Higgs production as a probe of anomalous top couplings

The LHC may be currently seeing the first hints of the Higgs boson. The dominant production mode for the Higgs at the LHC involves a top-quark loop. An accurate measurement of Higgs production cross-sections and decay widths can thus be used to obtain limits on anomalous top couplings. We find that such an exercise could potentially yield constraints that are stronger than those derived from low-energy observables as well as direct bounds expected from the top pair-production process.Comment: Version published in JHE

Suggested Improvements for the Allergenicity Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants Used in Foods

Genetically modified (GM) plants are increasingly used for food production and industrial applications. As the global population has surpassed 7 billion and per capita consumption rises, food production is challenged by loss of arable land, changing weather patterns, and evolving plant pests and disease. Previous gains in quantity and quality relied on natural or artificial breeding, random mutagenesis, increased pesticide and fertilizer use, and improved farming techniques, all without a formal safety evaluation. However, the direct introduction of novel genes raised questions regarding safety that are being addressed by an evaluation process that considers potential increases in the allergenicity, toxicity, and nutrient availability of foods derived from the GM plants. Opinions vary regarding the adequacy of the assessment, but there is no documented proof of an adverse effect resulting from foods produced from GM plants. This review and opinion discusses current practices and new regulatory demands related to food safety

Hefty MSSM-like light Higgs in extended gauge models

It is well known that in the MSSM the lightest neutral Higgs h^0 must be, at the tree level, lighter than the Z boson and that the loop corrections shift this stringent upper bound up to about 130 GeV. Extending the MSSM gauge group in a suitable way, the new Higgs sector dynamics can push the tree-level mass of h^0 well above the tree-level MSSM limit if it couples to the new gauge sector. This effect is further pronounced at the loop level and h^0 masses in the 140 GeV ballpark can be reached easily. We exemplify this for a sample setting with a low-scale U(1)_R x U(1)_B-L gauge symmetry in which neutrino masses can be implemented via the inverse seesaw mechanism.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures; references added, typos corrected; published versio