240 research outputs found
Searching for a Cosmological Preferred Axis: Union2 Data Analysis and Comparison with Other Probes
We review, compare and extend recent studies searching for evidence for a
preferred cosmological axis. We start from the Union2 SnIa dataset and use the
hemisphere comparison method to search for a preferred axis in the data. We
find that the hemisphere of maximum accelerating expansion rate is in the
direction (\omm=0.19) while the hemisphere of
minimum acceleration is in the opposite direction
(\omm=0.30). The level of anisotropy is described by the normalized
difference of the best fit values of \omm between the two hemispheres in the
context of \lcdm fits. We find a maximum anisotropy level in the Union2 data of
\frac{\Delta \ommax}{\bomm}=0.43\pm 0.06. Such a level does not necessarily
correspond to statistically significant anisotropy because it is reproduced by
about of simulated isotropic data mimicking the best fit Union2 dataset.
However, when combined with the axes directions of other cosmological
observations (bulk velocity flow axis, three axes of CMB low multipole moments
and quasar optical polarization alignment axis), the statistical evidence for a
cosmological anisotropy increases dramatically. We estimate the probability
that the above independent six axes directions would be so close in the sky to
be less than . Thus either the relative coincidence of these six axes is a
very large statistical fluctuation or there is an underlying physical or
systematic reason that leads to their correlation.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in JCAP (to appear). Extended analysis
with redshift tomography of SnIa, included errorbars and increased number of
axes. The Mathematica 7 files with the data used for the production of the
figures along with a Powerpoint file with additional figures may be
downloaded from http://leandros.physics.uoi.gr/anisotrop
Dark matter and sub-GeV hidden U(1) in GMSB models
Motivated by the recent PAMELA and ATIC data, one is led to a scenario with
heavy vector-like dark matter in association with a hidden sector
below GeV scale. Realizing this idea in the context of gauge mediated
supersymmetry breaking (GMSB), a heavy scalar component charged under
is found to be a good dark matter candidate which can be searched for direct
scattering mediated by the Higgs boson and/or by the hidden gauge boson. The
latter turns out to put a stringent bound on the kinetic mixing parameter
between and : . For the typical range
of model parameters, we find that the decay rates of the ordinary lightest
neutralino into hidden gauge boson/gaugino and photon/gravitino are comparable,
and the former decay mode leaves displaced vertices of lepton pairs and missing
energy with distinctive length scale larger than 20 cm for invariant lepton
pair mass below 0.5 GeV. An unsatisfactory aspect of our model is that the
Sommerfeld effect cannot raise the galactic dark matter annihilation by more
than 60 times for the dark matter mass below TeV.Comment: 1+15 pages, 4 figures, version published in JCAP, references added,
minor change
The Supersymmetric Standard Models with Decay and Stable Dark Matters
We propose two supersymmetric Standard Models (SMs) with decaying and stable
dark matter (DM) particles. To explain the SM fermion masses and mixings and
have a heavy decay DM particle S, we consider the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism by
introducing an anomalous U(1)_X gauge symmetry. Around the string scale, the
U(1)_X gauge symmetry is broken down to a Z_2 symmetry under which S is odd
while all the SM particles are even. S obtains a vacuum expectation value
around the TeV scale, and then it can three-body decay dominantly to the
second/third family of the SM leptons in Model I and to the first family of the
SM leptons in Model II. Choosing a benchmark point in the constrained minimal
supersymmetric SM with exact R parity, we show that the lightest neutralino DM
is consistent with the CDMS II experiment. Considering S three-body decay and
choosing suitable parameters, we show that the PAMELA and Fermi-LAT experiments
and the PAMELA and ATIC experiments can be explained in Model I and Model II,
respectively.Comment: RevTex4, 26 pages, 6 figures, references added, version to appear in
EPJ
Calculating exclusion limits for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle direct detection experiments without background subtraction
Competitive limits on the weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP)
spin-independent scattering cross section are currently being produced by 76Ge
detectors originally designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay,
such as the Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX experiments. In the absence of
background subtraction, limits on the WIMP interaction cross section are set by
calculating the upper confidence limit on the theoretical event rate, given the
observed event rate. The standard analysis technique involves calculating the
90% upper confidence limit on the number of events in each bin, and excluding
any set of parameters (WIMP mass and cross-section) which produces a
theoretical event rate for any bin which exceeds the 90% upper confidence limit
on the event rate for that bin. We show that, if there is more than one energy
bin, this produces exclusion limits that are actually at a lower degree of
confidence than 90%, and are hence erroneously tight. We formulate criteria
which produce true 90% confidence exclusion limits in these circumstances,
including calculating the individual bin confidence limit for which the overall
probability that no bins exceeds this confidence limit is 90% and calculating
the 90% minimum confidence limit on the number of bins which exceed their
individual bin 90% confidence limits. We then compare the limits on the WIMP
cross-section produced by these criteria with those found using the standard
technique, using data from the Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, shortened version to appear in Phys.
