324 research outputs found
Composite MFV and Beyond
We revisit and extend realizations of Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV) in
theories with strongly coupled electro-weak symmetry breaking. MFV requires
that some chiralities of light SM quarks are strongly composite leading,
depending on the scenario, to bounds from compositeness searches, precision
electro-weak tests or even flavor physics. Within the framework of partial
compositeness we show how to extend the MFV paradigm allowing the treat the top
quark differently. This can be realized if for example the strong sector has an
U(2) symmetry. In this case the light generations can be mostly elementary and
all the bounds are easily satisfied.Comment: 16 pages. v2) estimates improved, conclusions unchange
Cosmological Constant, Gauge Hierarchy and Warped Geometry
It is suggested that the mechanism responsible for the resolution of the
gauge hierarchy problem within the warped geometry framework can be generalized
to provide a new explanation of the extremely tiny vacuum energy density rho_V
suggested by recent observations. We illustrate the mechanism with some 5D
examples in which the true vacuum energy is assumed to vanish, and rho_V is
associated with a false vacuum energy such that rho_V^{1/4} ~ TeV^2/M_{Pl} ~
10^{-3} eV, where M_{Pl} denotes the reduced Planck mass. We also consider a
quintessence-like solution to the dark energy problem.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures, section on quantum corrections added,
version to appear in Phys. Rev.
The \tau -> \mu \bar{\nu_i} \nu_i decay in the Randall Sundrum background with localized U(1)_Y gauge boson
We study the effects of localization of the U(1)_Y gauge boson around the
visible brane and the contributions of the KK modes of Z bosons on the BR of
the LFV \tau -> \mu \bar{\nu_i} \nu_i decay. We observe that the BR is
sensitive to the amount of localization of Z boson in the bulk of the Randall
Sundrum background.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures,1 tabl
Fermions on an Interval: Quark and Lepton Masses without a Higgs
We consider fermions on an extra dimensional interval. We find the boundary
conditions at the ends of the interval that are consistent with the variational
principle, and explain which ones arise in various physical circumstances. We
apply these results to higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking, where
electroweak symmetry is not broken by a scalar vacuum expectation value, but
rather by the boundary conditions of the gauge fields. We show that it is
possible to find a set of boundary conditions for bulk fermions that would give
a realistic fermion mass spectrum without the presence of a Higgs scalar, and
present some sample fermion mass spectra for the standard model quarks and
leptons as well as their resonances.Comment: LaTeX, 36 pages, 5 figure
Constraints on the Bulk Standard Model in the Randall-Sundrum Scenario
We derive constraints on the Randall-Sundrum scenario with the standard model
fields in the bulk. These result from tree level effects associated with the
deformation of the zero mode wave-functions of the W and the Z once electroweak
symmetry is broken. Recently Cs\'{a}ki, Erlich and Terning pointed out that
this implies large contributions to electroweak oblique parameters. Here we
find that when fermions are allowed in the bulk the couplings of the and
the to zero-mode fermions are also affected. We perform a fit to
electroweak observables assuming universal bulk fermion masses and including
all effects and find constraints that are considerably stronger than for the
case with fermions localized in the low energy boundary. These put the lowest
Kaluza-Klein excitation out of reach of the Large Hadron Collider. We then
relax the universality assumption and study the effects of flavor violation in
the bulk and its possible signatures.Comment: 18 pages, 2 ps figure
Corporate financing decisions: UK survey evidence
Despite theoretical developments in recent years, our understanding of corporate capital structure remains incomplete. Prior empirical research has been dominated by archival regression studies which are limited in their ability to fully reflect the diversity found in practice. The present paper reports on a comprehensive survey of corporate financing decision-making in UK listed companies. A key finding is that firms are heterogeneous in their capital structure policies. About half of the firms seek to maintain a target debt level, consistent with trade-off theory, but 60 per cent claim to follow a financing hierarchy, consistent with pecking order theory. These two theories are not viewed by respondents as either mutually exclusive or exhaustive. Many of the theoretical determinants of debt levels are widely accepted by respondents, in particular the importance of interest tax shield, financial distress, agency costs and also, at least implicitly, information asymmetry. Results also indicate that cross-country institutional differences have a significant impact on financial decisions
