Phenomenological Consequences of Soft Leptogenesis

Soft supersymmetry breaking terms involving heavy singlet sneutrinos can be the dominant source of leptogenesis. The relevant range of parameters is different from standard leptogenesis: a lighter Majorana mass, M < 10^9 GeV (allowing a solution of the gravitino problem), and smaller Yukawa couplings, Y_N < 10^{-4}. We investigate whether the various couplings of the singlet sneutrinos, which are constrained by the requirement of successful `soft leptogenesis', can have observable phenomenological consequences. Specifically, we calculate the contributions of the relevant soft supersymmetric breaking terms to the electric dipole moments of the charged leptons and to lepton flavor violating decays. Our result is that these contributions are small.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure; v2: an additional contribution is considered (modifying: fig. 1, eq. 10-13, 22) and a reference added. Conclusions unchange

A Machine Vision System for Evaluation of Planter Seed Spatial Distribution

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is a Technical Paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 4 (2002): V. Alchanatis, Y. Kashti, and R. Brikman. A Machine Vision System for Evaluation of Planter Seed Spatial Distribution

Observing Ultra High Energy Cosmic Particles from Space: SEUSO, the Super Extreme Universe Space Observatory Mission

The experimental search for ultra high energy cosmic messengers, from $E\sim 10^{19}$ eV to beyond $E\sim 10^{20}$ eV, at the very end of the known energy spectrum, constitutes an extraordinary opportunity to explore a largely unknown aspect of our universe. Key scientific goals are the identification of the sources of ultra high energy particles, the measurement of their spectra and the study of galactic and local intergalactic magnetic fields. Ultra high energy particles might, also, carry evidence of unknown physics or of exotic particles relics of the early universe. To meet this challenge a significant increase in the integrated exposure is required. This implies a new class of experiments with larger acceptances and good understanding of the systematic uncertainties. Space based observatories can reach the instantaneous aperture and the integrated exposure necessary to systematically explore the ultra high energy universe. In this paper, after briefly summarising the science case of the mission, we describe the scientific goals and requirements of the SEUSO concept. We then introduce the SEUSO observational approach and describe the main instrument and mission features. We conclude discussing the expected performance of the mission

Propagation of ultrahigh energy nuclei in clusters of galaxies: resulting composition and secondary emissions

We study the survival of ultrahigh energy nuclei injected in clusters of galaxies, as well as their secondary neutrino and photon emissions, using a complete numerical propagation method and a realistic modeling of the magnetic, baryonic and photonic backgrounds. It is found that the survival of heavy nuclei highly depends on the injection position and on the profile of the magnetic field. Taking into account the limited lifetime of the central source could also lead in some cases to the detection of a cosmic ray afterglow, temporally decorrelated from neutrino and gamma ray emissions. We calculate that the diffusive neutrino flux around 1 PeV coming from clusters of galaxies may have a chance to be detected by current instruments. The observation of single sources in neutrinos and in gamma rays produced by ultrahigh energy cosmic rays will be more difficult. Signals coming from lower energy cosmic rays (E < 1 PeV), if they exist, might however be detected by Fermi, for reasonable sets of parameters.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, version to appear in ApJ (minor changes

Search for Anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Telescope Array Experiment

We study the anisotropy of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) events collected by the Telescope Array (TA) detector in the first 40 months of operation. Following earlier studies, we examine event sets with energy thresholds of 10 EeV, 40 EeV, and 57 EeV. We find that the distributions of the events in right ascension and declination are compatible with an isotropic distribution in all three sets. We then compare with previously reported clustering of the UHECR events at small angular scales. No significant clustering is found in the TA data. We then check the events with E>57 EeV for correlations with nearby active galactic nuclei. No significant correlation is found. Finally, we examine all three sets for correlations with the large-scale structure of the Universe. We find that the two higher-energy sets are compatible with both an isotropic distribution and the hypothesis that UHECR sources follow the matter distribution of the Universe (the LSS hypothesis), while the event set with E>10 EeV is compatible with isotropy and is not compatible with the LSS hypothesis at 95% CL unless large deflection angles are also assumed. We show that accounting for UHECR deflections in a realistic model of the Galactic magnetic field can make this set compatible with the LSS hypothesis.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Searching for a Correlation Between Cosmic-Ray Sources Above 10^{19} eV and Large-Scale Structure

We study the anisotropy signature which is expected if the sources of ultra high energy, >10^{19} eV, cosmic-rays (UHECRs) are extragalactic and trace the large scale distribution of luminous matter. Using the PSCz galaxy catalog as a tracer of the large scale structure (LSS), we derive the expected all sky angular distribution of the UHECR intensity. We define a statistic, that measures the correlation between the predicted and observed UHECR arrival direction distributions, and show that it is more sensitive to the expected anisotropy signature than the power spectrum and the two point correlation function. The distribution of the correlation statistic is not sensitive to the unknown redshift evolution of UHECR source density and to the unknown strength and structure of inter-galactic magnetic fields. We show, using this statistic, that recently published >5.7x10^{19} eV Auger data are inconsistent with isotropy at ~98% CL, and consistent with a source distribution that traces LSS, with some preference to a source distribution that is biased with respect to the galaxy distribution. The anisotropy signature should be detectable also at lower energy, >4x10^{19} eV. A few fold increase of the Auger exposure is likely to increase the significance to >99% CL, but not to >99.9% CL (unless the UHECR source density is comparable or larger than that of galaxies). In order to distinguish between different bias models, the systematic uncertainty in the absolute energy calibration of the experiments should be reduced to well below the current ~25%.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. v2: reference added, typos corrected, accepted to JCA

