Black Hole Evaporation by Thermal Bath Removal

We study the evaporation process of 2D black holes in thermal equilibrium when the incoming radiation is turned off. Our analysis is based on two different classes of 2D dilaton gravity models which are exactly solvable in the semiclassical aproximation including back-reaction. We consider a one parameter family of models interpolating between the Russo-Susskind-Thorlacius and Bose-Parker-Peleg models. We find that the end-state geometry is the same as the one coming from an evaporating black hole formed by gravitational collapse. We also study the quantum evolution of black holes arising in a model with classical action $S = {1\over2\pi} \int d^2x \sqrt{-g} (R\phi + 4\lambda^2e^{\beta\phi})$. The black hole temperature is proportional to the mass and the exact semiclassical solution indicates that these black holes never disappear completely.Comment: LaTeX, psfig.sty. 10 pages. 3 figures (included as PS files

New Physics and novel Higgs signals

We review some of the results of our recent work dealing with the novel type of Higgs signals that arise when one considers extensions of the standard model. We discuss first possible deviations on the Higgs couplings due to heavy particles, in the context of the MSSM and with large extra-dimensions. Then, we present several models where it is possible to induce flavor violating Higgs couplings, and probe them at future hadron colliders through the LFV Higgs decay h-> tau mu or with rare top decays.Comment: Talk given at the X Mexican School of Particles and Fields, Playa del Carmen, Mexico, 200

FCNC and non-standard soft-breaking terms in weak-scale Supersymmetry

We study the inclusion of non-standard soft-breaking terms in the minimal SUSY extension of the SM, considering it as a model of weak-scale SUSY. These terms modify the sfermion mass matrices, which can induce new sources of flavour violation. Bounds on the new soft parameters can be estimated from current data. The results are then applied to evaluate FCNC top decay t -> c + hi (hi= h,H,A). Implications of complex soft parameters for CP violation are also addressed.Comment: Revised version (8 pages), title changed and references corrected. Presented at VIII Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields, Merida (1999

A redshift survey towards the CMB Cold Spot

We have carried out a redshift survey using the VIMOS spectrograph on the VLT towards the Cosmic Microwave Background cold spot. A possible cause of the cold spot is the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect imprinted by an extremely large void (hundreds of Mpc in linear dimension) at intermediate or low redshifts. The redshift distribution of over seven hundred z<1 emission-line galaxies drawn from an I-band flux limited sample of galaxies in the direction of the cold spot shows no evidence of a gap on scales of Delta-z> 0.05 as would be expected if such a void existed at 0.35<z<1. There are troughs in the redshift distribution on smaller scales (Delta-z ~0.01) indicating that smaller scale voids may connect regions separated by several degrees towards the cold spot. A comparison of this distribution with that generated from similarly-sized subsamples drawn from widely-spaced pointings of the VVDS survey does not indicate that the redshift distribution towards the cold spot is anomalous or that these small gaps can be uniquely attributed to real voids.Comment: MNRAS in press, 6 page