No Prejudice in Space

We present a summary of recent results obtained from a scan of the 19-dimensional parameter space of the pMSSM and its implications for dark matter searches.Comment: 12 pgs, Presented at the Dark Matter Conference, 9-11 Feb 2009, Arcetri, Florence, Ital

Supersymmetry Without Prejudice at the LHC

The discovery and exploration of Supersymmetry in a model-independent fashion will be a daunting task due to the large number of soft-breaking parameters in the MSSM. In this paper, we explore the capability of the ATLAS detector at the LHC ($\sqrt s=14$ TeV, 1 fb$^{-1}$) to find SUSY within the 19-dimensional pMSSM subspace of the MSSM using their standard transverse missing energy and long-lived particle searches that were essentially designed for mSUGRA. To this end, we employ a set of $\sim 71$k previously generated model points in the 19-dimensional parameter space that satisfy all of the existing experimental and theoretical constraints. Employing ATLAS-generated SM backgrounds and following their approach in each of 11 missing energy analyses as closely as possible, we explore all of these $71$k model points for a possible SUSY signal. To test our analysis procedure, we first verify that we faithfully reproduce the published ATLAS results for the signal distributions for their benchmark mSUGRA model points. We then show that, requiring all sparticle masses to lie below 1(3) TeV, almost all(two-thirds) of the pMSSM model points are discovered with a significance $S>5$ in at least one of these 11 analyses assuming a 50\% systematic error on the SM background. If this systematic error can be reduced to only 20\% then this parameter space coverage is increased. These results are indicative that the ATLAS SUSY search strategy is robust under a broad class of Supersymmetric models. We then explore in detail the properties of the kinematically accessible model points which remain unobservable by these search analyses in order to ascertain problematic cases which may arise in general SUSY searches.Comment: 69 pages, 40 figures, Discussion adde

A variant in XPNPEP2 is associated with angioedema induced by angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi), which are used to treat common cardiovascular diseases, are associated with a potentially life-threatening adverse reaction known as angioedema (AE-ACEi). We have previously documented a significant association between AE-ACEi and low plasma aminopeptidase P (APP) activity. With eight large pedigrees, we hereby demonstrate that this quantitative trait is partially regulated by genetic factors. We tested APP activity using a variance-component QTL analysis of a 10-cM genomewide microsatellite scan enriched with seven markers over two candidate regions. We found significant linkage (LOD = 3.75) to a locus that includes the YPNPEP2 candidate gene encoding membrane-bound APP. Mutation screening of this QTL identified a large coding deletion segregating in one pedigree and an upstream single-nucleotide polymorphism (C2399A SNP), which segregates in the remaining seven pedigrees. Measured genotype analysis strongly suggests that the linkage signal for APP activity at this locus is accounted for predominantly by the SNP association. In a separate case-control study (20 cases and 60 controls), we found significant association of this SNP to ACEi-induced AE (P =.0364). In conclusion, our findings provide supporting evidence that the C-2399A variant in YPNPEP2 is associated with reduced APP activity and a higher incidence of AE-ACEi

SUSY Without Prejudice

We begin an exploration of the physics associated with the general CP-conserving MSSM with Minimal Flavor Violation, the pMSSM. The 19 soft SUSY breaking parameters in this scenario are chosen so as to satisfy all existing experimental and theoretical constraints assuming that the WIMP is a thermal relic, i.e., the lightest neutralino. We scan this parameter space twice using both flat and log priors for the soft SUSY breaking mass parameters and compare the results which yield similar conclusions. Detailed constraints from both LEP and the Tevatron searches play a particularly important role in obtaining our final model samples. We find that the pMSSM leads to a much broader set of predictions for the properties of the SUSY partners as well as for a number of experimental observables than those found in any of the conventional SUSY breaking scenarios such as mSUGRA. This set of models can easily lead to atypical expectations for SUSY signals at the LHC

Chariots of Fire: bigotry, manhood and moral certitude in an age of individualism

Chariots of Fire is examined both as a chronicle of the 1920s, in which it is set, and an allegory for the period in which it was released, the early 1980s. The film unfolds amid a culture of individualism in which British patriotism, while strong, is both conditional and instrumental. Class inequalities are deep, unemployment is growing steeply and industrial conflict is widespread. Victorian values are changing and the end of British Empire is approaching. The film records the intersecting paths of two athletes, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell, as they prepare for the Paris Olympic Games of 1924. Both are, in different ways, marginal: Abrahams, a Jew, is challenged by anti-Semitism; Liddell, the son of a missionary, is a steadfast Christian and runs because he believes he is fulfilling God’s purpose. The two dominant themes of the film – masculinity and anti-Semitism – are addressed. Abrahams, with his singular mentality and professional coach, is seen to prefigure later developments in sport. The context of the film’s release is also considered: the enterprise culture encouraged by the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher rewarded the kind of dogged, individualistic enterprise exhibited by Abrahams and Liddell and supported the film’s patriotic motifs, especially during the Falklands War of 1982. While based on actual historical characters and events, the film is most productively accepted as a figurative reconstruction that has resonance in the late rather than early twentieth century