163 research outputs found
TeV-Scale Horizontal Symmetry and the Slepton Mass Problem of Anomaly Mediation
We propose a new scenario for solving the tachyonic slepton mass problem of
anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking models with a non-Abelian horizontal
gauge symmetry broken at the TeV scale. A specific model based on SU(3)_{H}
horizontal symmetry is presented wherein the sleptons receive positive
mass-squared from the asymptotically free SU(3)_{H} gauge sector. Approximate
global symmetries present in the model strongly suppress flavor changing
processes induced by the horizontal vector gauge bosons. The model predicts
m_{h} < 120 GeV for the lightest Higgs boson mass, tan{beta} nearly equal to 4,
and M_V = 1-4 TeV for the SU(3)_{H} gauge boson masses. The lightest SUSY
particle is found to be the neutral Wino, which is a candidate for cold dark
matter.Comment: 25 pages in LaTeX, 2 eps figure
Constraining Z' From Supersymmetry Breaking
We suggest and analyze a class of supersymmetric Z' models based on the gauge
symmetry U(1)_x = x Y - (B-L), where Y is the Standard Model hypercharge. For 1
< x < 2, the U(1)_x D-term generates positive contributions to the slepton
masses, which is shown to solve the tachyonic slepton problem of anomaly
mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB). The resulting models are very
predictive, both in the SUSY breaking sector and in the Z' sector. We find M_Z'
= (2-4) TeV and the Z-Z' mixing angle \xi = 0.001. Consistency with symmetry
breaking and AMSB phenomenology renders the Z' "leptophobic", with Br(Z' -> e^+
e^-) = (1-1.6)% and Br(Z' -> q q-bar) = 44%. The lightest SUSY particle is
either the neutral Wino or the sneutrino in these models.Comment: 34 pages in LaTe
Berry Curvature in Graphene: A New Approach
In the present paper we have directly computed the Berry curvature terms
relevant for Graphene in the presence of an \textit{inhomogeneous} lattice
distortion. We have employed the generalized Foldy Wouthuysen framework,
developed by some of us \cite{ber0,ber1,ber2}. We show that a non-constant
lattice distortion leads to a valley-orbit coupling which is responsible to a
valley-Hall effect. This is similar to the valley-Hall effect induced by an
electric field proposed in \cite{niu2} and is the analogue of the spin-Hall
effect in semiconductors \cite{MURAKAMI, SINOVA}. Our general expressions for
Berry curvature, for the special case of homogeneous distortion, reduce to the
previously obtained results \cite{niu2}. We also discuss the Berry phase in the
quantization of cyclotron motion.Comment: Slightly modified version, to appear in EPJ
Anomalous U(1) symmetry and lepton flavor violation
We show that in a large class of models based on anomalous U(1) symmetry
which addresses the fermion mass hierarchy problem, leptonic flavor changing
processes are induced that are in the experimentally interesting range. The
flavor violation occurs through the renormalization group evolution of the soft
SUSY breaking parameters between the string scale and the U(1)_A breaking
scale. We derive general expressions for the evolution of these parameters in
the presence of higher dimensional operators. Several sources for the flavor
violation are identified: flavor-dependent contributions to the soft masses
from the U(1)_A gaugino, scalar mass corrections proportional to the trace of
U(1)_A charge, non-proportional A-terms from vertex corrections, and the U(1)_A
D-term. Quantitative estimates for the decays \mu -> e \gamma and \tau -> \mu
\gamma are presented in supergravity models which accommodate the relic
abundance of neutralino dark matter.Comment: References added, typos corrected, 28 pages LaTeX, includes 14 eps
figure
Salerno's model of DNA reanalysed: could solitons have biological significance?
We investigate the sequence-dependent behaviour of localised excitations in a
toy, nonlinear model of DNA base-pair opening originally proposed by Salerno.
Specifically we ask whether ``breather'' solitons could play a role in the
facilitated location of promoters by RNA polymerase. In an effective potential
formalism, we find excellent correlation between potential minima and {\em
Escherichia coli} promoter recognition sites in the T7 bacteriophage genome.
Evidence for a similar relationship between phage promoters and downstream
coding regions is found and alternative reasons for links between AT richness
and transcriptionally-significant sites are discussed. Consideration of the
soliton energy of translocation provides a novel dynamical picture of sliding:
steep potential gradients correspond to deterministic motion, while ``flat''
regions, corresponding to homogeneous AT or GC content, are governed by random,
thermal motion. Finally we demonstrate an interesting equivalence between
planar, breather solitons and the helical motion of a sliding protein
``particle'' about a bent DNA axis.Comment: Latex file 20 pages, 5 figures. Manuscript of paper to appear in J.
Biol. Phys., accepted 02/09/0
Determination of |Vcb| using the semileptonic decay \bar{B}^0 --> D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu}
We present a measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix
element |Vcb| using a 10.2 fb^{-1} data sample recorded at the \Upsilon(4S)
resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+e^- storage ring.
By extrapolating the differential decay width of the \bar{B}^0 -->
D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu} decay to the kinematic limit at which the D^{*+} is at rest
with respect to the \bar{B}^0, we extract the product of |Vcb| with the
normalization of the decay form factor F(1), |Vcb |F(1)=
(3.54+/-0.19+/-0.18)x10^{-2}, where the first error is statistical and the
second is systematic. A value of |Vcb| = (3.88+/-0.21+/-0.20+/-0.19)x10^{-2} is
obtained using a theoretical calculation of F(1), where the third error is due
to the theoretical uncertainty in the value of F(1). The branching fraction
B(\bar{B}^0 --> D^{*+}e^-\bar{\nu}) is measured to be
(4.59+/-0.23+/-0.40)x10^{-2}.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, elsart.cls, submitted to PL
Molecular basis of microhomology-mediated end-joining by purified full-length Polθ
DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) is a unique polymerase-helicase fusion protein that promotes microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ) of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). How full-length human Polθ performs MMEJ at the molecular level remains unknown. Using a biochemical approach, we find that the helicase is essential for Polθ MMEJ of long ssDNA overhangs which model resected DSBs. Remarkably, Polθ MMEJ of ssDNA overhangs requires polymerase-helicase attachment, but not the disordered central domain, and occurs independently of helicase ATPase activity. Using single-particle microscopy and biophysical methods, we find that polymerase-helicase attachment promotes multimeric gel-like Polθ complexes that facilitate DNA accumulation, DNA synapsis, and MMEJ. We further find that the central domain regulates Polθ multimerization and governs its DNA substrate requirements for MMEJ. These studies identify unexpected functions for the helicase and central domain and demonstrate the importance of polymerase-helicase tethering in MMEJ and the structural organization of Polθ
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