Higgs self-coupling in the MSSM and NMSSM after the LHC Run 1

Measuring the Higgs self-coupling is one of the crucial physics goals at the LHC Run-2 and other future colliders. In this work, we attempt to figure out the size of SUSY effects on the trilinear self-coupling of the 125 GeV Higgs boson in the MSSM and NMSSM after the LHC Run-1. Taking account of current experimental constraints, such as the Higgs data, flavor constraints, electroweak precision observables and dark matter detections, we obtain the observations: (1) In the MSSM, the ratio of $\lambda^{MSSM}_{3h}/\lambda^{SM}_{3h}$ has been tightly constrained by the LHC data, which can be only slightly smaller than 1 and minimally reach 97\%; (2) In the NMSSM with $\lambda<0.7$, a sizable reduction of $\lambda^{NMSSM}_{3h_2}/\lambda^{SM}_{3h_2}$ can occur and minimally reach 10\% when the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass $m_{h_1}$ is close to the SM-like Higgs boson $m_{h_2}$ due to the large mixing angle between the singlet and doublet Higgs bosons; (3) In the NMSSM with $\lambda>0.7$, a large enhancement or reduction $-1.1<\lambda^{NMSSM}_{3h_1}/\lambda^{SM}_{3h_1}<2$ can occur, which is accompanied by a sizable change of $h_1\tau^+\tau^-$ coupling. The future colliders, such as the HL-LHC and ILC, will have the capacity to test these large deviations in the NMSSM.Comment: 28 pages, discussions and references added, matched to journal versio

Hepatitis B virus-related decompensated liver cirrhosis: Benefits of antiviral therapy

SummaryFollowing development of liver cirrhosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B, liver disease may continue to progress and decompensation or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may occur, especially in those with active viral replication. Decompensation may manifest with jaundice, ascites, variceal bleeding or hepatic encephalopathy. Earlier studies have shown that the prognosis of decompensated cirrhosis is usually poor with a 5-year survival rate at 14–35% under conventional standard of care. The approval of oral antiviral agents has greatly improved the prognosis, as demonstrated in several cohort studies and randomized clinical trials involving therapy with lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil, entecavir, telbivudine, or tenofovir disoproxil fumarate. Oral antiviral agents are effective in restoring liver function and improving survival in patients with decompensated cirrhosis especially if therapy is initiated early enough. These agents are generally well tolerated without significant side effects. However, their preventive effect in HCC development has yet to be convincingly demonstrated. Given their known resistance profiles, entecavir and tenofovir should be considered as the first-line therapy for patients with HBV-related decompensated cirrhosis

The Strange Parton Distribution of the Nucleon: Global Analysis and Applications

The strangeness degrees of freedom in the parton structure of the nucleon are explored in the global analysis framework, using the new CTEQ6.5 implementation of the general mass perturbative QCD formalism of Collins. We systematically determine the constraining power of available hard scattering experimental data on the magnitude and shape of the strange quark and anti-quark parton distributions. We find that current data favor a distinct shape of the strange sea compared to the isoscalar non-strange sea. A new reference parton distribution set, CTEQ6.5S0, and representative sets spanning the allowed ranges of magnitude and shape of the strange distributions, are presented. Some applications to physical processes of current interest in hadron collider phenomenology are discussed.Comment: 19 pages; revised version submitted to JHE

Renal Protection for Coronary Angiography in Advanced Renal Failure Patients by Prophylactic Hemodialysis A Randomized Controlled Trial

ObjectivesWe performed a study to determine whether prophylactic hemodialysis reduces contrast nephropathy (CN) after coronary angiography in advanced renal failure patients.BackgroundPre-existing renal failure is the greatest risk factor for CN. Hemodialysis can effectively remove contrast media, but its effect upon preventing CN is still uncertain.MethodsEighty-two patients with chronic renal failure, referred for coronary angiography, were assigned randomly to receive either normal saline intravenously and prophylactic hemodialysis (dialysis group; n = 42) or fluid supplement only (control group; n = 40).ResultsProphylactic hemodialysis lessened the decrease in creatinine clearance within 72 h in the dialysis group (0.4 ± 0.9 ml/min/1.73 m2vs. 2.2 ± 2.8 ml/min/1.73 m2; p < 0.001). Compared with the dialysis group, the serum creatinine concentrations in the control group were significantly higher at day 4 (6.3 ± 2.3 mg/dl vs. 5.1 ± 1.3 mg/dl; p = 0.010) and at peak level (6.7 ± 2.7 mg/dl vs. 5.3 ± 1.5 mg/dl; p = 0.005). Temporary renal replacement therapy was required in 35% of the control patients and in 2% of the dialysis group (p < 0.001). Thirteen percent of the control patients, but none of the dialysis patients, required long-term dialysis after discharge (p = 0.018). For the patients not requiring chronic dialysis, 13 patients in the control group (37%) and 2 in the dialysis group (5%) had an increase in serum creatinine concentration at discharge of more than 1 mg/dl from baseline (p < 0.001).ConclusionsProphylactic hemodialysis is effective in improving renal outcome in chronic renal failure patients undergoing coronary angiography

Reliability characteristics and conduction mechanisms in resistive switching memory devices using ZnO thin films

In this work, bipolar resistive switching characteristics were demonstrated in the Pt/ZnO/Pt structure. Reliability tests show that ac cycling endurance level above 106 can be achieved. However, significant window closure takes place after about 102 dc cycles. Data retention characteristic exhibits no observed degradation after 168 h. Read durability shows stable resistance states after 106 read times. The current transportation in ZnO films is dominated by the hopping conduction and the ohmic conduction in high-resistance and low-resistance states, respectively. Therefore, the electrical parameters of trap energy level, trap spacing, Fermi level, electron mobility, and effective density of states in conduction band in ZnO were identified

Transverse momentum resummation for Higgs boson produced via bb-bar fusion at hadron colliders

We study the impact of initial-state multiple parton radiation on transverse momentum $(q_T)$ distribution of Higgs boson produced via bottom quark fusion at hadron colliders. The shape of the resulting $q_T$ distribution is affected by the bottom-quark mass corrections and by the strong kinematical behavior of the bottom-quark parton density. We account for both features in the full range of $q_T$. To do this, we formulate the resummation calculation in a general-mass factorization (S-ACOT) scheme and introduce a correction in the resummed-term to account for the effect from large-$q_T$ kinematics of Higgs boson. The results of this resummation are compared to fixed-order and PYTHIA predictions.Comment: LaTex, 20 pages, 7 figure