148 research outputs found
Nonmarine stromatolites and the search for early life on Mars
The available evidence permits one to conclude that streams flowed and lakes developed on Mars sometime in the remote past. The lessons learned from the Earth's earliest fossil record suggest that stromatolites might have formed on Mars, speculating that: (1) biopoesis occurred on Mars during its earliest history; (2) life evolved and diversified; (3) life inhabited aqueous environments; and (4) sunlight was an important environmental resource. The most likely place to find stromatolites and possibly microbial fossils on Mars would be in ancient lake and stream deposits. If thermal spring deposits can be identified, then they too are sites for biogeological investigations. Other aspects of this study are presented
Stromatolites and MISS—Differences Between Relatives
Benthic microorganisms form highly organized communities called “biofilms.” A biofilm consists of the individual cells plus their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). In marine and non-marine environments, benthic microbial communities interact with the physical sediment dynamics and other factors in the environment in order to survive. This interaction can produce distinctive sedimentary structures called microbialites. Binding, biostabilization, baffling, and trapping of sediment particles by microorganisms result in the formation of microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS); however, if carbonate precipitation occurs in EPS, and these processes happen in a repetitive manner, a multilayered build-up can form—stromatolites. Stromatolites and MISS are first found in the early Archean, recording highly evolved microbial activity early in Earth’s history. Whereas the stromatolites show enormous morphologic and taxonomic variation, MISS seem not to have changed in morphology since their first appearance. MISS might be the older relative, but due to the lack of well-preserved sedimentary rocks older than 3.5 billion years, the origin of both stromatolites and MISS remains uncertain
ZFITTER: a semi-analytical program for fermion pair production in e+e- annihilation, from version 6.21 to version 6.42
ZFITTER is a Fortran program for the calculation of fermion pair production
and radiative corrections at high energy e+e- colliders; it is also suitable
for other applications where electroweak radiative corrections appear. ZFITTER
is based on a semi-analytical approach to the calculation of radiative
corrections in the Standard Model. We present a summary of new features of the
ZFITTER program version 6.42 compared to version 6.21. The most important
additions are: (i) some higher-order QED corrections to fermion pair
production, (ii) electroweak one-loop corrections to atomic parity violation,
(iii) electroweak one-loop corrections to nu-e nu-e-bar production, (iv)
electroweak two-loop corrections to the W boson mass and the effective weak
mixing angle.Comment: 60 pages, latex, 3 table
On the Numerical Evaluation of Loop Integrals With Mellin-Barnes Representations
An improved method is presented for the numerical evaluation of multi-loop
integrals in dimensional regularization. The technique is based on
Mellin-Barnes representations, which have been used earlier to develop
algorithms for the extraction of ultraviolet and infrared divergencies. The
coefficients of these singularities and the non-singular part can be integrated
numerically. However, the numerical integration often does not converge for
diagrams with massive propagators and physical branch cuts. In this work,
several steps are proposed which substantially improve the behavior of the
numerical integrals. The efficacy of the method is demonstrated by calculating
several two-loop examples, some of which have not been known before.Comment: 13 pp. LaTe
Lepton distribution as a probe of new physics in production and decay of the t quark and its polarization
We investigate the possibilities of studying new physics in various processes
of t-quark production using kinematical distributions of the secondary lepton
coming from decay of t quarks. We show that the angular distributions of the
secondary lepton are insensitive to the anomalous tbW vertex and hence are pure
probes of new physics in a generic process of t-quark production. The energy
distribution of the lepton is distinctly affected by anomalous tbW couplings
and can be used to analyze them independent of the production process of t
quarks. The effects of t polarization on the distributions of the decay lepton
are demonstrated for top-pair production process at a gamma-gamma collider
mediated by a heavy Higgs boson.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, uses axodraw.sty (included), references added.
v3 to appear in Journal of High Energy Physics. Incorporates minor changes in
the discussion on radiative corrections which do not affect the results. Typo
in reference correcte
Z' Bosons, the NuTeV Anomaly, and the Higgs Boson Mass
Fits to the precision electroweak data that include the NuTeV measurement are
considered in family universal, anomaly free U(1) extensions of the Standard
Model. In data sets from which the hadronic asymmetries are excluded, some of
the Z' models can double the predicted value of the Higgs boson mass, from ~ 60
to ~ 120 GeV, removing the tension with the LEP II lower bound, while also
modestly improving the chi-square confidence level. The effect of the Z' models
on both the Higgs boson mass and the chi-square confidence level is increased
when the NuTeV measurment is included in the fit. Both the original NuTeV data
and a revised estimate by the PDG are considered
Electroweak Precision Observables within a Fourth Generation Model with General Flavour Structure
We calculate the contributions to electroweak precision observables (EWPOs)
due to a fourth generation of fermions with the most general (quark-)flavour
structure (but assuming Dirac neutrinos and a trivial flavour structure in the
lepton sector). The new-physics contributions to the EWPOs are calculated at
one-loop order using automated tools (FeynArts/FormCalc). No further
approximations are made in our calculation. We discuss the size of non-oblique
contributions arising from Z--quark--anti-quark vertex corrections and the
dependence of the EWPOs on all CKM mixing angles involving the fourth
generation. We find that the electroweak precision observables are sensitive to
two of the fourth-generation mixing angles and that the corresponding
constraints on these angles are competitive with those obtained from flavour
physics. For non-trivial 4x4 flavour structures, the non-oblique contributions
lead to relative corrections of several permille and should be included in a
global fit
Mass Bounds on a Very Light Neutralino
Within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) we systematically
investigate the bounds on the mass of the lightest neutralino. We allow for
non-universal gaugino masses and thus even consider massless neutralinos, while
assuming in general that R-parity is conserved. Our main focus are laboratory
constraints. We consider collider data, precision observables, and also rare
meson decays to very light neutralinos. We then discuss the astrophysical and
cosmological implications. We find that a massless neutralino is allowed by all
existing experimental data and astrophysical and cosmological observations.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, minor modification in astro-physical bounds.
EPJC versio
W mass and Leptonic Z-decays in the NMSSM
We study a subset of electroweak-precision observables consisting of ,
, and
(characterizing leptonic
-decays) in the context of the NMSSM. After a brief review of common
MSSM-NMSSM effects, e.g. for ,
which has been little discussed, even in the MSSM), specific NMSSM scenarios
are studied, with the result that the NMSSM, considering existing constraints
on its spectrum, is essentially consistent with available measurements, given
the current accuracy.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure
Electroweak Physics
The results of high precision weak neutral current (WNC), Z-pole, and high
energy collider electroweak experiments have been the primary prediction and
test of electroweak unification. The electroweak program is briefly reviewed
from a historical perspective. Current changes, anomalies, and things to watch
are summarized, and the implications for the standard model and beyond
discussed.Comment: 12 pages, invited talk presented at the Conference on the
Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2003), New York, May
200
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