Identifying the Higgs Spin and Parity in Decays to Z Pairs

Higgs decays to Z boson pairs may be exploited to determine spin and parity of the Higgs boson, a method complementary to spin-parity measurements in Higgs-strahlung. For a Higgs mass above the on-shell ZZ decay threshold, a model-independent analysis can be performed, but only by making use of additional angular correlation effects in gluon-gluon fusion at the LHC and gamma-gamma fusion at linear colliders. In the intermediate mass range, in which the Higgs boson decays into pairs of real and virtual Z bosons, threshold effects and angular correlations, parallel to Higgs-strahlung, may be adopted to determine spin and parity, though high event rates will be required for the analysis in practice.Comment: 14 pages, 2 postscript figure

Comment about pion electro-production and the axial form factors

The claim by Haberzettl (Phys.Rev.Lett.85 (2000) 3576) that the axial form factor of the nucleon cannot be accessed through threshold pion electroproduction is unfounded

Determining SUSY Parameters in Chargino Pair-Production in e+e−e^+e^- Collisions

In most supersymmetric theories, charginos $\tilde{\chi}^\pm_{1,2}$, mixtures of charged color-neutral gauginos and higgsinos, belong to the class of the lightest supersymmetric particles. They are easy to observe at $e^+e^-$ colliders. By measuring the total cross sections and the left-right asymmetries with polarized electron beams in $e^+e^-\to\tilde{\chi}_i^-\tilde{\chi}_j^+ [i,j=1,2]$, the chargino masses and the gaugino-higgsino mixing angles can be determined. From these observables the fundamental SUSY parameters can be derived: the SU(2) gaugino mass $M_2$, the modulus $|\mu|$ and $\cos \Phi_\mu$ of the higgsino mass parameter, and $\tan\beta = v_2/v_1$, the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two neutral Higgs doublet fields. The solutions are unique; the CP-violating phase $\Phi_\mu$ can be determined uniquely by analyzing effects due to the normal polarization of the charginos.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, uses axodraw.st

Quantum Phase Transitions in Josephson Junction Chains

We investigate the quantum phase transition in a one-dimensional chain of ultra-small superconducting grains, considering both the self- and junction capacitances. At zero temperature, the system is transformed into a two-dimensional system of classical vortices, where the junction capacitance introduces anisotropy in the interaction between vortices. This leads to the superconductor-insulator transition of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless type, as the ratios of the Josephson coupling energy to the charging energies are varied. It is found that the junction capacitance plays a role similar to that of dissipation and tends to suppress quantum fluctuations; nevertheless the insulator region survives even for arbitrarily large values of the junction capacitance.Comment: REVTeX+5 EPS figures, To appear in PRB Rapid

Remarks on the classification of quasitoric manifolds up to equivariant homeomorphism

We give three sufficient criteria for two quasitoric manifolds (M,M') to be (weakly) equivariantly homeomorphic. We apply these criteria to count the weakly equivariant homeomorphism types of quasitoric manifolds with a given cohomology ring.Comment: 11 page

Reconstructing the Chargino System at e+e−e^+e^- Linear Colliders

In most supersymmetric theories charginos, $\tilde{\chi}^\pm_{1,2}$, belong to the class of the lightest supersymmetric particles. The chargino system can be reconstructed completely in $e^+e^-$ collider experiments: $e^+e^-\to\tilde{\chi}_i^+ \tilde{\chi}_j^- [i,j=1,2]$. By measuring the total cross sections and the asymmetries with polarized beams, the chargino masses and the gaugino-higgsino mixing angles of these states can be determined accurately. If only the lightest charginos $\tilde{\chi}_1^\pm$ are kinematically accessible in a first phase of the machine, transverse beam polarization or the measurement of chargino polarization in the final state is needed to determine the mixing angles. From these observables the fundamental SUSY parameters can be derived: the SU(2) gaugino mass $M_2$, the modulus and the cosine of the CP-violating phase of the higgsino mass parameter $\mu$, and $\tan\beta = v_2/v_1$, the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two neutral Higgs doublet fields. The remaining two-fold ambiguity of the phase can be resolved by measuring the normal polarization of the charginos. Sum rules of the cross sections can be exploited to investigate the closure of the two-chargino system.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Capacitively coupled Josephson-junction chains: straight and slanted coupling

Two chains of ultrasmall Josephson junctions, coupled capacitively with each other in the two different ways, straight and slanted coupling, are considered. As the coupling capacitance increases, regardless of the coupling scheme, the transport of particle-hole pairs in the system is found to drive the quantum-phase transition at zero temperature, which is a insulator-to-superfluid transition of the particle-hole pairs and belongs to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universal class. The different underlying transport mechanisms for the two coupling schemes are reflected in the difference between the transition points.Comment: REVTeX + 7 EPS figures, detailed version of cond-mat/980219