Effective description of general extensions of the Standard Model: the complete tree-level dictionary

We thank Nuria Rius and Arcadi Santamaria for an interesting discussion that motivated this work. We also thank Paco del Águila and Toni Pich for useful comments.We compute all the tree-level contributions to the Wilson coefficients of the dimension-six Standard-Model effective theory in ultraviolet completions with general scalar, spinor and vector feld content and arbitrary interactions. No assumption about the renormalizability of the high-energy theory is made. This provides a complete ultraviolet/ infrared dictionary at the classical level, which can be used to study the low-energy implications of any model of interest, and also to look for explicit completions consistent with low-energy dataThe work of J.C.C., M.P.V. and J.S. has been supported by the Spanish MICINN project FPA2013- 47836-C3-2-P, the MINECO project FPA2016-78220-C3-1-P (Fondos FEDER) and the Junta de Andalucía grant FQM101. The work of J.C.C. has also been supported by the Spanish MECD grant FPU14. The work of M.P.V. and J.S. has also been supported by the European Commission through the contract PITN-GA-2012-316704 (HIGGSTOOLS). J.C.C. is grateful for the hospitality of the Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia \Galileo Galilei" of the University of Padova during part of this work. J.S. would like to thank the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) for its hospitality and partial support during the completion of this work

Decoherence-protected quantum gates for a hybrid solid-state spin register

Protecting the dynamics of coupled quantum systems from decoherence by the environment is a key challenge for solid-state quantum information processing. An idle qubit can be efficiently insulated from the outside world via dynamical decoupling, as has recently been demonstrated for individual solid-state qubits. However, protection of qubit coherence during a multi-qubit gate poses a non-trivial problem: in general the decoupling disrupts the inter-qubit dynamics, and hence conflicts with gate operation. This problem is particularly salient for hybrid systems, wherein different types of qubits evolve and decohere at vastly different rates. Here we present the integration of dynamical decoupling into quantum gates for a paradigmatic hybrid system, the electron-nuclear spin register. Our design harnesses the internal resonance in the coupled-spin system to resolve the conflict between gate operation and decoupling. We experimentally demonstrate these gates on a two-qubit register in diamond operating at room temperature. Quantum tomography reveals that the qubits involved in the gate operation are protected as accurately as idle qubits. We further illustrate the power of our design by executing Grover's quantum search algorithm, achieving fidelities above 90% even though the execution time exceeds the electron spin dephasing time by two orders of magnitude. Our results directly enable decoherence-protected interface gates between different types of promising solid-state qubits. Ultimately, quantum gates with integrated decoupling may enable reaching the accuracy threshold for fault-tolerant quantum information processing with solid-state devices.Comment: This is original submitted version of the paper. The revised and finalized version is in print, and is subjected to the embargo and other editorial restrictions of the Nature journa

Novel signatures for vector-like quarks

We consider supersymmetric extensions of the standard model with a vector-like doublet (T B) of quarks with charge 2/3 and −1/3, respectively. Compared to non-supersymmetric models, there is a variety of new decay modes for the vector-like quarks, involving the extra scalars present in supersymmetry. The importance of these new modes, yielding multi-top, multi-bottom and also multi-Higgs signals, is highlighted by the analysis of several benchmark scenarios. We show how the triangles commonly used to represent the branching ratios of the ‘standard’ decay modes of the vector-like quarks involving W, Z or Higgs bosons can be generalised to include additional channels. We give an example by recasting the limits of a recent heavy quark search for this more general case.The work of J.A. Aguilar-Saavedra has been supported by MINECO Projects FPA 2016- 78220-C3-1-P and FPA 2013-47836-C3-2-P (including ERDF), and by Junta de Andaluc a Project FQM-101. The work of D.E. L opez-Fogliani has been supported by the Argentinian CONICET. The work of C. Mu~noz has been supported in part by the Programme SEV- 2012-0249 `Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa'. D.E. L opez-Fogliani and C. Mu~noz also acknowledge the support of the Spanish grant FPA2015-65929-P (MINECO/FEDER, UE), and MINECO's Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Programme under grant MultiDark CSD2009- 00064

Dimension-6 operator analysis of the CLIC sensitivity to new physics

We estimate the possible accuracies of measurements at the proposed CLICe+ e− collider of Higgs and W+W− production at centre-of-mass energies up to 3 TeV, incorporating also Higgsstrahlung projections at higher energies that had not been considered previously, and use them to explore the prospective CLIC sensitivities to decoupled new physics. We present the resulting constraints on the Wilson coefficients of dimension6 operators in a model-independent approach based on the Standard Model effective field theory (SM EFT). The higher centre-of-mass energy of CLIC, compared to other projects such as the ILC and CEPC, gives it greater sensitivity to the coefficients of some of the operators we study. We find that CLIC Higgs measurements may be sensitive to new physics scales Λ = O(10) TeV for individual operators, reduced to O(1) TeV sensitivity for a global fit marginalising over the coefficients of all contributing operators. We give some examples of the corresponding prospective constraints on specific scenarios for physics beyond the SM, including stop quarks and the dilaton/radion

