18,554 research outputs found
Quantum Decoherence of Photons in the Presence of Hidden U(1)s
Many extensions of the standard model predict the existence of hidden sectors
that may contain unbroken abelian gauge groups. We argue that in the presence
of quantum decoherence photons may convert into hidden photons on sufficiently
long time scales and show that this effect is strongly constrained by CMB and
supernova data. In particular, Planck-scale suppressed decoherence scales D ~
E^2/M_Pl (characteristic for non-critical string theories) are incompatible
with the presence of even a single hidden U(1). The corresponding bounds on the
decoherence scale are four orders of magnitude stronger than analogous bounds
derived from solar and reactor neutrino data and complement other bounds
derived from atmospheric neutrino data.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure
Role of resonances in rho^0 -> pi^+ pi^- gamma
We study the effect of the sigma(600) and a_1(1260) resonances in the rho^0
-> pi^+ pi^- gamma decay, within the meson dominance model. Major effects are
driven by the mass and width parameters of the sigma(600), and the usually
neglected contribution of the a_1(1260), although small by itself, may become
sizable through its interference with pion bremsstrahlung, and the proper
relative sign can favor the central value of the experimental branching ratio.
We present a procedure, using the gauge invariant structure of the resonant
amplitudes, to kinematically enhance the resonant effects in the angular and
energy distribution of the photon. We also elaborate on the coupling constants
involved.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PR
CP violation with a dynamical Higgs
We determine the complete set of independent gauge and gauge-Higgs CP-odd
effective operators for the generic case of a dynamical Higgs, up to four
derivatives in the chiral expansion. The relation with the linear basis of
dimension six CP-odd operators is clarified. Phenomenological applications
include bounds inferred from electric dipole moment limits, and from present
and future collider data on triple gauge coupling measurements and Higgs
signals.Comment: 41 pages, 3 figures; V2: citations added, typos corrected, version
published on JHE
Compositional uniformity, domain patterning and the mechanism underlying nano-chessboard arrays
We propose that systems exhibiting compositional patterning at the nanoscale,
so far assumed to be due to some kind of ordered phase segregation, can be
understood instead in terms of coherent, single phase ordering of minority
motifs, caused by some constrained drive for uniformity. The essential features
of this type of arrangements can be reproduced using a superspace construction
typical of uniformity-driven orderings, which only requires the knowledge of
the modulation vectors observed in the diffraction patterns. The idea is
discussed in terms of a simple two dimensional lattice-gas model that simulates
a binary system in which the dilution of the minority component is favored.
This simple model already exhibits a hierarchy of arrangements similar to the
experimentally observed nano-chessboard and nano-diamond patterns, which are
described as occupational modulated structures with two independent modulation
wave vectors and simple step-like occupation modulation functions.Comment: Preprint. 11 pages, 11 figure
The complete HEFT Lagrangian after the LHC Run I
The complete effective chiral Lagrangian for a dynamical Higgs is presented and constrained by means of a global analysis including electroweak precision data together with Higgs and triple gauge-boson coupling data from the LHC Run I. The operators’ basis up to next-to-leading order in the expansion consists of 148 (188 considering righthanded neutrinos) flavour universal terms and it is presented here making explicit the custodial nature of the operators. This effective Lagrangian provides the most general description of the physical Higgs couplings once the electroweak symmetry is assumed, and it allows for deviations from the SU (2)L doublet nature of the Standard Model Higgs. The comparison with the effective linear Lagrangian constructed with an exact SU (2)L doublet Higgs and considering operators with at most canonical dimension six is presented. A promising strategy to disentangle the two descriptions consists in analysing (i) anomalous signals present only in the chiral Lagrangian and not expected in the linear one, that are potentially relevant for LHC searches, and (ii) decorrelation effects between observables that are predicted to be correlated in the linear case and not in the chiral one. The global analysis presented here, which includes several kinematic distributions, is crucial for reducing the allowed parameter space and for controlling the correlations between parameters. This improves previous studies aimed at investigating the Higgs Nature and the origin of the electroweak symmetry breakingI.B. research was supported by an ESR contract of the EU network FP7 ITN INVISIBLES (Marie Curie Actions, PITN-GA-2011-289442).M.C.GG is supported by USA-NSF grant PHY-13-16617, by grants 2014- SGR-104 and by FPA2013-46570 and consolider-ingenio 2010 program CSD-2008-0037. L.M. acknowledge partial support of CiCYT through the project FPA2012-31880 and of the Spanish MINECO’s “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa” Programme under grant SEV- 2012-0249. M.C.G-G and L.M. acknowledge partial support by FP7 ITN INVISIBLES (PITN-GA-2011-289442), FP10 ITN ELUSIVES (H2020-MSCA-ITN-2015-674896) and INVISIBLES-PLUS (H2020- MSCA-RISE-2015-690575
