Numerical Evaluation of Six-Photon Amplitudes

We apply the recently proposed amplitude reduction at the integrand level method, to the computation of the scattering process 2 photons -> 4 photons, including the case of a massive fermion loop. We also present several improvements of the method, including a general strategy to reconstruct the rational part of any one-loop amplitude and the treatment of vanishing Gram-determinants.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. Version accepted for publication in JHE

DCC Dynamics in (2+1)D-O(3) model

The dynamics of symmetry-breaking after a quench is numerically simulated on a lattice for the (2+1)-dimensional O(3) model. In addition to the standard sigma-model with temperature-dependent Phi^4-potential the energy functional includes a four-derivative current-current coupling to stabilize the size of the emerging extended topological textures. The total winding number can be conserved by constraint. As a model for the chiral phase transition during the cooling phase after a hadronic collision this allows to investigate the interference of 'baryon-antibaryon' production with the developing disoriented aligned domains. The growth of angular correlations, condensate, average orientation is studied in dependence of texture size, quench rate, symmetry breaking. The classical dissipative dynamics determines the rate of energy emitted from the relaxing source for each component of the 3-vector field which provides a possible signature for domains of Disoriented Chiral Condensate. We find that the 'pions' are emitted in two distinct pulses; for sufficiently small lattice size the second one carries the DCC signal, but it is strongly suppressed as compared to simultaneous 'sigma'-meson emission. We compare the resulting anomalies in the distributions of DCC pions with probabilities derived within the commonly used coherent state formalism.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures; several minor insertions in the text; two references adde

Diagonalization of the neutralino mass matrix and boson-neutralino interaction

We analyze a connection between neutralino mass sign, parity and structure of the neutralino-boson interaction. Correct calculation of spin-dependent and spin-independent contributions to neutralino-nuclear scattering should consider this connection. A convenient diagonalization procedure, based on the exponetial parametrization of unitary matrix, is suggested.Comment: 21 pages, RevTex

Effects of low testosterone levels and of adrenal androgens on growth of prostate tumor models in nude mice

Abstract Two transplantable, androgen dependent prostate tumor models of human origin, PC-82 and PC-EW, were used to study the effect of low androgen levels and adrenal androgens on prostate tumor cell proliferation. Tumor load of the PC-82 and PC-EW tumors could be maintained constant when plasma testosterone levels were 0.8 and 0.9 nmol/l, respectively, corresponding with an intratissue 5α-dihydrotestosterone level of 3–4 pmol/g tissue. This critical androgen level for prostate tumor growth stimulation amounted to 2–3 times the castration level and proved to be similar for both tumor models. Relatively high levels of androstenedione resulted in physiological levels of plasma testosterone causing androgen concentrations in PC-82 tumor tissue exceeding the critical level for tumor growth. These results indicate that submaximal suppression of androgens can stop tumor growth in these prostate tumor models

Phenomenology of GUT-less Supersymmetry Breaking

We study models in which supersymmetry breaking appears at an intermediate scale, M_{in}, below the GUT scale. We assume that the soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters of the MSSM are universal at M_{in}, and analyze the morphology of the constraints from cosmology and collider experiments on the allowed regions of parameter space as M_{in} is reduced from the GUT scale. We present separate analyses of the (m_{1/2},m_0) planes for tan(beta)=10 and tan(beta)=50, as well as a discussion of non-zero trilinear couplings, A_0. Specific scenarios where the gaugino and scalar masses appear to be universal below the GUT scale have been found in mirage-mediation models, which we also address here. We demand that the lightest neutralino be the LSP, and that the relic neutralino density not conflict with measurements by WMAP and other observations. At moderate values of M_{in}, we find that the allowed regions of the (m_{1/2},m_0) plane are squeezed by the requirements of electroweak symmetry breaking and that the lightest neutralino be the LSP, whereas the constraint on the relic density is less severe. At very low M_{in}, the electroweak vacuum conditions become the dominant constraint, and a secondary source of astrophysical cold dark matter would be necessary to explain the measured relic density for nearly all values of the soft SUSY-breaking parameters and tan(beta). We calculate the neutralino-nucleon cross sections for viable scenarios and compare them with the present and projected limits from direct dark matter searches.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figures; typos corrected, references adde

Are the Crystal Structures of Enantiopure and Racemic Mandelic Acids Determined by Kinetics or Thermodynamics?

