A Two-Tiered Correlation of Dark Matter with Missing Transverse Energy: Reconstructing the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle Mass at the LHC

We suggest that non-trivial correlations between the dark matter particle mass and collider based probes of missing transverse energy H_T^miss may facilitate a two tiered approach to the initial discovery of supersymmetry and the subsequent reconstruction of the LSP mass at the LHC. These correlations are demonstrated via extensive Monte Carlo simulation of seventeen benchmark models, each sampled at five distinct LHC center-of-mass beam energies, spanning the parameter space of No-Scale F-SU(5).This construction is defined in turn by the union of the Flipped SU(5) Grand Unified Theory, two pairs of hypothetical TeV scale vector-like supersymmetric multiplets with origins in F-theory, and the dynamically established boundary conditions of No-Scale Supergravity. In addition, we consider a control sample comprised of a standard minimal Supergravity benchmark point. Led by a striking similarity between the H_T^miss distribution and the familiar power spectrum of a black body radiator at various temperatures, we implement a broad empirical fit of our simulation against a Poisson distribution ansatz. We advance the resulting fit as a theoretical blueprint for deducing the mass of the LSP, utilizing only the missing transverse energy in a statistical sampling of >= 9 jet events. Cumulative uncertainties central to the method subsist at a satisfactory 12-15% level. The fact that supersymmetric particle spectrum of No-Scale F-SU(5) has thrived the withering onslaught of early LHC data that is steadily decimating the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and minimal Supergravity parameter spaces is a prime motivation for augmenting more conventional LSP search methodologies with the presently proposed alternative.Comment: JHEP version, 17 pages, 9 Figures, 2 Table

Modular metabolic engineering and synthetic coculture strategies for the production of aromatic compounds in yeast.

Microbial-derived aromatics provide a sustainable and renewable alternative to petroleum-derived chemicals. In this study, we used the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce aromatic molecules by exploiting the concept of modularity in synthetic biology. Three different modular approaches were investigated for the production of the valuable fragrance raspberry ketone (RK), found in raspberry fruits and mostly produced from petrochemicals. The first strategy used was modular cloning, which enabled the generation of combinatorial libraries of promoters to optimize the expression level of the genes involved in the synthesis pathway of RK. The second strategy was modular pathway engineering and involved the creation of four modules, one for product formation: RK synthesis module (Mod. RK); and three for precursor synthesis: aromatic amino acid synthesis module (Mod. Aro), p-coumaric acid synthesis module (Mod. p-CA), and malonyl-CoA synthesis module (Mod. M-CoA). The production of RK by combinations of the expression of these modules was studied, and the best engineered strain produced 63.5 mg/L RK from glucose, which is the highest production described in yeast, and 2.1 mg RK/g glucose, which is the highest yield reported in any organism without p-coumaric acid supplementation. The third strategy was the use of modular cocultures to explore the effects of division of labor on RK production. Two two-member communities and one three-member community were created, and their production capacity was highly dependent on the structure of the synthetic community, the inoculation ratio, and the culture media. In certain conditions, the cocultures outperformed their monoculture controls for RK production, although this was not the norm. Interestingly, the cocultures showed up to 7.5-fold increase and 308.4 mg/L of 4-hydroxy benzalacetone, the direct precursor of RK, which can be used for the semi-synthesis of RK. This study illustrates the utility of modularity in synthetic biology tools and their applications to the synthesis of products of industrial interest

Gravitino dark matter in the constrained next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model with neutralino next-to-lightest superpartner

The viability of a possible cosmological scenario is investigated. The theoretical framework is the constrained next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (cNMSSM), with a gravitino playing the role of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and a neutralino acting as the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP). All the necessary constraints from colliders and cosmology have been taken into account. For gravitino we have considered the two usual production mechanisms, namely out-of equillibrium decay from the NLSP, and scattering processes from the thermal bath. The maximum allowed reheating temperature after inflation, as well as the maximum allowed gravitino mass are determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Naturalness bounds in extensions of the MSSM without a light Higgs boson

Adopting a bottom-up point of view, we make a comparative study of the simplest extensions of the MSSM with extra tree level contributions to the lightest Higgs boson mass. We show to what extent a relatively heavy Higgs boson, up to 200-350 GeV, can be compatible with data and naturalness. The price to pay is that the theory undergoes some change of regime at a relatively low scale. Bounds on these models come from electroweak precision tests and naturalness, which often requires the scale at which the soft terms are generated to be relatively low.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures. v2: minor revision, added references. v3,v4: some numerical correction

