36,691 research outputs found
Quantum Decoherence in a D-Foam Background
Within the general framework of Liouville string theory, we construct a model
for quantum D-brane fluctuations in the space-time background through which
light closed-string states propagate. The model is based on monopole and vortex
defects on the world sheet, which have been discussed previously in a treatment
of 1+1-dimensional black-hole fluctuations in the space-time background, and
makes use of a T-duality transformation to relate formulations with Neumann and
Dirichlet boundary conditions. In accordance with previous general arguments,
we derive an open quantum-mechanical description of this D-brane foam which
embodies momentum and energy conservation and small mean energy fluctuations.
Quantum decoherence effects appear at a rate consistent with previous
estimates.Comment: 16 pages, Latex, two eps figures include
CP-Violating MSSM Higgs Bosons in the Light of LEP 2
In the MSSM, the CP parities of the neutral Higgs bosons may be mixed by
radiative effects induced by explicit CP violation in the third generation of
squarks. To allow for this possibility, we argue that the charged Higgs-boson
mass and tan(beta) should be used to parametrize the MSSM Higgs sector. We
introduce a new benchmark scenario of maximal CP violation appropriate for
direct searches of CP-violating MSSM Higgs bosons. We show that the bounds
established by LEP 2 on the MSSM Higgs sector may be substantially relaxed at
low and intermediate values of tan(beta) in the presence of CP violation, and
comment on possible Higgs boson signatures at LEP 2 within this framework.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX, 4 encapsulated figure
Neutrino Masses, Mixing Angles and the Unification of Couplings in the MSSM
In the light of the gathering evidence for neutrino
oscillations, coming in particular from the Super-Kamiokande data on
atmospheric neutrinos, we re-analyze the unification of gauge and Yukawa
couplings within the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model
(MSSM). Guided by a range of different grand-unified models, we stress the
relevance of large mixing in the lepton sector for the question of bottom-tau
Yukawa coupling unification. We also discuss the dependence of the favoured
value of on the characteristics of the high-energy quark and lepton
mass matrices. In particular, we find that, in the presence of large lepton
mixing, Yukawa unification can be achieved for intermediate values of
that were previously disfavoured. The renormalization-group
sensitivity to the structures of different mass matrices may enable Yukawa
unification to serve as a useful probe of GUT models.Comment: 29 pages, latex, 5 figure
Renormalization-Group-Improved Effective Potential for the MSSM Higgs Sector with Explicit CP Violation
We perform a systematic study of the one-loop renormalization-group-improved
effective potential of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard
Model (MSSM), including CP violation induced radiatively by soft trilinear
interactions related to squarks of the third generation. We calculate the
charged and neutral Higgs-boson masses and couplings, including the two-loop
logarithmic corrections that arise from QCD effects, as well as those
associated with the top- and bottom-quark Yukawa couplings. We also include the
potentially large two-loop non-logarithmic corrections induced by one-loop
threshold effects on the top- and bottom-quark Yukawa couplings, due to the
decoupling of the third-generation squarks. Within this minimal CP-violating
framework, the charged and neutral Higgs sectors become intimately related to
one another and therefore require a unified treatment. In the limit of a large
charged Higgs-boson mass, M_{H^+} >> M_Z, the lightest neutral Higgs boson
resembles that in the Standard Model (SM), and CP violation occurs only in the
heavy Higgs sector. Our analysis shows that sizeable radiative effects of CP
violation in the Higgs sector of the MSSM may lead to significant modifications
of previous studies for Higgs-boson searches at LEP2, the Tevatron and the LHC.
In particular, CP violation could enable a relatively light Higgs boson to
escape detection at LEP2.Comment: 55 pages, LaTeX, 9 eps figures, typo in (A.12) eliminate
The Nimbus 7 LIMS (Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere) water vapor measurements
Earth orbital instruments, designed to measure the vertical and spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapor is discussed. Specifically, the operation of the Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment is examined. The LIMS is a six channel limb scanning radiometer that was launched aboard Nimbus 7 in 1978. Profiles of stratospheric and mesospheric temperature, water vapor, and various other constituents were obtained by inverting the LIMS radiance measurements. This same technique was used in 1981 to analyze the data returned from another limb scanning radiometer aboard the Solar Mesosphere Explorer
Properties of Information Carrying Waves in Cosmology
Recently we studied the effects of information carrying waves propagating
through isotropic cosmologies. By information carrying we mean that the waves
have an arbitrary dependence on a function. We found that the waves introduce
shear and anisotropic stress into the universe. We then constructed explicit
examples of pure gravity wave perturbations for which the presence of this
anisotropic stress is essential and the null hypersurfaces playing the role of
the histories of the wave-fronts in the background space-time are shear-free.
Motivated by this result we now prove that these two properties are true for
all information carrying waves in isotropic cosmologies.Comment: 15 pages, Latex File, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Prospects for Discovering Supersymmetry at the LHC
Supersymmetry is one of the best-motivated candidates for physics beyond the
Standard Model that might be discovered at the LHC. There are many reasons to
expect that it may appear at the TeV scale, in particular because it provides a
natural cold dark matter candidate. The apparent discrepancy between the
experimental measurement of g_mu - 2 and the Standard model value calculated
using low-energy e+ e- data favours relatively light sparticles accessible to
the LHC. A global likelihood analysis including this, other electroweak
precision observables and B-decay observables suggests that the LHC might be
able to discover supersymmetry with 1/fb or less of integrated luminosity. The
LHC should be able to discover supersymmetry via the classic missing-energy
signature, or in alternative phenomenological scenarios. The prospects for
discovering supersymmetry at the LHC look very good.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure
A supersymmetric D-brane Model of Space-Time Foam
We present a supersymmetric model of space-time foam with two stacks of eight
D8-branes with equal string tensions, separated by a single bulk dimension
containing D0-brane particles that represent quantum fluctuations in the
space-time foam. The ground state configuration with static D-branes has zero
vacuum energy. However, gravitons and other closed-string states propagating
through the bulk may interact with the D0-particles, causing them to recoil and
the vacuum energy to become non zero. This provides a possible origin of dark
energy. Recoil also distorts the background metric felt by energetic massless
string states, which travel at less than the usual (low-energy) velocity of
light. On the other hand, the propagation of chiral matter anchored on the D8
branes is not affected by such space-time foam effects.Comment: 33 pages, latex, five figure
Do Three Dimensions tell us Anything about a Theory of Everything?
It has been conjectured that four-dimensional N=8 supergravity may provide a
suitable framework for a `Theory of Everything', if its composite SU(8) gauge
fields become dynamical. We point out that supersymmetric three-dimensional
coset field theories motivated by lattice models provide toy laboratories for
aspects of this conjecture. They feature dynamical composite supermultiplets
made of constituent holons and spinons. We show how these models may be
extended to include N=1 and N=2 supersymmetry, enabling dynamical conjectures
to be verified more rigorously. We point out some special features of these
three-dimensional models, and mention open questions about their relevance to
the dynamics of N=8 supergravity.Comment: 20 pages Latex, 2 eps figure
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