Flavor Physics in SO(10) GUTs with Suppressed Proton decay Due to Gauged Discrete Symmetry

Generic SO(10) GUT models suffer from the problem that Planck scale induced non-renormalizable proton decay operators require extreme suppression of their couplings to be compatible with present experimental upper limits. One way to resolve this problem is to supplement SO(10) by simple gauged discrete symmetries which can also simultaneously suppress the renormalizable R-parity violating ones when they occur and make the theory "more natural". Here we discuss the phenomenological viability of such models. We first show that for both classes of models, e.g the ones that use ${\bf 16}_H$ or ${\bf 126}_H$ to break B-L symmetry, the minimal Higgs content which is sufficient for proton decay suppression is inadequate for explaining fermion masses despite the presence of all apparently needed couplings. We then present an extended ${\bf 16}_H$ model, with three {\bf 10} and three {\bf 45}-Higgs, where is free of this problem. We propose this as a realistic and "natural" model for fermion unification and discuss the phenomenology of this model e.g. its predictions for neutrino mixings and lepton flavor violation.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

Superconformal Technicolor

In supersymmetric theories with a strong conformal sector, soft supersymmetry breaking at the TeV scale naturally gives rise to confinement and chiral symmetry breaking at the same scale. We investigate models where such a sector dynamically breaks electroweak symmetry. We consider two scenarios, one where the strong dynamics induces vacuum expectation values for elementary Higgs fields, and another where the strong dynamics is solely responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. In both cases there is no fine tuning required to explain the absence of a Higgs boson below the LEP bound, solving the supersymmetry naturalness problem. A good precision electroweak fit can be obtained, and quark and lepton masses are generated without flavor-changing neutral currents. Electroweak symmetry breaking may be dominated either by the elementary Higgs bosons or by the strong dynamics. In addition to standard superymmetry collider signals, these models predict production of multiple heavy standard model particles (t, W, Z, and b) from decays of resonances in the strong sector.Comment: 4 pages; v2: minor changes, references adde

Flavor Violation Tests of Warped/Composite SM in the Two-Site Approach

We study flavor violation in the quark sector in a purely 4D, two-site effective field theory description of the Standard Model and just their first Kaluza-Klein excitations from a warped extra dimension. The warped 5D framework can provide solutions to both the Planck-weak and flavor hierarchies of the SM. It is also related (via the AdS/CFT correspondence) to partial compositeness of the SM. We focus on the dominant contributions in the two-site model to two observables which we argue provide the strongest flavor constraints, namely, epsilon_K and BR(b -> s gamma), where contributions in the two-site model occur at tree and loop-level, respectively. In particular, we demonstrate that a "tension" exists between these two observables in the sense that they have opposite dependence on composite site Yukawa couplings, making it difficult to decouple flavor-violating effects using this parameter. We choose the size of the composite site QCD coupling based on the relation of the two-site model to the 5D model (addressing the Planck-weak hierarchy), where we match the 5D QCD coupling to the 4D coupling at the loop-level and assuming negligible tree-level brane-localized kinetic terms. We estimate that a larger size of the 5D gauge coupling is constrained by the requirement of 5D perturbativity. We find that \sim O(5) TeV mass scale for the new particles in the two-site model can then be consistent with both observables. We also compare our analysis of epsilon_K in the two-site model to that in 5D models, including both the cases of a brane-localized and bulk Higgs.Comment: 46 pages with 10 figure

Precision diboson measurements at hadron colliders

We discuss the measurements of the anomalous triple gauge couplings at Large Hadron Collider focusing on the contribution of the O-3W and O-3 (W) over tilde operators. These deviations were known to be particularly hard to measure due to their suppressed interference with the SM amplitudes in the inclusive processes, leading to approximate flat directions in the space of these Wilson coefficients. We present the prospects for the measurements of these interactions at HL-LHC and HE-LHC using exclusive variables sensitive to the interference terms and taking carefully into account effects appearing due to NLO QCD corrections

Model-Independent Bounds on a Light Higgs

We present up-to-date constraints on a generic Higgs parameter space. An accurate assessment of these exclusions must take into account statistical, and potentially signal, fluctuations in the data currently taken at the LHC. For this, we have constructed a straightforward statistical method for making full use of the data that is publicly available. We show that, using the expected and observed exclusions which are quoted for each search channel, we can fully reconstruct likelihood profiles under very reasonable and simple assumptions. Even working with this somewhat limited information, we show that our method is sufficiently accurate to warrant its study and advocate its use over more naive prescriptions. Using this method, we can begin to narrow in on the remaining viable parameter space for a Higgs-like scalar state, and to ascertain the nature of any hints of new physics---Higgs or otherwise---appearing in the data.Comment: 32 pages, 10 figures; v3: correction made to basis of four-derivative operators in the effective Lagrangian, references adde

