Finite-width effects in the near-threshold ZZZ and ZWW production at ILC

We calculate the cross-section of the near-threshold off-shell $ZZZ$ and $ZW^+W^-$ production at the International Linear Collider taking into account their instability and the principal part of NLO corrections. The calculations are performed in the framework of the model of unstable particles with smeared mass-shell. We show that the contribution of the finite $Z/W$ and $H$ widths (their instability) is large in the Higgs resonance range and should be taken into account in the Higgs boson searches at future colliders.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Effect of the Pauli principle on photoelectron spin transport in p+p^+ GaAs

In p+ GaAs thin films, the effect of photoelectron degeneracy on spin transport is investigated theoretically and experimentally by imaging the spin polarization profile as a function of distance from a tightly-focussed light excitation spot. Under degeneracy of the electron gas (high concentration, low temperature), a dip at the center of the polarization profile appears with a polarization maximum at a distance of about $2 \; \mu m$ from the center. This counterintuitive result reveals that photoelectron diffusion depends on spin, as a direct consequence of the Pauli principle. This causes a concentration dependence of the spin stiffness while the spin dependence of the mobility is found to be weak in doped material. The various effects which can modify spin transport in a degenerate electron gas under local laser excitation are considered. A comparison of the data with a numerical solution of the coupled diffusion equations reveals that ambipolar coupling with holes increases the steady-state photo-electron density at the excitation spot and therefore the amplitude of the degeneracy-induced polarization dip. Thermoelectric currrents are predicted to depend on spin under degeneracy (spin Soret currents), but these currents are negligible except at very high excitation power where they play a relatively small role. Coulomb spin drag and bandgap renormalization are negligible due to electrostatic screening by the hole gas

Flipped SU(5), see-saw scale physics and degenerate vacua

We investigate the requirement of the existence of two degenerate vacua of the effective potential as a function of the Weinberg-Salam Higgs scalar field norm, as suggested by the multiple point principle, in an extension of the Standard Model including see-saw scale physics. Results are presented from an investigation of an extension of the Standard Model to the gauge symmetry group SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L\times U(1)'\times \tilde U(1), where two groups U(1)' and \tilde U(1) originate at the see-saw scale M_{SS}, when heavy (right-handed) neutrinos appear. The consequent unification of the group SU(3)_C\times SU(2)_L\times U(1)' into the flipped SU(5) at the GUT scale leads to the group SU(5)\times \tilde U(1). We assume the position of the second minimum of the effective potential coincides with the fundamental scale, here taken to be the GUT scale. We solve the renormalization group equations in the one-loop approximation and obtain a top-quark mass of 171\pm 3 GeV and a Higgs mass of 129\pm 4 GeV, in the case when the Yukawa couplings of the neutrinos are less than half that of the top quark at the GUT scale.Comment: 12 pages and 3 Figures; Presented at 'Planck 05' conference, ICT

Hint for axial-vector contact interactions in the data on e+e- -> e+e-(gamma) at centre-of-mass energies 192-208 GeV

For the first time the experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL have presented preliminary results for fermion-pair production in e+e- collisions on the full data set above the Z pole. A combined analysis of the Bhabha scattering measurements is performed to search for effects of contact interactions. In the case of two axial-vector (AA) currents the best fit to the data is 2.6 standard deviations away from the Standard Model expectation, corresponding to an energy scale $\Lambda = 10.3^{+2.8}_{-1.6}$ TeV for contact interactions. For other models no statistically significant deviations are observed, and the data are used to set lower limits at 95 % confidence level on the contact interaction scales ranging from 8.2 to 21.3 TeV, depending on the helicity structure.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, 3 figure

Radiative quantum efficiency in an InAs/AlSb intersubband transition

The quantum efficiency of an electroluminescent intersubband emitter based on InAs/AlSb has been measured as a function of the magnetic field up to 20T. Two series of oscillations periodic in 1/B are observed, corresponding to the elastic and inelastic scattering of electrons of the upper state of the radiative transitions. Experimental results are accurately reproduced by a calculation of the excited state lifetime as a function of the applied magnetic field. The interpretation of these data gives an exact measure of the relative weight of the scattering mechanisms and allows the extraction of material parameters such as the energy dependent electron effective mass and the optical phonon energy.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Constraints on the parameters of the Left Right Mirror Model

We study some phenomenological constraints on the parameters of a left right model with mirror fermions (LRMM) that solves the strong CP problem. In particular, we evaluate the contribution of mirror neutrinos to the invisible Z decay width (\Gamma_Z^{inv}), and we find that the present experimental value on \Gamma_Z^{inv}, can be used to place an upper bound on the Z-Z' mixing angle that is consistent with limits obtained previously from other low-energy observables. In this model the charged fermions that correspond to the standard model (SM) mix with its mirror counterparts. This mixing, simultaneously with the Z-Z' one, leads to modifications of the \Gamma(Z --> f \bar{f}) decay width. By comparing with LEP data, we obtain bounds on the standard-mirror lepton mixing angles. We also find that the bottom quark mixing parameters can be chosen to fit the experimental values of R_b, and the resulting values for the Z-Z' mixing angle do not agree with previous bounds. However, this disagreement disappears if one takes the more recent ALEPH data.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, REVTe

CP-violating Z-gamma-gamma and top-quark electric dipole couplings in gamma gamma -> t bar{t}

An effective anomalous CP-violating Z-gamma-gamma coupling can give rise to observable CP-odd effects in gamma gamma -> t bar{t}. We study certain asymmetries in the decay lepton distributions in gamma gamma -> t bar{t} arising from top decay in the presence of a CP-violating Z-gamma-gamma coupling as well as a top-quark electric dipole coupling. We find that a photon linear collider with geometric luminosity of 20 fb^{-1} can put limits of the order of 0.1 on the imaginary part of the CP-violating anomalous Z-gamma-gamma coupling using these asymmetries.Comment: 10 pages, latex, two figures included, Version accepted for publication in PL

Tau and Charm physics highlights

In tau physics, we are at the frontier between the completion of the LEP program and the start of analyses from b-factories, which are expected to produce results in the coming years. Nice results from CLEO are steadily delivered in the meantime. For charm, impressive progress have been achieved by fixed target experiments in the search for CP violation and D^0 - \bar D^0 oscillations. First results from b-factories demonstrate the power of these facilities in such areas. The novel measurement of the D* width by CLEO happens to be rather different from current expectations. The absence of a charm factory explains the lack or the very slow progress in the absolute scale determinations for charm decays.Comment: "Typos corrected and references added