Light Lepton Number Violating Sneutrinos and the Baryon Number of the Universe

Recent results of neutrino oscillation experiments point to a nonvanishing neutrino mass. Neutrino mass models favour Majorana-type neutrinos. In such circumstances it is natural that the supersymmetric counterpart of the neutrino, the sneutrino, bears also lepton number violating properties. On the other hand, the fact that the universe exhibits an asymmetry in the baryon and antibaryon numbers poses constraints on the extent of lepton number violation in the light sneutrino sector if the electroweak phase transition is second or weak first order. From the requirement that the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe should not be washed out by sneutrino induced lepton number violating interactions and sphalerons below the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition we find that the mass splitting of the light sneutrino mass states is compatible with the sneutrino Cold Dark Matter hypothesis only for heavy gauginos and opposite sign gaugino mass parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Sneutrino-induced like sign dilepton signal with conserved R-parity

Lepton number violation could be manifest in the sneutrino sector of supersymmetric extensions of the standard model with conserved R-parity. Then sneutrinos decay partly into the ``wrong sign charged lepton'' final state, if kinematically accessible. In sneutrino pair production or associated single sneutrino production, the signal then is a like sign dilepton final state. Under favourable circumstances, such a signal could be visible at the LHC or a next generation linear collider for a relative sneutrino mass-splitting of order ${\cal O}(0.001)$ and sneutrino width of order ${\cal O}$(1 GeV). On the other hand, the like sign dilepton event rate at the TEVATRON is probably too small to be observable.Comment: 19 pages, 14 Figures. Section about LSD at LHC and TEVATRON added. Previous Title "Single sneutrino production and the wrong charged lepton signal

Nonsingular and accelerated expanding universe from effective Yang-Mills theory

The energy-momentum tensor coming from one-parameter effective Yang- Mills theory is here used to describe the matter-energy content of the homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann cosmology in its early stages. The behavior of all solutions is examined. Particularly, it is shown that only solutions corresponding to an open model allow the universe to evolve into an accelerated expansion. This result appears as a possible mechanism for an inflationary phase produced by a vector field. Further, depending on the value of some parameters characterizing the system, the resulting models are classified as singular or nonsingular.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, some discussions were simplified and new remarks were introduce

Mass Bounds on a Very Light Neutralino

Within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) we systematically investigate the bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino. We allow for non-universal gaugino masses and thus even consider massless neutralinos, while assuming in general that R-parity is conserved. Our main focus are laboratory constraints. We consider collider data, precision observables, and also rare meson decays to very light neutralinos. We then discuss the astrophysical and cosmological implications. We find that a massless neutralino is allowed by all existing experimental data and astrophysical and cosmological observations.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, minor modification in astro-physical bounds. EPJC versio

Elliptic flow from two- and four-particle correlations in Au + Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130 GeV

Elliptic flow holds much promise for studying the early-time thermalization attained in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. Flow measurements also provide a means of distinguishing between hydrodynamic models and calculations which approach the low density (dilute gas) limit. Among the effects that can complicate the interpretation of elliptic flow measurements are azimuthal correlations that are unrelated to the reaction plane (non-flow correlations). Using data for Au + Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130 GeV from the STAR TPC, it is found that four-particle correlation analyses can reliably separate flow and non-flow correlation signals. The latter account for on average about 15% of the observed second-harmonic azimuthal correlation, with the largest relative contribution for the most peripheral and the most central collisions. The results are also corrected for the effect of flow variations within centrality bins. This effect is negligible for all but the most central bin, where the correction to the elliptic flow is about a factor of two. A simple new method for two-particle flow analysis based on scalar products is described. An analysis based on the distribution of the magnitude of the flow vector is also described.Comment: minor text change

Dark Matter Candidates: A Ten-Point Test

An extraordinarily rich zoo of non-baryonic Dark Matter candidates has been proposed over the last three decades. Here we present a 10-point test that a new particle has to pass, in order to be considered a viable DM candidate: I.) Does it match the appropriate relic density? II.) Is it {\it cold}? III.) Is it neutral? IV.) Is it consistent with BBN? V.) Does it leave stellar evolution unchanged? VI.) Is it compatible with constraints on self-interactions? VII.) Is it consistent with {\it direct} DM searches? VIII.) Is it compatible with gamma-ray constraints? IX.) Is it compatible with other astrophysical bounds? X.) Can it be probed experimentally?Comment: 29 pages, 12 figure

Lower Bounds on Bilepton Processes at e-e- and mu-mu- Colliders

We show that the cross section of at least one of the s-channel processes e-e- (mu-mu-) --> l_i^- l_i^-, i=e,mu,tau, mediated by a doubly-charged scalar triplet bilepton is bounded from below and observable at a linear or muon collider if one of the light neutrinos has a mass in the range where it is required to be unstable by cosmological considerations. The result is model independent. We therefore stress the importance of the e-e- and mu-mu- collision modes of the future colliders for discovering new physics.Comment: LATEX, 9 page

Pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{\mathrm{s}_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} = 200 GeV

We present a systematic analysis of two-pion interferometry in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We extract the HBT radii and study their multiplicity, transverse momentum, and azimuthal angle dependence. The Gaussianess of the correlation function is studied. Estimates of the geometrical and dynamical structure of the freeze-out source are extracted by fits with blast wave parameterizations. The expansion of the source and its relation with the initial energy density distribution is studied.Comment: 21 pages, 30 figures. As published in Physics Review

Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, $\eta/s$, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of $\eta/s$ that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.