Higgs Production from Gluon Fusion in Warped Extra Dimensions

We present an analysis of the loop-induced couplings of the Higgs boson to the massless gauge fields (gluons and photons) in the warped extra dimension models where all Standard Model fields propagate in the bulk. We show that in such models corrections to the hgg and $h{\gamma}{\gamma}$ couplings are potentially very large. These corrections can lead to generically sizable deviations in the production and decay rates of the Higgs boson, even when the new physics states lie beyond the direct reach of the LHC.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. Added Appendix C, minor changes in the text, replaced figures 2-

Resolving gluon fusion loops at current and future hadron colliders

Inclusive Higgs measurements at the LHC have limited resolution on the gluon fusion loops, being unable to distinguish the long-distance contributions mediated by the top quark from possible short-distance new physics effects. Using an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach we compare several proposed methods to lift this degeneracy, including tt\uaf h and boosted, off-shell and double Higgs production, and perform detailed projections to the High-Luminosity LHC and a future hadron collider. In addition, we revisit off-shell Higgs production. Firstly, we point out its sensitivity to modifications of the top-Z couplings, and by means of a general analysis we show that the reach is comparable to that of tree-level processes such as tt\uaf Z production. Implications for composite Higgs models are also discussed. Secondly, we assess the regime of validity of the EFT, performing an explicit comparison for a simple extension of the Standard Model containing one vector-like quark. \ua9 2016, The Author(s)

Higgs boson production via vector-like top-partner decays: diphoton or multilepton plus multijets channels at the LHC

We first build a minimal model of vector-like quarks where the dominant Higgs boson production process at LHC -- the gluon fusion -- can be significantly suppressed, being motivated by the recent stringent constraints from the search for direct Higgs production over a wide Higgs mass range. Within this model, compatible with the present experimental constraints on direct Higgs searches, we demonstrate that the Higgs ($h$) production via a heavy vector-like top-partner ($t_2$) decay, $pp \to t_2 \bar t_2$, $t_2\to t h$, allows to discover a Higgs boson at the LHC and measure its mass, through the decay channels $h\to \gamma\gamma$ or $h\to ZZ$. We also comment on the recent hint in LHC data from a possible $\sim 125$ GeV Higgs scalar, in the presence of heavy vector-like top quarks.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Nonlinear QED and Physical Lorentz Invariance

The spontaneous breakdown of 4-dimensional Lorentz invariance in the framework of QED with the nonlinear vector potential constraint A_{\mu}^{2}=M^{2}(where M is a proposed scale of the Lorentz violation) is shown to manifest itself only as some noncovariant gauge choice in the otherwise gauge invariant (and Lorentz invariant) electromagnetic theory. All the contributions to the photon-photon, photon-fermion and fermion-fermion interactions violating the physical Lorentz invariance happen to be exactly cancelled with each other in the manner observed by Nambu a long ago for the simplest tree-order diagrams - the fact which we extend now to the one-loop approximation and for both the time-like (M^{2}>0) and space-like (M^{2}<0) Lorentz violation. The way how to reach the physical breaking of the Lorentz invariance in the pure QED case taken in the flat Minkowskian space-time is also discussed in some detail.Comment: 16 pages, 2 Postscript figures to be published in Phys. Rev.

The actin crosslinking protein palladin modulates force generation and mechanosensitivity of tumor associated fibroblasts

Cells organize actin filaments into higher-order structures by regulating the composition, distribution and concentration of actin crosslinkers. Palladin is an actin crosslinker found in the lamellar actin network and stress fibers, which are critical for mechanosensing of the environment. Palladin also serves as a molecular scaffold for α-actinin, another key actin crosslinker. By virtue of its close interactions with actomyosin structures in the cell, palladin may play an important role in cell mechanics. However, the role of palladin in cellular force generation and mechanosensing has not been studied. Here, we investigate the role of palladin in regulating the plasticity of the actin cytoskeleton and cellular force generation in response to alterations in substrate stiffness. Traction force microscopy revealed that tumor-associated fibroblasts generate larger forces on substrates of increased stiffness. Contrary to expectations, knocking down palladin increased the forces generated by cells and inhibited their ability to sense substrate stiffness for very stiff gels. This was accompanied by significant differences in actin organization, adhesion dynamics and altered myosin organization in palladin knock-down cells. Our results suggest that actin crosslinkers such as palladin and myosin motors coordinate for optimal cell function and to prevent aberrant behavior as in cancer metastasis