Electroweak precision measurements and collider probes of the Standard Model with large extra dimensions

The elementary particles of the Standard Model may live in more than 3+1 dimensions. We study the consequences of large compactified dimensions on scattering and decay observables at high-energy colliders. Our analysis includes global fits to electroweak precision data, indirect tests at high-energy electron-positron colliders (LEP2 and NLC), and direct probes of the Kaluza-Klein resonances at hadron colliders (Tevatron and LHC). The present limits depend sensitively on the Higgs sector, both the mass of the Higgs boson and how many dimensions it feels. If the Higgs boson is trapped on a 3+1 dimensional wall with the fermions, large Higgs masses (up to 500 GeV) and relatively light Kaluza-Klein mass scales (less than 4 TeV) can provide a good fit to precision data. That is, a light Higgs boson is not necessary to fit the electroweak precision data, as it is in the Standard Model. If the Higgs boson propagates in higher dimensions, precision data prefer a light Higgs boson (less than 260 GeV), and a higher compactification scale (greater than 3.8 TeV). Future colliders can probe much larger scales. For example, a 1.5 TeV electron-positron linear collider can indirectly discover Kaluza-Klein excitations up to 31 TeV if 500 fb^-1 integrated luminosity is obtained.Comment: 29 pages, LaTe

On the spectrum of a stretched spiral vortex

Corrections are found to the k^–5/3 spectrum of Lundgren [Phys. Fluids 25, 2193 (1982)] for a stretched spiral vortex model (a is the stretching strain rate and k the scalar wave number) of turbulent fine scales. These take the form of additional terms arising from the early time evolution, when the stretching of vortex lines is small. For the special case when the spiral takes the form of a rolled-up shear layer, it is shown that the composite spectrum is divergent, thus requiring the introduction of a finite early cutoff time tau1 in the time integral for the nonaxisymmetric contribution. The identity nuomega2 = 2nu[integral]0[infinity]k^2E(k)dk which gives the dissipation is then satisfied self-consistently. Direct numerical calculation of the energy spectrum from the approximate vorticity field for a special choice of spiral structure nevertheless indicates that the one-term k^–5/3-spectrum result is asymptotically valid in the inertial range provided atau1 is O(1) but that the numerically calculated dissipation spectrum appears to lie somewhere between an exp(–B1k2) and an exp(–B2k) form. It is also shown that the stretched, rolled-up shear-layer model predicts asymptotic shell-summed spectra of the energy dissipation and of the square of the vorticity, each asymptotically constant, with no power-law dependence, for k smaller than the Kolmogorov wave number.The corresponding one-dimensional spectra each show –log(k1) behavior for small k1. The extension of the model given by Pullin and Saffman [Phys. Fluids A 5, 126 (1993)] is reformulated by the introduction of a long-time cutoff in the vortex lifetime and an additional requirement that the vortex structures be approximately space filling. This gives a reduction in the number of model free-parameters but introduces a dependence of the calculated Kolmogorov constant and skewness on the ratio of the initial vortex radius to the equivalent Burgers-vortex radius. A scaling for this ratio in terms of the Taylor microscale Reynolds number is proposed in which the stretching strain is assumed to be provided by the large scales with spatial coherence limited to the maximum stretched length of the structures. Postdictions of the fourth-order flatness factor and of higher moments of the longitudinal velocity gradient statistics are compared with numerical simulation

Phonographic neighbors, not orthographic neighbors, determine word naming latencies

The orthographic neighborhood size (N) of a word—the number of words that can be formed from that word by replacing one letter with another in its place—has been found to have facilitatory effects in word naming. The orthographic neighborhood hypothesis attributes this facilitation to interactive effects. A phonographic neighborhood hypothesis, in contrast, attributes the effect to lexical print-sound conversion. According to the phonographic neighborhood hypothesis, phonographic neighbors (words differing in one letter and one phoneme, e.g., stove and stone) should facilitate naming, and other orthographic neighbors (e.g., stove and shove) should not. The predictions of these two hypotheses are tested. Unique facilitatory phonographic N effects were found in four sets of word naming mega-study data, along with an absence of facilitatory orthographic N effects. These results implicate print-sound conversion—based on consistent phonology—in neighborhood effects rather than word-letter feedback

Origin of Discrepancies in Inelastic Electron Tunneling Spectra of Molecular Junctions

We report inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS) of multilayer molecular junctions with and without incorporated metal nano-particles. The incorporation of metal nanoparticles into our devices leads to enhanced IET intensity and a modified line-shape for some vibrational modes. The enhancement and line-shape modification are both the result of a low lying hybrid metal nanoparticle-molecule electronic level. These observations explain the apparent discrepancy between earlier IETS measurements of alkane thiolate junctions by Kushmerick \emph{et al.} [Nano Lett. \textbf{4}, 639 (2004)] and Wang \emph{et al.} [Nano Lett. \textbf{4}, 643 (2004)].Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Liquid Crystal Polarimetry for Metastability Exchange Optical Pumping of 3He

We detail the design and operation of a compact, discharge light polarimeter for metastability exchange optical pumping of 3He gas near 1 torr under a low magnetic field. The nuclear polarization of 3He can be discerned from its electron polarization, measured via the circular polarization of 668 nm discharge light from an RF excitation. This apparatus measures the circular polarization of this very dim discharge light using a nematic liquid crystal wave retarder (LCR) and a high-gain, transimpedance amplified Si photodiode. We outline corrections required in such a measurement, and discuss contributions to its systematic error