Superstring Relics, Supersymmetric Fragmentation and UHECR

Superstring theory predicts the existence of relic metastable particles whose average lifetime is longer than the age of the universe and which could, in principle, be good dark matter candidates. At the same time, these states would be responsible for the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECR) events which will be searched for by various experimental collaborations in the near future. We describe a possible phenomenological path which could be followed in order to search for new physics in their detection.Comment: 7 pages 4 Figs. Plenary Talk presented by Claudio Coriano' at the 1st Intl. Conf. on String Phenomenology, Oxford, UK, July 6-11, 200

Stuckelberg Axions and the Effective Action of Anomalous Abelian Models 1. A unitarity analysis of the Higgs-axion mixing

We analyze the quantum consistency of anomalous abelian models and of their effective field theories, rendered anomaly-free by a Wess-Zumino term, in the case of multiple abelian symmetries. These models involve the combined Higgs-Stuckelberg mechanism and predict a pseudoscalar axion-like field that mixes with the goldstones of the ordinary Higgs sector. We focus our study on the issue of unitarity of these models both before and after spontaneous symmetry breaking and detail the set of Ward identities and the organization of the loop expansion in the effective theory. The analysis is performed on simple models where we show, in general, the emergence of new effective vertices determined by certain anomalous interactions.Comment: 67 pages, 26 figures, replaced with revised final version, to appear on JHE

St\"uckelino Dark Matter in Anomalous U(1)' Models

We study a possible dark matter candidate in the framework of a minimal anomalous $U(1)'$ extension of the MSSM. It turns out that in a suitable decoupling limit the St\"uckelino, the fermionic degree of freedom of the St\"uckelberg multiplet, is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP). We compute the relic density of this particle including coannihilations with the next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) and with the next to next to lightest supersymmetric particle (NNLSP) which are assumed almost degenerate in mass. This assumption is needed in order to satisfy the stringent limits that the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) puts on the relic density. We find that the WMAP constraints can be satisifed by different NLSP and NNLSP configurations as a function of the mass gap with the LSP. These results hold in the parameter space region where the model remains perturbative.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, improved section 5, revised version published on EPJ

Polarized and unpolarized double prommpt photon production in next-to-leading order QCD

We calculate O({alpha}{sub s}) corrections to inclusive and isolated double prompt photon production, both for the unpolarized case, and for longitudinal polarization of the incoming hadrons. The calculation is performed using purely analytical techniques for the inclusive case, and a combination of analytical and Monte Carlo techniques to perform the phase space integration in the isolated case. A brief phenomenological study is made of the process pp {r_arrow} {gamma}{gamma}X at CMS energies appropriate for the RHIC heavy ion collider. 21 refs., 8 figs

Volcanic Stratigraphy of Hannah Point, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

The Upper Cretaceous volcanic succession of Hannah Point is the best exposure of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group on Livingston Island. The aim of the present paper is to contribute to the characterisation of the stratigraphy and petrography of this little studied succession, and briefly discuss some aspects of the eruptive style of its volcanism. The succession is about 470 m thick and is here subdivided into five lithostratigraphic units (A to E from base to top). Unit A, approximately 120 m thick, is mainly composed of polymict clast-supported volcaniclastic breccias and also includes a dacitic lava laye r. Interstratified in the breccias of this unit, there is a thin laminated devitrified layer which shows some degree of welding. Unit B, approximately 70 m thick, is almost entirely composed of volcaniclastic breccias, and includes a volcaniclastic conglomerate layer. Breccias in this unit can be subdivided into two distinct types; polymict clast-supported breccias, and monomict matrix-supported breccias rich in juvenile components and displaying incipient welding. Unit C, about 65 m thick, is mainly composed of basaltic lavas, which are interlayered with minor volcaniclastic breccias. Unit D, approximately 65 m thick, is lithologically similar to unit B, composed of an alternation of polymict clasts upported breccias and matrix-supported breccias, and includes a volcaniclastic conglomerate layer. Unit E, about 150 m thick, is mainly formed of thick andesitic lava layers. Minor basaltic dykes and a few normal faults cut the succession, and the contact between units A and B can be interpreted both as an unconformity or a fault. The matrix-supported breccias included in the succession of Hannah Point have high contents of juvenile components and incipient welding, which suggest that part of the succession is the result of pyroclastic fragmentation and emplacement from pyroclastic flows. In contrast, the polymict clast-supported breccias suggest reworking of previous deposits and deposition from cool mass flows. The lavas indicate effusive volcanic eruptions, and the absence of features indicative of subaqueous volcanism suggests that at least these portions of the succession were emplaced in a subaerial environment

