Recent Studies of Little Higgs Models in ATLAS

The ATLAS Collaboration at the LHC continues investigating the possibility to detect particles predicted by Little Higgs models. In this talk, the latest results on the Z/W h decays and on the hadronic decays of the new gauge bosons Z_H/W_H are reviewed.Comment: to appear in Proceedings of SUSY06, the 14th International Conference on Supersymmetry and the Unification of Fundamental Interactions, UC Irvine, California, 12-17 June 200

ATLAS prospects for beyond the Standard Model searches

We discuss how ATLAS has been preparing for the analysis of the first fb-1 of good data at 14 TeV in view of discovering new physics beyond the Standard Model. We show some ideas developed for understanding the backgrounds and we present as realistic as possible estimates of the reach of the experiment

Socio-ecological sustainability of cotton farming systems in central India

Agricultural land covers 38% of the total world’s land surface area. These are man made ecosystems which provide Ecosystem Services of food, fibre and fuel to human society. With the world population predicted to reach 8.9 billion by 2050, one of the most important challenges the world is facing today is to increase its agricultural production in ways that is sustainable. To work towards a more sustainable world, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been adopted by the world leaders. There have been many studies looking at the ecology of food production but not on cotton production. Cotton is the most important fibre in the world: it is also the most polluting cash crop in the world. India is responsible for 26% of global cotton production of which more than 95% is genetically modified Bt-cotton. As well as being a major conventional producer, India is also the largest country producer of organic cotton. Despite this leading role, India has one of the lowest yields per hectare in the worldwhich is attributable to challenges in soil fertility and inadequate plant protection.Focusing on the impact of agricultural management on biodiversity is essential to ensure that cotton productivity is ecologically sustainable in the long-term. In this study, the functional biodiversity above and below ground was evaluated on plot-scale and farm-scale systems using bio-indicators to evaluate the potential ecological sustainability of four cotton farming systems (CFS) practiced in India: conventional; Bt conventional; organic and biodynamic. The long-term comparison study showed thatBt-cotton had no further significant effect on the above and below ground biota in comparison to the non Bt-conventional cotton systems. Both organic systems showeda significant higher biodiversity in comparison to both conventional systems. In the above ground diversity, the predator: pest ratio was higher in both organic systems. In the below ground diversity, the earthworm biomass and abundance were higher in both organic systems. The fungi Trichoderma sp. was significantly more abundant in Biodynamic systems in comparison to other systems. The aim of this thesis was to assess the socio-ecological sustainability of cotton farming in Central India. To evaluate the socio-ecological sustainability, this study assessed farm-scale systems using working cotton farms (12 farms: 6 pairs of Bt conventional and organic systems) by modifying an FAO model to develop a context based assessment tool. The study showed that conventional management hadnegative effects on the above and below ground functional biodiversity on the plot scale and farm-scale cotton systems. On the farms, socio-economic indicators showed that organic systems were significantly more sustainable in comparison to conventional systems, however, there is still need improvement for both farming systems. Adding ecological empirical data to the framework didn’t make a difference in determining which of the two systems were the most sustainable. However, integrated the ecological indicators facilitated insightful understanding of farmers management choices and highlighted the contextual problem that farmers face while growing cotton in Central India

Indirect limits on SUSY Rp violating couplings lambda and lambda'

We review and update as many as possible indirect limits on SUSY Rp violating couplings lambda and lambda'. We consider about 25 experimental measurements and compare them to their expectation value in the standard model. We find more stringent limits on almost all of the parameter

La Guerre de Séparation catalane (1640) au ralenti

Les auteurs et leur propos Dans Ambaixadors catalans a Madrid. Els inicis de la Guerra de Separació (1640-1641), Antoni Muñoz et Josep Catà entreprennent d’étudier la mission que les ambassadeurs de Barcelone et de la Generalitat ont menée auprès de Philippe IV, entre 1640 et 1641. Ils replacent cette légation dans le contexte des soulèvements populaires survenus en Catalogne contre les soldats des tercios. Ils entendent ainsi mettre en lumière la façon dont la révolte populaire (mieux connue..

Probing warped extra dimension via gg -> h and h -> gamma gamma at LHC

The processes gg -> h and h -> gamma gamma are of paramount importance in the context of Higgs search at the LHC. These processes are loop driven and hence could be sensitive to the presence of any new colored fermion states having a large coupling with the Higgs. Such a scenario arises in a warped extra dimensional theory, where the Higgs is confined to the TeV brane and the hierarchy of fermion masses is addressed by localizing them at different positions in the bulk. We show that the Yukawa coupling of the Higgs with the fermion Kaluza-Klein (KK) states can be order one irrespective of their zero mode masses. We observe that the gg -> h and h -> gamma gamma rates are substantially altered if the KK states lie within the reach of LHC. We provide both intuitive and numerical comparison between the RS and UED scenarios as regards their quantitative impact in such processes.Comment: v3: 7 pages, 3 figs. Further clarifications added, matches version published in Phys Lett

Alain Hugon, La Grande migration. De l’Espagne à l’Amérique

Depuis quand pense-t-on le phénomène migratoire en termes politiques ? Comment et pourquoi part-on d’un pays ? Que font les autorités face à ces déplacements ? Qui émigre ? C’est à partir de ces questions, en apparence simples, qu’Alain Hugon nous invite à parcourir l’histoire des migrations espagnoles vers l’Amérique entre 1492 et 1700, autrement dit à l’époque des Habsbourg d’Espagne, entre l’arrivée des premiers colons et conquistadores dans les « Indes de Castille » et la Guerre de Succes..

La Catalogne, entre Kafka et Orwell

Même Kafka, nous dit Jordi Canal dans l’introduction, pourtant auteur d’un Procès auquel personne, à commencer par Josep K., ne comprend rien, n’aurait pu croire ni comprendre ce qui se produit actuellement en Catalogne. Et c’est cette dimension kafkaïenne du processus d’indépendance de la Catalogne qui donne son titre à l’ouvrage recensé : Con permiso de Kafka (Avec la permission de Kafka). Les polémiques qui agitent l’Espagne au sujet du « processus d’indépendance » ont donné lieu à plusieu..

Transcriptomic and cellular analyses of heterotrophic growth at low temperature in Medicago truncatula

International audienc

Combined ecophysiological and transcriptomic analysis of Medicago truncatula seedling growth in cold conditions

International audienc