Liquidity, technological opportunities, and the stage distribution of venture capital investments
This paper explores the determinants of the stage distribution of European venture capital investments from 1990 to 2011. Consistent with liquidity risk theory, we find that the likelihood of investing in earlier stages increases relative to all private equity investments during liquidity crisis years. While liquidity is the main driver of acquisition investments and, to some extent, of expansion financings, technological opportunities are overall the main driver of early and late stage venture capital investments. In contrast to the dotcom crash, the recent financial crisis negatively affected the relative likelihood of expansion investments, but not of early and late stage investments
RS1, Custodial Isospin and Precision Tests
We study precision electroweak constraints within a RS1 model with gauge
fields and fermions in the bulk. The electroweak gauge symmetry is enhanced to
SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R \times U(1)_{B-L}, thereby providing a custodial isospin
symmetry sufficient to suppress excessive contributions to the T parameter. We
then construct complete models, complying with all electroweak constraints, for
solving the hierarchy problem, without supersymmetry or large hierarchies in
the fundamental couplings. Using the AdS/CFT correspondence our models can be
interpreted as dual to a strongly coupled conformal Higgs sector with global
custodial symmetry, gauge and fermionic matter being fundamental fields
external to the CFT. This scenario has interesting collider signals, distinct
from other RS models in the literature.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, latex2e, minor changes, references adde
Combined effect of coherent Z exchange and the hyperfine interaction in atomic PNC
The nuclear spin-dependent parity nonconserving (PNC) interaction arising
from a combination of the hyperfine interaction and the coherent,
spin-independent, PNC interaction from Z exchange is evaluated using many-body
perturbation theory. For the 6s-7s transition in 133Cs, we obtain a result that
is about 40% smaller than that found previously by Bouchiat and Piketty [Phys.
Lett. B 269, 195 (1991)]. Applying this result to 133Cs, leads to an increase
in the experimental value of nuclear anapole moment and exacerbates differences
between constraints on PNC meson coupling constants obtained from the Cs
anapole moment and those obtained from other nuclear parity violating
experiments. Nuclear spin-dependent PNC dipole matrix elements, including
contributions from the combined weak-hyperfine interaction, are also given for
the 7s-8s transition in 211Fr and for transitions between ground-state
hyperfine levels in K, Rb, Cs, Ba+, Au, Tl, Fr, and Ra+.Comment: Revtex4 preprint 19 pages 4 table
Collision statistics of driven granular materials
We present an experimental investigation of the statistical properties of
spherical granular particles on an inclined plane that are excited by an
oscillating side-wall. The data is obtained by high-speed imaging and particle
tracking techniques. We identify all particles in the system and link their
positions to form trajectories over long times. Thus, we identify particle
collisions to measure the effective coefficient of restitution and find a broad
distribution of values for the same impact angles. We find that the energy
inelasticity can take on values greater than one, which implies that the
rotational degrees play an important role in energy transfer. We also measure
the distance and the time between collision events in order to directly
determine the distribution of path lengths and the free times. These
distributions are shown to deviate from expected theoretical forms for elastic
spheres, demonstrating the inherent clustering in this system. We describe the
data with a two-parameter fitting function and use it to calculated the mean
free path and collision time. We find that the ratio of these values is
consistent with the average velocity. The velocity distribution are observed to
be strongly non-Gaussian and do not demonstrate any apparent universal
behavior. We report the scaling of the second moment, which corresponds to the
granular temperature, and higher order moments as a function of distance from
the driving wall. Additionally, we measure long time correlation functions in
both space and in the velocities to probe diffusion in a dissipative gas.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, uses revtex
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