Dynamically Induced Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking in 3-3-1 Models

We show that in SU(3)_C X SU(3)_L X U(1)_N (3-3-1) models embedded with a singlet scalar playing the role of the axion, after imposing scale invariance, dynamical symmetry breaking of Peccei-Quinn symmetry occurs through the one-loop effective potential for the singlet field. We, then, analyze the structure of spontaneous symmetry breaking by studying the new scalar potential for the model, and verify that electroweak symmetry breaking is tightly connected to the 3-3-1 breaking by the strong constraints among their vacuum expectation values. This offers a valuable guide to write down the correct pattern of symmetry breaking for multi-scalar theories. We also obtained that the accompanying massive pseudo-scalar, instead of acquiring mass of order of Peccei-Quinn scale as we would expect, develops a mass at a much lower scale, a consequence solely of the dynamical breaking.Comment: 12 pages, typos corrected, improved text, conclusions unchange

Naturally light right-handed neutrinos in a 3-3-1 Model

In this work we show that light right-handed neutrinos, with mass in the sub-eV scale, is a natural outcome in a 3-3-1 model. By considering effective dimension five operators, the model predicts three light right-handed neutrinos, weakly mixed with the left-handed ones. We show also that the model is able to explain the LSND experiment and still be in agreement with solar and atmospheric data for neutrino oscillation.Comment: About 5 pages, no-figure

Electrooxidation of C-4 polyols on platinum single- crystals: a computational and electrochemical study

Many polyols are abundant and cheap molecules highly spread in the biomass. These molecules have an enormous potential to be used in electrochemical devices to generate energy and/or value-added molecules. The electrooxidation of polyols can produce different substances of interest in the chemical industry concomitantly to high purity hydrogen in electrolyzers. The cost in the production of all these chemicals depends, among other factors, on the develop of more active and selective catalysts. However, in order to search for these materials using computational experiments, it is mandatory to have a better understanding of the fundamental aspect of the reactions, which permit to base the search on the adsorption energies of one or more key reaction intermediates. To contribute to this task, we performed (spectro)-electrochemical and computational experiments to study the electrooxidation of C-4 polyols. We show that the electrooxidation of polyols does not depend on the relative orientation of their OH groups. Besides, using Pt single crystals, we demonstrate that the trend for the oxidation of the primary carbon (relative to the secondary) increases in the order Pt(111) < Pt(100) < Pt(110) and that this result can be extended to polyols with longer carbon chains. Finally, computational experiments permit us to rationalize these trends looking at the relative stability of double dehydrogenated intermediates on the Pt basal planes.Catalysis and Surface Chemistr