Relic Neutralino Density in Scenarios with Intermediate Unification Scale

We analyse the relic neutralino density in supersymmetric models with an intermediate unification scale. In particular, we present concrete cosmological scenarios where the reheating temperature is as small as $\cal{O}$ $1 - 1000$ MeV). When this temperature is associated to the decay of moduli fields producing neutralinos, we show that the relic abundance increases considerably with respect to the standard thermal production. Thus the neutralino becomes a good dark matter candidate with 0.1\lsim \Omega h^2 \lsim 0.3, even for regions of the parameter space where large neutralino-nucleon cross sections, compatible with current dark matter experiments, are present. This is obtained for intermediate scales $M_I\sim 10^{11}-10^{14}$ GeV, and moduli masses $m_\phi\sim 100-1000$ GeV. On the other hand, when the above temperature is associated to the decay of an inflaton field, the relic abundance is too small.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 2 figure

Supersymmetric Musings on the Predictivity of Family Symmetries

We discuss the predictivity of family symmetries for the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters in the framework of supergravity. We show that unknown details of the messenger sector and the supersymmetry breaking hidden sector enter into the soft parameters, making it difficult to obtain robust predictions. We find that there are specific choices of messenger fields which can improve the predictivity for the soft parameters.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Complete genome sequences of two Citrobacter rodentium bacteriophages, CR8 and CR44b

© 2014 Toribio et al. The complete genomes of two virulent phages infecting Citrobacter rodentium are reported here for the first time. Both bacteriophages were isolated from local sewage treatment plant effluents. Genome analyses revealed a close relationship between both phages and allowed their classification as members of the Autographivirinae subfamily in the T7-like genus

Impact of DM direct searches and the LHC analyses on branon phenomenology

Dark Matter direct detection experiments are able to exclude interesting parameter space regions of particle models which predict an important amount of thermal relics. We use recent data to constrain the branon model and to compute the region that is favored by CDMS measurements. Within this work, we also update present colliders constraints with new studies coming from the LHC. Despite the present low luminosity, it is remarkable that for heavy branons, CMS and ATLAS measurements are already more constraining than previous analyses performed with TEVATRON and LEP data.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

The Gravitino-Stau Scenario after Catalyzed BBN

We consider the impact of Catalyzed Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on theories with a gravitino LSP and a charged slepton NLSP. In models where the gravitino to gaugino mass ratio is bounded from below, such as gaugino-mediated SUSY breaking, we derive a lower bound on the gaugino mass parameter m_1/2. As a concrete example, we determine the parameter space of gaugino mediation that is compatible with all cosmological constraints.Comment: 1+14 pages, 6 figures; v2: minor clarifications, 1 reference added, matches version to appear in JCA

Phenomenology of heterotic M-theory with five-branes

We analyze some phenomenological implications of heterotic M-theory with five-branes. Recent results for the effective 4-dimensional action are used to perform a systematic analysis of the parameter space, finding the restrictions that result from requiring the volume of the Calabi-Yau to remain positive. Then the different scales of the theory, namely, the 11-dimensional Planck mass, the compactification scale and the orbifold scale, are evaluated. The expressions for the soft supersymmetry-breaking terms are computed and discussed in detail for the whole parameter space. With this information we study the theoretical predictions for the supersymmetric contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, using the recent experimental result as a constraint on the parameter space. We finally analyze the neutralino as a dark matter candidate in this construction. In particular, the neutralino-nucleon cross-section is computed and compared with the sensitivities explored by present dark matter detectors.Comment: Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. Some comments and references added. 37 pages, 19 figure

Entropy production by Q-ball decay for diluting long-lived charged particles

The cosmic abundance of a long-lived charged particle such as a stau is tightly constrained by the catalyzed big bang nucleosynthesis. One of the ways to evade the constraints is to dilute those particles by a huge entropy production. We evaluate the dilution factor in a case that non-relativistic matter dominates the energy density of the universe and decays with large entropy production. We find that large Q balls can do the job, which is naturally produced in the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Superstring Theory and CP- Violating Phases: Can They Be Related?

We investigate the possibility of large CP- violating phases in the soft breaking terms derived in superstring models. The bounds on the electric dipole moments (EDM's) of the electron and neutron are satisfied through cancellations occuring because of the structure of the string models. Three general classes of four-dimensional string models are considered: (i) orbifold compactifications of perturbative heterotic string theory, (ii) scenarios based on Ho\v{r}ava-Witten theory, and (iii) Type I string models (Type IIB orientifolds). Nonuniversal phases of the gaugino mass parameters greatly facilitate the necessary cancellations among the various contributions to the EDM's; in the overall modulus limit, the gaugino masses are universal at tree level in both the perturbative heterotic models and the Ho\v{r}ava-Witten scenarios, which severely restricts the allowed regions of parameter space. Nonuniversal gaugino masses do arise at one-loop in the heterotic orbifold models, providing for corners of parameter space with ${\cal O}(1)$ phases consistent with the phenomenological bounds. However, there is a possibility of nonuniversal gaugino masses at tree level in the Type I models, depending on the details of the embedding of the SM into the D- brane sectors. We find that in a minimal model with a particular embedding of the Standard Model gauge group into two D- brane sectors, viable large phase solutions can be obtained over a wide range of parameter space.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures; corrected bug in the code and a few typos, results qualitatively unchange

Towards constraints on the SUSY seesaw from flavour-dependent leptogenesis

We systematically investigate constraints on the parameters of the supersymmetric type-I seesaw mechanism from the requirement of successful thermal leptogenesis in the presence of upper bounds on the reheat temperature $T_\mathrm{RH}$ of the early Universe. To this end, we solve the flavour-dependent Boltzmann equations in the MSSM, extended to include reheating. With conservative bounds on $T_\mathrm{RH}$, leading to mildly constrained scenarios for thermal leptogenesis, compatibility with observation can be obtained for extensive new regions of the parameter space, due to flavour-dependent effects. On the other hand, focusing on (normal) hierarchical light and heavy neutrinos, the hypothesis that there is no CP violation associated with the right-handed neutrino sector, and that leptogenesis exclusively arises from the CP-violating phases of the $U_\text{MNS}$ matrix, is only marginally consistent. Taking into account stricter bounds on $T_\mathrm{RH}$ further suggests that (additional) sources of CP violation must arise from the right-handed neutrino sector, further implying stronger constraints for the right-handed neutrino parameters.Comment: 42 pages, 12 figures; final version published in JCAP; numerical results for the efficiency factor can be downloaded from http://www.newphysics.eu/leptogenesis