1,294 research outputs found
Flavour Symmetries and Kahler Operators
Any supersymmetric mechanism to solve the flavour puzzle would generate
mixing both in the superpotential Yukawa couplings and in the Kahler potential.
In this paper we study, in a model independent way, the impact of the
nontrivial structure of the Kahler potential on the physical mixing matrix,
after kinetic terms are canonically normalized. We undertake this analysis both
for the quark sector and the neutrino sector. For the quark sector, and in view
of the experimental values for the masses and mixing angles, we find that the
effects of canonical normalization are subdominant. On the other hand, for the
leptonic sector we obtain different conclusions depending on the spectrum of
neutrinos. In the hierarchical case we obtain similar conclusion as in the
quark sector, whereas in the degenerate and inversely hierarchical case,
important changes in the mixing angles could be expected.Comment: 22 pages, LaTe
Modified Gravity via Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking
We construct effective field theories in which gravity is modified via
spontaneous breaking of local Lorentz invariance. This is a gravitational
analogue of the Higgs mechanism. These theories possess additional graviton
modes and modified dispersion relations. They are manifestly well-behaved in
the UV and free of discontinuities of the van Dam-Veltman-Zakharov type,
ensuring compatibility with standard tests of gravity. They may have important
phenomenological effects on large distance scales, offering an alternative to
dark energy. For the case in which the symmetry is broken by a vector field
with the wrong sign mass term, we identify four massless graviton modes (all
with positive-definite norm for a suitable choice of a parameter) and show the
absence of the discontinuity.Comment: 5 pages; revised versio
Do many-particle neutrino interactions cause a novel coherent effect?
We investigate whether coherent flavor conversion of neutrinos in a neutrino
background is substantially modified by many-body effects, with respect to the
conventional one-particle effective description. We study the evolution of a
system of interacting neutrino plane waves in a box. Using its equivalence to a
system of spins, we determine the character of its behavior completely
analytically. We find that, if the neutrinos are initially in flavor
eigenstates, no coherent flavor conversion is realized, in agreement with the
effective one-particle description. This result does not depend on the size of
the neutrino wavepackets and therefore has a general character. The validity of
the several important applications of the one-particle formalism is thus
confirmed.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figur
Robust implications on Dark Matter from the first FERMI sky gamma map
We derive robust model-independent bounds on DM annihilations and decays from
the first year of FERMI gamma-ray observations of the whole sky. These bounds
only have a mild dependence on the DM density profile and allow the following
DM interpretations of the PAMELA and FERMI electron/positron excesses: primary
channels mu+ mu-, mu+ mu-mu+mu- or e+ e- e+ e-. An isothermal-like density
profile is needed for annihilating DM. In all such cases, FERMI gamma spectra
must contain a significant DM component, that may be probed in the future.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Final versio
Coarsening on percolation clusters: out-of-equilibrium dynamics versus non linear response
We analyze the violations of linear fluctuation-dissipation theorem (FDT) in
the coarsening dynamics of the antiferromagnetic Ising model on percolation
clusters in two dimensions. The equilibrium magnetic response is shown to be
non linear for magnetic fields of the order of the inverse square root of the
number of sites. Two extreme regimes can be identified in the thermoremanent
magnetization: (i) linear response and out-of-equilibrium relaxation for small
waiting times (ii) non linear response and equilibrium relaxation for large
waiting times. The function characterizing the deviations from linear
FDT cross-overs from unity at short times to a finite positive value for longer
times, with the same qualitative behavior whatever the waiting time. We show
that the coarsening dynamics on percolation clusters exhibits stronger
long-term memory than usual euclidian coarsening.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure
Student politics, teaching politics, black politics: an interview with Ansel Wong
Ansel Wong is the quiet man of British black politics, rarely in the limelight and never seeking political office. And yet his ‘career’ here – from Black Power firebrand to managing a multimillion budget as head of the Greater London Council’s Ethnic Minority Unit in the 1980s – spells out some of the most important developments in black educational and cultural projects. In this interview, he discusses his identification with Pan-Africanism, his involvement in student politics, his role in the establishment of youth projects and supplementary schools in the late 1960s and 1970s, and his involvement in black radical politics in London in the same period, all of which took place against the background of revolutionary ferment in the Third World and the world of ideas, and were not without their own internal class and ethnic conflicts
Causal Set Dynamics: A Toy Model
We construct a quantum measure on the power set of non-cyclic oriented graphs
of N points, drawing inspiration from 1-dimensional directed percolation.
