Measuring the SUSY Breaking Scale at the LHC in the Slepton NLSP Scenario of GMSB Models

We report a study on the measurement of the SUSY breaking scale sqrt(F) in the framework of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) models at the LHC. The work is focused on the GMSB scenario where a stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and decays into a gravitino with lifetime c*tau_NLSP in the range 0.5 m to 1 km. We study the identification of long-lived sleptons using the momentum and time of flight measurements in the muon chambers of the ATLAS experiment. A realistic evaluation of the statistical and systematic uncertainties on the measurement of the slepton mass and lifetime is performed, based on a detailed simulation of the detector response. Accessible range and precision on sqrt(F) achievable with a counting method are assessed. Many features of our analysis can be extended to the study of different theoretical frameworks with similar signatures at the LHC.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figures (18 eps files). Revised version v2(published in JHEP): Some important corrections and additions to v

Aspects of GMSB Phenomenology at TeV Colliders

The status of two on-going studies concerning important aspects of the phenomenology of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB) models at TeV colliders is reported. The first study deals with the characteristics of the light Higgs boson spectrum allowed by the (minimal and non-minimal) GMSB framework. Today's most accurate GMSB model generation and two-loop Feynman-diagrammatic calculation of m_h have been combined. The Higgs masses are shown in dependence of various model parameters at the messenger and electroweak scales. In the minimal model, an upper limit on m_h of about 124 GeV is found for m_t = 175 GeV. The second study is focused on the measurement of the fundamental SUSY breaking scale sqrt(F) at the LHC in the GMSB scenario where a stau is the next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and decays into a gravitino with c*tau_NLSP in the range 0.5 m to 1 km. This implies the measurement of mass and lifetime of long lived sleptons. The identification is performed by determining the time of flight in the ATLAS muon chambers. Accessible range and precision on sqrt(F) achievable with a counting method are assessed.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures (12 eps files). Report of the GMSB SUSY Working Group, Workshop "Physics at TeV Colliders", Les Houches, 7-18 June 1999. Revised version v3: A few typos correcte

Geometria e progetto. Ipotesi di riuso per il palazzo Vernazza a Castri

Dall’Antichità al Rinascimento, da Pitagora a Keplero, aritmetica, geometria, musica e astronomia hanno indagato il numero, lo spazio, il suono e il movimento dei corpi celesti. Queste quattro discipline venivano già pensate e insegnate da Platone come un insieme unitario, che fondeva lo studio degli oggetti matematici con l’aspirazione filosofica al vero, al bello e al bene. Il Quadrivium viene reinterpretato in questo lavoro e l’edificio diviene testimone, testo parlante, memoria scritta in molti linguaggi e restituisce al lettore di oggi un patrimonio un tempo riservato a pochi. Il Palazzo Vernazza di Castri di Lecce è studiato in questa sperimentazione progettuale a partire dalla riscoperta della sua misura storica, con il contributo delle moderne tecniche di rilievo che hanno supportato questi studi, allo scopo di assegnare al progetto contemporaneo una base linguistica invisibile, un alfabeto che strutturi la costruzione del nuovo

Floquet Chern Insulators of Light

Achieving topologically-protected robust transport in optical systems has recently been of great interest. Most topological photonic structures can be understood by solving the eigenvalue problem of Maxwell's equations for a static linear system. Here, we extend topological phases into dynamically driven nonlinear systems and achieve a Floquet Chern insulator of light in nonlinear photonic crystals (PhCs). Specifically, we start by presenting the Floquet eigenvalue problem in driven two-dimensional PhCs and show it is necessarily non-Hermitian. We then define topological invariants associated with Floquet bands using non-Hermitian topological band theory, and show that topological band gaps with non-zero Chern number can be opened by breaking time-reversal symmetry through the driving field. Furthermore, we show that topological phase transitions between Floquet Chern insulators and normal insulators occur at synthetic Weyl points in a three-dimensional parameter space consisting of two momenta and the driving frequency. Finally, we numerically demonstrate the existence of chiral edge states at the interfaces between a Floquet Chern insulator and normal insulators, where the transport is non-reciprocal and uni-directional. Our work paves the way to further exploring topological phases in driven nonlinear optical systems and their optoelectronic applications, and our method of inducing Floquet topological phases is also applicable to other wave systems, such as phonons, excitons, and polaritons

Web-mediated communication experiences at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

