Supersymmetric multi-Higgs doublet model with non-linear electroweak symmetry breaking

The electroweak symmetry is nonlinearly realized in an extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) through an additional pair of constrained Higgs doublet superfields. The superpotential couplings of this constrained Higgs doublet pair to the MSSM Higgs doublet pair catalyze their vacuum expectation values. The Higgs and Higgsino-gaugino mass spectrum is presented for several choices of supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking and Higgs superpotential mass parameters. The additional vacuum expectation values provided by the constrained fields can produce a phenomenology quite different than that of the MSSM .Comment: 41 pages, 16 figure

Oscillating p-Branes

Coset methods are used to construct the action describing the dynamics associated with the spontaneous breaking of the Poincare symmetries of D dimensional space-time due to the embedding of a p-brane with codimension N=D-p-1. The resulting world volume action is an ISO(1,p+N) invariant generalization of the Nambu-Goto action in d=p+1 dimensional space-time. Analogous results are obtained for an AdS p-brane with codimension N embedded in D dimensional AdS space, yielding an SO(2,p+N) invariant version of the Nambu-Goto action in d=p+1 dimensional space-time. Attention is focused on a supersymmetric extension of the D=6 Minkowski space case with an embedded p=3 brane; a particular realization of which is provided by a non-BPS vortex. Here both the Nambu-Goto-Akulov-Volkov action and its dual tensor form are presented.Comment: 25 pages, no figure

Brane Vector Phenomenology

Local oscillations of the brane world are manifested as masssive vector fields. Their coupling to the Standard Model can be obtained using the method of nonlinear realizations of the spontaneously broken higher dimensional space-time symmetries, and to an extent, are model independent. Phenomenological limits on these vector field parameters are obtained using LEP collider data and dark matter constraints.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, late

Higgs Decays and Brane Gravi-vectors

Higgs boson decays in flexible brane world models with stable, massive gravi-vectors are considered. Such vectors couple bilinearly to the Standard Model fields through either the Standard Model energy-momentum tensor, the weak hypercharge field strength or the Higgs scalar. The role of the coupling involving the extrinsic curvature is highlighted. It is found that within the presently allowed parameter space, the decay rate of the Higgs into two gravi-vectors (which would appear as an invisible Higgs decay) can be comparable to the rate for any of the Standard Model decay modes.Comment: 5 pages, 11 figures, revte

Nonlinear realization of local symmetries of AdS space

Coset methods are used to construct the action describing the dynamics associated with the spontaneous breaking of the local symmetries of AdS_{d+1} space due to the embedding of an AdS_d brane. The resulting action is an SO(2,d) invariant AdS form of the Einstein-Hilbert action, which in addition to the AdS_d gravitational vielbein, also includes a massive vector field localized on the brane. Its long wavelength dynamics is the same as a massive Abelian vector field coupled to gravity in AdS_d space.Comment: 17 page

Fixed FAR Vote Fusion of regional Facial Classifiers

Holistic face recognition methods like PCA and LDA have the disadvantage that they are very sensitive to expression, hair and illumination variations. This is one of the main reasons they are no longer competitive in the major benchmarks like FRGC and FRVT. In this paper we present an LDA based approach that combines many overlapping regional classifiers (experts) using what we call a Fixed FAR Voting Fusion (FFVF) strategy. The combination by voting of regional classifiers means that if there are sufficient regional classifiers unaffected by the expression, illumination or hair variations, the fused classifier will still correctly recognise the face. The FFVF approach has two interesting properties: it allows robust fusion of dependent classifiers and it only requires a single parameter to be tuned to obtain weights for fusion of different classifiers. We show the potential of the FFVF of regional classifiers using the standard benchmarks experiments 1 and 4 on FRGCv2 data. The multiregion FFVF classifier has a FRR of 4% at FAR=0.1% for controlled and 38% for uncontrolled data compared to 7% and\ud 56% for the best single region classifier

Investigating the KNDy hypothesis in humans by co-administration of kisspeptin, neurokinin B and naltrexone in men

Context: A subpopulation of hypothalamic neurons co-localise three neuropeptides namely kisspeptin, neurokinin B (NKB) and dynorphin collectively termed KNDy neurons. Animal studies suggest they interact to affect pulsatile GnRH release (KNDy hypothesis); kisspeptin stimulates, NKB modulates and dynorphin (an opioid) inhibits. Objective: To investigate the KNDy hypothesis in humans, we assessed for the first time the effects of co-administration of kisspeptin-54, NKB and an opioid receptor antagonist, naltrexone on LH pulsatility (surrogate marker for GnRH pulsatility) and gonadotropin release. Design, setting and participants: Ethically approved prospective, single-blinded placebo-controlled study. Healthy male volunteers (n=5/group) attended our research facility for 8 study visits. Intervention and main outcome measure: After 1h baseline blood sampling, participants received a different intervention at each visit: oral 50mg naltrexone (NAL), 8h intravenous infusions of vehicle, 2.56nmol/kg/h NKB (NKB), 0.1nmol/kg/h kissspeptin-54 (KP) alone and in combination. Frequent blood sampling to measure plasma gonadotropins and sex steroids was conducted and LH pulsatility was determined using blinded deconvolution analysis. Results: All kisspeptin and naltrexone containing groups potently increased LH and LH pulsatility (p<0.001 vs vehicle). NKB alone did not affect gonadotropins. NKB+KP had significantly lower increases in gonadotropins compared with kisspeptin alone (p<0.01). NAL+KP was the only group to significantly increase LH pulse amplitude (p<0.001 vs vehicle). Conclusions: Our results suggest significant interactions between the KNDy neuropeptides on LH pulsatility and gonadotropin release in humans. This has important implications for improving our understanding of GnRH pulse generation in humans