The formation of spiral arms and rings in barred galaxies

In this and in a previous paper (Romero-Gomez et al. 2006) we propose a theory to explain the formation of both spirals and rings in barred galaxies using a common dynamical framework. It is based on the orbital motion driven by the unstable equilibrium points of the rotating bar potential. Thus, spirals, rings and pseudo-rings are related to the invariant manifolds associated to the periodic orbits around these equilibrium points. We examine the parameter space of three barred galaxy models and discuss the formation of the different morphological structures according to the properties of the bar model. We also study the influence of the shape of the rotation curve in the outer parts, by making families of models with rising, flat, or falling rotation curves in the outer parts. The differences between spiral and ringed structures arise from differences in the dynamical parameters of the host galaxies. The results presented here will be discussed and compared with observations in a forthcoming paper.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, accepted in A&A. High resolution version available at http://www.oamp.fr/dynamique/pap/merce.htm

τ\tau-Flavour Violation at the LHC

We study the conditions required for $\chi_2 \to \chi + \tau^\pm \mu^\mp$ decays to yield observable tau flavour violation at the LHC, for cosmologically interesting values of the neutralino relic density. These condition can be achieved in the framework of a SU(5) model with a see-saw mechanism that allows a possible coexistence of a LHC signal a low prediction for radiative LFV decays.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Prepared for the proceedings of the workshop: "LC09: $e^+ e^-$ Physics at the TeV Scale and the Dark Matter Connection", 21-24 September 2009, Perugia, Ital

Double Pion Photoproduction in Nuclei

The inclusive A(gamma,pi+ pi-)X reaction is studied theoretically. A sizeable enhancement of the cross section is found, in comparison with the scaling of the deuteron cross section (sigma_deuteron * A/2). This enhancement is due to the modifications in the nuclear medium of the gamma N ----> pi pi N amplitude and the pion dispersion relation. The enhancement is found to be bigger than the one already observed in the (pi,pi pi) reaction in nuclei.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures (figures available from authors); TeX, Version 3.141 [PD VMS 3.4/CERN 1.0

New Factorization Relations for Yang Mills Amplitudes

A double-cover extension of the scattering equation formalism of Cachazo, He and Yuan (CHY) leads us to conjecture covariant factorization formulas of n-particle scattering amplitudes in Yang-Mills theories. Evidence is given that these factorization relations are related to Berends-Giele recursions through repeated use of partial fraction identities involving linearized propagators.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in PR