358 research outputs found
Four-jet Signal at LEP2 and Supersymmetry
ALEPH has reported a significant excess of four-jet events in the LEP runs
above the Z^0 resonance, which however has not been confirmed by the other LEP
collaborations. We assume here that this excess corresponds to a physics signal
and try to interpret it in the context of supersymmetric models with R-parity
violation. Associated production of a left and right selectron can explain all
the distinctive features of the ALEPH data: the value of the cross section, the
di-jet mass difference, the absence of bottom quarks in the final state, and
the di-jet charge content. Our proposed scenario makes definite predictions
which can be tested at future LEP runs at higher energies.Comment: 15 pages, LateX, 5 figures. A few typos were corrected. A reference
was adde
On the reheating stage after inflation
We point out that inflaton decay products acquire plasma masses during the
reheating phase following inflation. The plasma masses may render inflaton
decay kinematicaly forbidden, causing the temperature to remain frozen for a
period at a plateau value. We show that the final reheating temperature may be
uniquely determined by the inflaton mass, and may not depend on its coupling.
Our findings have important implications for the thermal production of
dangerous relics during reheating (e.g., gravitinos), for extracting bounds on
particle physics models of inflation from Cosmic Microwave Background
anisotropy data, for the production of massive dark matter candidates during
reheating, and for models of baryogenesis or leptogensis where massive
particles are produced during reheating.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Submitted for publication in Phys. Rev.
The Role of the D13 (1520) Resonance in eta Electroproduction
We investigate the electroproduction of eta mesons below a center of momentum
energy of 1.6 GeV, with particular emphasis on the roles of the N*(1535) and
N*(1520) resonances. Using the effective Lagrangian approach, we show that the
transverse helicity amplitude of the N*(1535) can be extracted with good
accuracy from the new eta electroproduction data, under reasonable assumptions
for the strength of the longitudinal helicity amplitude. In addition, although
the differential cross section is found to to have a small sensitivity to the
N*(1520) resonance, it is shown that a recently completed double polarization
experiment is very sensitive to this resonance.Comment: 7 pages, Revtex, 3 figure
Towards a complete theory of thermal leptogenesis in the SM and MSSM
We perform a thorough study of thermal leptogenesis adding finite temperature
effects, RGE corrections, scatterings involving gauge bosons and by properly
avoiding overcounting on-shell processes. Assuming hierarchical right-handed
neutrinos with arbitrary abundancy, successful leptogenesis can be achieved if
left-handed neutrinos are lighter than 0.15 eV and right-handed neutrinos
heavier than 2 10^7 GeV (SM case, 3sigma C.L.). MSSM results are similar.
Furthermore, we study how reheating after inflation affects thermal
leptogenesis. Assuming that the inflaton reheats SM particles but not directly
right-handed neutrinos, we derive the lower bound on the reheating temperature
to be T_RH > 2 10^9 GeV. This bound conflicts with the cosmological gravitino
bound present in supersymmetric theories. We study some scenarios that avoid
this conflict: `soft leptogenesis', leptogenesis in presence of a large
right-handed (s)neutrino abundancy or of a sneutrino condensate.Comment: 56 pages, many figures (17) and appendices (20 pages). v2: ref.s
added, final version. Results available at
http://www.cern.ch/astrumia/Leptogenesis.htm
Sleptogenesis
We propose that the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe can naturally
arise from a net asymmetry generated in the sleptonic sector at fairly low
reheat temperatures. The best candidate is indeed the right-handed sneutrino.
