Cosmological Phase Transitions in Composite Higgs Models

We investigate cosmological phase transitions in various composite Higgs models consisting of four-dimensional asymptotically-free gauge field theories. Each model may lead to a confinement-deconfinement transition and a phase transition associated with the spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry that realizes the Standard Model Higgs field as a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson. Based on the argument of universality, we discuss the order of the phase transition associated with the global symmetry breaking by studying the renormalization group flow of the corresponding linear sigma model at finite temperature, which is calculated by utilizing the $\epsilon$-expansion technique at the one-loop order. Our analysis indicates that some composite Higgs models accommodate phenomenologically interesting first-order phase transitions. We also explore the confinement-deconfinement transition in a UV-completed composite Higgs model based on a $Sp(2N_c)$ gauge theory. It is found that the first-order phase transition is favored when the number of degrees of freedom for the $Sp(2N_c)$ gauge field is much larger than that of matter fields in the fundamental representation of $Sp(2N_c)$. We comment on the gravitational wave signal generated by the confinement-deconfinement transition and its detectability at future observations. Our discussions motivate further studies on phase transitions in composite Higgs models with the use of lattice simulations.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

Remarkable morphological characteristics of Milnesium sp. from Inhovde, East Antarctica

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OB] 極域生物圏11月16日（月）　国立極地研究所１階交流アトリウ

SUSY Higgs mass and collider signals with a Hidden Valley

We propose a framework of supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model that can ameliorate both the SUSY Higgs mass problem and the missing superpartner problem. New vectorlike matter fields couple to the Higgs and provide new loop contributions to its mass. New Yukawa couplings are sizable and large supersymmetry breaking is not needed to lift the Higgs mass. To avoid a Landau pole for the new Yukawa couplings, these fields are charged under a new gauge group, which confines and leads to a Hidden Valley-like phenomenology. The Hidden Valley sector is almost supersymmetric and ordinary sparticles decay to exotic new states which decay back to Standard Model particles and gravitinos with reduced missing energy. We construct a simplified model to simulate this scenario and find a viable parameter space of specific benchmark models which ameliorates both of the major phenomenological problems with supersymmetry.Physic

Unique microbial ecosystems of Antarctica

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OB] 極域生物圏11月17日（火）　統計数理研究所 セミナー室1（D305

Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the Production and Utilization of Acidulocompost from Fish Meal

Poster Sessio

Enhanced Bacterial Growth and Gene Expression of D-Amino Acid Dehydrogenase With D-Glutamate as the Sole Carbon Source

In a search for life-supporting, not life-assisting, D-amino acid metabolism, an environmental strain that grows better with D-glutamate as the sole carbon source was isolated from an ordinary river. The strain, designated as A25, exhibited a faster growth rate and greater cell yield with D-glutamate than with L-glutamate. Conversely, the D/L ratio of total cellular glutamate was as low as 4/96, which suggests that D-glutamate is more likely catabolized than anabolized. Strain A25 was phylogenetically most closely related to the gamma-proteobacterial species Raoultella ornithinolytica, with a 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 100%. A standard strain, R. ornithinolytica JCM 6096T, also showed similarly enhanced growth with D-glutamate, which was proven for the first time. Gene expression of the enzymes involved in D-amino acid metabolism was assayed by reverse-transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) using specifically designed primers. The targets were the genes encoding D-amino acid dehydrogenase (DAD; EC 1.4.99.1), glutamate racemase (EC 5.1.1.3), D-glutamate oxidase (EC 1.4.3.7 or EC 1.4.3.15), and UDP-N-acetyl-α-D-muramoyl-L-alanyl-D-glutamate ligase (EC 6.3.2.9). As a result, the growth of strains A25 and R. ornithinolytica JCM 6096T on D-glutamate was conspicuously associated with the enhanced expression of the DAD gene (dadA) in the exponential phase compared with the other enzyme genes. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is also known to grow on D-glutamate as the sole carbon source but to a lesser degree than with L-glutamate. A standard strain of P. aeruginosa, JCM 5962T, was tested for gene expression of the relevant enzymes by RT-qPCR and also showed enhanced dadA expression, but in the stationary phase. Reduction of ferricyanide with D-glutamate was detected in cell extracts of the tested strains, implying probable involvement of DAD in the D-glutamate catabolizing activity. DAD-mediated catalysis may have advantages in the one-step production of α-keto acids and non-production of H2O2 over other enzymes such as racemase and D-amino acid oxidase. The physiological and biochemical importance of DAD in D-amino acid metabolism is discussed

Bryosphere within an Antarctic moss pillar

第6回極域科学シンポジウム分野横断セッション：[IB2] 地球環境変動の解析と地球生命システム学の構築11月19日（木）　統計数理研究所 セミナー室1（D305