The newer communication tools have changed the relationship between science and society. Internet pervasiveness led citizens to rapidly inform through on line sources, and, on the other hand, to provide themselves information. From an institutional communication' perspective this new sociotechnical landscape forces scientists to rapidly adequate to web population requirements. Questions and comments posted to INGV web sites during the 2009 L'Aquila (Italy) seismic sequence gave significant hints about demand of information. They included: questions concerning possible evolution of the sequence; clarifications about news reported by media, asking for detailed explanations and/or qualified opinions; requests for help in providing information to population; notices about information available on INGV web sites; communication of felt seismic effects. P eople who post questions to INGV institutional web sites are themselves information suppliers, in providing: what they felt, in case of posting macroseismic effects; what they heard about the earthquake from other sources; how they feel (worried, confident, grateful ...); what they know and what they want to know; what they actually understand from the scientific website. From the point of view of a scientific organization, this kind of web-mediated communication is precious in that it can reveal and provide many clues about: 1) public expectations and understanding of on going scientific activities 2) to what extent information dissemination, communication and outreach activities can be considered effective or to which extent they need improvements. A mutual approaching is needed. Seismologists acting as responders during an emergency perform a delicate job: they have to be transparent and make themselves understood; comprehension of scientific information would benefit of appropriate outreach activities carried on during all the time. Consisting the INGV web disseminating system of several institutional and thematic web sites, similar patterns of questions and comments emerge: "network effect", when questions are posted at the end of a navigation session through different web sites, and may not pertain to the content of that specific website; "resonance effect", when more questions about earthquakes are posted soon after a big one. A "welcome" effect is also manifest, as experts providing accurate replies in a timely fashion stimulate web visitors in posting new questions. Case studies of web-mediated communication will be discussed, as experimented by the Institute through the nodes of its web disseminating system

Contribution to the study of the Apulian microplate geodynamics

The fragmentation of the collisional border between the African and European plates has also originated the Apulian (Adriatic) microplate. Recent studies show the possibility of a non-unitary geodynamic evolution of this microplate: palaeomagnetic data from North-Western Greece and Southern Apulia indicate a different rotational behaviour. Between 41' and 43' latitude North, regional strike-slip fault systems cut crosswise the Adriatic basin, breaking the Adriatic block in at least two minor elements. The intense seismicity points out an active defonnational area. In the same region also other geophysical data identify a transitional zone

Ultrahigh energy neutrino scattering onto relic light neutrinos in galactic halo as a possible source of highest energy extragalactic cosmic rays

The diffuse relic neutrinos with light mass are transparent to Ultrahigh energy (UHE) neutrinos at thousands EeV, born by photoproduction of pions by UHE protons on relic 2.73 K BBR radiation and originated in AGNs at cosmic distances. However these UHE $\nu$s may interact with those (mainly heaviest $\nu_{\mu_r}$, $\nu_{\tau_r}$ and respective antineutrinos) clustered into HDM galactic halos. UHE photons or protons, secondaries of $\nu\nu_r$ scattering, might be the final observed signature of such high-energy chain reactions and may be responsible of the highest extragalactic cosmic-ray (CR) events. The chain-reactions conversion efficiency, ramifications and energetics are considered for the October 1991 CR event at 320 EeV observed by the Fly's Eye detector in Utah. These quantities seem compatible with the distance, direction and power (observed at MeV gamma energies) of the Seyfert galaxy MCG 8-11-11. The $\nu\nu_r$ interaction probability is favoured by at least three order of magnitude with respect to a direct $\nu$ scattering onto the Earth atmosphere. Therefore, it may better explain the extragalactic origin of the puzzling 320 EeV event, while offering indirect evidence of a hot dark galactic halo of light (i.e., $m_\nu\sim$ tens eV) neutrinos, probably of tau flavour.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure minor corrections, updated references. In press in AP

Associated production of a light Higgs boson and a chargino pair in the MSSM at linear colliders

In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), we study the light Higgs-boson radiation off a light-chargino pair in the process e+e- -> h chi^+ chi^- at linear colliders with \sqs=500 GeV. We analyze cross sections in the regions of the MSSM parameter space where the process can not proceed via on-shell production and subsequent decay of either heavier charginos or the pseudoscalar Higgs boson A. Cross sections up to a few fb's are allowed, according to present experimental limits on the Higgs-boson, chargino and sneutrino masses. We also show how a measurement of the process production rate could provide a determination of the Higgs-boson couplings to charginos.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures; figure misplacement fixed; to appear in Eur.Phys.J.

Yet another way to measure γ\gamma

We show that the CKM phase $2 \beta+\gamma$ can be extracted from measurement of the time dependent rates in the decays $\bar{B}^0 \to D^{(*)\pm} M^\mp$ and $B^0 \to D^{(*)\pm} M^\mp$, where $M=a_0$, $\pi(1300)$, $b_1$, $a_2$, $\pi_2$, $\rho_3$. These channels have a large asymmetry between decays of $\bar{B}^0$ and $B^0$ into the same final state. Even though the branching ratios are small, their sensitivity to $\gamma$ can be competitive with decays into $D^{(*)}$ and $(\pi,\rho,a_1)$.Comment: 5 pages, some clarifications and references adde