Flavor Structure and Supersymmetric CP-Violation

In this talk, we address the possibility of finding supersymmetry through indirect searches in the K and B systems. We prove that, in the absence of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase, a general Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with all possible phases in the soft-breaking terms, but no new flavor structure beyond the usual Yukawa matrices, can never give a sizeable contribution to $\epsilon_K$, $\epsilon^\prime/\epsilon$ or hadronic B^0 CP asymmetries. However, Minimal Supersymmetric models with additional flavor structures in the soft-supersymmetry breaking terms can produce large deviations from the Standard Model predictions. Hence, observation of supersymmetric contributions to CP asymmetries in B decays would be the first sign of the existence of new flavor structures in the soft-terms and would hint at a non-flavor blind mechanism of supersymmetry breaking.Comment: 15 pages, 3 eps figures. Invited talks given by A. Masiero at the 8th International Symposium on Heavy Flavour Physics (Heavy Flavors 8), Southampton, 25-29 July 1999 and Workshop on Physics and Detectors for DAFNE (Dafne99), Frascati, 16-10 Nov. 199

New physics in CP violation experiments

CP violation plays a privileged role in our quest for new physics beyond the electroweak standard model (SM). In the SM the violation of CP in the weak interactions has a single source: the phase of the quark mixing matrix (the CKM matrix, for Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa). Most extensions of the SM exhibit new sources of CP violation. For instance, the truly minimal supersymmetric extension of the SM (CMSSM) has two new phases in addition to the CKM phase. Given that CP violation is so tiny in the kaon system, is still largely unexplored in B physics and is negligibly small in the electric dipole moments, it is clear that new physics may have a good chance to manifest some departure from the SM in this particularly challenging class of rare phenomena. On the other hand, it is also apparent that CP violation generally represents a major constraint on any attempt at model building beyond the SM. In this review we tackle these two sides of the relation between CP violation and new physics. Our focus will be on the potentialities to use CP violation as a probe on Supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the SM. We wish to clarify the extent to which such indirect signals for SUSY are linked to a fundamental theoretical issue: is there a relation between the mechanism that originates the whole flavor structure and the mechanism that is responsible for the breaking of supersymmetry? Different ways to answer this question lead to quite different expectations for CP violation in B physics.Comment: 47 pages, 3 figures. Invited contribution to appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science Vol. 51, December 200

From TLS survey to 3d solid modeling for documentation of built heritage: The case study of porta savonarola in Padua

It is a matter of fact that 3D visualisation and proper documentation of cultural objects helps to preserve the history and memories of historic buildings, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes, and supports economic growth by stimulating cultural tourism. Preservation, visualisation and recreation of valuable historical and architectural objects and places has always been a serious challenge for specialists in the field. Today, the rapid developments in the fields of close-range photogrammetry, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and computer vision (CV) enable to carry out highly accurate 3D models so as to be extremely effective and intuitive for users who have stringent requirements and high expectations. In this note we present the results of the survey and 3D modeling of an ancient gate, Porta Savonarola, located within the remains of the medieval town walls surrounding the historical city center of Padua, Italy. The work has been undertaken within the framework of the project \u201cWalls Multimedia Museum\u201d (WMM) promoted by the local private association \u201cPadua Walls Committee\u201d. The goal of the project was to develop a prototype of an \u201cextended\u201d virtual museum, spreaded along most interesting locations of the town walls. The survey of the ancient gate was performed with a Leica C10 and P20 terrestrial laser scanners. Once the acquired scans were properly merged together, a solid model was generated from the global point cloud, and plans and elevations were extracted from it for restoration purposes. A short multimedia video was also created for the \u201cWalls Multimedia Museum\u201d, showing both the outer and inner part of the gate. In the paper we will discuss all the steps and challenges addressed to provide the 3D solid model of Porta Savonarola from the TLS data

Analyzing loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity in a freight transport stated choice experiment

Choice behaviour might be determined by asymmetric preferences whether the consumers are faced with gains or losses. This paper investigates loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity, and analyzes their implications on willingness to pay and willingness to accept measures in a reference pivoted choice experiment in a freight transport framework. The results suggest a significant model fit improvement when preferences are treated as asymmetric, proving both loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity. The implications on willingness to pay and willingness to accept indicators are particular relevant showing a remarkable difference between symmetric and asymmetric model specifications. Not accounting for loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity, when present, produces misleading results and might affect significantly the policy decisions.freight transport, choice experiments, willingness to pay, preference asymmetry

COMPARISON OF LOW COST PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURVEY WITH TLS AND LEICA PEGASUS BACKPACK 3D MODELS

