3,211 research outputs found
Warped Fermions and Precision Tests
We analyze the behavior of Standard Model matter propagating in a slice of
AdS_5 in the presence of infrared-brane kinetic terms. Brane kinetic terms are
naturally generated through radiative corrections and can also be present at
tree level. The effect of the brane kinetic terms is to expell the heavy KK
modes from the infrared-brane, and hence to reduce their coupling to the
localized Higgs field. In a previous work we showed that sizable gauge kinetic
terms can allow KK mode masses as low as a few TeV, compatible with present
precision measurements. We study here the effect of fermion brane kinetic terms
and show that they ameliorate the behavior of the theory for third generation
fermions localized away from the infrared brane, reduce the contribution of the
third generation quarks to the oblique correction parameters and mantain a good
fit to the precision electroweak data for values of the KK masses of the order
of the weak scale.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, latex2
Proton Lifetime and Baryon Number Violating Signatures at the LHC in Gauge Extended Models
There exist a number of models in the literature in which the weak
interactions are derived from a chiral gauge theory based on a larger group
than SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y. Such theories can be constructed so as to be
anomaly-free and consistent with precision electroweak measurements, and may be
interpreted as a deconstruction of an extra dimension. They also provide
interesting insights into the issues of flavor and dynamical electroweak
symmetry breaking, and can help to raise the mass of the Higgs boson in
supersymmetric theories. In this work we show that these theories can also give
rise to baryon and lepton number violating processes, such as nucleon decay and
spectacular multijet events at colliders, via the instanton transitions
associated with the extended gauge group. For a particular model based on
SU(2)_1 x SU(2)_2, we find that the violating scattering cross sections
are too small to be observed at the LHC, but that the lower limit on the
lifetime of the proton implies an upper bound on the gauge couplings.Comment: 36 page
Elucidating the structural composition of a Fe-N-C catalyst by nuclear and electron resonance techniques
Fe–N–C catalysts are very promising materials for fuel cells and metal–air batteries. This work gives fundamental insights into the structural composition of an Fe–N–C catalyst and highlights the importance of an in‐depth characterization. By nuclear‐ and electron‐resonance techniques, we are able to show that even after mild pyrolysis and acid leaching, the catalyst contains considerable fractions of α‐iron and, surprisingly, iron oxide. Our work makes it questionable to what extent FeN4 sites can be present in Fe–N–C catalysts prepared by pyrolysis at 900 °C and above. The simulation of the iron partial density of phonon states enables the identification of three FeN4 species in our catalyst, one of them comprising a sixfold coordination with end‐on bonded oxygen as one of the axial ligands
Comparison of the Toxicological Effects of Pesticides in Non-Tumorigenic MCF-12A and Tumorigenic MCF-7 Human Breast Cells
Humans are exposed to residues of organophosphate and neonicotinoid pesticides, commonly used in agriculture. Children are particularly vulnerable and, among possible adverse outcomes, the increased incidence of premature mammary gland development (thelarche) has raised concern. We evaluated the toxicological effects of chlorpyrifos (CPF), imidacloprid (IMI) and glyphosate (GLY) at exposure concentrations occurring in children on the tumorigenic MCF-7 and non-tumorigenic MCF-12A breast cell lines, as representative of the target organ model, assessing cytotoxicity, apoptosis, necrosis, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ATP levels, 17β-estradiol secretion and gene expression of nuclear receptors involved in mammary gland development. The pesticides decreased cell vitality in MCF-7 and cell proliferation in MCF-12A cells. ATP levels were decreased in MCF-7 cells by pesticides and apoptosis was increased in MCF-12A cells only by GLY (2.3 nM). ROS production was decreased by pesticides in both cell lines, except IMI (1.6 nM) in MCF-7 cells. Endocrine disrupting activity was highlighted by induction of 17β-estradiol secretion and modulation of the gene expression of estrogen alpha and beta, progesterone, androgen, and aryl hydrocarbon receptors in both cell lines. The use of MCF-7 and MCF-12A cells highlighted dissimilar modes of action of each pesticide at low human relevant concentrations
Elastic Scattering and Direct Detection of Kaluza-Klein Dark Matter
Recently a new dark matter candidate has been proposed as a consequence of
universal compact extra dimensions. It was found that to account for
cosmological observations, the masses of the first Kaluza-Klein modes (and thus
the approximate size of the extra dimension) should be in the range 600-1200
GeV when the lightest Kaluza-Klein particle (LKP) corresponds to the
hypercharge boson and in the range 1 - 1.8 TeV when it corresponds to a
neutrino. In this article, we compute the elastic scattering cross sections
between Kaluza-Klein dark matter and nuclei both when the lightest Kaluza-Klein
particle is a KK mode of a weak gauge boson, and when it is a neutrino. We
include nuclear form factor effects which are important to take into account
due to the large LKP masses favored by estimates of the relic density. We
present both differential and integrated rates for present and proposed
Germanium, NaI and Xenon detectors. Observable rates at current detectors are
typically less than one event per year, but the next generation of detectors
can probe a significant fraction of the relevant parameter space.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures; v2,v3: Ref. added, discussion improved,
conclusions unchanged. v4: Introduction was expanded to be more appropriate
for non experts. Various clarifications added in the text. Version to be
published in New Journal of Physic
Measuring the W-t-b Interaction at the ILC
The large top quark mass suggests that the top plays a pivotal role in
Electroweak symmetry-breaking dynamics and, as a result, may have modified
couplings to Electroweak bosons. Hadron colliders can provide measurements of
these couplings at the ~10% level, and one of the early expected triumphs of
the International Linear Collider is to reduce these uncertainties to the per
cent level. In this article, we propose the first direct measurement of the
Standard Model W-t-b coupling at the ILC, from measurements of t tbar-like
signals below the t tbar production threshold. We estimate that the ILC with
100 fb^{-1} can measure a combination of the coupling and top width to high
precision, and when combined with a direct measurement of the top width from
the above-threshold scan, results in a model-independent measurement of the
W-t-b interaction of the order of ~ 3%
Anomalous t-c-g coupling: The connection between single top production and top decay
Continuing earlier work, we examine the constraint on an anomalous t-c-g
coupling from top quark decay. We find that from current CDF measurements of
the branching ratio , the minimum scale at which new physics
can strongly modify the t-c-g coupling is \Ltcg about 950 GeV. At the
upgraded Tevatron, single top production can constrain \Ltcg 4.5 TeV.
The connection between t-c production and the decay is
examined, showing how constraints on one lead to a constraint on the other.Comment: 5 pages. Requires epsf.sty to process .eps formatted figure
Three Numerical Puzzles and the Top Quark's Chiral Weak-Moment
Versus the standard model's t --> W b decay helicity amplitudes, three
numerical puzzles occur at the 0.1 % level when one considers the amplitudes in
the case of an additional (f_M + f_E) coupling of relative strength 53 GeV. The
puzzles are theoretical ones which involve the t --> W b decay helicity
amplitudes in the two cases, the relative strength of this additional coupling,
and the observed masses of these three particles. A deeper analytic realization
is obtained for two of them. Equivalent realizations are given for the
remaining one. An empirical consequence of these analytic realizations is that
it is important to search for effects of a large chiral weak-moment of the
top-quark, the effective mass-scale is about 53 GeV. A full theoretical
resolution would include relating the origin of such a chiral weak-moment and
the mass generation of the top-quark, the W-boson, and probably the b-quark.Comment: 18 pages, 1 postscript table (revised to better explain notation,
model #1, add a little material...
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