Second Order Noncommutative Corrections to Gravity

In this work, we calculate the leading order corrections to general relativity formulated on a canonical noncommutative spacetime. These corrections appear in the second order of the expansion in theta. First order corrections can only appear in the gravity-matter interactions. Some implications are briefly discussed.Comment: 10 page

Noncommutative General Relativity

We define a theory of noncommutative general relativity for canonical noncommutative spaces. We find a subclass of general coordinate transformations acting on canonical noncommutative spacetimes to be volume-preserving transformations. Local Lorentz invariance is treated as a gauge theory with the spin connection field taken in the so(3,1) enveloping algebra. The resulting theory appears to be a noncommutative extension of the unimodular theory of gravitation. We compute the leading order noncommutative correction to the action and derive the noncommutative correction to the equations of motion of the weak gravitation field.Comment: v2: 10 pages, Discussion on noncommutative coordinate transformations has been changed. Corresponding changes have been made throughout the pape

Environmental Factors and Limbic Vulnerability in Childhood Autism

The rise in prevalence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is suggestive of a new etiology. Diagnostic substitution alone is unlikely to account for the increase, while genetic association with detoxification gene alleles points to an environmental contribution. Subtle structural anomalies in the ASD brain are widespread but limbic damage seems important for the development of behaviors diagnostic of ASD. The limbic brain is especially susceptible to environmental challenge: internal sensing, physiological feedback and neuroinflammatory processes may underlie this sensitivity to insult. Primary damage leading to ASD in later life is likely to take place in utero and/or in the immediate postnatal period. Despite evidence of heavy metal involvement, a causal connection may not yet be concluded because subjects exposed to metals tend to be exposed to other environmental agents. Because maternal minerals and lipids are supplied to the unborn child, historic toxic exposure of the mother may be pivotal. A two-hit combination of genetic susceptibility and environmental challenge is argued to underlie the rise in ASD

Unitarisation of EFT Amplitudes for Dark Matter Searches at the LHC

We propose a new approach to the LHC dark matter search analysis within the effective field theory (EFT) framework by utilising the K-matrix unitarisation formalism. This approach provides a reasonable estimate of the dark matter production cross section at high energies, and hence allows reliable bounds to be placed on the cut-off scale of relevant operators without running into the problem of perturbative unitarity violation. We exemplify this procedure for the effective operator D5 in monojet dark matter searches in the collinear approximation. We compare our bounds to those obtained using the truncation method and identify a parameter region where the unitarisation prescription leads to more stringent bounds.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures. References added and minor corrections made to match published versio

New Solution to Doublet-Triplet Splitting Problem in SU(N) SUSY GUTs: Towards an Unification of Flavour

The missing VEV solution to the doublet-triplet splitting problem in general SU(N) SUSY GUTs is found. Remarkably enough, it requires a strict equality of numbers of the fundamental colours and flavours in SU(N) and for the even-order groups (N=2k) gives the predominant breaking channel $SU(N) \to SU(k-1)_c\otimes SU(k-1)_f\otimes SU(2)_w\otimes U(1)\otimes U(1)'$ in the parameter natural area. The flavour subsymmetry breaking owing to some generic string inspired extra symmetries of the Higgs superpotential appears not to affect markedly the basic adjoint vacuum configuration in the model. Thus the both salient features of SM just as an interplay between colours and flavours (or families for due assignment of quarks and leptons) so the doublet structure of the weak interactions could be properly understood and accommodated in the framework of the minimal SU(8) model. Among its predictions the most crucial one belongs to the existence on the TeV scale just three families of pseudo-Goldstone bosons and their superpartners 3(5+\bar 5) + SU(5)-singlets which noticeably improve the unification picture of MSSM.Comment: 13 pages, LaTe