On the 0++0^{++} Glueball Mass

An approximate vacuum wave functional $\Psi_0$ is proposed for $2+1$-dimensional Yang-Mills theories. Using $\Psi_0$, one can compute the $0^{++}$ glueball mass $M_G$ in terms of the string tension. By using the idea of dimensional reduction, a prediction for $M_G$ can be made in $3+1$ dimensions. One finds $M_G \approx 1.5$ GeV.Comment: 12 pages in a Postscript file. Revised version corrects typos in two equation

SO(10) Yukawa Unification after the First Run of the LHC

In this talk we discuss SO(10) Yukawa unification and its ramifications for phenomenology. The initial constraints come from fitting the top, bottom and tau masses, requiring large $\tan\beta \sim 50$ and particular values for soft SUSY breaking parameters. We perform a global $\chi^2$ analysis, fitting the recently observed `Higgs' with mass of order 125 GeV in addition to fermion masses and mixing angles and several flavor violating observables. We discuss two distinct GUT scale boundary conditions for soft SUSY breaking masses. In both cases we have a universal cubic scalar parameter, $A_0$. In the first case we consider universal gaugino masses, and universal scalar masses, $m_{16}$, for squarks and sleptons; while in the latter case we have non-universal gaugino masses and either universal scalar masses, $m_{16}$, for squarks and sleptons or D-term splitting of scalar masses. We discuss the spectrum of SUSY particle masses and consequences for the LHC.Comment: 12 pages, talk presented at the VIIth International Conference on Interconnections between Particle Physics and Cosmology and CETUP* 2013, Lead, S

Individualism, exceptionalism and counter culture in Second World War special service training

This paper explores the origins and nature of early special service training in the Scottish highlands and its influence on the culture of special service organisations during the Second World War and after. Focussing on the improvised training system devised at Inverailort House, Inverness-shire in the summer of 1940, it traces how ideas about special training developed in challenge to conventional British military organisation and thinking. The theory of organisational culture, including the role of artefacts in defining subcultures and countercultures, is used to analyse the place of training and selection in the evolving and uneasy relationship between special service and traditional British military culture

Higgs and SUSY Particle Predictions from SO(10) Yukawa Unification

In this talk we assume SO(10) boundary conditions at the GUT scale, including unification for the third generation Yukawa couplings $\lambda_t = \lambda_b = \lambda_\tau$. We find that this assumption is only consistent with the low energy data in a narrow region of soft SUSY breaking parameter space. We discuss the consequences of this result for Higgs and SUSY searches.Comment: 8 pages, talk given at the 1st InternationalConference on String Phenomenology, Oxford, UK, July 6 - 11, 200