Controlled switching between paramagnetic and diamagnetic Meissner effect in Pb/Co nanocomposites

A hybrid system which consists of a superconducting (SC) Pb film (100 nm thickness) containing $\sim$1 vol% single domain ferromagnetic (FM) Co particles of mean-size $\sim$4.5 nm reveal unusual magnetic properties: (i) a controlled switching between the usual diamagnetic and the unusual paramagnetic Meissner effect in field cooling as well as in zero-field cooling experiments (ii) amplification of the positive magnetization when the sample enters the SC state below T$_c$. These experimental findings can be explained by the formation of spontaneous vortices and the possible alignment of these vortices due to the foregoing alignment of the Co particle FM moments by an external magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Can the Lepton Flavor Mixing Matrix Be Symmetric?

Current neutrino oscillation data indicate that the 3x3 lepton flavor mixing matrix V is likely to be symmetric about its V_{e3}-V_{\mu 2}-V_{\tau 1} axis. This off-diagonal symmetry corresponds to three pairs of {\it congruent} unitarity triangles in the complex plane. Terrestrial matter effects can substantially modify the genuine CP-violating parameter and off-diagonal asymmetries of V in realistic long-baseline experiments of neutrino oscillations.Comment: RexTex 14 pages (4 PS figures). More discussions adde

Distinguishable RGE running effects between Dirac neutrinos and Majorana neutrinos with vanishing Majorana CP-violating phases

In a novel parametrization of neutrino mixing and in the approximation of $\tau$-lepton dominance, we show that the one-loop renormalization-group equations (RGEs) of Dirac neutrinos are different from those of Majorana neutrinos even if two Majorana CP-violating phases vanish. As the latter can keep vanishing from the electroweak scale to the typical seesaw scale, it makes sense to distinguish between the RGE running effects of neutrino mixing parameters in Dirac and Majorana cases. The differences are found to be quite large in the minimal supersymmetric standard model with sizable $\tan\beta$, provided the masses of three neutrinos are nearly degenerate or have an inverted hierarchy.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Multiscale Technicolor and the Zbb-bar Vertex

We estimate the correction to the Zbb-bar vertex arising from the exchanges of the sideways extended technicolor (ETC) boson and the flavor-diagonal ETC boson in the multiscale walking technicolor model. The obtained result is too large to explain the present data. However, if we introduce a new self- interaction for the top quark to induce the top quark condensate serving as the origin of the large top quark mass, the corrected R_b=Gamma_b/Gamma_h can be consistent with the recent LEP data. The corresponding correction to R_c=Gamma_c/Gamma_h is shown to be negligibly small.Comment: 9-page LaTex fil

Nearly Bi-Maximal Neutrino Mixing, Muon g-2 Anomaly and Lepton-Flavor-Violating Processes

We interpret the newly observed muon g-2 anomaly in the framework of a leptonic Higgs doublet model with nearly degenerate neutrino masses and nearly bi-maximal neutrino mixing. Useful constraints are obtained on the rates of lepton-flavor-violating rare decays $\tau \to \mu \gamma$, $\mu \to e \gamma$ and $\tau \to e \gamma$ as well as the $\mu$-$e$ conversion ratio $R_{\mu e}$. We find that $\Gamma (\mu \to e \gamma)$, $\Gamma (\tau \to e \gamma)$ and $R_{\mu e}$ depend crucially on possible non-zero but samll values of the neutrino mixing matrix element $V_{e3}$, and they are also sensitive to the Dirac-type CP-violating phase. In particular, we show that $\Gamma (\tau \to \mu \gamma)/m^5_\tau$, $\Gamma (\mu \to e \gamma)/m^5_\mu$ and $\Gamma (\tau \to e \gamma)/m^5_\tau$ are approximately in the ratio $1: 2|V_{e3}|^2: 2|V_{e3}|^2$ if $|V_{e3}|$ is much larger than ${\cal O}(10^{-2})$, and in the ratio $2 (\Delta m^2_{\rm atm})^2: (\Delta m^2_{\rm sun})^2:(\Delta m^2_{\rm sun})^2$ if $|V_{e3}|$ is much lower than ${\cal O}(10^{-3})$, where $\Delta m^2_{\rm atm}$ and $\Delta m^2_{\rm sun}$ are the corresponding mass-squared differences of atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations.Comment: LaTex 6 pages (2 PS figures). Phys. Rev. D (in printing

More Straightforward Extraction of the Fundamental Lepton Mixing Parameters from Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillations

We point out the simple reversibility between the fundamental neutrino mixing parameters in vacuum and their effective counterparts in matter. The former can therefore be expressed in terms of the latter, allowing more straightforward extraction of the genuine lepton mixing quantities from a variety of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. In addition to the parametrization-independent results, we present the formulas based on the standard parametrization of the lepton flavor mixing matrix and give a typical numerical illustration.Comment: RevTex 10 pages. Minor changes. Phys. Rev. D in printin

Anomalous elasticity of nematic elastomers

We study the anomalous elasticity of nematic elastomers by employing the powers of renormalized field theory. Using general arguments of symmetry and relevance, we introduce a minimal Landau-Ginzburg-Wilson elastic energy for nematic elastomers. Performing a diagrammatic low temperature expansion, we analyze the fluctuations of the displacement fields at and below the upper critical dimension 3. Our analysis reveals an anomaly of certain elastic moduli in the sense that they depend on the length scale. In $d = 3$ this dependence is logarithmic and below $d=3$ it is of power law type with anomalous scaling exponents. One of the 4 relevant shear moduli vanishes at long length scales whereas the only relevant bending modulus diverges.Comment: 4 page