Searching for Effects of Spatial Noncommutativity via Chern-Simons' Processes

The possibility of testing spatial noncommutativity in the case of both position-position and momentum-momentum noncommuting via a Chern-Simons' process is explored. A Chern-Simons process can be realized by an interaction of a charged particle in special crossed electric and magnetic fields, in which the Chern-Simons term leads to non-trivial dynamics in the limit of vanishing kinetic energy. Spatial noncommutativity leads to the spectrum of the orbital angular momentum possessing fractional values. Furthermore, in both limits of vanishing kinetic energy and subsequent vanishing magnetic field, the Chern-Simons term leads to this system having non-trivial dynamics again, and the dominant value of the lowest orbital angular momentum being $\hbar/4$, which is a clear signal of spatial noncommutativity. An experimental verification of this prediction by a Stern-Gerlach-type experiment is suggested.Comment: 18 page

Relating quarks and leptons without grand-unification

In combination with supersymmetry, flavor symmetry may relate quarks with leptons, even in the absence of a grand-unification group. We propose an SU(3)xSU(2)xU(1) model where both supersymmetry and the assumed A4 flavor symmetries are softly broken, reproducing well the observed fermion mass hierarchies and predicting: (i) a relation between down-type quarks and charged lepton masses, and (ii) a correlation between the Cabibbo angle in the quark sector, and the reactor angle characterizing CP violation in neutrino oscillations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, version published in PR

Neutrino Mass and Mixing: from Theory to Experiment

The origin of fermion mass hierarchies and mixings is one of the unresolved and most difficult problem in high-energy physics. One possibility to address the flavour problem is by extending the Standard Model to include a family symmetry. In the recent years it has become very popular to use non-Abelian discrete flavour symmetries because of their power in the prediction of the large leptonic mixing angles relevant for neutrino oscillation experiments. Here we give an introduction to the flavour problem and to discrete groups which have been used to attempt a solution for it. We review the current status of models in the light of the recent measurement of the reactor angle and we consider different model building directions taken. The use of the flavons or multi Higgs scalars in model building is discussed as well as the direct vs. indirect approaches. We also focus on the possibility to distinguish experimentally flavour symmetry models by means of mixing sum rules and mass sum rules. In fact, we illustrate in this review the complete path from mathematics, via model building, to experiments, so that any reader interested to start working in the field could use this text as a starting point in order to get a broad overview of the different subject areas.Comment: Accepted for publication in NJP, 62 pages, 9 tables, 7 figure

Peculiar mean velocity profiles within a porous bed of an open channel

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A Relativistic Description of Gentry's New Redshift Interpretation

We obtain a new expression of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric, which is an analogue of a static chart of the de Sitter space-time. The reduced metric contains two functions, $M(T,R)$ and $\Psi(T,R)$, which are interpreted as, respectively, the mass function and the gravitational potential. We find that, near the coordinate origin, the reduced metric can be approximated in a static form and that the approximated metric function, $\Psi(R)$, satisfies the Poisson equation. Moreover, when the model parameters of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric are suitably chosen, the approximated metric coincides with exact solutions of the Einstein equation with the perfect fluid matter. We then solve the radial geodesics on the approximated space-time to obtain the distance-redshift relation of geodesic sources observed by the comoving observer at the origin. We find that the redshift is expressed in terms of a peculiar velocity of the source and the metric function, $\Psi(R)$, evaluated at the source position, and one may think that this is a new interpretation of {\it Gentry's new redshift interpretation}.Comment: 11 pages. Submitted to Modern Physics Letters

Magnetic Flux Loss and Flux Transport in a Decaying Active Region

We estimate the temporal change of magnetic flux perpendicular to the solar surface in a decaying active region by using a time series of the spatial distribution of vector magnetic fields in the photosphere. The vector magnetic fields are derived from full spectropolarimetric measurements with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode. We compare a magnetic flux loss rate to a flux transport rate in a decaying sunspot and its surrounding moat region. The amount of magnetic flux that decreases in the sunspot and moat region is very similar to magnetic flux transported to the outer boundary of the moat region. The flux loss rates [$(dF/dt)_{loss}$] of magnetic elements with positive and negative polarities are balanced each other around the outer boundary of the moat region. These results suggest that most of the magnetic flux in the sunspot is transported to the outer boundary of the moat region as moving magnetic features, and then removed from the photosphere by flux cancellation around the outer boundary of the moat region.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Decreased Specific Star Formation Rates in AGN Host Galaxies

We investigate the location of an ultra-hard X-ray selected sample of AGN from the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) catalog with respect to the main sequence (MS) of star-forming galaxies using Herschel-based measurements of the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass (\mstar) from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry where the AGN contribution has been carefully removed. We construct the MS with galaxies from the Herschel Reference Survey and Herschel Stripe 82 Survey using the exact same methods to measure the SFR and \mstar{} as the Swift/BAT AGN. We find a large fraction of the Swift/BAT AGN lie below the MS indicating decreased specific SFR (sSFR) compared to non-AGN galaxies. The Swift/BAT AGN are then compared to a high-mass galaxy sample (COLD GASS), where we find a similarity between the AGN in COLD GASS and the Swift/BAT AGN. Both samples of AGN lie firmly between star-forming galaxies on the MS and quiescent galaxies far below the MS. However, we find no relationship between the X-ray luminosity and distance from the MS. While the morphological distribution of the BAT AGN is more similar to star-forming galaxies, the sSFR of each morphology is more similar to the COLD GASS AGN. The merger fraction in the BAT AGN is much higher than the COLD GASS AGN and star-forming galaxies and is related to distance from the MS. These results support a model in which bright AGN tend to be in high mass star-forming galaxies in the process of quenching which eventually starves the supermassive black hole itself.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS 2015 June 23. In original form 2015 January 2