A bi-objective model for the single-machine scheduling problem with rejection cost and total tardiness minimization

We study the problem of scheduling jobs on a single machine with a rejection possibility, concurrently minimizing the total tardiness of the scheduled jobs and the total cost of the rejected ones. The model we consider is fully bi-objective, i.e. its aim is to enumerate the Pareto front. We tackle the problem both with and without the presence of hard deadlines. For the case without deadlines, we provide a pseudo-polynomial time algorithm, based on the dynamic program of Steiner and Zhang (2011), thereby proving that the problem is weakly NP-hard. For the case with deadlines, we propose a branch-and-bound algorithm and prove its efficiency by comparing it to an \u3b5-constrained approach on benchmark instances based on those proposed in the literature on similar problems

Leptogenesis in SO(10) models with a left-right symmetric seesaw mechanism

We study leptogenesis in supersymmetric SO(10) models with a left-right symmetric seesaw mechanism, including flavour effects and the contribution of the next-to-lightest right-handed neutrino. Assuming M_D = M_u and hierarchical light neutrino masses, we find that successful leptogenesis is possible for 4 out of the 8 right-handed neutrino mass spectra that are compatible with the observed neutrino data. An accurate description of charged fermion masses appears to be an important ingredient in the analysis.Comment: Submitted for the SUSY07 proceedings, 4 pages, 9 figure

Moduli fixing in semirealistic string compactifications

Heterotic orbifold compactifications yield a myriad of models that reproduce many properties of the supersymmetric extension of the standard model and provide potential solutions to persisting problems of high energy physics, such as the origin of the neutrino masses and the strong CP problem. However, the details of the phenomenology in these scenarios rely on the assumption of a stable vacuum, characterized by moduli fields. In this note, we drop this assumption and address the problem of moduli stabilization in realistic orbifold models. We study their qualities and their 4D effective action, and discuss how nonperturbative effects indeed lift all bulk moduli directions. The resulting vacua, although still unstable, are typically de Sitter and there are generically some quasi-flat directions which can help to deal with cosmological challenges, such as inflation.Comment: Prepared for the XIV Mexican School on Particles and Fields, Morelia, Mexico, Nov. 4-12, 2010; 9 pages, 3 figures. v2: minor corrections, references adde

Examining leptogenesis with lepton flavor violation and the dark matter abundance

Within a supersymmetric (SUSY) type-I seesaw framework with flavor-blind universal boundary conditions, we study the consequences of requiring that the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe be explained by either thermal or non-thermal leptogenesis. In the former case, we find that the parameter space is very constrained. In the bulk and stop-coannihilation regions of mSUGRA parameter space (that are consistent with the measured dark matter abundance), lepton flavor-violating (LFV) processes are accessible at MEG and future experiments. However, the very high reheat temperature of the Universe needed after inflation (of about 10^{12} GeV) leads to a severe gravitino problem, which disfavors either thermal leptogenesis or neutralino dark matter. Non-thermal leptogenesis in the preheating phase from SUSY flat directions relaxes the gravitino problem by lowering the required reheat temperature. The baryon asymmetry can then be explained while preserving neutralino dark matter, and for the bulk or stop-coannihilation regions LFV processes should be observed in current or future experiments.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Neutrino physics overview

Seesaw-type and low-scale models of neutrino masses are reviewed, along with the corresponding structure of the lepton mixing matrix. The status of neutrino oscillation parameters as of June 2006 is given, including recent fluxes, as well as latest SNO, K2K and MINOS results. Some prospects for the next generation of experiments are given. This writeup updates the material presented in my lectures at the Corfu Summer Institute on Elementary Particle Physics in September 2005.Comment: Review based on lectures at the Corfu Summer Institute on Elementary Particle Physics in September 2005. To be published in the Proceeding

Searching singlet extensions of the supersymmetric standard model in Z6−II Z_{6-II} orbifold compactification of heterotic string

We search for supersymmetric standard model realizations with extra singlets and extra $U(1)$ using the heterotic string compactification on the $Z_{6-II}$ orbifold with two Wilson lines. We analyze the vacuum restabilization mechanism for three representative Pati-Salam string models obtained in the literature and present detailed results for the effective superpotential compatible with the string selection rules. An automated selection of semi-realistic vacua along flat directions in the non-Abelian singlet modes field space is performed by requiring the presence of massless pairs of electroweak Higgs bosons having trilinear superpotential couplings with massless singlet modes and the decoupling of color triplet exotic modes needed to suppress $B$ and $L$ number violating processes.Comment: revtex4 format, 21 pages, 7 tables, shortened version added reference

Searching for the Standard Model in the String Landscape : SUSY GUTs

The goal of the present review article is to describe the ingredients necessary to find the Standard Model in the string landscape.Comment: 70 pages, 20 figures, this review article will be published in Reports on Progress in Physic