YesMandelic acids are prototypic chiral molecules where the sensitivity of crystallized forms (enantiopure/racemic compound/polymorphs) to both conditions and substituents provides a new insight into the factors that may allow chiral separation by crystallization. The determination of a significant number of single crystal structures allows the analysis of 13 enantiopure and 30 racemic crystal structures of 21 (F/Cl/Br/CH3/CH3O) substituted mandelic acid derivatives. There are some common phenyl packing motifs between some groups of racemic and enantiopure structures, although they show very different hydrogen-bonding motifs. The computed crystal energy landscape of 3-chloromandelic acid, which has at least two enantiopure and three racemic crystal polymorphs, reveals that there are many more possible structures, some of which are predicted to be thermodynamically more favorable as well as slightly denser than the known forms. Simulations of mandelic acid dimers in isolation, water, and toluene do not differentiate between racemic and enantiopure dimers and also suggest that the phenyl ring interactions play a major role in the crystallization mechanism. The observed crystallization behavior of mandelic acids does not correspond to any simple “crystal engineering rules” as there is a range of thermodynamically feasible structures with no distinction between the enantiopure and racemic forms. Nucleation and crystallization appear to be determined by the kinetics of crystal growth with a statistical bias, but the diversity of the mandelic acid crystallization behavior demonstrates that the factors that influence the kinetics of crystal nucleation and growth are not yet adequately understood.EPSRC, Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Sciences, UCL-MPS Impact Ph.D. Fellowship, EU COST Actio

Scalar and Pseudoscalar Higgs Boson Plus One Jet Production at the LHC and Tevatron

The production of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson (H) in association with a jet is compared with that of the lightest scalar Higgs boson (h^0) and the pseudoscalar Higgs boson (A^0) of the Minimal Supersymmetric Model (MSSM) at both the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Fermilab Tevatron. We include both top and bottom quark loops to lowest order in QCD and investigate the limits of zero quark mass and infinite quark mass.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX4, 14 eps figures v2: Version accepted for publication in PR

One-loop contributions of charginos and neutralinos to W-pair production in E+ E- collisions

We study the one-loop effects of charginos and neutralinos on the helicity amplitudes for \eeww in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The calculation is tested by using two methods. First, the sum rule for the form factors between \eeww and the process where the external $W^\pm$ bosons are replaced by the corresponding Goldstone bosons $\omega^\pm$ is employed to test the analytic expression and the accuracy of the numerical program. Second, the decoupling property in the large mass limit is used to test the overall normalization of the amplitudes. These two tests are most effectively carried out when the amplitudes are expanded in terms of the modified minimal subtraction ($\bar{\rm MS}$) couplings of the standard model. The resulting perturbation expansion is valid at collider energies below and around the threshold of the light supersymmetric particles. We find that the corrections to the cross section of the longitudinally polarized $W$-pair production can be as large as -1.4% at the threshold of the light chargino-pair production for large scattering angles. We also study the effects of the CP-violating phase in the chargino and neutralino sectors on the helicity amplitudes. We find that the resulting CP-violating asymmetries can be at most 0.1%.Comment: 30 pages, 25 figures, Final verision, To appear in Physical Review D, Several sentences are improve

Gamma Ray Bursts as Probes of Quantum Gravity

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are short and intense pulses of $\gamma$-rays arriving from random directions in the sky. Several years ago Amelino-Camelia et al. pointed out that a comparison of time of arrival of photons at different energies from a GRB could be used to measure (or obtain a limit on) possible deviations from a constant speed of light at high photons energies. I review here our current understanding of GRBs and reconsider the possibility of performing these observations.Comment: Lectures given at the 40th winter school of theretical physics: Quantum Gravity and Phenomenology, Feb. 2004 Polan

Computational and Biological Analogies for Understanding Fine-Tuned Parameters in Physics

In this philosophical paper, we explore computational and biological analogies to address the fine-tuning problem in cosmology. We first clarify what it means for physical constants or initial conditions to be fine-tuned. We review important distinctions such as the dimensionless and dimensional physical constants, and the classification of constants proposed by Levy-Leblond. Then we explore how two great analogies, computational and biological, can give new insights into our problem. This paper includes a preliminary study to examine the two analogies. Importantly, analogies are both useful and fundamental cognitive tools, but can also be misused or misinterpreted. The idea that our universe might be modelled as a computational entity is analysed, and we discuss the distinction between physical laws and initial conditions using algorithmic information theory. Smolin introduced the theory of "Cosmological Natural Selection" with a biological analogy in mind. We examine an extension of this analogy involving intelligent life. We discuss if and how this extension could be legitimated. Keywords: origin of the universe, fine-tuning, physical constants, initial conditions, computational universe, biological universe, role of intelligent life, cosmological natural selection, cosmological artificial selection, artificial cosmogenesis.Comment: 25 pages, Foundations of Science, in pres