345 research outputs found
Two-body decays in the minimal 331 model
The two-body decays of the extra neutral boson Z_2 predicted by the minimal
331 model are analyzed. At the three-level it can decay into standard model
particles as well as exotic quarks and the new gauge bosons predicted by the
model. The decays into a lepton pair are strongly suppressed, with and . In the bosonic
sector, Z_2 would decay mainly into a pair of bilepton gauge bosons, with a
branching ratio below the 0.1 level. The Z_2 boson has thus a leptophobic and
bileptophobic nature and it would decay dominantly into quark pairs. The
anomaly-induced decays and , which occurs
at the one-loop level are studied. It is found that and at most. As for the and decays, with H a relatively light Higgs boson, they
are induced via Z'-Z mixing. It is obtained that
and . We also examine the flavor changing neutral
current decays and , which may have branching
fractions as large as and , respectively, and thus may be of
phenomenological interest.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Acireductone Dioxygenase 1 (ARD1) Is an Effector of the Heterotrimeric G Protein Subunit in Arabidopsis
Heterotrimeric G protein complexes are conserved from plants to mammals, but the complexity of each system varies. Arabidopsis thaliana contains one Gα, one Gβ (AGB1), and at least three Gγ subunits, allowing it to form three versions of the heterotrimer. This plant model is ideal for genetic studies because mammalian systems contain hundreds of unique heterotrimers. The activation of these complexes promotes interactions between both the Gα subunit and the Gβγ dimer with enzymes and scaffolds to propagate signaling to the cytoplasm. However, although effectors of Gα and Gβ are known in mammals, no Gβ effectors were previously known in plants. Toward identifying AGB1 effectors, we genetically screened for dominant mutations that suppress Gβ-null mutant (agb1-2) phenotypes. We found that overexpression of acireductone dioxygenase 1 (ARD1) suppresses the 2-day-old etiolated phenotype of agb1-2. ARD1 is homologous to prokaryotic and eukaryotic ARD proteins; one function of ARDs is to operate in the methionine salvage pathway. We show here that ARD1 is an active metalloenzyme, and AGB1 and ARD1 both control embryonic hypocotyl length by modulating cell division; they also may contribute to the production of ethylene, a product of the methionine salvage pathway. ARD1 physically interacts with AGB1, and ARD enzymatic activity is stimulated by AGB1 in vitro. The binding interface on AGB1 was deduced using a comparative evolutionary approach and tested using recombinant AGB1 mutants. A possible mechanism for AGB1 activation of ARD1 activity was tested using directed mutations in a loop near the substrate-binding site
Rare Charm Decays in the Standard Model and Beyond
We perform a comprehensive study of a number of rare charm decays,
incorporating the first evaluation of the QCD corrections to the short distance
contributions, as well as examining the long range effects. For processes
mediated by the transitions, we show that sensitivity to
short distance physics exists in kinematic regions away from the vector meson
resonances that dominate the total rate. In particular, we find that
and are sensitive to non-universal
soft-breaking effects in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with
R-parity conservation. We separately study the sensitivity of these modes to
R-parity violating effects and derive new bounds on R-parity violating
couplings. We also obtain predictions for these decays within extensions of the
Standard Model, including extensions of the Higgs, gauge and fermion sectors,
as well as models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking.Comment: 45 pages, typos fixed, discussions adde
Proximity effect at superconducting Sn-Bi2Se3 interface
We have investigated the conductance spectra of Sn-Bi2Se3 interface junctions
down to 250 mK and in different magnetic fields. A number of conductance
anomalies were observed below the superconducting transition temperature of Sn,
including a small gap different from that of Sn, and a zero-bias conductance
peak growing up at lower temperatures. We discussed the possible origins of the
smaller gap and the zero-bias conductance peak. These phenomena support that a
proximity-effect-induced chiral superconducting phase is formed at the
interface between the superconducting Sn and the strong spin-orbit coupling
material Bi2Se3.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
Heavy Quarks and Heavy Quarkonia as Tests of Thermalization
We present here a brief summary of new results on heavy quarks and heavy
quarkonia from the PHENIX experiment as presented at the "Quark Gluon Plasma
Thermalization" Workshop in Vienna, Austria in August 2005, directly following