Unification and fermion mass relations in low string scale D-brane models

In this talk, gauge coupling evolution is analyzed in D-brane inspired models with two Higgs doublets and a U(3)xU(2)xU(1)^N gauge symmetry. In particular, we focus on D-brane configurations with two or three abelian factors. We find that the correct hypercharge assignment of the Standard Model particles is reproduced for six viable models distinguished by different brane configurations. We also investigate the bottom tau quark mass relation and find that the correct low energy m_b / m_\tau ratio is obtained for equal b-\tau Yukawa couplings at a string scale around 10^3 TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures. Talk presented at the ``Corfu Summer Institute'', Corfu-Greece, September 4-14, 2005. To appear in the proceedings of RTN workshop on the Quest for Unification Theory Confronts Experimen

t-channel Approach to Reggeon Interactions in QCD

Starting from the multi-Regge effective action for high-energy scattering in QCD a $t$-channel approach can be developed which is similar to the approach by White based on general Regge arguments. The BFKL kernel of reggeized gluon interaction, contributions to the $2 \rightarrow 4$ reggeized gluon vertex function and the one-loop correction to the BFKL kernel are considered. The conditions are discussed under which this approach can provide a simple estimante of the next-to-leading logarithmic corrections to the BFKL perturbative pomeron intercept.Comment: latex , 17 figures appended as compressed uuencoded eps file

Deeply Virtual Neutrino Scattering (DVNS)

We introduce the study of neutrino scattering off protons in the deeply virtual kinematics, which describes under a unified formalism elastic and deep inelastic neutrino scattering. A real final state photon and a recoiling nucleon are detected in the few GeV ($|t|\sim 0.2-5$ GeV) region of momentum transfer. This is performed via an extension of the notion of deeply virtual Compton scattering, or DVCS, to the case of a neutral current exchange. The relevance of this process and of other similar exclusive processes for the study of neutrino interactions in neutrino factories for GeV neutrinos is pointed out.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures, revised final version, to appear in JHE

Particle Physics Explanations for Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Events

The origin of cosmic ray events with E \gsim 10^{11} GeV remains mysterious. In this talk I briefly summarize several proposed particle physics explanations: a breakdown of Lorentz invariance, the ``$Z-$burst'' scenario, new hadrons with masses of several GeV as primaries, and magnetic monopoles with mass below $10^{10}$ GeV as primaries. I then describe in a little more detail the idea that these events are due to the decays of very massive, long--lived exotic particles.Comment: Invited plenary talk at PASCOS03, Mumbai, India, January 2003; 13 pages, 1 figur

Probing mSUGRA via the Extreme Universe Space Observatory

An analysis is carried out within mSUGRA of the estimated number of events originating from upward moving ultra-high energy neutralinos that could be detected by the Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO). The analysis exploits a recently proposed technique that differentiates ultra-high energy neutralinos from ultra-high energy neutrinos using their different absorption lengths in the Earth's crust. It is shown that for a significant part of the parameter space, where the neutralino is mostly a Bino and with squark mass $\sim 1$ TeV, EUSO could see ultra-high energy neutralino events with essentially no background. In the energy range 10^9 GeV < E < 10^11 GeV, the unprecedented aperture of EUSO makes the telescope sensitive to neutralino fluxes as low as 1.1 \times 10^{-6} (E/GeV)^{-1.3} GeV^{-1} cm^{-2} yr^{-1} sr^{-1}, at the 95% CL. Such a hard spectrum is characteristic of supermassive particles' $N$-body hadronic decay. The case in which the flux of ultra-high energy neutralinos is produced via decay of metastable heavy particles with uniform distribution throughout the universe is analyzed in detail. The normalization of the ratio of the relics' density to their lifetime has been fixed so that the baryon flux produced in the supermassive particle decays contributes to about 1/3 of the events reported by the AGASA Collaboration below 10^{11} GeV, and hence the associated GeV gamma-ray flux is in complete agreement with EGRET data. For this particular case, EUSO will collect between 4 and 5 neutralino events (with 0.3 of background) in ~ 3 yr of running. NASA's planned mission, the Orbiting Wide-angle Light-collectors (OWL), is also briefly discussed in this context.Comment: Some discussion added, final version to be published in Physical Review