying theory via the
Wess-Zumino-Witten term.Comment: 31 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor changes, one reference added, version
to appear in JHEP; v3: erratum added, conclusions unchange
Ferroelectricity induced by interatomic magnetic exchange interaction
Multiferroics, where two or more ferroic order parameters coexist, is one of
the hottest fields in condensed matter physics and materials science[1-9].
However, the coexistence of magnetism and conventional ferroelectricity is
physically unfavoured[10]. Recently several remedies have been proposed, e.g.,
improper ferroelectricity induced by specific magnetic[6] or charge orders[2].
Guiding by these theories, currently most research is focused on frustrated
magnets, which usually have complicated magnetic structure and low magnetic
ordering temperature, consequently far from the practical application. Simple
collinear magnets, which can have high magnetic transition temperature, have
never been considered seriously as the candidates for multiferroics. Here, we
argue that actually simple interatomic magnetic exchange interaction already
contains a driving force for ferroelectricity, thus providing a new microscopic
mechanism for the coexistence and strong coupling between ferroelectricity and
magnetism. We demonstrate this mechanism by showing that even the simplest
antiferromagnetic (AFM) insulator MnO, can display a magnetically induced
ferroelectricity under a biaxial strain
Twelve weeks of protracted venous infusion of fluorouracil (5-FU) is as effective as 6 months of bolus 5-FU and folinic acid as adjuvant treatment in colorectal cancer.
We performed a multicentre randomised trial to compare the efficacy and toxicity of 12 weeks of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) delivered by protracted intravenous infusion (PVI 5-FU) against the standard bolus regimen of 5-FU and folinic acid (5-FU/FA) given for 6 months as adjuvant treatment in colorectal cancer. A total of 716 patients with curatively resected Dukes' B or C colorectal cancer were randomised to 5-FU/FA (5-FU 425 mg m(-2) i.v. and FA 20 mg m(-2) i.v. bolus days 1-5 every 28 days for 6 months) or to PVI 5-FU alone (300 mg m(-2) day for 12 weeks). With a median follow-up of 19.8 months, 133 relapses and 77 deaths have been observed. Overall survival did not differ significantly (log rank P=0.764) between patients receiving 5-FU/FA and PVI 5-FU (3-year survival 83.2 vs 87.9%, respectively). Patients in the 5-FU/FA group had significantly worse relapse-free survival (RFS, log rank P=0.023) compared to those receiving PVI 5-FU (3-year RFS, 68.6 vs 80%, respectively). Grades 3-4 neutropenia, diarrhoea, stomatitis and severe alopecia were significantly less (P<0.0001) and global quality of life scores significantly better (P&<0.001) for patients in the PVI 5-FU treatment arm. In conclusion, infused 5-FU given over 12 weeks resulted in similar survival to bolus 5-FU and FA over a 6 month period, but with significantly less toxicity
The view from 10,000 procedures: technical tips and wisdom from master pancreatic surgeons to avoid hemorrhage during pancreaticoduodenectomy
Flipping for success: evaluating the effectiveness of a novel teaching approach in a graduate level setting
T-parity, its problems and their solution
We point out a basic difficulty in the construction of little-Higgs models
with T-parity which is overlooked by large part of the present literature.
Almost all models proposed so far fail to achieve their goal: they either
suffer from sizable electroweak corrections or from a breakdown of collective
breaking. We provide a model building recipe to bypass the above problem and
apply it to build the simplest T-invariant extension of the Littlest Higgs. Our
model predicts additional T-odd pseudo-Goldstone bosons with weak scale masses.Comment: 25 pages, 2 appendice
Composite Higgs Sketch
The coupling of a composite Higgs to the standard model fields can deviate
substantially from the standard model values. In this case perturbative
unitarity might break down before the scale of compositeness is reached, which
would suggest that additional composites should lie well below this scale. In
this paper we account for the presence of an additional spin 1 custodial
triplet of rhos. We examine the implications of requiring perturbative
unitarity up to the compositeness scale and find that one has to be close to
saturating certain unitarity sum rules involving the Higgs and the rho
couplings. Given these restrictions on the parameter space we investigate the
main phenomenological consequences of the spin 1 triplet. We find that they can
substantially enhance the Higgs di-photon rate at the LHC even with a reduced
Higgs coupling to gauge bosons. The main existing LHC bounds arise from
di-boson searches, especially in the experimentally clean channel where the
charged rhos decay to a W-boson and a Z, which then decay leptonically. We find
that a large range of interesting parameter space with 700 GeV < m(rho) < 2 TeV
is currently experimentally viable.Comment: 37 pages, 12 figures; v4: sum rule corrected, conclusions unchange
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