Rev. D, contents otherwise unchange
Enhancement of dark matter relic density from the late time dark matter conversions
We demonstrate that if the dark matter (DM) in the Universe contains multiple
components,the interactions between the DM components may induce DM
conversions. It is then possible that the lightest DM component with an
annihilation cross section much larger than that of the typical weakly
interacting massive particle (WIMP) can obtain a relic density in consistent
with the cosmological observations, due to an enhancement from the DM
conversion process at late time after the thermal decoupling. This provides an
alternative source of large boost factor required to explain the excesses
reported by the recent DM indirect search experiments.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Eur.Phys.J.
Search for the Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay with the HERA-B Detector
We report on a search for the flavor-changing neutral current decay using events recorded with a dimuon trigger in
interactions of 920 GeV protons with nuclei by the HERA-B experiment. We find
no evidence for such decays and set a 90% confidence level upper limit on the
branching fraction .Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures (of which 1 double), paper to be submitted to
Physics Letters
An Integrated TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource to Drive High-Quality Survival Outcome Analytics
For a decade, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) program collected clinicopathologic annotation data along with multi-platform molecular profiles of more than 11,000 human tumors across 33 different cancer types. TCGA clinical data contain key features representing the democratized nature of the data collection process. To ensure proper use of this large clinical dataset associated with genomic features, we developed a standardized dataset named the TCGA Pan-Cancer Clinical Data Resource (TCGA-CDR), which includes four major clinical outcome endpoints. In addition to detailing major challenges and statistical limitations encountered during the effort of integrating the acquired clinical data, we present a summary that includes endpoint usage recommendations for each cancer type. These TCGA-CDR findings appear to be consistent with cancer genomics studies independent of the TCGA effort and provide opportunities for investigating cancer biology using clinical correlates at an unprecedented scale. Analysis of clinicopathologic annotations for over 11,000 cancer patients in the TCGA program leads to the generation of TCGA Clinical Data Resource, which provides recommendations of clinical outcome endpoint usage for 33 cancer types
Measurement of spin correlation in ttbar production using dilepton final states
We measure the correlation between the spin of the top quark and the spin of
the anti-top quark in (ttbar -> W+ W- b bbar -> l+ nu b l- nubar bbar) final
states produced in ppbar collisions at a center of mass energy sqrt(s)=1.96
TeV, where l is an electron or muon. The data correspond to an integrated
luminosity of 5.4 fb-1 and were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab
Tevatron collider. The correlation is extracted from the angles of the two
leptons in the t and tbar rest frames, yielding a correlation strength C=
0.10^{+0.45}_{-0.45}, in agreement with the NLO QCD prediction within two
standard deviations, but also in agreement with the no correlation hypothesis.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PL
Search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays
We present a search for charged Higgs bosons in top quark decays. We analyze
the \eplus, \muplus, , , , \etau and \mutau final states from
top quark pair production events, using data from about 1 of
integrated luminosity recorded by the \dzero experiment at the Fermilab
Tevatron Collider. We consider different scenarios of possible charged Higgs
boson decays, one where the charged Higgs boson decays purely hadronically into
a charm and a strange quark, another where it decays into a lepton and a
neutrino and a third one where both decays appear. We extract limits on
the branching ratio for all these models. We use two methods,
one where the production cross section is fixed, and one where the
cross section is fitted simultaneously with . Based on the
extracted limits, we exclude regions in the charged Higgs boson mass and parameter space for different scenarios of the minimal supersymmetric
standard model.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to PL
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