Modelling strong interactions and longitudinally polarized vector boson scattering

We study scattering of the electroweak gauge bosons in 5D warped models. Within two different models we determine the precise manner in which the Higgs boson and the vector resonances ensure the unitarity of longitudinal vector boson scattering. We identify three separate scales that determine the dynamics of the scattering process in all cases. For a quite general background geometry of 5D, these scales can be linked to a simple functional of the warp factor. The models smoothly interpolate between a `composite' Higgs limit and a Higgsless limit. By holographic arguments, these models provide an effective description of vector boson scattering in 4D models with a strongly coupled electroweak breaking sector.Comment: 30 pages, no figure

Unification in models with replicated gauge groups

We examine unification of gauge couplings in four dimensional renormalizable gauge theories inspired by the latticized (deconstructed) SM or MSSM in five dimensions. The models are based on replicated gauge groups, spontaneously broken to the diagonal subgroup. The analysis is performed at one-loop level, with the contribution from the heavy vector bosons included, and compared with the analogous results in the SM or MSSM. Unification at or above the diagonal breaking scale is discussed. We find that in the considered class of extensions of the SM(MSSM) unification is possible for a wide range of unification scales and with the similar accuracy as in the SM(MSSM). Unification above the diagonal breaking scale is particularly attractive: it is a consequence of the SM(MSSM) unification, but with the unification scale depending on the number of replications of the gauge group.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Simulation Application for the LHCb Experiment

We describe the LHCb detector simulation application (Gauss) based on the Geant4 toolkit. The application is built using the Gaudi software framework, which is used for all event-processing applications in the LHCb experiment. The existence of an underlying framework allows several common basic services such as persistency, interactivity, as well as detector geometry description or particle data to be shared between simulation, reconstruction and analysis applications. The main benefits of such common services are coherence between different event-processing stages as well as reduced development effort. The interfacing to Geant4 toolkit is realized through a facade (GiGa) which minimizes the coupling to the simulation engine and provides a set of abstract interfaces for configuration and event-by-event communication. The Gauss application is composed of three main blocks, i.e. event generation, detector response simulation and digitization which reflect the different stages performed during the simulation job. We describe the overall design as well as the details of Gauss application with a special emphasis on the configuration and control of the underlying simulation engine. We also briefly mention the validation strategy and the planing for the LHCb experiment simulation.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 6 pages, LaTeX, 9 eps figures. PSN TUMT00

A New bound on CP Violation in the τ\tau Lepton Yukawa Coupling and electroweak baryogenesis

The origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe is a fundamental question of physics. Electroweak baryogenesis is a compelling scenario for explaining it but it requires beyond the Standard Model sources of the CP symmetry violation. The simplest possibility is CP violation in the third generation fermion Higgs couplings, widely investigated theoretically and searched for experimentally. It has been found that the experimental bounds on the CP violation in the quark Yukawa couplings exclude their significant role in the electroweak baryogenesis, but it can be still played by the $\tau$ lepton Yukawa coupling. It is shown in this paper that, within the context of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory and assuming an underlying flavour symmetry of the Wilson coefficients, the electron dipole moment bound on the $\tau$ lepton Yukawa coupling is two orders of magnitude stronger than previously reported. This sheds strong doubts on its role in the electroweak baryogenesis, further stimulates the interest in its experimental verification and makes electroweak baryogenesis even more difficult to explain.Comment: V2: references added; minor changes on the text; results unchanged; version accepted for publication on JHE

The fine-tuning price of LEP

We quantify the amount of fine tuning of input parameters of the Minimal Supersymmetric Extension of the Standard Model (MSSM) that is needed to respect the lower limits on sparticle and Higgs masses imposed by precision electroweak measurements at LEP, measurements of $b\to X_s\gamma$, and searches at LEP 2. If universal input scalar masses are assumed in a gravity-mediated scenario, a factor of \gappeq180 is required at $\tan\beta\sim1.65$, decreasing to $\sim20$ at $\tan\beta\sim10$. The amount of fine tuning is not greatly reduced if non-universal input scalar Higgs masses are allowed, but may be significantly reduced if some theoretical relations between MSSM parameters are assumed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Two references added, one corrected. A typo correcte

Geometry description markup language for physics simulation and analysis applications

The Geometry Description Markup Language (GDML) is a specialized XML-based language designed as an application-independent persistent format for describing the geometries of detectors associated with physics measurements. It serves to implement ''geometry trees'' which correspond to the hierarchy of volumes a detector geometry can be composed of, and to allow to identify the position of individual solids, as well as to describe the materials they are made of. Being pure XML, GDML can be universally used, and in particular it can be considered as the format for interchanging geometries among different applications. In this paper we will present the current status of the development of GDML. After having discussed the contents of the latest GDML schema, which is the basic definition of the format, we will concentrate on the GDML processors. We will present the latest implementation of the GDML ''writers'' as well as ''readers'' for either Geant4 [2], [3] or ROOT [4], [10]

Quantum Isometrodynamics

Classical Isometrodynamics is quantized in the Euclidean plus axial gauge. The quantization is then generalized to a broad class of gauges and the generating functional for the Green functions of Quantum Isometrodynamics (QID) is derived. Feynman rules in covariant Euclidean gauges are determined and QID is shown to be renormalizable by power counting. Asymptotic states are discussed and new quantum numbers related to the "inner" degrees of freedom introduced. The one-loop effective action in a Euclidean background gauge is formally calculated and shown to be finite and gauge-invariant after renormalization and a consistent definition of the arising "inner" space momentum integrals. Pure QID is shown to be asymptotically free for all dimensions of "inner" space $D$ whereas QID coupled to the Standard Model fields is not asymptotically free for D <= 7. Finally nilpotent BRST transformations for Isometrodynamics are derived along with the BRST symmetry of the theory and a scetch of the general proof of renormalizability for QID is given.Comment: 38 page