Quantum interference patterns lead to properties which do not appear to have
any analogue in classical percolation. Most notably, instead of the single
phase transition of classical percolation, the quantum model displays two
distinct crossover points. Between these two points, spacetime questions such
as "does the network percolate" have no definite or probabilistic answer.Comment: 28 pages incl. 5 figure
The Fate of Nearly Supersymmetric Vacua
Supersymmetric vacua are stable. It is interesting to ask: how long-lived are
vacua which are nearly supersymmetric? This question is relevant if our
universe is approximately supersymmetric. It is also of importance for a number
of issues of the physics of the landscape and eternal inflation. In this note,
we distinguish a variety of cases. In all of them the decay is slow. For a flat
space theory decaying to a deep AdS vacuum, the leading behavior of the decay
amplitude, if a thin wall approximation is valid, is (where the phase of is defined in the
text) for , and zero otherwise. Metastable supersymmetry
breaking generally yields parametrically more rapid decays. For nearly
supersymmetric decays, we will see that it is necessary to compute subleading
terms in the exponential to extraordinarily high accuracy before one can
meaningfully discuss the prefactor.Comment: 19 page
Cross-national variations in reported discrimination among people treated for major depression worldwide : the ASPEN/INDIGO international study
No study has so far explored differences in discrimination reported by people with major depressive disorder (MDD) across countries and cultures. To (a) compare reported discrimination across different countries, and (b) explore the relative weight of individual and contextual factors in explaining levels of reported discrimination in people with MDD. Cross-sectional multisite international survey (34 countries worldwide) of 1082 people with MDD. Experienced and anticipated discrimination were assessed by the Discrimination and Stigma Scale (DISC). Countries were classified according to their rating on the Human Development Index (HDI). Multilevel negative binomial and Poisson models were used. People living in ‘very high HDI’ countries reported higher discrimination than those in ‘medium/low HDI’ countries. Variation in reported discrimination across countries was only partially explained by individual-level variables. The contribution of country-level variables was significant for anticipated discrimination only. Contextual factors play an important role in anticipated discrimination. Country-specific interventions should be implemented to prevent discrimination towards people with MDD
Genetic Characterization of Five Hatchery Populations of the Pacific Abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) Using Microsatellite Markers
The Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, is a popular food in Eastern Asia. Aquacultural production of this species has increased because of recent resource declines, the growing consumption, and ongoing government-operated stock release programs. Therefore, the genetic characterization of hatchery populations is necessary to maintain the genetic diversity of this species and to develop more effective aquaculture practices. We analyzed the genetic structures of five cultured populations in Korea using six microsatellite markers. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 15 to 64, with an average of 23.5. The mean observed and expected heterozygosities were 0.797 and 0.904, respectively. The inbreeding coefficient FIS ranged from 0.054 to 0.184 (mean FIS = 0.121 ± 0.056). The genetic differentiation across all populations was low but significant (overall FST = 0.009, P < 0.01). Pairwise multilocus FST tests, estimates of genetic distance, and phylogenetic and principal component analyses did not show a consistent relationship between geographic and genetic distances. These results could reflect extensive aquaculture, the exchange of breeds and eggs between hatcheries and/or genetic drift due to intensive breeding practices. Thus, for optimal resource management, the genetic variation of hatchery stocks should be monitored and inbreeding controlled within the abalone stocks that are being released every year. This genetic information will be useful for the management of both H. discus hannai fisheries and the aquaculture industry
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