New Leptoquark Mechanism of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

A new mechanism for neutrinoless double beta (\znbb) decay based on leptoquark exchange is discussed. Due to the specific helicity structure of the effective four-fermion interaction this contribution is strongly enhanced compared to the well-known mass mechanism of \znbb decay. As a result the corresponding leptoquark parameters are severely constrained from non-observation of \znbb-decay. These constraints are more stringent than those derived from other experiments.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 1 figur

Superconductivity from Undressing

Photoemission experiments in high $T_c$ cuprates indicate that quasiparticles are heavily 'dressed' in the normal state, particularly in the low doping regime. Furthermore these experiments show that a gradual undressing occurs both in the normal state as the system is doped and the carrier concentration increases, as well as at fixed carrier concentration as the temperature is lowered and the system becomes superconducting. A similar picture can be inferred from optical experiments. It is argued that these experiments can be simply understood with the single assumption that the quasiparticle dressing is a function of the local carrier concentration. Microscopic Hamiltonians describing this physics are discussed. The undressing process manifests itself in both the one-particle and two-particle Green's functions, hence leads to observable consequences in photoemission and optical experiments respectively. An essential consequence of this phenomenology is that the microscopic Hamiltonians describing it break electron-hole symmetry: these Hamiltonians predict that superconductivity will only occur for carriers with hole-like character, as proposed in the theory of hole superconductivity

R-parity Conserving Supersymmetry, Neutrino Mass and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

We consider contributions of R-parity conserving softly broken supersymmetry (SUSY) to neutrinoless double beta (\znbb) decay via the (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass term. The latter is a generic ingredient of any weak-scale SUSY model with a Majorana neutrino mass. The new R-parity conserving SUSY contributions to \znbb are realized at the level of box diagrams. We derive the effective Lagrangian describing the SUSY-box mechanism of \znbb-decay and the corresponding nuclear matrix elements. The 1-loop sneutrino contribution to the Majorana neutrino mass is also derived. Given the data on the \znbb-decay half-life of $^{76}$Ge and the neutrino mass we obtain constraints on the (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass. These constraints leave room for accelerator searches for certain manifestations of the 2nd and 3rd generation (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass term, but are most probably too tight for first generation (B-L)-violating sneutrino masses to be searched for directly.Comment: LATEX, 29 pages + 4 (uuencoded) figures appende

Modelling tri-bimaximal neutrino mixing

We model tri-bimaximal lepton mixing from first principles in a way that avoids the problem of the vacuum alignment characteristic of such models. This is achieved by using a softly broken A4 symmetry realized with an isotriplet fermion, also triplet under A4. No scalar A4-triplet is introduced. This represents one possible realization of general schemes characterized by the minimal set of either three or five physical parameters. In the three parameter versions mee vanishes, while in the five parameter schemes the absolute scale of neutrino mass, although not predicted, is related to the two Majorana phases. The model realization we discuss is potentially testable at the LHC through the peculiar leptonic decay patterns of the fermionic and scalar triplets.Comment: some changing, reference adde

Leptoquarks: Neutrino masses and accelerator phenomenology

Leptoquark-Higgs interactions induce mixing between leptoquark states with different chiralities once the electro-weak symmetry is broken. In such LQ models Majorana neutrino masses are generated at 1-loop order. Here we calculate the neutrino mass matrix and explore the constraints on the parameter space enforced by the assumption that LQ-loops explain current neutrino oscillation data. LQs will be produced at the LHC, if their masses are at or below the TeV scale. Since the fermionic decays of LQs are governed by the same Yukawa couplings, which are responsible for the non-trivial neutrino mass matrix, several decay branching ratios of LQ states can be predicted from measured neutrino data. Especially interesting is that large lepton flavour violating rates in muon and tau final states are expected. In addition, the model predicts that, if kinematically possible, heavier LQs decay into lighter ones plus either a standard model Higgs boson or a $Z^0/W^{\pm}$ gauge boson. Thus, experiments at the LHC might be able to exclude the LQ mechanism as explanation of neutrino data.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figure

Quasiparticle undressing in a dynamic Hubbard model: exact diagonalization study

Dynamic Hubbard models have been proposed as extensions of the conventional Hubbard model to describe the orbital relaxation that occurs upon double occupancy of an atomic orbital. These models give rise to pairing of holes and superconductivity in certain parameter ranges. Here we explore the changes in carrier effective mass and quasiparticle weight and in one- and two-particle spectral functions that occur in a dynamic Hubbard model upon pairing, by exact diagonalization of small systems. It is found that pairing is associated with lowering of effective mass and increase of quasiparticle weight, manifested in transfer of spectral weight from high to low frequencies in one- and two-particle spectral functions. This 'undressing' phenomenology resembles observations in transport, photoemission and optical experiments in high T_c cuprates. This behavior is contrasted with that of a conventional electron-hole symmetric Holstein-like model with attractive on-site interaction, where pairing is associated with 'dressing' instead of 'undressing'

Predictive flavour symmetries of the neutrino mass matrix

Here we propose an $A_4$ flavour symmetry model which implies a lower bound on the neutrinoless double beta decay rate, corresponding to an effective mass parameter M_{ee} \gsim 0.03 eV, and a direct correlation between the expected magnitude of CP violation in neutrino oscillations and the value of $\sin^2\theta_{13}$, as well as a nearly maximal CP phase $\delta$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spherical agglomeration of superconducting and normal microparticles with and without applied electric field

It was reported by R. Tao and coworkers that in the presence of a strong electric field superconducting microparticles assemble into balls of macroscopic dimensions. Such a finding has potentially important implications for the understanding of the fundamental physics of superconductors. However, we report here the results of experimental studies showing that (i) ball formation also occurs in the absence of an applied electric field, (ii) the phenomenon also occurs at temperatures above the superconducting transition temperature, and (iii) it can also occur for non-superconducting materials. Possible origins of the phenomenon are discussed.Comment: Small changes in response to referee's comments. To be published in Phys. Rev.