Isotopic Composition of the Solar Wind Inferred from In-Situ Spacecraft Measurements

The Sun is the largest reservoir of matter in the solar system, which formed 4.6Gyr ago from the protosolar nebula. Data from space missions and theoretical models indicate that the solar wind carries a nearly unfractionated sample of heavy isotopes at energies of about 1keV/amu from the Sun into interplanetary space. In anticipation of results from the Genesis mission's solar-wind implanted samples, we revisit solar wind isotopic abundance data from the high-resolution CELIAS/MTOF spectrometer on board SOHO. In particular, we evaluate the isotopic abundance ratios 15N/14N, 17O/16O, and 18O/16O in the solar wind, which are reference values for isotopic fractionation processes during the formation of terrestrial planets as well as for the Galactic chemical evolution. We also give isotopic abundance ratios for He, Ne, Ar, Mg, Si, Ca, and Fe measured in situ in the solar win

An Elusive Z' Coupled to Beauty

By extending the standard gauge group to SU(3)_c \times SU(2)_L \times U(1)_Y \times U(1)_X with X charges carried only by the third family we accommodate the LEP measurement of R_b and predict a potentially measurable discrepancy in A_{FB}^{b} in e^+e^- scattering and that D^0\bar{D}^0 mixing may be near its experimental limit. The Z', which explicitly violates the GIM mechanism, can nevertheless be naturally consistent with FCNC constraints. Direct detection of the Z' is possible but challenging.Comment: 12 pages, plus 1 Postscript figure, uses revtex, Discussion of FCNC extende

Test of the chiral structure and FCNC in the quark sector by radiative B meson decays

We study the effects of a vector-like SU(2) quark doublet as a fourth generation. In this model we examine the chiral structure and the FCNC in the quark sector by using radiative B meson decays in the allowed region for parameters from $R_b = {\Gamma_{qq}}/{\Gamma_{had.}}$. We compute the ratio $R = {Br (b \to d \gamma)}/{Br (b \to s \gamma)}$ in the model which realizes a different chiral structure as well as FCNC. The constraints has been extracted from the experimental results of B meson decays, the $T_{new}$ parameter of oblique corrections and $R_b$. Under the natural assumption that the violation of the $V-A$ structure in the light-quark sector is small, we can determine the allowed region for most of the mixings parameters and the vector-like quark masses. We show that there will be significant deviations in $R$ from the SM prediction due to the FCNC's and the violation of the $V-A$ structure.Comment: 19 pages, figures included, revised version for publication (accepted in Int. Jour. Mod. Phys. A

MeV neutrinos in double beta decay

The effect of Majorana neutrinos in the MeV mass range on the double beta decay of various isotopes is studied on pure phenomenological arguments. By using only experimental half life data, limits on the mixing parameter $U_{eh}^2$ of the order 10$^{-7}$ can be derived. Also the possible achievements of upcoming experiments and some consequences are outlined.Comment: 7 pages, 6 uudecoded EPS-figure

Constraints on the parameters of the Left Right Mirror Model

We study some phenomenological constraints on the parameters of a left right model with mirror fermions (LRMM) that solves the strong CP problem. In particular, we evaluate the contribution of mirror neutrinos to the invisible Z decay width (\Gamma_Z^{inv}), and we find that the present experimental value on \Gamma_Z^{inv}, can be used to place an upper bound on the Z-Z' mixing angle that is consistent with limits obtained previously from other low-energy observables. In this model the charged fermions that correspond to the standard model (SM) mix with its mirror counterparts. This mixing, simultaneously with the Z-Z' one, leads to modifications of the \Gamma(Z --> f \bar{f}) decay width. By comparing with LEP data, we obtain bounds on the standard-mirror lepton mixing angles. We also find that the bottom quark mixing parameters can be chosen to fit the experimental values of R_b, and the resulting values for the Z-Z' mixing angle do not agree with previous bounds. However, this disagreement disappears if one takes the more recent ALEPH data.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, REVTe

Constraint of the magnetic moment of the top quark

We derive a bound on the magnetic dipole moment of the top quark in the context of the effective Lagrangian approach by using the values of the ratio $R_b = \Gamma_b/\Gamma_h$, $R_l = \Gamma_h/\Gamma_l$ and $\Gamma_Z$. We found that the oblique corrections are more sensible than the vertex ones for this moment.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Signature for heavy Majorana neutrinos in hadronic collisions

The production and decay of new possible heavy Majorana neutrinos are analyzed in hadronic collisions. New bounds on the mixing of these particles with standard neutrinos are estimated according to a fundamental representation suggested by grand unified models. A clear signature for these Majorana neutrinos is given by same-sign dileptons plus a charged weak vector boson in the final state. We discuss the experimental possibilities for the future Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.Comment: Latex2e(epsfig), 12 pages, 8 figures, to appear Physical Review

Discovering a Light Higgs Boson with Light

We evaluate the prospects for detecting a non-standard light Higgs boson with a significant branching ratio to two photons, in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron. We derive the reach for several channels: $2\gamma$ inclusive, $2\gamma+1$ jet and $2\gamma+2$ jets. We present the expected Run II limits on the branching ratio of $h\to\gamma\gamma$ as a function of the Higgs mass, for the case of ``bosonic'', as well as ``topcolor'' Higgs bosons.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 7 figures, 4 tables, uses aipproc2.sty, contributed to the Physics at Run II Workshop, analysis redone with optimized cuts and improved background estimate, references adde

Leptophobic U(1)'s and the R_b - R_c Crisis

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of explaining both the R_b excess and the R_c deficit reported by the LEP experiments through Z-Z' mixing effects. We have constructed a set of models consistent with a restrictive set of principles: unification of the Standard Model (SM) gauge couplings, vector- like additional matter, and couplings which are both generation-independent and leptophobic. These models are anomaly-free, perturbative up to the GUT scale, and contain realistic mass spectra. Out of this class of models, we find three explicit realizations which fit the LEP data to a far better extent than the unmodified SM or MSSM and satisfy all other phenomenological constraints which we have investigated. One realization, the \eta-model coming from E_6, is particularly attractive, arising naturally from geometrical compactifications of heterotic string theory. This conclusion depends crucially on the inclusion of a U(1) kinetic mixing term, whose value is correctly predicted by renormalization group running in the E_6 model given one discrete choice of spectra.Comment: LaTeX, 26 pages, 5 embedded EPSF figures. Version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Signals from extra dimensions decoupled from the compactification scale

Multilocalization provides a simple way of decoupling the mass scale of new physics from the compactification scale of extra dimensions. It naturally appears, for example, when localization of fermion zero modes is used to explain the observed fermion spectrum, leaving low energy remnants of the geometrical origin of the fermion mass hierarchy. We study the phenomenology of the simplest five dimensional model with order one Yukawa couplings reproducing the standard fermion masses and mixing angles and with a light Kaluza-Klein quark Q_{2/3} saturating experimental limits on V_{tb} and m_Q, and then with observable new effects at Tevatron.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figs; v2 reference and comments added to match the published version. A discussion of the limits from precision electroweak data is included. Conclusions are unchange