Reconstruction of the Extended Gauge Structure from Z′Z' Observables at Future Colliders

The discovery of a new neutral gauge boson $Z'$ with a mass in the TeV region would allow for determination of gauge couplings of the $Z'$ to ordinary quarks and leptons in a model independent way. We show that these couplings in turn would allow us to determine the nature of the extended gauge structure. As a prime example we study the $E_6$ group. In this case two discrete constraints on experimentally determined couplings have to be satisfied. If so, the couplings would then uniquely determine the two parameters, $\tan \beta$ and $\delta$, which fully specify the nature of the $Z'$ within $E_6$. If the $Z'$ is part of the $E_6$ gauge structure, then for $M_{Z'}=1$ TeV $\tan \beta$ and $\delta$ could be determined to around $10\%$ at the future colliders. The NLC provides a unique determination of the two constraints as well as of $\tan \beta$ and $\delta$, though with slightly larger error bars than at the LHC. On the other hand, since the LHC primarily determines three out of four normalized couplings, it provides weaker constraints for the underlying gauge structure.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX using RevTeX and psfig.sty. TeX source and 3 PS figures, tarred, compressed and uuencoded; also available via anonymous ftp to ftp://dept.physics.upenn.edu/pub/Cvetic/UPR-636-T

Off-the-Wall Higgs in the Universal Randall-Sundrum Model

We outline a consistent Randall-Sundrum (RS) framework in which a fundamental 5-dimensional Higgs doublet induces electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB). In this framework of a warped Universal Extra Dimension, the lightest Kaluza-Klein (KK) mode of the bulk Higgs is tachyonic leading to a vacuum expectation value (vev) at the TeV scale. The consistency of this picture imposes a set of constraints on the parameters in the Higgs sector. A novel feature of our scenario is the emergence of an adjustable bulk profile for the Higgs vev. We also find a tower of non-tachyonic Higgs KK modes at the weak scale. We consider an interesting implementation of this ``Off-the-Wall Higgs'' mechanism where the 5-dimensional curvature-scalar coupling alone generates the tachyonic mode responsible for EWSB. In this case, additional relations among the parameters of the Higgs and gravitational sectors are established. We discuss the experimental signatures of the bulk Higgs in general, and those of the ``Gravity-Induced'' EWSB in particular.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figure

The Production of Z′Z' Associated With Photons or Jets as a Probe of New Gauge Boson Couplings

We examine the production of a new $Z'$ gauge boson in association with photons or jets at future hadron supercolliders as a probe of its couplings to fermions. Associated jet production is found to be rather insensitive to these couplings and suffers from large uncertainties as well as substantial backgrounds. On the other hand, the ratio of rates for associated photon $Z'$ production to that of conventional $Z'$ production has a rather clean signature (once appropriate cuts are made), and is found to be quite sensitive to the choice of extended electroweak model, while being simultaneously insensitive to structure function uncertainties and QCD corrections. Rates at both the SSC and LHC are significant for $Z'$ masses in the 1 TeV range.Comment: 14pp, 6 figs(not included), LaTex, ANL-HEP-PR-92-5

Lorentz Violation in Extra Dimensions

In theories with extra dimensions it is well known that the Lorentz invariance of the $D=4+n$-dimensional spacetime is lost due to the compactified nature of the $n$ dimensions leaving invariance only in 4d. In such theories other sources of Lorentz violation may exist associated with the physics that initiated the compactification process at high scales. Here we consider the possibility of capturing some of this physics by analyzing the higher dimensional analog of the model of Colladay and Kostelecky. In that scenario a complete set of Lorentz violating operators arising from spontaneous Lorentz violation, that are not obviously Planck-scale suppressed, are added to the Standard Model action. Here we consider the influence of the analogous set of operators which break Lorentz invariance in 5d within the Universal Extra Dimensions picture. We show that such operators can greatly alter the anticipated Kaluza-Klein(KK) spectra, induce electroweak symmetry breaking at a scale related to the inverse compactification radius, yield sources of parity violation in, e.g., 4d QED/QCD and result in significant violations of KK-parity conservation produced by fermion Yukawa couplings, thus destabilizing the lightest KK particle. LV in 6d is briefly discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures; additional references and discussio

