LHC physics: the first one--two year(s)

We discuss the strategy to commission the LHC experiments and understand standard physics at sqrt{s}=14TeV before data taking starts and in the early phases of the LHC operation. In particular, we review the various steps needed to understand and calibrate the ATLAS and CMS detectors, from construction quality checks, to beam tests, to cosmics runs, to first collisions. We also review the preparation and tuning of Monte Carlo tools, and present a few examples of physics goals for integrated luminosities of up to a few inverse fb.Comment: Proceedings of the 2nd Italian Workshop on the physics of Atlas and CM

Neutrino masses and baryogenesis in SO(10) unified theories

We report on some phenomenological implications of a class of unified models based on SO(10) gauge group, with intermediate symmetry group containing SU(2)_R. Interesting predictions for neutrino masses are discussed, which are relevant both for solar neutrino and dark matter problems, as well as a model for the formation of the baryon asymmetry of the universe required by primordial nucleosynthesis.Comment: Latex 16 pages, 1 ps figure. Appeared in Proceedings of seventh International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes, Venezia February 27 - March 1 1996, Editor M. Baldo Ceoli

Production of a Higgs pseudoscalar plus two jets in hadronic collisions

We consider the production of a Higgs pseudoscalar accompanied by two jets in hadronic collisions. We work in the limit that the top quark is much heavier than the Higgs pseudoscalar and use an effective Lagrangian for the interactions of gluons with the pseudoscalar. We compute the amplitudes involving: 1) four gluons and the pseudoscalar, 2) two quarks, two gluons and the pseudoscalar and 3) four quarks and the pseudoscalar. We find that the pseudoscalar amplitudes are nearly identical to those for the scalar case, the only differences being the overall size and the relative signs between terms. We present numerical cross sections for proton-proton collisions with center-of-mass energy 14 TeV.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX, 4 Postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Mirror Fermions in Noncommutative Geometry

In a recent paper we pointed out the presence of extra fermionic degrees of freedom in a chiral gauge theory based on Connes Noncommutative Geometry. Here we propose a mechanism which provides a high mass to these mirror states, so that they decouple from low energy physics.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe

Inflationary Cosmology from Noncommutative Geometry

In the framework of the Connes-Lott model based on noncommutative geometry, the basic features of a gauge theory in the presence of gravity are reviewed, in order to show the possible physical relevance of this scheme for inflationary cosmology. These models naturally contain at least two scalar fields, interacting with each other whenever more than one fermion generation is assumed. In this paper we propose to investigate the behaviour of these two fields (one of which represents the distance between the copies of a two-sheeted space-time) in the early stages of the universe evolution. In particular the simplest abelian model, which preserves the main characteristics of more complicate gauge theories, is considered and the corresponding inflationary dynamics is studied. We find that a chaotic inflation is naturally favoured, leading to a field configuration in which no symmetry breaking occurs and the final distance between the two sheets of space-time is smaller the greater the number of $e$-fold in each sheet.Comment: 29 pages, plain Latex, + 2 figures as uuencoded postscript files, substantially revised version to appear in the Int. Jour. Mod. Phys.

How to Integrate Divergent Integrals: a Pure Numerical Approach to Complex Loop Calculations

Loop calculations involve the evaluation of divergent integrals. Usually [1] one computes them in a number of dimensions different than four where the integral is convergent and then one performs the analytical continuation and considers the Laurent expansion in powers of epsilon =n-4. In this paper we discuss a method to extract directly all coefficients of this expansion by means of concrete and well defined integrals in a five dimensional space. We by-pass the formal and symbolic procedure of analytic continuation; instead we can numerically compute the integrals to extract directly both the coefficient of the pole 1/epsilon and the finite part.Comment: 13 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Generalized Gluon Currents and Applications in QCD

We consider the process containing two quark lines and an arbitrary number of gluons in a spinor helicity framework. A current with two off-shell gluons appears in the amplitude. We first study this modified gluon current using recursion relations. The recursion relation for the modified gluon current is solved for the case of like-helicity gluons. We apply the modified gluon current to compute the amplitude for $q \bar q \rightarrow q \bar q gg \cdots g$ in the like-helicity gluon case.Comment: 80 pages, 2 figures (appended in pictex), CLNS 91/112

Constraints on Unified Gauge Theories from Noncommutative Geometry

The Connes and Lott reformulation of the strong and electroweak model represents a promising application of noncommutative geometry. In this scheme the Higgs field naturally appears in the theory as a particular `gauge boson', connected to the discrete internal space, and its quartic potential, fixed by the model, is not vanishing only when more than one fermion generation is present. Moreover, the exact hypercharge assignments and relations among the masses of particles have been obtained. This paper analyzes the possibility of extensions of this model to larger unified gauge groups. Noncommutative geometry imposes very stringent constraints on the possible theories, and remarkably, the analysis seems to suggest that no larger gauge groups are compatible with the noncommutative structure, unless one enlarges the fermionic degrees of freedom, namely the number of particles.Comment: 18 pages, Plain LaTeX, no figure

Top-quark charge asymmetry and polarization in ttˉW±t\bar{t}W^\pm production at the LHC

We study the charge asymmetry between the $t$ and $\bar t$ quark at the LHC, when they are produced in association with a $W$ boson. Though sizably reducing the cross section with respect to the inclusive production, requiring a $W$ boson in the final state has two important implications. First, at leading order in QCD, $t \bar t W^{\pm}$ production can only occur via $q \bar q$ annihilation. As a result, the asymmetry between the $t$ and $\bar t$ generated at NLO in QCD is significantly larger than that of inclusive $t \bar t$ production, which is dominated by gluon fusion. Second, the top quarks tend to inherit the polarization of the initial-state quarks as induced by the $W$-boson emission. Hence, the decay products of the top quarks display a sizable asymmetry already at the leading order in QCD. We study the relevant distributions and their uncertainties in the standard model, compare them to those obtained in a simple axigluon model and discuss prospects for measurements at the LHC and beyond.Comment: 11 pages (with figures), version accepted by PLB for publicatio