Production and Decay of the Ge73-m Metastable State in a Low-Background Germanium Detector

The $\ge73m$ metastable states decay with a very characteristic signature which allow them to be tagged event-by-event. Studies were performed using data taken with a high-purity germanium detector in a low-background laboratory near a nuclear power reactor core where \nuebar-flux was $\rm{6.4 \times 10^{12} ~ cm^{-2} s^{-1}}$. The measured average and equilibrium production rates of $\ge73m$ were $\rm{(8.7 \pm 0.4)}$ and $\rm{(6.7 \pm 0.3) ~ kg^{-1} day^{-1}}$, respectively. The production channels were studied and identified. By studying the difference in the production of $\ge73m$ between the reactor ON and OFF spectra, the limiting sensitivities at the range of $\rm{\sim 10^{-42} - 10^{-43} ~ cm^2}$ for the cross-sections of neutrino-induced nuclear transitions were derived. The dominant background are due to $\beta$-decays of cosmic-ray induced $^{73}$Ga. The prospects of enhancing the sensitivities at underground locations are discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Report of the Supersymmetry Theory Working Group

We provide a mini-guide to some of the possible manifestations of weak scale supersymmetry. For each of six scenarios we provide a brief description of the theoretical underpinnings, the adjustable parameters, a qualitative description of the associated phenomenology at future colliders, comments on how to simulate each scenario with existing event generators.Comment: Report of Snowmass Supersymmetry Theory Working Group; 14 pages plus 3 figures using latex2e and snow2e.cls; this version has corrected a number of typos from the first versio

Measurement of Neutrino-Electron Scattering Cross-Section with a CsI(Tl) Scintillating Crystal Array at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Reactor

The $\bar{\nu}_{e}-e^{-}$ elastic scattering cross-section was measured with a CsI(Tl) scintillating crystal array having a total mass of 187kg. The detector was exposed to an average reactor $\bar{\nu}_{e}$ flux of $\rm{6.4\times 10^{12} ~ cm^{-2}s^{-1}}$ at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station. The experimental design, conceptual merits, detector hardware, data analysis and background understanding of the experiment are presented. Using 29882/7369 kg-days of Reactor ON/OFF data, the Standard Model(SM) electroweak interaction was probed at the squared 4-momentum transfer range of $\rm{Q^2 \sim 3 \times 10^{-6} ~ GeV^2}$. The ratio of experimental to SM cross-sections of $\xi =[ 1.08 \pm 0.21(stat)\pm 0.16(sys)]$ was measured. Constraints on the electroweak parameters $(g_V , g_A)$ were placed, corresponding to a weak mixing angle measurement of \s2tw = 0.251 \pm 0.031({\it stat}) \pm 0.024({\it sys}) . Destructive interference in the SM \nuebar -e process was verified. Bounds on anomalous neutrino electromagnetic properties were placed: neutrino magnetic moment at \mu_{\nuebar}< 2.2 \times 10^{-10} \mu_{\rm B} and the neutrino charge radius at -2.1 \times 10^{-32} ~{\rm cm^{2}} < \nuchrad < 3.3 \times 10^{-32} ~{\rm cm^{2}}, both at 90% confidence level.Comment: 18 Figures, 7 Tables; published version as V2 with minor revision from V

Review of Reactor Antineutrino Experiments

As discussed elsewhere, the measurement of a non-zero value for $\theta_{13}$ would open up a wide range of possibilities to explore CP-violation and the mass hierarchy. Experimental methods to measure currently the unknown mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ include accelerator searches for the $\nu_{e}$ appearance and precise measurements of reactor antineutrino disappearance. The reactor antineutrino experiments are designed to search for a non-vanishing mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ with unprecedented sensitivity. This document describes current reactor antineutrino experiments and synergy between accelerator searches for the $\nu_{e}$ appearance and precise measurements of reactor antineutrino disappearance.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Review talk given at NuFact 2011, XIIIth InternationalWorkshop on Neutrino Factories, Super beams and Beta beams, CERN/UNIGE, Geneva, Switzerland, August 1-6, 201

Genome-wide compound heterozygote analysis highlights alleles associated with adult height in Europeans

Adult height is the most widely genetically studied common trait in humans; however, the trait variance explainable by currently known height-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified from the previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is yet far from complete given the high heritability of this complex trait. To exam if compound heterozygotes (CH) may explain extra height variance, we conducted a genome-wide analysis to screen for CH in association with adult height in 10,631 Dutch Europeans enriched with extremely tall people, using our recently developed method implemented in the software package CollapsABEL. The analysis identified six regions (3q23, 5q35.1, 6p21.31, 6p21.33, 7q21.2, and 9p24.3), where multiple pairs of SNPs as CH showed genome-wide significant association with height (P < 1.67 × 10−10). Of those, 9p24.3 represents a novel region influencing adult height, whereas the others have been highlighted in the previous GWAS on height based on analysis of individual SNPs. A replication analysis in 4080 Australians of European ancestry confirmed the significant CH-like association at 9p24.3 (P < 0.05). Together, the collapsed genotypes at these six loci explained 2.51% of the height variance (after adjusting for sex and age), compared with 3.23% explained by the 14 top-associated SNPs at 14 loci identified by traditional GWAS in the same data set (P < 5 × 10−8). Overall, our study empirically demonstrates that CH plays an important role in adult height and may explain a proportion of its “missing heritability”. Moreover, our findings raise promising expectations for other highly polygenic complex traits to explain missing heritability identifiable through CH-like associations

Order statistics of the trapping problem

When a large number N of independent diffusing particles are placed upon a site of a d-dimensional Euclidean lattice randomly occupied by a concentration c of traps, what is the m-th moment of the time t_{j,N} elapsed until the first j are trapped? An exact answer is given in terms of the probability Phi_M(t) that no particle of an initial set of M=N, N-1,..., N-j particles is trapped by time t. The Rosenstock approximation is used to evaluate Phi_M(t), and it is found that for a large range of trap concentracions the m-th moment of t_{j,N} goes as x^{-m} and its variance as x^{-2}, x being ln^{2/d} (1-c) ln N. A rigorous asymptotic expression (dominant and two corrective terms) is given for for the one-dimensional lattice.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Momentum asymmetries as CP violating observables

Three body decays can exhibit CP violation that arises from interfering diagrams with different orderings of the final state particles. We construct several momentum asymmetry observables that are accessible in a hadron collider environment where some of the final state particles are not reconstructed and not all the kinematic information can be extracted. We discuss the complications that arise from the different possible production mechanisms of the decaying particle. Examples involving heavy neutralino decays in supersymmetric theories and heavy Majorana neutrino decays in Type-I seesaw models are examined.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures. Clarifying comments and one reference added, matches published versio

Optical and radio variability of the BL Lac object AO 0235+16: a possible 5-6 year periodicity

New optical and radio data on the BL Lacertae object AO 0235+16 have been collected in the last four years by a wide international collaboration, which confirm the intense activity of this source. The optical data also include the results of the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) first-light campaign organized in November 1997. The optical spectrum is observed to basically steepen when the source gets fainter. We have investigated the existence of typical variability time scales and of possible correlations between the optical and radio emissions by means of visual inspection, Discrete Correlation Function analysis, and Discrete Fourier Transform technique. The major radio outbursts are found to repeat quasi-regularly with a periodicity of about 5.7 years; this period is also in agreement with the occurrence of some of the major optical outbursts, but not all of them.Comment: to be published in A&