The initial asymmetry in the sneutrino sector can be produced from the decay of
the inflaton, and is subsequently transferred into the Standard Model (s)lepton
doublet via the decay of the sneutrino. The active sphalerons then reprocess
the leptonic asymmetry into the baryonic asymmetry. The marked feature of this
scenario is that the lepton asymmetry is decoupled from the neutrino Yukawa
sector. We exhibit that our scenario can be embedded within models which seek
the origin of a tiny mass for neutrinos.Comment: 7 revtex pages, 2 figures (uses axodraw). Minor changes for better
clarification and updated references. Final version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Bose Einstein condensation at reheating
We discuss the possibility that a perturbative reheating stage after
inflation produces a scalar particle gas in a Bose condensate state,
emphasizing the possible cosmological role of this phenomenon for symmetry
restoration.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Revised version, with an improved analysis of the
condensate formatio
Leptogenesis and rescattering in supersymmetric models
The observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe can be due to the
violating decay of heavy right handed (s)neutrinos. The amount of the asymmetry
depends crucially on their number density. If the (s)neutrinos are generated
thermally, in supersymmetric models there is limited parameter space leading to
enough baryons. For this reason, several alternative mechanisms have been
proposed. We discuss the nonperturbative production of sneutrino quanta by a
direct coupling to the inflaton. This production dominates over the
corresponding creation of neutrinos, and it can easily (i.e. even for a rather
small inflaton-sneutrino coupling) lead to a sufficient baryon asymmetry. We
then study the amplification of MSSM degrees of freedom, via their coupling to
the sneutrinos, during the rescattering phase which follows the nonperturbative
production. This process, which mainly influences the (MSSM) flat
directions, is very efficient as long as the sneutrinos quanta are in the
relativistic regime. The rapid amplification of the light degrees of freedom
may potentially lead to a gravitino problem. We estimate the gravitino
production by means of a perturbative calculation, discussing the regime in
which we expect it to be reliable.Comment: (20 pages, 6 figures), references added, typos corrected. Final
version in revte
From weak-scale observables to leptogenesis
Thermal leptogenesis is an attractive mechanism for generating the baryon
asymmetry of the Universe. However, in supersymmetric models, the parameter
space is severely restricted by the gravitino bound on the reheat temperature
. For hierarchical light neutrino masses, it is shown that thermal
leptogenesis {\it can} work when GeV. The low-energy
observable consequences of this scenario are . For higher , thermal leptogenesis works in a
larger area of parameter space, whose observable consequences are more
ambiguous. A parametrisation of the seesaw in terms of weak-scale inputs is
used, so the results are independent of the texture chosen for the GUT-scale
Yukawa matrices.Comment: a few references adde
Non-thermal leptogenesis with almost degenerate superheavy neutrinos
We present a model with minimal assumptions for non-thermal leptogenesis with
almost degenerate superheavy right-handed neutrinos in a supersymmetric set up.
In this scenario a gauge singlet inflaton is directly coupled to the
right-handed (s)neutrinos with a mass heavier than the inflaton mass. This
helps avoiding potential problems which can naturally arise otherwise. The
inflaton decay to the Standard Model leptons and Higgs, via off-shell
right-handed (s)neutrinos, reheats the Universe. The same channel is also
responsible for generating the lepton asymmetry, thus requiring no stage of
preheating in order to excite superheavy (s)neutrinos. The suppressed decay
rate of the inflaton naturally leads to a sufficiently low reheat temperature,
which in addition, prevents any wash out of the yielded asymmetry. We will
particularly elaborate on important differences from leptogenesis with on-shell
(s)neutrinos. It is shown that for nearly degenerate neutrinos a successful
leptogenesis can be accommodated for a variety of inflationary models with a
rather wide ranging inflationary scale.Comment: 10 revtex pages, 2 figure (uses axodraw). The derivation of the
asymmetry parameter for the general case and one figure added. Final version
to appear in Phys. Rev.
Pursuing interpretations of the HERA large-Q2 data
We explore interpretations of the anomaly observed by H1 and ZEUS at HERA in
deep-inelastic e^+ p scattering at very large Q^2. We discuss the possibilities
of new effective interactions and the production of a narrow state of mass 200
GeV with leptoquark couplings. We compare these models with the measured Q^2
distributions: for the contact terms, constraints from LEP2 and the Tevatron
allow only a few choices of helicity and flavour structure that could roughly
fit the HERA data. The data are instead quite consistent with the Q^2
distribution expected from a leptoquark state. We study the production cross
sections of such a particle at the Tevatron and at HERA. The absence of a
signal at the Tevatron disfavours the likelihood that any such leptoquark
decays only into e^+ q. We then focus on the possibility that the leptoquark is
a squark with R-violating couplings. In view of the present experimental limits
on such couplings, the most likely production channels are e^+d -> scharm_L or
perhaps e^+d->stop, with e^+s->stop a more marginal possibility. Possible tests
of our preferred model include the absence both of analogous events in e^- p
collisions and of charged current events, and the presence of detectable
cascade decays whose kinematical signatures we discuss. We also discuss the
possible implications for K->pi nu nubar, neutrinoless double-beta decay, the
Tevatron and for e^+ e^- ->q qbar and neutralinos at LEP2.Comment: 28 pages, Latex, epsfig, 8 figures. Note added on contact term
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