SUSY Renormalization Group Effects in Ultra High Energy Neutrinos

We have explored the question of whether the renormalization group running of the neutrino mixing parameters in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is detectable with ultra-high energy neutrinos from active galactic nuclei (AGN). We use as observables the ratios of neutrino fluxes produced at the AGN, focusing on four different neutrino production models: $(\Phi_{\nu_e+\bar{\nu}_e}^0 : \Phi_{\nu_\mu+\bar{\nu}_\mu}^0 : \Phi_{\nu_\tau+\bar{\nu}_\tau}^0)$ = (1:2:0), (0:1:0), (1:0:0), and (1:1:0). The prospects for observing deviations experimentally are taken into consideration, and we find out that it is necessary to impose a cut-off on the transferred momentum of $Q^2 \geq 10^7$ GeV$^2$. However, this condition, together with the expected low value of the diffuse AGN neutrino flux, yields a negligible event rate at a km-scale Cherenkov detector such as IceCube.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Version accepted for publication in JHE

The Estimation of Urban Domestic Water Use: A Study with Reference to Leeds

The privatisation of the water industry in 1989 highlighted the need for greater precision in planning water resources. The absence of any large scale research on the pattern of domestic water use (DWU) accentuated the ignorance of the utilisation of more than 50% of supplies. With the gradual introduction of domestic metering during the mid 1980s, there has been a considerable growth in information in this area. Since privatisation, the number of metered properties has risen and now amounts to 6% of the population. The data accumulated on the subject of domestic water use have increased the ability to understand better some of the processes involved, although there remained two major stumbling blocks on the way to analysing fully these data. Firstly, the nature of the meters and the frequency with which they are read makes the understanding of the components which make up domestic water use almost impossible; and secondly, the profile of metered households is, by its nature, biased towards new properties which often have meters installed in them automatically, and small households, who opt to have a meter installed as they perceive financial gain resulting from it. Under such circumstances the data containing the results of two surveys conducted by Yorkshire Water in 1992 are used in a new approach to geographical modelling. In the first stage the components with the highest DWU coefficients are determined by statistical means. A microsimulation technique, which lies beyond the scope of this work, is used in the second stage to model the spatial distribution of domestic water use in Leeds by using household components derived from the data by statistical means. The uniqueness of this thesis is in its association of these two techniques. The overall conceptual analysis of all the issues involved in DWU, together with results of the two analyses, allow a better understanding of domestic water use of all properties, whether they possess a meter or not, from the smallest geographical unit - the household - to any spatial aggregation required. The implications of this model for policy formulation and management strategy are numerous. The ability to forecast demand whilst incorporating environmental and economic scenarios, combined with the ability to concentrate on any geographical scale, renders this approach extremely useful in future developments which the water industry is about to enter

Outdoor testing of agricultural cladding materials

In this research, optical and mechanical properties of three different types of (polyethylene) PE plastic films commonly used for cladding greenhouse in TURKEY were studied. The three types of plastic films were UV (Ultraviolet), UV-IR (Ultraviolet and Infrared) and UV-IR-AF (Ultraviolet, Infrared and Antifog). For this study, three different experimental greenhouses developed and constructed by Institute of Agricultural Engineering ARO, the Volcani Center were used. One of the experimental greenhouses was used to investigate the effect of agro-chemical (sulfur) on the mechanical properties of cladding materials. This greenhouse had 30 identical sections. Each film was fixed on a rectangular aluminium frame. The frames were mounted on these sections. The second greenhouse was used to investigate the solar radiation transmission characteristic of plastic films. The last one was used to investigate the ageing of cladding materials in general. The experiments on the effect of sulfur evaporation on plastic films were started in June 1997 for period of 3 months. The results with sulfur evaporation on mechanical properties of PE films indicated that the elongation that take place in PE films treated with sulfur reduced about 60-80 %

Very-high-energy astrophysical neutrinos with IceCube

IceCube is a ≳TeV neutrino observatory operating at the South Pole. Ice-Cube has observed a flux of neutrinos of astrophysical origin, with energies beyond 2 PeV. However the sources of these neutrinos have not yet been identified. A summary of various IceCube observations is presented. The results discussed were obtained through several different analysis methods, which have varying sensitivity to the different neutrino flavors. A discussion of the spectral fit obtained for the various event selections is included, as well as the constraints on the astrophysical neutrino flavor flux ratio. Several attempts by IceCube to identify the sources of these neutrinos are described. These include studies correlating neutrino events with catalogs of sources as well as selfcorrelations among IceCube’s neutrinos. The observations of astrophysical neutrinos are limited by statistics. So an upgrade of IceCube, including a larger detector and a surface veto is planned. This upgrade is briefly discussed