All Possible Lightest Supersymmetric Particles in R-Parity Violating mSUGRA Models and their Signals at the LHC

We consider minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) models with an additional R-parity violating operator at the grand unification scale. This can change the supersymmetric spectrum leading on the one hand to a sneutrino, smuon or squark as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). On the other hand, a wide parameter region is reopened, where the scalar tau is the LSP. It is vital to know the nature of the LSP, because supersymmetric particles normally cascade decay down to the LSP at collider experiments. We investigate in detail the conditions leading to non-neutralino LSP scenarios. We also present some typical LHC signatures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted for the proceedings of the SUSY09 conferenc

Computerized epidemiological model of typhoid fever with age structure and its use in the planning and evaluation of antityphoid immunization and sanitation programmes

AbstractAn epidemiological model of typhoid fever[1] was further developed. Age structure was added to the population dynamics, but nonessential epidemiological classes were eliminated. Thus the dynamics of the disease in specific age groups can be studied, and the effect of public health interventions in these groups simulated. The model is based on the natural history of the disease and represents the multistate epidemiological structure which is fully computerised. It enables simulation of endemic processes in the various age groups of the population and the effects of control measures such as immunization and/or sanitation on the natural course of infection in various age strata of the population. In view that typhoid fever is a public health problem primarily in endemic areas of developing countries, the examples of model applications are related to such situations. The similation of the effectiveness of immunization and sanitation programmes are confined to the endemic conditions in such countries. The construction and the structure of the model are fully described. The computer program system is given in the Appendix, and the article provides all relevant information necessary for the use of the model for public health purposes

Sneutrino as Lightest Supersymmetric Particle in B3 mSUGRA Models and Signals at the LHC

We consider B3 mSUGRA models where we have one lepton number violating LQD operator at the GUT scale. This can alter the supersymmetric mass spectrum leading to a sneutrino as the lightest supersymmetric particle in a large region of parameter space. We take into account the restrictions from neutrino masses, the muon anomalous magnetic moment, b -> s gamma and other precision measurements. We furthermore investigate existing restrictions from direct searches at LEP, the Tevatron and the CERN p\bar p collider. We then give examples for characteristic signatures at the LHC.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure

Stau as the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle in R-Parity Violating SUSY Models: Discovery Potential with Early LHC Data

We investigate the discovery potential of the LHC experiments for R-parity violating supersymmetric models with a stau as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the framework of minimal supergravity. We classify the final states according to their phenomenology for different R-parity violating decays of the LSP. We then develop event selection cuts for a specific benchmark scenario with promising signatures for the first beyond the Standard Model discoveries at the LHC. For the first time in this model, we perform a detailed signal over background analysis. We use fast detector simulations to estimate the discovery significance taking the most important Standard Model backgrounds into account. Assuming an integrated luminosity of 1 inverse femtobarn at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, we perform scans in the parameter space around the benchmark scenario we consider. We then study the feasibility to estimate the mass of the stau-LSP. We briefly discuss difficulties, which arise in the identification of hadronic tau decays due to small tau momenta and large particle multiplicities in our scenarios.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, LaTeX; minor changes, final version published in PR

Supersymmetric NLO QCD Corrections to Resonant Slepton Production and Signals at the Tevatron and the LHC

We compute the total cross section and the transverse momentum distribution for single charged slepton and sneutrino production at hadronic colliders including NLO supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric QCD corrections. The supersymmetric QCD corrections can be substantial. We also resum the gluon transverse momentum distribution and compare our results with two Monte Carlo generators. We compute branching ratios of the supersymmetric decays of the slepton and determine event rates for the like-sign dimuon final state at the Tevatron and at the LHC.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 8 figures, uses REVTex

Functional Traits Linked to Pathogen Prevalence in Wild Bee Communities

Reports of pollinator declines have prompted efforts to understand contributing factors and protect vulnerable species. While pathogens can be widespread in bee communities, less is known about factors shaping pathogen prevalence among species. Functional traits are often used to predict susceptibility to stressors, including pathogens, in other species-rich communities. Here, we evaluated the relationship between bee functional traits (body size, phenology, nesting location, sociality, and foraging choice) and prevalence of trypanosomes, neogregarines, and the microsporidian Nosema ceranae in wild bee communities. For the most abundant bee species in our system, Bombus impatiens, we also evaluated the relationship between intra-specific size variation and pathogen prevalence. A trait-based model fit the neogregarine prevalence data better than a taxa-based model, while the taxonomic model provided a better model fit for N. ceranae prevalence, and there was no marked difference between the models for trypanosome prevalence. We found that Augochlorella aurata was more likely to harbor trypanosomes than many other bee taxa. Similarly, we found that bigger bees and those with peak activity later in the season were less likely to harbor trypanosomes, though the effect of size was largely driven by A. aurata. We found no clear intra-specific size patterns for pathogen prevalence in B. impatiens. These results indicate that functional traits are not always better than taxonomic affinity in predicting pathogen prevalence, but can help to explain prevalence depending on the pathogen in species-rich bee communities