Global Regularity vs. Finite-Time Singularities: Some Paradigms on the Effect of Boundary Conditions and Certain Perturbations

In light of the question of finite-time blow-up vs. global well-posedness of solutions to problems involving nonlinear partial differential equations, we provide several cautionary examples which indicate that modifications to the boundary conditions or to the nonlinearity of the equations can effect whether the equations develop finite-time singularities. In particular, we aim to underscore the idea that in analytical and computational investigations of the blow-up of three-dimensional Euler and Navier-Stokes equations, the boundary conditions may need to be taken into greater account. We also examine a perturbation of the nonlinearity by dropping the advection term in the evolution of the derivative of the solutions to the viscous Burgers equation, which leads to the development of singularities not present in the original equation, and indicates that there is a regularizing mechanism in part of the nonlinearity. This simple analytical example corroborates recent computational observations in the singularity formation of fluid equations

Stop Decay with LSP Gravitino in the final state: t~1→G~ W b\tilde{t}_1\to\widetilde{G}\,W\,b

In MSSM scenarios where the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP), and therefore a viable dark matter candidate, the stop $\tilde{t}_1$ could be the next-to-lightest superpartner (NLSP). For a mass spectrum satisfying: $m_{\widetilde{G}}+m_t>m_{\tilde{t}_1}>m_{\widetilde{G}}+m_b+m_W$, the stop decay is dominated by the 3-body mode $\tilde{t}_1\rightarrow b\,W\,\tilde{G}$. We calculate the stop life-time, including the full contributions from top, sbottom and chargino as intermediate states. We also evaluate the stop lifetime for the case when the gravitino can be approximated by the goldstino state. Our analytical results are conveniently expressed using an expansion in terms of the intermediate state mass, which helps to identify the massless limit. In the region of low gravitino mass ($m_{\widetilde{G}}\ll m_{\tilde{t}_1}$) the results obtained using the gravitino and goldstino cases turns out to be similar, as expected. However for higher gravitino masses $m_{\widetilde{G}} \lesssim m_{\tilde{t}_1}$ the results for the lifetime could show a difference of O(100)\%