Searching for Anomalous Weak Couplings of Heavy Flavors at the SLC and LEP

The existence of anomalous electric($\tilde \kappa$) and/or magnetic($\kappa$) dipole moment couplings between the heavy flavor fermions ($c,b,\tau$) and the $Z$ boson can cause significant shifts in the values of several electroweak observables currently being probed at both the SLC and LEP. Using the good agreement between existing data and the predictions of the Standard Model we obtain strict bounds on the possible strength of these new interactions for all of the heavy flavors. The decay $Z\rightarrow b\bar b$, however, provides some possible hint of new physics. The corresponding anomalous couplings of $\tau$'s to photons is briefly examined.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figs(available on request), LaTex, SLAC-PUB-667

The effects of non-universal extra dimensions on the radiative lepton flavor decays \mu\to e\gamma and \tau\to \mu\gamma in the two Higgs doublet model

We study the effect of non-universal extra dimensions on the branching ratios of the lepton flavor violating processes \mu\to e\gamma and \tau\to \mu\gamma in the general two Higgs doublet model. We observe that these effects are small for a single extra dimension, however, in the case of two extra dimensions there is a considerable enhancement in the additional contributions.Comment: 16 Pages, 9 Figure

Can We Observe Weak Anomalous Couplings of Heavy Quarks Through Three Jet Events?

The rates and corresponding jet distributions for the decay $Z\to b\bar bg$ and the process $e^+e^-\to t\bar tg$ may be sensitive to anomalous dipole-like couplings of heavy quarks to the photon and $Z$. In the $b$-quark case, after updating our previous analysis on the constraints imposed by current experiments on $Zb\bar b$ anomalous couplings, we show that the variation of these couplings within their presently allowed ranges leads to rather minor modifications to the Standard Model expectations for $Z\to b\bar bg$ observables. In the $t$-quark case, significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions for $t\bar tg$ production at the Next Linear Collider are possible.Comment: 26 pages with 9 embedded figures; gzipped, uuencoded postscript file. To obtain a copy of this paper send e-mail to [email protected]

Brane-localized Kinetic Terms in the Randall-Sundrum Model

We examine the effects of boundary kinetic terms in the Randall-Sundrum model with gauge fields in the bulk. We derive the resulting gauge Kaluza-Klein (KK) state wavefunctions and their corresponding masses, as well as the KK gauge field couplings to boundary fermions, and find that they are modified in the presence of the boundary terms. In particular, for natural choices of the parameters, these fermionic couplings can be substantially suppressed compared to those in the conventional Randall-Sundrum scenario. This results in a significant relaxation of the bound on the lightest gauge KK mass obtained from precision electroweak data; we demonstrate that this bound can be as low as a few hundred GeV. Due to the relationship between the lightest gauge KK state and the electroweak scale in this model, this weakened constraint allows for the electroweak scale to be near a TeV in this minimal extension of the Randall-Sundrum model with bulk gauge fields, as opposed to the conventional scenario.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, LaTex. Discussion and figure added addressing the effects of this analysis on the hierarch

TaqMan probe assays on different biological samples for the identification of three ambrosia beetle species, Xylosandrus compactus (Eichoff), X. crassiusculus (Motschulsky) and X. germanus (Blandford) (Coleoptera Curculionidae Scolytinae)

Molecular assays based on qPCR TaqMan Probes were developed to identify three species of the genus Xylosandrus, X. compactus, X. crassiusculus and X. germanus (Coleoptera Curculionidae Scolytinae). These ambrosia beetles are xylophagous species alien to Europe, causing damages to many ornamental and fruiting trees as well as shrubs. DNA extraction was carried out from adults, larvae and biological samples derived from insect damages on infested plants. For X. compactus, segments of galleries in thin infested twigs were cut and processed; in the case of X. crassiusculus, raw frass extruded from exit holes was used, while DNA of X. germanus was extracted from small wood chips removed around insect exit holes. The assays were inclusive for the target species and exclusive for all the non-target species tested. The LoD was 3.2 pg/μL for the frass of X. crassiusculus and 0.016 ng/μL for the woody matrices of the other two species. Both repeatability and reproducibility were estimated on adults and woody samples, showing very low values ranging between 0.00 and 4.11. Thus, the proposed diagnostic assays resulted to be very efficient also on the woody matrices used for DNA extraction, demonstrating the applicability of the protocol in the absence of dead specimens or living stages