A Renormalization Group Improved Calculation of Top Quark Production near Threshold

The top quark cross section close to threshold in $e^+e^-$ annihilation is computed including the summation of logarithms of the velocity at next-to-next-to-leading-logarithmic order in QCD. The remaining theoretical uncertainty in the normalization of the total cross section is at the few percent level, an order of magnitude smaller than in previous next-to-next-to-leading order calculations. This uncertainty is smaller than the effects of a light standard model Higgs boson.Comment: changed figures, added reference

The polarization of Lyman alpha radiation produced in charge transfer collisions between protons and the inert gases

Polarization of Lyman alpha radiation in proton collisions with helium, argon, and neon atom

The polarization of Lyman alpha radiation produced by direct excitation of hydrogen atoms by proton impact

Lyman alpha radiation measurement in collision between protons and hydrogen atom

Automation of NLO processes and decays and POWHEG matching in WHIZARD

We give a status report on the automation of next-to-leading order processes within the Monte Carlo event generator WHIZARD, using GoSam and OpenLoops as provider for one-loop matrix elements. To deal with divergences, WHIZARD uses automated FKS subtraction, and the phase space for singular regions is generated automatically. NLO examples for both scattering and decay processes with a focus on e+e- processes are shown. Also, first NLO-studies of observables for collisions of polarized leptons beams, e.g. at the ILC, will be presented. Furthermore, the automatic matching of the fixed-order NLO amplitudes with emissions from the parton shower within the POWHEG formalism inside WHIZARD will be discussed. We also present results for top pairs at threshold in lepton collisions, including matching between a resummed threshold calculation and fixed-order NLO. This allows the investigation of more exclusive differential observables.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Talk presented at ACAT 2016 at UTFSM, Valpara\'iso, Chil

Top Physics in WHIZARD

In this talk we summarize the top physics setup in the event generator WHIZARD with a main focus on lepton colliders. This includes full six-, eight- and ten-fermion processes, factorized processes and spin correlations. For lepton colliders, QCD NLO processes for top quark physics are available and will be discussed. A special focus is on the top-quark pair threshold, where a special implementation combines a non-relativistic effective field theory calculation augmented by a next-to-leading threshold logarithm resummation with a continuum relativistic fixed-order QCD NLO simulation.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Talk presented at the International Workshop on Future Linear Colliders (LCWS15), Whistler, Canada, 2-6 November 201

Momentum Distributions in ttˉt\bar t

We apply the Green function formalism for $t-\bar t$ production and decay near threshold in a study of the effects due to the momentum dependent width for such a system. We point out that these effects are likely to be much smaller than expected from the reduction of the available phase space. The Lippmann--Schwinger equation for the QCD chromostatic potential is solved numerically for $S$ partial wave. We compare the results on the total cross section, top quark intrinsic momentum distributions and on the energy spectra of $W$ bosons from top quark decays with those obtained for the constant width.Comment: 12 pages (without figures) (11 (sub)figures available on request), Karlsruhe preprint TTP93-11, hep-ph/yymmnn

Low scale B-L extension of the Standard Model at the LHC

The fact that neutrinos are massive indicates that the Standard Model (SM) requires extension. We propose a low energy (<TeV) B-L extension of the SM, which is based on the gauge group SU(3)_C x SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y x U(1)_{B-L}. We show that this model provides a natural explanation for the presence of three right-handed neutrinos in addition to an extra gauge boson and a new scalar Higgs. Therefore, it can lead to very interesting phenomenological implications different from the SM results which can be tested at the LHC. Also we analyze the muon anomalous magnetic moment in this class of models. We show that one-loop with exchange Z' may give dominant new contribution ~ few x 10^{-11}.Comment: 12 page

Transport properties of heterogeneous materials derived from Gaussian random fields: Bounds and Simulation

We investigate the effective conductivity ($\sigma_e$) of a class of amorphous media defined by the level-cut of a Gaussian random field. The three point solid-solid correlation function is derived and utilised in the evaluation of the Beran-Milton bounds. Simulations are used to calculate $\sigma_e$ for a variety of fields and volume fractions at several different conductivity contrasts. Relatively large differences in $\sigma_e$ are observed between the Gaussian media and the identical overlapping sphere model used previously as a `model' amorphous medium. In contrast $\sigma_e$ shows little variability between different Gaussian media.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure

Recent global and regional trends in burned area and their compensating environmental controls

The apparent decline in the global incidence of fire between 1996 and 2015, as measured by satellite- observations of burned area, has been related to socioeconomic and land use changes. However, recent decades have also seen changes in climate and vegetation that influence fire and fire-enabled vegetation models do not reproduce the apparent decline. Given that the satellite-derived burned area datasets are still relatively short (<20 years), this raises questions both about the robustness of the apparent decline and what causes it. We use two global satellite-derived burned area datasets and a data-driven fire model to (1) assess the spatio-temporal robustness of the burned area trends and (2) to relate the trends to underlying changes in temperature, precipitation, human population density and vegetation conditions. Although the satellite datasets and simulation all show a decline in global burned area over ~20 years, the trend is not significant and is strongly affected by the start and end year chosen for trend analysis and the year-to-year variability in burned area. The global and regional trends shown by the two satellite datasets are poorly correlated for the common overlapping period (2001–2015) and the fire model simulates changes in global and regional burned area that lie within the uncertainties of the satellite datasets. The model simulations show that recent increases in temperature would lead to increased burned area but this effect is compensated by increasing wetness or increases in population, both of which lead to declining burned area. Increases in vegetation cover and density associated with recent greening trends lead to increased burned area in fuel-limited regions. Our analyses show that global and regional burned area trends result from the interaction of compensating trends in controls of wildfire at regional scales

A data-driven approach to identify controls on global fire activity from satellite and climate observations (SOFIA V1)

Vegetation fires affect human infrastructures, ecosystems, global vegetation distribution, and atmospheric composition. However, the climatic, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that control global fire activity in vegetation are only poorly understood, and in various complexities and formulations are represented in global process-oriented vegetation-fire models. Data-driven model approaches such as machine learning algorithms have successfully been used to identify and better understand controlling factors for fire activity. However, such machine learning models cannot be easily adapted or even implemented within process-oriented global vegetation-fire models. To overcome this gap between machine learning-based approaches and process-oriented global fire models, we introduce a new flexible data-driven fire modelling approach here (Satellite Observations to predict FIre Activity, SOFIA approach version 1). SOFIA models can use several predictor variables and functional relationships to estimate burned area that can be easily adapted with more complex process-oriented vegetation-fire models. We created an ensemble of SOFIA models to test the importance of several predictor variables. SOFIA models result in the highest performance in predicting burned area if they account for a direct restriction of fire activity under wet conditions and if they include a land cover-dependent restriction or allowance of fire activity by vegetation density and biomass. The use of vegetation optical depth data from microwave satellite observations, a proxy for vegetation biomass and water content, reaches higher model performance than commonly used vegetation variables from optical sensors. We further analyse spatial patterns of the sensitivity between anthropogenic, climate, and vegetation predictor variables and burned area. We finally discuss how multiple observational datasets on climate, hydrological, vegetation, and socioeconomic variables together with data-driven modelling and model–data integration approaches can guide the future development of global process-oriented vegetation-fire models