The Lightest Pseudo-Goldstone Boson at Future e+e- Colliders

In a class of models of dynamical symmetry breaking not ruled out by the available data, the lightest neutral pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson P0 contains only down-type techniquarks and charged technileptons. Its mass scale is naturally determined by the b-quark and therefore it is likely to be light. As the presence of pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons in models of dynamical symmetry breaking is a quite general feature, the search of the P0 at colliders is an interesting opportunity of putting limits on or discovering a dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking scenario. In this note we discuss the prospects for discovering and studying the P0 at future e+e- and gamma-gamma colliders.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX (epsfig), Proceedings of the Second ECFA/DESY Study on Physics Studies for a Future Linear Collide

Physics Behind Precision

This document provides a writeup of contributions to the FCC-ee mini-workshop on "Physics behind precision" held at CERN, on 2-3 February 2016.Comment: https://indico.cern.ch/event/469561

Role of leukocytes, gender, and symptom domains in the influence of depression on hospitalization and mortality risk: Findings from the Moli-sani study

Background: Major depressive disorder is a mental illness associated with chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease (CVD). Circulating inflammation has been proposed as a potential mechanism underlying this link, although the role of specific biomarkers, gender, and symptom domains is not well elucidated. Methods: We performed multivariable Cox regressions of first hospitalization/all-cause mortality and CVD, ischemic heart (IHD), and cerebrovascular disease (CeVD) causes vs. depression severity in an Italian population cohort (N = 13,191; age ≥ 35 years; 49.3% men; 4,856 hospitalizations and 471 deaths, median follow-up 7.28 and 8.24 years, respectively). In models adjusted for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, we estimated the proportion of association explained by C-reactive protein (CRP), platelet count, granulocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (GLR), and white blood cell count (WBC). Gender-by-depression interaction and gender-stratified analyses were performed. Associations of polychoric factors tagging somatic and cognitive symptoms with incident clinical risks were also tested, as well as the proportion explained by a composite index of circulating inflammation (INFLA score). Results: Significant proportions of the influence of depression on clinical risks were explained by CRP (4.8% on IHD hospitalizations), GLR (11% on all-cause mortality), and WBC (24% on IHD/CeVD hospitalizations). Gender-by-depression interaction was significantly associated only with all-cause mortality (p = 0.03), with moderate depression showing a + 60% increased risk in women, but not in men. Stable associations of somatic, but not of cognitive, symptoms with increased hospitalization risk were observed (+ 16% for all causes, + 14% for CVD causes), with INFLA score explaining small but significant proportions of these associations (2.5% for all causes, 8.6% for IHD causes). Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of cellular components of inflammation, gender, and somatic depressive symptoms in the link between depression and clinical (especially CVD) risks, pointing to the existence of additional pathways through which depression may play a detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system

Low antithrombin levels are associated with low risk of cardiovascular death but are a risk factor for cancer mortality

Background: Thrombosis is common in subjects suffering from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cancer. Hypercoagulation plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of thrombosis. Therefore, the inactivation of thrombin, the key enzyme in coagulation, is tightly regulated via antithrombin (AT). AT deficiency is related to thrombosis and cardiovascular death. In this study we investigated the association between AT levels and mortality, in particularly cardiovascular- related and cancer-related death in the general population. Methods: We studied the association of AT levels and mortality in a prospective cohort sampled from the general Italian population (n = 19,676). AT levels were measured in the baseline samples, and mortality was recorded during a median follow-up period of 8.2 years. Cox regression was performed to investigate the association of all-cause, CVD-related and cancerrelated mortality with variations in AT levels. Results: In total, 989 subjects died during follow-up, of which 373 subjects of CVD and 353 of cancerrelated causes. Cox analysis revealed that, after adjustment for age, sex, current smoking, BMI, diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, history of cardiovascular disease, history of cancer, vitamin K antagonists, antiplatelet medication, heparin and oral contraceptives AT levels were not associated with all-cause mortality (HRQ1vsQ5: 0.92, 95% CI:0.74- 1.15). Interestingly, the risk of CVD-related mortality was reduced in subjects with low AT levels compared to subjects with higher AT levels, after adjustment for age and sex and other confounders did not change the association (HRQ1vsQ5: 0.64, 95% CI:0.44-0.91). Moreover, low AT levels were associated with increased cancer mortality in a fully adjusted model (HRQ1vsQ2-5: 1.26, 95% CI:0.88-1.81). Conclusions: Low AT levels are associated to a lower risk of fatal cardiovascular events in the general population, regardless of age, sex and medication use. In contrast, low AT levels are associated with lower cancer survival. For the first time we show that AT levels lower than the normal range in the general population, even before the development or diagnosis of cancer, are associated with an elevated risk of cancer death