Analytical interference by monoclonal immunoglobulins on the direct bilirubin AU Beckman Coulter assay: The benefit of unsuspected diagnosis from spurious results
Background: Monoclonal (M) components can interfere with the direct bilirubin (D-Bil) assay on the AU Beckman Coulter instrumentation and produce spurious results, such as D-Bil values greater than total bilirubin (T-Bil) or very low/negative D-Bil values. If properly detected, this interference may uncover undiagnosed patients with monoclonal gammopathy (MG).Methods: We investigated the interference rate on the D-Bil AU assay in serum samples known to contain M proteins along with their isotype and described the protocol set up in our laboratory to help with the diagnosis of MG based on D-Bil spurious results as first indication.Results: During a period of 4 years, 15.4% (345 of 2235) of serum samples containing M immunoglobulins produced erroneous D-Bil results, although no clear relationship between the magnitude or isotype of the M component and interference could be found. In total 22 new patients were diagnosed with MG based on the analytical artefact with the D-Bil as first indication.Conclusions: The D-Bil interference from MG on the Beckman AU analysers needs to be made known to laboratories in order to prevent clinical confusion and/or additional workup to explain the origin of anomalous results. Although this information may not add to the management of existing patients with serum paraproteins, it can benefit patients that have not been diagnosed with MG by triggering follow up testing to determine if M components are present
Disentangling a dynamical Higgs
The pattern of deviations from Standard Model predictions and couplings is
different for theories of new physics based on a non-linear realization of the
gauge symmetry breaking and those assuming a linear
realization. We clarify this issue in a model-independent way via its effective
Lagrangian formulation in the presence of a light Higgs particle, up to first
order in the expansions: dimension-six operators for the linear expansion and
four derivatives for the non-linear one. Complete sets of pure gauge and
gauge-Higgs operators are considered, implementing the renormalization
procedure and deriving the Feynman rules for the non-linear expansion. We
establish the theoretical relation and the differences in physics impact
between the two expansions. Promising discriminating signals include the
decorrelation in the non-linear case of signals correlated in the linear one:
some pure gauge versus gauge-Higgs couplings and also between couplings with
the same number of Higgs legs. Furthermore, anomalous signals expected at first
order in the non-linear realization may appear only at higher orders of the
linear one, and vice versa. We analyze in detail the impact of both type of
discriminating signals on LHC physics.Comment: Version published in JHE
Active galactic nuclei synapses: X-ray versus optical classifications using artificial neural networks
(Abridged) Many classes of active galactic nuclei (AGN) have been defined
entirely throughout optical wavelengths while the X-ray spectra have been very
useful to investigate their inner regions. However, optical and X-ray results
show many discrepancies that have not been fully understood yet. The aim of
this paper is to study the "synapses" between the X-ray and optical
classifications.
For the first time, the new EFLUXER task allowed us to analyse broad band
X-ray spectra of emission line nuclei (ELN) without any prior spectral fitting
using artificial neural networks (ANNs). Our sample comprises 162 XMM-Newton/pn
spectra of 90 local ELN in the Palomar sample. It includes starbursts (SB),
transition objects (T2), LINERs (L1.8 and L2), and Seyferts (S1, S1.8, and S2).
The ANNs are 90% efficient at classifying the trained classes S1, S1.8, and
SB. The S1 and S1.8 classes show a wide range of S1- and S1.8-like components.
We suggest that this is related to a large degree of obscuration at X-rays. The
S1, S1.8, S2, L1.8, L2/T2/SB-AGN (SB with indications of AGN), and SB classes
have similar average X-ray spectra within each class, but these average spectra
can be distinguished from class to class. The S2 (L1.8) class is linked to the
S1.8 (S1) class with larger SB-like component than the S1.8 (S1) class. The L2,
T2, and SB-AGN classes conform a class in the X-rays similar to the S2 class
albeit with larger fractions of SB-like component. This SB-like component is
the contribution of the star-formation in the host galaxy, which is large when
the AGN is weak. An AGN-like component seems to be present in the vast majority
of the ELN, attending to the non-negligible fraction of S1-like or S1.8-like
component. This trained ANN could be used to infer optical properties from
X-ray spectra in surveys like eRosita.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Appendix B only
in the full version of the paper here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3484086/AGNSynapsis_OGM_online.pd
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