Null Strings in Kerr Spacetime

The null string's equations of motion and constraints in the Kerr spacetime are given. We assume a generic ansatz for the null strings in the Kerr spacetime and we present the resulting solutions in quadratures. Some specific string configurations, that follow from the generic one, are considered separately. In each case we also extract the corresponding solutions in the Schwarzschild spacetime.Comment: 11 pages, LaTex, no figures, final version to be published in Phys.Lett.B, references adde

The γγ→A0A0\gamma \gamma \to A^0 A^0 process at a γγ\gamma \gamma Collider

The helicity amplitudes for the process $\gamma \gamma \to A^0 A^0$ are studied to 1-loop order in the minimal SUSY (MSSM) model, where $A^0$ is the CP-odd Higgs particle. Simple exact analytic formulae are obtained, in terms of the $C_0$ and $D_0$ Passarino-Veltman functions; in spite of the fact that the loop-diagrams often involve different particles running along their sides. For a usual mSUGRA set of parameters, $\sigma (\gamma \gamma \to A^0 A^0) \sim (0.1-0.2)\rm fb$ is expected. If SUSY is realized in Nature, these expressions should be useful for understanding the Higgs sector.Comment: Misprints in typos corrected, 1 reference added e-mail: [email protected]

Electron Spectra in the Ionization of Atoms by Neutrinos

For neutrinos of O(10keV) energies, their oscillation lengths are less than a few hundred meters, thereby suggesting the fascinating idea of oscillation experiments of small geometrical size. To help evaluating this idea we calculate the ionization cross sections of H, He, Ne and Xe, using any neutrino flavor, in the few keV energy range. We find that the atomic ionization cross sections per electron are always smaller than the neutrino cross sections off free electrons, approaching it from below as the energy increases to the 100 keV region. At the 10-20 keV range though, atomic binding effects are very important, particularly for the heavier atoms, inducing a factor of two reduction of the Xe ionization cross section, compared to the free electron one.Comment: Typos corrected. Version appeared in Phys. Rev. D70:113008 (2004

The heavy neutral Higgs signature in the gamma gamma to Z Z process

If the Standard Model (SM) Higgs particle is sufficiently heavy, then its contribution to gamma gamma to Z Z should be largely imaginary, interfering with the also predominantly imaginary SM "background" generated by the W-loop. For standard model Higgs masses in the region 200 \lsim m_H \lsim 500 GeV, this interference is found to be constructive and increasing the Higgs signal. In the minimal SUSY case an interference effect should also appear for the contribution of the heavier CP-even neutral Higgs boson H^0, provided it is sufficiently heavy. The effect is somewhat reduced though, by the smallness of the H^0 width and the gamma gamma and ZZ branching ratios. The interference is again found to be constructive for part of the parameter space corresponding to sfermion masses at the TeV scale and maximal stop mixing. For both the SM and SUSY cases, regions of the parameter space exist though, where the interference may be destructive. It is therefore essential to take these effects into account when searching for possible scalar Higgs-like candidates. To this aim, we present the complete analytic expressions for both resonance and background amplitudes.Comment: version submitted to EPJC; 34 pages and 6 figures. e-mail: [email protected]

The gamma gamma to Z Z process and the search for virtual SUSY effects at a gamma gamma Collider

We study the helicity amplitudes of the process gamma gamma to ZZ in the Standard Model at high energy. These amplitudes receive contributions from the W and charged quark and lepton loops, analogous to those encountered in the gamma gamma to gamma gamma, gamma Z cases studied before. But gamma gamma to ZZ also receives contributions from the Higgs s-channel poles involving the effective Higgs-gamma gamma vertex. At energies of about 300 GeV, the amplitudes in all three processes are mainly helicity-conserving and almost purely imaginary; which renders them a very useful tool in searching for New Physics. As an example, a SUSY case is studied, and the signatures due to the virtual effects induced by a chargino-, charged slepton- or a lightest stop-loop in gamma gamma to ZZ, are explored. These signatures, combined with the analogous ones in gamma gamma to gamma gamma and gamma gamma to gamma Z, should help identifying the nature of possible New Physics particles.Comment: 28 pages and 6 figures; version to appear in E.P.J.C e-mail: [email protected]