Enhanced Higgs boson production and avoidance of CP-violation and FCNC in the MPP inspired 2HDM

The multiple point principle (MPP) can be used to suppress non--diagonal flavour transitions and CP violation in the two Higgs doublet extension of the standard model. We discuss the quasi--fixed point scenario in the MPP inspired two Higgs doublet model which leads to the enhanced production of Higgs particles at the LHC if the MPP scale is low.Comment: Talk given at the 2007 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Manchester, England, 19-25 July 2007, CERN preprint number added, references update

Trying to understand the Standard Model parameters

We stress the importance of the circa 20 parameters in the Standard Model, which are not fixed by the model but only determined experimentally, as a window to the physics beyond the Standard Model. However, it is a tiny window in as far as these numbers contain only the information corresponding to about one line of text. Looking for a method to study these coupling and mass parameters, we put forward the idea of the Multiple Point Principle as a first step. This principle states that Nature adjusts the coupling and mass parameters so as to make many different vacuum states exist and have approximately the same energy densities (cosmological constants). As an illustrative application, we put up the proposal that a small increase (maybe only an infinitesimal one) in the value of the top quark coupling constant could lead to a new vacuum phase; in this new phase the binding of a bound state of 6 top quarks and 6 anti-top quarks becomes so strong as to become a tachyon and condense in the vacuum. Assuming the existence of a third degenerate vacuum at the fundamental energy scale, we present a solution to the hierarchy problem of why the ratio of the fundamental scale to the electroweak scale is so large. We also present a 5 parameter fit to the orders of magnitude of the quark-lepton masses and mixing angles in the Family Replicated Gauge Group Model. In this model, the Standard Model gauge group and a gauged B-L (baryon number minus lepton number) is extended to one set of gauge fields for each family of fermions.Comment: Institute address corrected and one reference adde

The Hierarchy Problem and an Exotic Bound State

The Multiple Point Principle, according to which there exist many vacuum states with the same energy density, is put forward as a fine-tuning mechanism. By assuming the existence of three degenerate vacua, we derive the hierarchical ratio between the fundamental (Planck) and electroweak scales in the Standard Model. In one of these phases, 6 top quarks and 6 anti-top quarks bind so strongly by Higgs exchange as to become tachyonic and form a condensate. The third degenerate vacuum is taken to have a Higgs field expectation value of the order of the fundamental scale.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology (PASCOS04), Boston, 16-22 August 200

The ‘regulated death’: a documentary analysis of the regulation and inspection of dying and death in English care homes for older people.

In England, processes of regulation and inspection have been established to ensure that older people living in long-term care settings receive quality care. This paper describes how dying and death in care homes for older people is regulated and inspected. A documentary analysis was undertaken of the standard that addresses dying and death in the 2001 Care Homes for Older People: National Minimum Standards. Present in the standard is a ‘good death’ template drawn from constructions of best practice in palliative care. The way in which this national standard is enacted in the inspection process is described using a content analysis of the inspection reports from 226 care homes for older people. These present a narrow focus on dying and death, one that emphasises the older person's wishes and the degree of adherence to policies and procedures concerned with the dying and death event. A regulated death attenuates the ‘good death’ template and reflects both the inspection process and capabilities of the residents of care homes. If the regulation and inspection process is to integrate dying with living, a broader conception and regime of inspection is required. Only then will end-of-life care be provided that meets the diverse needs of older people who live in care homes