Moduli and (un)attractor black hole thermodynamics

We investigate four-dimensional spherically symmetric black hole solutions in gravity theories with massless, neutral scalars non-minimally coupled to gauge fields. In the non-extremal case, we explicitly show that, under the variation of the moduli, the scalar charges appear in the first law of black hole thermodynamics. In the extremal limit, the near horizon geometry is $AdS_2\times S^2$ and the entropy does not depend on the values of moduli at infinity. We discuss the attractor behaviour by using Sen's entropy function formalism as well as the effective potential approach and their relation with the results previously obtained through special geometry method. We also argue that the attractor mechanism is at the basis of the matching between the microscopic and macroscopic entropies for the extremal non-BPS Kaluza-Klein black hole.Comment: 36 pages, no figures, V2: minor changes, misprints corrected, expanded references; V3: sections 4.3 and 4.5 added; V4: minor changes, matches the published versio

Axion-Higgs Unification

In theories with no fundamental scalars, one gauge group can become strong at a large scale Lambda and spontaneously break a global symmetry, producing the Higgs and the axion as composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons. We show how KSVZ and DFSZ axion models can be naturally realised. The assumption Lambda around 10^{11} GeV is phenomenologically favoured because: a) The axion solves the QCD theta problem and provides the observed DM abundance; b) The observed Higgs mass is generated via RGE effects from a small Higgs quartic coupling at the compositeness scale, provided that the Higgs mass term is fine-tuned to be of electroweak size; c) Lepton, quark as well as neutrino masses can be obtained from four-fermion operators at the compositeness scale. d) The extra fermions can unify the gauge couplings.Comment: 19 pages. Refs. added and eq. 3.6 fixe

Fibrinogen levels in relation to colorectal cancer onset: A nested case-cohort study from the Moli-sani cohort

Background: Patients with cancer are commonly characterized by abnormalities in laboratory coagulation tests, underlying a subclinical hypercoagulable condition. Due to the involvement of the hemostatic system in cancer patients, some of its biomarkers, such as fibrinogen, could be a useful tool in predicting cancer risk. We performed a case-cohort study to evaluate the relationship among fibrinogen levels and colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: In the framework of Moli-sani Study (N = 24,325, enrolled 2005–2010) a subcohort of 1,290 individuals (55.0% women; mean age 55.0 ± 12.0 years) was selected and compared with 126 CRC cases identified during a follow-up of 4.3 years. Incident cases of colorectal cancer were ascertained by direct linkage with hospital discharge forms according to the International Classification of Disease (ICD-9-CM) codes: 153–154. Events were validated through medical records and confirmed by histological reports. Fibrinogen levels were measured in frozen citrated plasma samples. Hazard Ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI), adjusted by relevant covariates were estimated by a Cox regression model using Prentice method. Results: Individuals with levels of fibrinogen ≥400 mg/dL had a higher hazard to develop colorectal cancer when compared to those with lower levels after adjustment for sex and age (HR: 1.81; 95% CI 1.12–2.92). Additional adjustment for CRC family history, income, physical activity, diabetes medication and hypercholesterolemia did not modify the result (HR: 1.91; 95% CI 1.15–3.17). Analyses stratified by age and sex showed a most evident association in elderly (HR: 2.30; 95% CI: 1.10–4.81) and in women (HR: 2.28; 95% CI: 1.08–4.81). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the main findings, showing independence from a potential role of confounding by a large panel of biomarkers, including inflammation and hemostasis factors. Conclusion: Our results, based on a case-cohort study from a general adult population apparently free from any cancer during the recruitment, showed that fibrinogen levels ≥400 mg/dL were positively and independently associated with CRC, suggesting that this glycoprotein could be a potential biomarker for this type of cancer and supporting the “common soil hypothesis” in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease and tumors

Structure of 13^{13}Be probed via secondary beam reactions

The low-lying level structure of the unbound neutron-rich nucleus $^{13}$Be has been investigated via breakup on a carbon target of secondary beams of $^{14,15}$B at 35 MeV/nucleon. The coincident detection of the beam velocity $^{12}$Be fragments and neutrons permitted the invariant mass of the $^{12}$Be+$n$ and $^{12}$Be+$n$+$n$ systems to be reconstructed. In the case of the breakup of $^{15}$B, a very narrow structure at threshold was observed in the $^{12}$Be+$n$ channel. Contrary to earlier stable beam fragmentation studies which identified this as a strongly interacting $s$-wave virtual state in $^{13}$Be, analysis here of the $^{12}$Be+$n$+$n$ events demonstrated that this was an artifact resulting from the sequential-decay of the $^{14}$Be(2$^+$) state. Single-proton removal from $^{14}$B was found to populate a broad low-lying structure some 0.70 MeV above the neutron-decay threshold in addition to a less prominent feature at around 2.4 MeV. Based on the selectivity of the reaction and a comparison with (0-3)$\hbar\omega$ shell-model calculations, the low-lying structure is concluded to most probably arise from closely spaced J$^\pi$=1/2$^+$ and 5/2$^+$ resonances (E$_r$=0.40$\pm$0.03 and 0.85$^{+0.15}_{-0.11}$ MeV), whilst the broad higher-lying feature is a second 5/2$^+$ level (E$_r$=2.35$\pm$0.14 MeV). Taken in conjunction with earlier studies, it would appear that the lowest 1/2$^+$ and 1/2$^-$ levels lie relatively close together below 1 MeV.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Physical Review