Introducing the Western Wedge

The article looks at the rationale for and potential of planning at the sub-regional scale, particularly in terms of labour and housing markets. This is illustrated by the case of the 'Western Wedge', stretching from central London westwards across the Greater London boundary into the South East region towards Oxford, Basingstoke and Newbury

Optimal Galaxy Distance Estimators

The statistical properties of galaxy distance estimators are studied and a rigorous framework is developed for identifying and removing the effects of Malmquist bias due to obsevational selection. The prescription of Schechter (1980) for defining unbiased distance estimators is extended to more general -- and more realistic -- cases. The derivation of `optimal' unbiased distance estimators of minimum dispersion, by utilising information from additional -- suitably correlated -- observables, is discussed and the results applied to a calibrating sample from the Fornax cluster, as used in the Mathewson spiral galaxy redshift survey. The optimal distance estimator derived from I-band magnitude, diameter and 21cm line width has an intrinsic scatter which is 25 \% smaller than that of the Tully-Fisher relation quoted for this calibrating sample. (Figures are available on request).Comment: Plain Latex, 19 pages, Sussex-AST-93/9-

Topcolor in the LHC Era

Ongoing LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in WW or ZZ decay modes strongly constrain the top-Higgs state predicted in many models with new dynamics that preferentially affects top quarks. Such a state couples strongly to top-quarks, and is therefore produced through gluon fusion at a rate that can be greatly enhanced relative to the rate for the standard model Higgs boson. As we discuss in this talk, a top-Higgs state with mass less than 300 GeV is excluded at 95% CL if the associated top-pion has a mass of 150 GeV, and the constraint is even stronger if the mass of the top-pion state exceeds the top-quark mass or if the top-pion decay constant is a substantial fraction of the weak scale. These results have significant implications for theories with strong top dynamics, such as topcolor-assisted technicolor, top-seesaw models, and certain Higgsless models

Theories and Empirical Studies of International Institutions

Governmen

New Strong Interactons at the Tevatron ?

Recent results from CDF indicate that the inclusive cross section for jets with $E_T > 200$ GeV is significantly higher than that predicted by QCD. We describe here a simple flavor-universal variant of the ``coloron" model of Hill and Parke that can accommodate such a jet excess, and which is not in contradiction with other experimental data. As such, the model serves as a useful baseline with which to compare both the data and other models proposed to describe the jet excess. An interesting theoretical feature of the model is that if the global chiral symmetries of the quarks remain unbroken in the confining phase of the coloron interaction, it realizes the possibility that the ordinary quarks are composite particles.Comment: added $1/Lambda^4$ contributions to scattering cross-sections; 10 pages, LaTeX, includes 1 figure. Full postscript version at http://smyrd.bu.edu/htfigs/htfigs.htm

LHC Limits on the Top-Higgs in Models with Strong Top-Quark Dynamics

LHC searches for the standard model Higgs Boson in WW or ZZ decay modes place strong constraints on the top-Higgs state predicted in many models with new dynamics preferentially affecting top quarks. Such a state couples strongly to top-quarks, and is therefore produced through gluon fusion at a rate enhanced relative to the rate for the standard model Higgs boson. A top-Higgs state with mass less than 300 GeV is excluded at 95% CL if the associated top-pion has a mass of 150 GeV, and the constraint is even stronger if the mass of the top-pion state exceeds the top-quark mass or if the top-pion decay constant is a substantial fraction of the weak scale. These results have significant implications for theories with strong top dynamics, such as topcolor-assisted technicolor, top-seesaw models, and certain Higgsless models.Comment: 9 pages, 6 pdf figures included. Updated with 2011 Lepton-Photon conference Higgs limits. Order of figures reversed, and conclusion slightly expanded and clarifie