SUSY Parameter Measurements with Fittino

This article presents the results of a realistic global fit of the Lagrangian parameters of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with no assumptions on the SUSY breaking mechanism using the fit program Fittino. The fit is performed using the precision of future mass measurements of superpartners at the LHC and mass and polarized topological cross-section measurements at the ILC. Higher order radiative corrections are accounted for wherever possible to date. Results are obtained for a modified SPS1a MSSM benchmark scenario (general MSSM without assumptions on the breaking mechanism) and for a specific mSUGRA scenario. Exploiting a simulated annealing algorithm, a stable result is obtained without any {\it a priori} assumptions on the fit parameters. Most of the Lagrangian parameters can be extracted at the percent level or better if theoretical uncertainties are neglected. Neither LHC nor ILC measurements alone will be sufficient to obtain a stable result.Comment: 3 pages, presented at the 2005 International Linear Collider Physics And Detector Workshop, Snowmass, CO, 14.-27. August 200

Fittino, a program for determining MSSM parameters from collider observables using an iterative method

Provided that Supersymmetry (SUSY) is realized, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the future International Linear Collider (ILC) may provide a wealth of precise data from SUSY processes. An important task will be to extract the Lagrangian parameters. On this basis the goal is to uncover the underlying symmetry breaking mechanism from the measured observables. In order to determine the SUSY parameters, the program Fittino has been developed. It uses an iterative fitting technique and a Simulated Annealing algorithm to determine the SUSY parameters directly from the observables without any a priori knowledge of the parameters, using all available loop-corrections to masses and couplings. Simulated Annealing is implemented as a stable and efficient method for finding the optimal parameter values. The theoretical predictions can be provided from any program with SUSY Les Houches Accord interface. As fit result, a set of parameters including the full error matrix and two-dimensional uncertainty contours are obtained. Pull distributions can automatically be created and allow an independent cross-check of the fit results and possible systematic shifts in the parameter determination. A determination of the importance of the individual observables for the measurement of each parameter can be performed after the fit. A flexible user interface is implemented, allowing a wide range of different types of observables and a wide range of parameters to be used.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Comp. Phys. Com

Magnetic Fields Recorded by Chondrules Formed in Nebular Shocks

Recent laboratory efforts (Fu et al., 2014) have constrained the remanent magnetizations of chondrules and the magnetic field strengths at which the chondrules were exposed to as they cooled below their Curie points. An outstanding question is whether the inferred paleofields represent the background magnetic field of the solar nebula or were unique to the chondrule-forming environment. We investigate the amplification of the magnetic field above background values for two proposed chondrule formation mechanisms, large-scale nebular shocks and planetary bow shocks. Behind large-scale shocks, the magnetic field parallel to the shock front is amplified by factors $\sim 10-30$, regardless of the magnetic diffusivity. Therefore, chondrules melted in these shocks probably recorded an amplified magnetic field. Behind planetary bow shocks, the field amplification is sensitive to the magnetic diffusivity. We compute the gas properties behind a bow shock around a 3000 km-radius planetary embryo, with and without atmospheres, using hydrodynamics models. We calculate the ionization state of the hot, shocked gas, including thermionic emission from dust, and thermal ionization of gas-phase potassium atoms, and the magnetic diffusivity due to Ohmic dissipation and ambipolar diffusion. We find that the diffusivity is sufficiently large that magnetic fields have already relaxed to background values in the shock downstream where chondrules acquire magnetizations, and that these locations are sufficiently far from the planetary embryos that chondrules should not have recorded a significant putative dynamo field generated on these bodies. We conclude that, if melted in planetary bow shocks, chondrules probably recorded the background nebular field.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Saturn's ionosphere: Inferred electron densities

During the two Voyager encounters with Saturn, radio bursts were detected which appear to have originated from atmospheric lightning storms. Although these bursts generally extended over frequencies from as low as 100 kHz to the upper detection limit of the instrument, 40 MHz, they often exhibited a sharp but variable low frequency cutoff below which bursts were not detected. We interpret the variable low-frequency extent of these bursts to be due to the reflection of the radio waves as they propagate through an ionosphere which varies with local time. We obtain estimates of electron densities at a variety of latitude and local time locations. These compare well with the dawn and dusk densitis measured by the Pioneer 11 Voyager Radio Science investigations, and with model predictions for dayside densities. However, we infer a two-order-of-magnitude diurnal variation of electron density, which had not been anticipated by theoretical models of Saturn's ionosphere, and an equally dramatic extinction of ionospheric electron density by Saturn's rings

The source of Saturn electrostatic discharges: Atmospheric storms

Important properties of the recently discovered Saturn electrostatic discharges are entirely consistent with an extended lightning storm system in Saturn's atmosphere. The presently favored B-ring location is ruled out

TAUOLA as tau Monte Carlo for future applications

The status of the Monte Carlo programs for the simulation of tau-lepton production and decay in high-energy accelerator experiments is reviewed. In particular, the status of the following packages is discussed: (i) TAUOLA for tau-lepton decay, (ii) PHOTOS for radiative corrections in decays, (iii) MC-TESTER packages for various types of semi-automatic tests, and (iv) universal interface of TAUOLA for the decay of tau leptons produced by `any' generator. Emphasis is put on recent developments for high-precision tests and extensions of PHOTOS. Some considerations for the software organization necessary in future applications for Belle and BaBar will be given; examples of TAUOLA universal interface use will only be listed at the end of the review.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure, Presented at International workshop on Tau Lepton Physics, TAU04 Nara, Japan September 14-17,200

Stau as the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle in R-Parity Violating SUSY Models: Discovery Potential with Early LHC Data

We investigate the discovery potential of the LHC experiments for R-parity violating supersymmetric models with a stau as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the framework of minimal supergravity. We classify the final states according to their phenomenology for different R-parity violating decays of the LSP. We then develop event selection cuts for a specific benchmark scenario with promising signatures for the first beyond the Standard Model discoveries at the LHC. For the first time in this model, we perform a detailed signal over background analysis. We use fast detector simulations to estimate the discovery significance taking the most important Standard Model backgrounds into account. Assuming an integrated luminosity of 1 inverse femtobarn at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, we perform scans in the parameter space around the benchmark scenario we consider. We then study the feasibility to estimate the mass of the stau-LSP. We briefly discuss difficulties, which arise in the identification of hadronic tau decays due to small tau momenta and large particle multiplicities in our scenarios.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, LaTeX; minor changes, final version published in PR

Evidence for a distant ( 8700 R sub J) Jovian magnetotail: Voyager 2 observations

A correlative survey of magnetometer (MAG) and Planetary Radio Astronomy (PRA) 1.2 kHz continuum radiation measurements from Voyager 2 provide evidence for at least eight distant Jovian magnetotail sightings occurring about once a month over the first 2/3 of 1981 at distances of approximately 5,000 to 9,000 R sub J. The occurrences of these events are in good agreement with prior Plasma Wave Science and Plasma Science identifications. Observations of these distant magnetotail, or tail filament, encounters appear most prevalent in both MAC and PRA data sets when the spacecraft was closest to the Jupiter-Sun axis at approximately 6,500 R sub J from the planet; the PRA events are also most intense during those times. A specific tail encounter occurring in mid-February 1981 is analyzed and shown to possess a remarkably symmetric magnetic field signature and to have a bipolar field structure in the central region. The bipolarity is characteristic of most of the eight events