Top quark associated production of topcolor pions at hadron colliders

We investigate the associated production of a neutral physical pion with top quarks in the context of topcolor assisted technicolor. We find that single-top associated production does not yield viable rates at either the Tevatron or LHC. tt-associated production at the Tevatron is suppressed relative to Standard Model ttH, but at the LHC is strongly enhanced and would allow for easy observation of the main decay channels to bottom quarks, and possible observation of the decay to gluons.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Alterations in gene expression in T1α null lung: a model of deficient alveolar sac development

BACKGROUND: Development of lung alveolar sacs of normal structure and size at late gestation is necessary for the gas exchange process that sustains respiration at birth. Mice lacking the lung differentiation gene T1α [T1α(-/-)] fail to form expanded alveolar sacs, resulting in respiratory failure at birth. Since little is known about the molecular pathways driving alveolar sacculation, we used expression microarrays to identify genes altered in the abnormal lungs and, by inference, may play roles in normal lung morphogenesis. RESULTS: Altered expression of genes related to cell-cell interaction, such as ephrinA3, are observed in T1α(-/-) at E18.5. At term, FosB, Egr1, MPK-1 and Nur77, which can function as negative regulators of the cell-cycle, are down-regulated. This is consistent with the hyperproliferation of peripheral lung cells in term T1α (-/-) lungs reported earlier. Biochemical assays show that neither PCNA nor p21 are altered at E18.5. At term in contrast, PCNA is increased, and p21 is decreased. CONCLUSION: This global analysis has identified a number of candidate genes that are significantly altered in lungs in which sacculation is abnormal. Many genes identified were not previously associated with lung development and may participate in formation of alveolar sacs prenatally

Formation of microtubule-based traps controls the sorting and concentration of vesicles to restricted sites of regenerating neurons after axotomy

Transformation of a transected axonal tip into a growth cone (GC) is a critical step in the cascade leading to neuronal regeneration. Critical to the regrowth is the supply and concentration of vesicles at restricted sites along the cut axon. The mechanisms underlying these processes are largely unknown. Using online confocal imaging of transected, cultured Aplysia californica neurons, we report that axotomy leads to reorientation of the microtubule (MT) polarities and formation of two distinct MT-based vesicle traps at the cut axonal end. Approximately 100 μm proximal to the cut end, a selective trap for anterogradely transported vesicles is formed, which is the plus end trap. Distally, a minus end trap is formed that exclusively captures retrogradely transported vesicles. The concentration of anterogradely transported vesicles in the former trap optimizes the formation of a GC after axotomy

Neutral Higgs-Boson Pair Production at Hadron Colliders: QCD Corrections

Neutral Higgs-boson pair production provides the possibility of studying the trilinear Higgs couplings at future high-energy colliders. We present the QCD corrections to the gluon-initiated processes in the limit of a heavy top quark in the loops and the Drell-Yan-like pair production of scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs particles. The pp cross sections are discussed for LHC energies within the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension. The QCD corrections are large, enhancing the total cross sections significantly.Comment: 26 pages, latex, 9 ps figure

MSSM Higgs Boson Production via Gluon Fusion: The Large Gluino Mass Limit

Scalar MSSM Higgs boson production via gluon fusion gg -> h,H is mediated by heavy quark and squark loops. The higher order QCD corrections to these processes turn out to be large. The full supersymmetric QCD corrections have been calculated recently. In the limit of large SUSY masses a conceptual problem appears, i.e. the proper treatment of the large gluino mass limit. In this work we will describe the consistent decoupling of heavy gluino effects and derive the effective Lagrangian for decoupled gluinos.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, latex, references added, slight rewording, version accepted by JHE

Scalar Particle Contribution to Higgs Production via Gluon Fusion at NLO

We consider the gluon fusion production cross section of a scalar Higgs boson in models where fermion and scalar massive colored particles are present. We report analytic expressions for the matrix elements of $gg\to Hg$, $q\bar{q}\to Hg$, and $qg\to Hq$ processes completing the calculation of the NLO QCD corrections in these extended scenarios. The formulas are written in a complete general case, allowing a flexible use for different theoretical models. Applications of our results to two different models are presented: i) a model in which the SM Higgs sector is augmented by a weak doublet scalar in the $SU(N_c)$ adjoint representation. ii) The MSSM, in the limit of neglecting the gluino contribution to the cross section.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures. Minor changes. Refs. adde

Standard Model Higgs-Boson Branching Ratios with Uncertainties

We present an update of the branching ratios for Higgs-boson decays in the Standard Model. We list results for all relevant branching ratios together with corresponding uncertainties resulting from input parameters and missing higher-order corrections. As sources of parametric uncertainties we include the masses of the charm, bottom, and top quarks as well as the QCD coupling constant. We compare our results with other predictions in the literature.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures, contribution to LHC Higgs Cross Section Working Group https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/LHCPhysics/CrossSections, theoretical uncertainties for H->\mu\mu{} added, version to appear in European Physical Journal

Rompimiento de la Simetria Electrodebil y la Fisica del Higgs: Conceptos Basicos

Presentamos una introduccion a los conceptos basicos del rompimiento de la simetria electrodebil y la fisica del Higgs dentro del Modelo Estandar y sus extensiones supersimetricas. Se presenta tambien una breve perspectiva general de mecanismos alternativos del rompimiento de la simetria. Ademas de las bases teoricas, se discute el estado actual de la fisica experimental del Higgs y sus implicaciones para futuros experimentos en el LHC y en colisionadores lineales e+e-.Comment: Spanish text, including full English translation. Published in the Proceedings of the XI Mexican School on Particles and Fields, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexic

W^+- H^-+ Associated Production at the Large Hadron Collider

We study the production of a charged Higgs boson in association with a W boson at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. This production mechanism is particularly promising if the charged Higgs boson is too heavy to be generated by top-quark decay. We compare the contributions due to b b-bar annihilation at the tree level and gg fusion, which proceeds at one loop. Apart from the total cross section, we also consider distributions in transverse momentum and rapidity. We also assess the viability of W^+- H^-+ associated production at the Fermilab Tevatron after the installation of the Main Injector and the Recycler.Comment: 16 pages (Latex), 8 figures (Postscript