Looking for bSM physics using top-quark polarization and decay-lepton kinematic asymmetries

We explore beyond Standard Model (bSM) physics signatures in the $l+jets$ channel of $t\overline{t}$ pair production process at the Tevatron and the LHC. We study the effects of bSM physics scenarios on the top quark polarization and on the kinematics of the decay leptons. To this end, we construct asymmetries using the lepton energy and angular distributions. Further, we find their correlations with the top polarization, net charge asymmetry and top forward backward asymmetry. We show that used together, these observables can help discriminate effectively between SM and different bSM scenarios which can lead to varying degrees of top polarization at the Tevatron as well as the LHC. We use two types of coloured mediator models to demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed observables, an $s$-channel axigluon and a $u$-channel diquark.Comment: 39 pages, 10 figures and 4 tables. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Theoretical analysis reveals a role for RAF conformational autoinhibition in paradoxical activation

RAF kinase inhibitors can, under certain conditions, increase RAF kinase signaling. This process, which is commonly referred to as ‘paradoxical activation’ (PA), is incompletely understood. We use mathematical and computational modeling to investigate PA and derive rigorous analytical expressions that illuminate the underlying mechanism of this complex phenomenon. We find that conformational autoinhibition modulation by a RAF inhibitor could be sufficient to create PA. We find that experimental RAF inhibitor drug dose–response data that characterize PA across different types of RAF inhibitors are best explained by a model that includes RAF inhibitor modulation of three properties: conformational autoinhibition, dimer affinity, and drug binding within the dimer (i.e., negative cooperativity). Overall, this work establishes conformational autoinhibition as a robust mechanism for RAF inhibitor-driven PA based solely on equilibrium dynamics of canonical interactions that comprise RAF signaling and inhibition

How often is each gene mutated within the cancer patient population?

Genome sequenced samples from cancer patients helped identify roles of different mutation types and enabled targeted therapy development. However, critical questions like what are the gene mutation rates among the patients? or what genes are most commonly mutated, pan-cancer? have only been recently answered. Here, we highlight this recent advance

A simplified model for dark matter interacting primarily with gluons

We consider a simple renormalizable model providing a UV completion for dark matter whose interactions with the Standard Model are primarily via the gluons. The model consists of scalar dark matter interacting with scalar colored mediator particles. A novel feature is the fact that (in contrast to more typical models containing dark matter whose interactions are mediated via colored scalars) the colored scalars typically decay into multi-quark final states, with no associated missing energy. We construct this class of models and examine associated phenomena related to dark matter annihilation, scattering with nuclei, and production at colliders

Mono-jet signatures of gluphilic scalar dark matter

A gluphilic scalar dark matter (GSDM) model has recently been proposed as an interesting vision for WIMP dark matter communicating dominantly with the Standard Model via gluons. We discuss the collider signature of a hard jet recoiling against missing momentum (“mono-jet”) in such a construction, whose leading contribution is at one-loop. We compare the full one-loop computation with an effective field theory (EFT) treatment, and find (as expected) that EFT does not accurately describe regions of parameter space where mass of the colored mediator particles are comparable to the experimental cuts on the missing energy. We determine bounds (for several choices of SU(3) representation of the mediator) from the s=8 TeV data, and show the expected reach of the s=13 TeV LHC and a future 100 TeV pp collider to constrain or discover GSDM models

EIS tools in the data warehouse An evaluation and comparison

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