Color Octet Scalar Bound States at the LHC

One possible extension of the Standard Model scalar sector includes SU(2)_L doublet scalars that are color octets rather than singlets. We focus on models in which the couplings to fermions are consistent with the principle of minimal flavor violation (MFV), in which case these color octet scalars couple most strongly to the third generation of quarks. When the Yukawa coupling of color octet scalars to Standard Model fermions is less than unity, these states can live long enough to bind into color-singlet spin-0 hadrons, which we call octetonia. In this paper, we consider the phenomenology of octetonia at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Predictions for their production via gluon-gluon fusion and their two-body decays into Standard Model gauge bosons, Higgs bosons, and \bar{t}t are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, published versio

Reimplanting Previously Infected Device in the Same Patient: A Clever Way to Provide Essential Therapy

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108366/1/pace12457.pd

Deforming tachyon kinks and tachyon potentials

In this paper we investigate deformation of tachyon potentials and tachyon kink solutions. We consider the deformation of a DBI type action with gauge and tachyon fields living on D1-brane and D3-brane world-volume. We deform tachyon potentials to get other consistent tachyon potentials by using properly a deformation function depending on the gauge field components. Resolutions of singular tachyon kinks via deformation and applications of deformed tachyon potentials to scalar cosmology scenario are discussed.Comment: To appear in JHEP, 19 pages, 5 eps figures, minor changes and one reference adde

Searching for Dust around Hyper Metal-Poor Stars

We examine the mid-infrared fluxes and spectral energy distributions for metal-poor stars with iron abundances [Fe/H] $\lesssim-5$, as well as two CEMP-no stars, to eliminate the possibility that their low metallicities are related to the depletion of elements onto dust grains in the formation of a debris disk. Six out of seven stars examined here show no mid-IR excess. These non-detections rule out many types of circumstellar disks, e.g. a warm debris disk ($T\!\le\!290$ K), or debris disks with inner radii $\le1$ AU, such as those associated with the chemically peculiar post-AGB spectroscopic binaries and RV Tau variables. However, we cannot rule out cooler debris disks, nor those with lower flux ratios to their host stars due to, e.g. a smaller disk mass, a larger inner disk radius, an absence of small grains, or even a multicomponent structure, as often found with the chemically peculiar Lambda Bootis stars. The only exception is HE0107-5240, for which a small mid-IR excess near 10 microns is detected at the 2-$\sigma$ level; if the excess is real and associated with this star, it may indicate the presence of (recent) dust-gas winnowing or a binary system.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Effect of the bound nucleon form factors on charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering

We study the effect of bound nucleon form factors on charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering. The bound nucleon form factors of the vector and axial-vector currents are calculated in the quark-meson coupling model. We compute the inclusive $^{12}$C($\nu_\mu,\mu^-$)$X$ cross sections using a relativistic Fermi gas model with the calculated bound nucleon form factors. The effect of the bound nucleon form factors for this reaction is a reduction of $\sim$8% for the total cross section, relative to that calculated with the free nucleon form factors.Comment: Latex, 11 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. C (Brief Report

Ampk regulates IgD expression but not energy stress with B cell activation.

Ampk is an energy gatekeeper that responds to decreases in ATP by inhibiting energy-consuming anabolic processes and promoting energy-generating catabolic processes. Recently, we showed that Lkb1, an understudied kinase in B lymphocytes and a major upstream kinase for Ampk, had critical and unexpected roles in activating naïve B cells and in germinal center formation. Therefore, we examined whether Lkb1 activities during B cell activation depend on Ampk and report surprising Ampk activation with in vitro B cell stimulation in the absence of energy stress, coupled to rapid biomass accumulation. Despite Ampk activation and a controlling role for Lkb1 in B cell activation, Ampk knockout did not significantly affect B cell activation, differentiation, nutrient dynamics, gene expression, or humoral immune responses. Instead, Ampk loss specifically repressed the transcriptional expression of IgD and its regulator, Zfp318. Results also reveal that early activation of Ampk by phenformin treatment impairs germinal center formation but does not significantly alter antibody responses. Combined, the data show an unexpectedly specific role for Ampk in the regulation of IgD expression during B cell activation