This paper considers Leica backpack and photogrammetric surveys of a mediaeval bastion in Padua, Italy. Furhtermore, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) survey is considered in order to provide a state of the art reconstruction of the bastion. Despite control points are typically used to avoid deformations in photogrammetric surveys and ensure correct scaling of the reconstruction, in this paper a different approach is considered: this work is part of a project aiming at the development of a system exploiting ultra-wide band (UWB) devices to provide correct scaling of the reconstruction. In particular, low cost Pozyx UWB devices are used to estimate camera positions during image acquisitions. Then, in order to obtain a metric reconstruction, scale factor in the photogrammetric survey is estimated by comparing camera positions obtained from UWB measurements with those obtained from photogrammetric reconstruction. Compared with the TLS survey, the considered photogrammetric model of the bastion results in a RMSE of 21.9cm, average error 13.4cm, and standard deviation 13.5cm. Excluding the final part of the bastion left wing, where the presence of several poles make reconstruction more difficult, (RMSE) fitting error is 17.3cm, average error 11.5cm, and standard deviation 9.5cm. Instead, comparison of Leica backpack and TLS surveys leads to an average error of 4.7cm and standard deviation 0.6cm (4.2 cm and 0.3 cm, respectively, by excluding the final part of the left wing)

b -> s Transitions: A New Frontier for Indirect SUSY Searches

The present unitarity triangle fit, whose essential input is represented by the s to d and b to d transition processes, fully agrees with the SM. However, most of the phenomena involving b to s transitions are still largely unexplored and hence b to s phenomenology still constitutes a place for new physics manifestations, in spite of the tremendous experimental and theoretical progress on B to X_s gamma. We perform a systematic study of the CP conserving and violating SUSY contributions to b to s processes in a generic MSSM. We consider gluino exchange contributions including NLO QCD corrections and lattice hadronic matrix elements for Delta B = 2 and Delta B = 1 processes. We take into account all available experimental information on processes involving b to s transitions (B to X_s gamma, B to X_s l^+ l^- and the lower bound on the B_s - bar B_s mass difference Delta M_s). We study the correlations among the relevant observables under scrutiny at present or in a not too far future: Delta M_s and the amount of CP violation in B to phi K_s, B_s to J/psi phi, B to X_s gamma. In particular we discuss the recent data by BaBar and BELLE on the time-dependent CP asymmetry in the decay B to phi K_s which suggest a deviation from the SM expectation. Our results show that the processes involving b to s transitions represent a splendid opportunity to constrain different MSSM realizations, and, even more important, that they offer concrete prospects to exhibit SUSY signals at B factories and hadron colliders in spite of all the past frustration in FCNC searches of new physics hints.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. Bug in the code corrected, figures for RL and RL=RR cases and some conclusions change

Worries and Hopes for SUSY in CKM Physics: The b to s Example

We discuss the twofold role of flavor and CP violation as a constraint in model building and as a signal of SUSY. Considering as an example b to s transitions, we analyze present bounds on SUSY parameters, discuss possible deviations from SM predictions in Bd and Bs physics and present strategies to reveal SUSY signals in present and future experiments in the CKM domain.Comment: Invited talks given by A. Masiero and L. Silvestrini at the Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle, IPPP Durham, April 2003 (eConf C0304052). 9 pages, 5 figure

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC 3D RECONSTRUCTION IN MATLAB: DEVELOPMENT OF A FREE TOOL

This paper presents the current state of development of a free Matlab tool for photogrammetric reconstruction developed at the University of Padova, Italy. The goal of this software is mostly educational, i.e. allowing students to have a close look to the specific steps which lead to the computation of a dense point cloud. As most of recently developed photogrammetric softwares, it is based on a Structure from Motion approach. Despite being mainly motivated by educational purposes, certain implementation details are clearly inspired by recent research works, e.g. limiting the computational burden of the feature matching by determining a suboptimal set of features to be considered, using information provided by external sensors to ease the matching process

Probing Supersymmetric Flavor Models with ϵ′/ϵ\epsilon'/\epsilon

We discuss the supersymmetric contribution to $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ in various supersymmetric flavor models. We find that in alignment models the supersymmetric contribution could be significant while in heavy squark models it is expected to be small. The situation is particularly interesting in models that solve the flavor problems by either of the above mechanisms and the remaining CP problems by means of approximate CP, that is, all CP violating phases are small. In such models, the standard model contributions cannot account for $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ and a failure of the supersymmetric contributions to do so would exclude the model. In models of alignment and approximate CP, the supersymmetric contributions can account for $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ only if both the supersymmetric model parameters and the hadronic parameters assume rather extreme values. Such models are then strongly disfavored by the $\epsilon'/\epsilon$ measurements. Models of heavy squarks and approximate CP are excluded.Comment: 16 pages, harvmac. v2: We added a discussion of the intriguing implications that would follow if a recent lattice result is confirme