Fourier Magnetic Imaging with Nanoscale Resolution and Compressed Sensing Speed-up using Electronic Spins in Diamond

Optically-detected magnetic resonance using Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) color centres in diamond is a leading modality for nanoscale magnetic field imaging, as it provides single electron spin sensitivity, three-dimensional resolution better than 1 nm, and applicability to a wide range of physical and biological samples under ambient conditions. To date, however, NV-diamond magnetic imaging has been performed using real space techniques, which are either limited by optical diffraction to 250 nm resolution or require slow, point-by-point scanning for nanoscale resolution, e.g., using an atomic force microscope, magnetic tip, or super-resolution optical imaging. Here we introduce an alternative technique of Fourier magnetic imaging using NV-diamond. In analogy with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we employ pulsed magnetic field gradients to phase-encode spatial information on NV electronic spins in wavenumber or k-space followed by a fast Fourier transform to yield real-space images with nanoscale resolution, wide field-of-view (FOV), and compressed sensing speed-up.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figure

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Mycobacteria counteract a TLR-mediated nitrosative defense mechanism in a zebrafish infection model.

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), caused by the intracellular bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is a major world health problem. The production of reactive nitrogen species (RNS) is a potent cytostatic and cytotoxic defense mechanism against intracellular pathogens. Nevertheless, the protective role of RNS during Mtb infection remains controversial. Here we use an anti-nitrotyrosine antibody as a readout to study nitration output by the zebrafish host during early mycobacterial pathogenesis. We found that recognition of Mycobacterium marinum, a close relative of Mtb, was sufficient to induce a nitrosative defense mechanism in a manner dependent on MyD88, the central adaptor protein in Toll like receptor (TLR) mediated pathogen recognition. However, this host response was attenuated by mycobacteria via a virulence mechanism independent of the well-characterized RD1 virulence locus. Our results indicate a mechanism of pathogenic mycobacteria to circumvent host defense in vivo. Shifting the balance of host-pathogen interactions in favor of the host by targeting this virulence mechanism may help to alleviate the problem of infection with Mtb strains that are resistant to multiple drug treatments

The Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC

High energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (LHC) produce a large number of particles along the beam collision axis, outside of the acceptance of existing LHC experiments. The proposed Forward Physics Facility (FPF), to be located several hundred meters from the ATLAS interaction point and shielded by concrete and rock, will host a suite of experiments to probe standard model (SM) processes and search for physics beyond the standard model (BSM). In this report, we review the status of the civil engineering plans and the experiments to explore the diverse physics signals that can be uniquely probed in the forward region. FPF experiments will be sensitive to a broad range of BSM physics through searches for new particle scattering or decay signatures and deviations from SM expectations in high statistics analyses with TeV neutrinos in this low-background environment. High statistics neutrino detection will also provide valuable data for fundamental topics in perturbative and non-perturbative QCD and in weak interactions. Experiments at the FPF will enable synergies between forward particle production at the LHC and astroparticle physics to be exploited. We report here on these physics topics, on infrastructure, detector, and simulation studies, and on future directions to realize the FPF's physics potential

A Novel Extracytoplasmic Function (ECF) Sigma Factor Regulates Virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Next to the two-component and quorum sensing systems, cell-surface signaling (CSS) has been recently identified as an important regulatory system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. CSS systems sense signals from outside the cell and transmit them into the cytoplasm. They generally consist of a TonB-dependent outer membrane receptor, a sigma factor regulator (or anti-sigma factor) in the cytoplasmic membrane, and an extracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factor. Upon perception of the extracellular signal by the receptor the ECF sigma factor is activated and promotes the transcription of a specific set of gene(s). Although most P. aeruginosa CSS systems are involved in the regulation of iron uptake, we have identified a novel system involved in the regulation of virulence. This CSS system, which has been designated PUMA3, has a number of unusual characteristics. The most obvious difference is the receptor component which is considerably smaller than that of other CSS outer membrane receptors and lacks a β-barrel domain. Homology modeling of PA0674 shows that this receptor is predicted to be a bilobal protein, with an N-terminal domain that resembles the N-terminal periplasmic signaling domain of CSS receptors, and a C-terminal domain that resembles the periplasmic C-terminal domains of the TolA/TonB proteins. Furthermore, the sigma factor regulator both inhibits the function of the ECF sigma factor and is required for its activity. By microarray analysis we show that PUMA3 regulates the expression of a number of genes encoding potential virulence factors, including a two-partner secretion (TPS) system. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos as a host we have demonstrated that the P. aeruginosa PUMA3-induced strain is more virulent than the wild-type. PUMA3 represents the first CSS system dedicated to the transcriptional activation of virulence functions in a human pathogen