the International Quark Matter Conference in Hungary.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Quark Gluon Plasma Thermalization Workshop
(Vienna August 2005) Proceeding
Centrality Dependence of the High p_T Charged Hadron Suppression in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV
PHENIX has measured the centrality dependence of charged hadron p_T spectra
from central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 GeV. The truncated mean p_T
decreases with centrality for p_T > 2 GeV/c, indicating an apparent reduction
of the contribution from hard scattering to high p_T hadron production. For
central collisions the yield at high p_T is shown to be suppressed compared to
binary nucleon-nucleon collision scaling of p+p data. This suppression is
monotonically increasing with centrality, but most of the change occurs below
30% centrality, i.e. for collisions with less than about 140 participating
nucleons. The observed p_T and centrality dependence is consistent with the
particle production predicted by models including hard scattering and
subsequent energy loss of the scattered partons in the dense matter created in
the collisions.Comment: 7 pages text, LaTeX, 6 figures, 2 tables, 307 authors, resubmitted to
Phys. Lett. B. Revised to address referee concerns. Plain text data tables
for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications
are publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/phenix/WWW/run/phenix/papers.htm
Single Electrons from Heavy Flavor Decays in p+p Collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
The invariant differential cross section for inclusive electron production in
p+p collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV has been measured by the PHENIX experiment
at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider over the transverse momentum range $0.4
<= p_T <= 5.0 GeV/c at midrapidity (eta <= 0.35). The contribution to the
inclusive electron spectrum from semileptonic decays of hadrons carrying heavy
flavor, i.e. charm quarks or, at high p_T, bottom quarks, is determined via
three independent methods. The resulting electron spectrum from heavy flavor
decays is compared to recent leading and next-to-leading order perturbative QCD
calculations. The total cross section of charm quark-antiquark pair production
is determined as sigma_(c c^bar) = 0.92 +/- 0.15 (stat.) +- 0.54 (sys.) mb.Comment: 329 authors, 6 pages text, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.
Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Nuclear Modification of Electron Spectra and Implications for Heavy Quark Energy Loss in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
The PHENIX experiment has measured mid-rapidity transverse momentum spectra
(0.4 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c) of electrons as a function of centrality in Au+Au
collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. Contributions from photon conversions and
from light hadron decays, mainly Dalitz decays of pi^0 and eta mesons, were
removed. The resulting non-photonic electron spectra are primarily due to the
semi-leptonic decays of hadrons carrying heavy quarks. Nuclear modification
factors were determined by comparison to non-photonic electrons in p+p
collisions. A significant suppression of electrons at high p_T is observed in
central Au+Au collisions, indicating substantial energy loss of heavy quarks.Comment: 330 authors, 6 pages text, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett.
Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and
previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Dilepton mass spectra in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)= 200 GeV and the contribution from open charm
The PHENIX experiement has measured the electron-positron pair mass spectrum
from 0 to 8 GeV/c^2 in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. The contributions
from light meson decays to e^+e^- pairs have been determined based on
measurements of hadron production cross sections by PHENIX. They account for
nearly all e^+e^- pairs in the mass region below 1 GeV/c^2. The e^+e^- pair
yield remaining after subtracting these contributions is dominated by
semileptonic decays of charmed hadrons correlated through flavor conservation.
Using the spectral shape predicted by PYTHIA, we estimate the charm production
cross section to be 544 +/- 39(stat) +/- 142(syst) +/- 200(model) \mu b, which
is consistent with QCD calculations and measurements of single leptons by
PHENIX.Comment: 375 authors from 57 institutions, 18 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables.
Submitted to Physics Letters B. v2 fixes technical errors in matching authors
to institutions. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for
this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at
http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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