Jet Shapes and Jet Algorithms in SCET

Jet shapes are weighted sums over the four-momenta of the constituents of a jet and reveal details of its internal structure, potentially allowing discrimination of its partonic origin. In this work we make predictions for quark and gluon jet shape distributions in N-jet final states in e+e- collisions, defined with a cone or recombination algorithm, where we measure some jet shape observable on a subset of these jets. Using the framework of Soft-Collinear Effective Theory, we prove a factorization theorem for jet shape distributions and demonstrate the consistent renormalization-group running of the functions in the factorization theorem for any number of measured and unmeasured jets, any number of quark and gluon jets, and any angular size R of the jets, as long as R is much smaller than the angular separation between jets. We calculate the jet and soft functions for angularity jet shapes \tau_a to one-loop order (O(alpha_s)) and resum a subset of the large logarithms of \tau_a needed for next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) accuracy for both cone and kT-type jets. We compare our predictions for the resummed \tau_a distribution of a quark or a gluon jet produced in a 3-jet final state in e+e- annihilation to the output of a Monte Carlo event generator and find that the dependence on a and R is very similar.Comment: 62 pages plus 21 pages of Appendices, 13 figures, uses JHEP3.cls. v2: corrections to finite parts of NLO jet functions, minor changes to plots, clarified discussion of power corrections. v3: Journal version. Introductory sections significantly reorganized for clarity, classification of logarithmic accuracy clarified, results for non-Mercedes-Benz configurations adde

Resummation of heavy jet mass and comparison to LEP data

The heavy jet mass distribution in e+e- collisions is computed to next-to-next-to-next-to leading logarithmic (NNNLL) and next-to-next-to leading fixed order accuracy (NNLO). The singular terms predicted from the resummed distribution are confirmed by the fixed order distributions allowing a precise extraction of the unknown soft function coefficients. A number of quantitative and qualitative comparisons of heavy jet mass and the related thrust distribution are made. From fitting to ALEPH data, a value of alpha_s is extracted, alpha_s(m_Z)=0.1220 +/- 0.0031, which is larger than, but not in conflict with, the corresponding value for thrust. A weighted average of the two produces alpha_s(m_Z) = 0.1193 +/- 0.0027, consistent with the world average. A study of the non-perturbative corrections shows that the flat direction observed for thrust between alpha_s and a simple non-perturbative shape parameter is not lifted in combining with heavy jet mass. The Monte Carlo treatment of hadronization gives qualitatively different results for thrust and heavy jet mass, and we conclude that it cannot be trusted to add power corrections to the event shape distributions at this accuracy. Whether a more sophisticated effective field theory approach to power corrections can reconcile the thrust and heavy jet mass distributions remains an open question.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. v2 added effect of lower numerical cutoff with improved extraction of the soft function constants; power correction discussion clarified. v3 small typos correcte

Direct neutralino searches in the NMSSM with gravitino LSP in the degenerate scenario

In the present work a two-component dark matter model is studied adopting the degenerate scenario in the R-parity conserving NMSSM. The gravitino LSP and the neutralino NLSP are extremely degenerate in mass, avoiding the BBN bounds and obtaining a high reheating temperature for thermal leptogenesis. In this model both gravitino (absolutely stable) and neutralino (quasi-stable) contribute to dark matter, and direct detection searches for neutralino are discussed. Points that survive all the constraints correspond to a singlino-like neutralino

Flux and Instanton Effects in Local F-theory Models and Hierarchical Fermion Masses

We study the deformation induced by fluxes and instanton effects on Yukawa couplings involving 7-brane intersections in local F-theory constructions. In the absence of non-perturbative effects, holomorphic Yukawa couplings do not depend on open string fluxes. On the other hand instanton effects (or gaugino condensation on distant 7-branes) do induce corrections to the Yukawas. The leading order effect may also be captured by the presence of closed string (1,2) IASD fluxes, which give rise to a non-commutative structure. We check that even in the presence of these non-perturbative effects the holomorphic Yukawas remain independent of magnetic fluxes. Although fermion mass hierarchies may be obtained from these non-perturbative effects, they would give identical Yukawa couplings for D-quark and Lepton masses in SU(5) F-theory GUT's, in contradiction with experiment. We point out that this problem may be solved by appropriately normalizing the wavefunctions. We show in a simple toy model how the presence of hypercharge flux may then be responsible for the difference between D-quarks and Lepton masses in local SU(5) GUT's.Comment: 84 pages, 1 figure. v2: minor corrections and references adde