Can ICARUS and OPERA \nu_{\tau} appearance experiments detect new flavor physics ?

In this letter we explore whether we have a chance to observe a flavor-changing effect in $\tau$ appearance experiments ICARUS and OPERA.Comment: 10 pages including 3 eps files. We added the comments on the variation of the oscillation parameters and revised the discussion on model

Two-Loop Electroweak Heavy-Fermion Corrections to Higgs-Boson Production and Decay

The dominant electroweak corrections to the production cross sections and partial decay widths of a light Standard-Model Higgs boson, with mass M_H << 2m_t, are due to top-quark loops. By means of a low-energy theorem, we study at the two-loop level the leading shifts in the Higgs-boson couplings to pairs of light fermions and gauge bosons induced by a sequential isodoublet of high-mass fermions. For tree-level and loop-induced Higgs-boson couplings, these corrections are of relative orders O(G_mu^2 m_F^4) and O(G_mu m_F^2), respectively, where m_F represents a generic heavy-fermion mass, with m_F >> M_W, M_H. Except for the Hbb-bar coupling, all results carry over to the case of the top-quark-induced corrections. We discuss possible phenomenological consequences of our results.Comment: 29 pages (Latex), 3 figures (Postscript

Coherence Enhanced Transient Lasing in XUV Regime

We report the effect of a coherent drive on transient lasing in three-level $\Lambda$ and $\Xi$ configurations ($c\leftrightarrow a\leftrightarrow b$). We show that the presence of a resonant coherent drive on the $a\leftrightarrow c$ optical transition can yield an order of magnitude enhancement of the output laser energy on a $a\rightarrow b$ XUV or X-ray transition than with no coherent drive. We demonstrate the crucial role of coherence $\varrho_{ac}$ for the laser power enhancement. Contrary to the forward direction (with respect to the pump), where forward gain can be enhanced for some choice of the drive Rabi frequency $\Omega_{c}$, coherent drive on the $ac$ transition always suppresses the backward gain.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

Thermally activated Hall creep of flux lines from a columnar defect

We analyse the thermally activated depinning of an elastic string (line tension $\epsilon$) governed by Hall dynamics from a columnar defect modelled as a cylindrical potential well of depth $V_{0}$ for the case of a small external force $F.$ An effective 1D field Hamiltonian is derived in order to describe the 2D string motion. At high temperatures the decay rate is proportional to $F^{{5}/{2}}T^{-{1}/{2}} \exp{\left [{F_{0}}/{F}-{U(F)}/{T}\right ]},$ with $F_{0}$ a constant of order of the critical force and U(F) \sim{\left ({\epsilon V_{0}})}^{{1}/{2}}{V_{0}/{F}} the activation energy. The results are applied to vortices pinned by columnar defects in superclean superconductors.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures inserte

Turning Points in the Evolution of Isolated Neutron Stars' Magnetic Fields

During the life of isolated neutron stars (NSs) their magnetic field passes through a variety of evolutionary phases. Depending on its strength and structure and on the physical state of the NS (e.g. cooling, rotation), the field looks qualitatively and quantitatively different after each of these phases. Three of them, the phase of MHD instabilities immediately after NS's birth, the phase of fallback which may take place hours to months after NS's birth, and the phase when strong temperature gradients may drive thermoelectric instabilities, are concentrated in a period lasting from the end of the proto--NS phase until 100, perhaps 1000 years, when the NS has become almost isothermal. The further evolution of the magnetic field proceeds in general inconspicuous since the star is in isolation. However, as soon as the product of Larmor frequency and electron relaxation time, the so-called magnetization parameter, locally and/or temporally considerably exceeds unity, phases, also unstable ones, of dramatic changes of the field structure and magnitude can appear. An overview is given about that field evolution phases, the outcome of which makes a qualitative decision regarding the further evolution of the magnetic field and its host NS.Comment: References updated, typos correcte

Two-Loop O(alpha_s G_F M_Q^2) Heavy-Quark Corrections to the Interactions between Higgs and Intermediate Bosons

By means of a low-energy theorem, we analyze at O(alpha_s G_F M_Q^2) the shifts in the Standard-Model W^+W^-H and ZZH couplings induced by virtual high-mass quarks, Q, with M_Q >> M_Z, M_H, which includes the top quark. Invoking the improved Born approximation, we then find the corresponding corrections to various four- and five-point Higgs-boson production and decay processes which involve the W^+W^-H and ZZH vertices with one or both of the gauge bosons being connected to light-fermion currents, respectively. This includes e^+e^- -> f anti-f H via Higgs-strahlung, via W^+W^- fusion (with f = nu_e), and via ZZ fusion (with f = e), as well as H -> 2V -> 4f (with V = W, Z).Comment: 20 pages (Latex); Physical Review D (to appear

Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation

We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence, which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium. Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure

Two-Loop Electroweak Corrections to the A^0 gamma gamma and A^0 g g Couplings of the CP-Odd Higgs Boson

Using the asymptotic-expansion technique, we compute the dominant two-loop electroweak corrections, of O(G_F m_t^2), to production and decay via a pair of photons or gluons of the CP-odd Higgs boson A^0 in a two-Higgs-doublet model with low- to intermediate values of the Higgs-boson masses and ratio tan(beta)=v_2/v_1 of the vacuum expectation values. We also study the influence of a sequential heavy-fermion generation. The appearance of three gamma_5 matrices in closed fermion loops requires special care in the dimensional regularisation of ultraviolet divergences. The finite renormalisation constant for the pseudoscalar current effectively restoring the anticommutativity of the gamma_5 matrix, familiar from perturbative quantum chromodynamics, is found not to receive a correction in this order. We also revisit the dominant two-loop electroweak correction to the H -> gamma gamma decay width in the standard model with a fourth fermion generation.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure