The Monte Carlo Event Generator DPMJET-III

A new version of the Monte Carlo event generator DPMJET is presented. It is a code system based on the Dual Parton Model and unifies all features of the DTUNUC-2, DPMJET-II and PHOJET 1.12 event generators. DPMJET-III allows the simulation of hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, nucleus-nucleus, photon-hadron, photon-photon and photon-nucleus interactions from a few GeV up to the highest cosmic ray energies.Comment: 6 pages, Talk given at the Conference ``Monte Carlo 2000'', Lisbon, Portugal, 23-26 Oct. 200

Long Lived Fourth Generation and the Higgs

A chiral fourth generation is a simple and well motivated extension of the standard model, and has important consequences for Higgs phenomenology. Here we consider a scenario where the fourth generation neutrinos are long lived and have both a Dirac and Majorana mass term. Such neutrinos can be as light as 40 GeV and can be the dominant decay mode of the Higgs boson for Higgs masses below the W-boson threshold. We study the effect of the Majorana mass term on the Higgs branching fractions and reevaluate the Tevatron constraints on the Higgs mass. We discuss the prospects for the LHC to detect the semi-invisible Higgs decays into fourth generation neutrino pairs. Under the assumption that the lightest fourth generation neutrino is stable, it's thermal relic density can be up to 20% of the observed dark matter density in the universe. This is in agreement with current constraints on the spin dependent neutrino-neutron cross section, but can be probed by the next generation of dark matter direct detection experiments.Comment: v1: 19 pages, 5 figures; v2: References added; v3: version to appear in JHE

Vacuum Stability, Perturbativity, and Scalar Singlet Dark Matter

We analyze the one-loop vacuum stability and perturbativity bounds on a singlet extension of the Standard Model (SM) scalar sector containing a scalar dark matter candidate. We show that the presence of the singlet-doublet quartic interaction relaxes the vacuum stability lower bound on the SM Higgs mass as a function of the cutoff and lowers the corresponding upper bound based on perturbativity considerations. We also find that vacuum stability requirements may place a lower bound on the singlet dark matter mass for given singlet quartic self coupling, leading to restrictions on the parameter space consistent with the observed relic density. We argue that discovery of a light singlet scalar dark matter particle could provide indirect information on the singlet quartic self-coupling.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures; v2 - fixed minor typos; v3 - added to text discussions of other references, changed coloring of figures for easier black and white viewin

Diagnosing Spin at the LHC via Vector Boson Fusion

We propose a new technique for determining the spin of new massive particles that might be discovered at the Large Hadron Collider. The method relies on pair-production of the new particles in a kinematic regime where the vector boson fusion production mechanism is enhanced. For this regime, we show that the distribution of the leading jets as a function of their relative azimuthal angle can be used to distinguish spin-0 from spin-1/2 particles. We illustrate this effect by considering the particular cases of (i) strongly-interacting, stable particles and (ii) supersymmetric particles carrying color charge. We argue that this method should be applicable in a wide range of new physics scenarios.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Minimal Flavour Violation for Leptoquarks

Scalar leptoquarks, with baryon and lepton number conserving interactions, could have TeV scale masses, and be produced at colliders or contribute to a wide variety of rare decays. In pursuit of some insight as to the most sensitive search channels, We assume that the leptoquark-lepton-quark coupling can be constructed from the known mass matrices. We estimate the rates for selected rare processes in three cases: leptoquarks carrying lepton and quark flavour, leptoquarks with quark flavour only, and unflavoured leptoquarks. We find that leptoquark decay to top quarks is an interesting search channel.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, minor changes and references adde

Second language user support

Computer users rarely experience entirely trouble-free interaction. The natural variety ofindividuals ensures that no software systems yield constantly fluent interaction for allusers. In consequence, software designers often strive to ameliorate this situation bybuilding 'user support' into their systems. User support can take different forms but,conventionally, each aims to assist the needy end-user by means of facilities directly supporting the performance of certain operations, or through supply of information thatadvises the user on available system functionality.The present paper briefly characterises a range of user support facilities before describingone requirement in greater detail. This aspect considers the needs of users whose mother-tongue is not English, but who are obliged to use English-based information systems. Inthis context, 'helping the user' must reasonably extend beyond mere advice on systemoperation to selective elucidation of information content. We regard this move as alogical extension of the user support concept, by seeking to address specific interactionneeds in a target user population. An example of this approach is described through aninformation system, in the domain of civil engineering, for native Chinese speakers ofEnglish

Higgs boson production in photon-photon collision at ILC: a comparative study in different little Higgs models

We study the process \gamma\gamma->h->bb_bar at ILC as a probe of different little Higgs models, including the simplest little Higgs model (SLH), the littlest Higgs model (LH), and two types of littlest Higgs models with T-parity (LHT-I, LHT-II). Compared with the Standard Model (SM) prediction, the production rate is found to be sizably altered in these little Higgs models and, more interestingly, different models give different predictions. We find that the production rate can be possibly enhanced only in the LHT-II for some part of the parameter space, while in all other cases the rate is suppressed. The suppression can be 10% in the LH and as much as 60% in both the SLH and the LHT-I/LHT-II. The severe suppression in the SLH happens for a large \tan\beta and a small m_h, in which the new decay mode h->\eta\eta (\eta is a light pseudo-scalar) is dominant; while for the LHT-I/LHT-II the large suppression occurs when f and m_h are both small so that the new decay mode h->A_H A_H is dominant. Therefore, the precision measurement of such a production process at the ILC will allow for a test of these models and even distinguish between different scenarios.Comment: Version in JHEP (h-g-g & h-gamma-gamma expressions added

Physics Opportunities of e+e- Linear Colliders

We describe the anticipated experimental program of an e+e- linear collider in the energy range 500 GeV -- 1.5 TeV. We begin with a description of current collider designs and the expected experimental environment. We then discuss precision studies of the W boson and top quark. Finally, we review the range of models proposed to explain the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking and show, for each case, the central role that the linear collider experiments will play in elucidating this physics. (to appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science)Comment: 93 pages, latex + 23 figures; typos corrections + 1 reference adde

Neutrino Mass and μ→e+γ\mu \rightarrow e + \gamma from a Mini-Seesaw

The recently proposed "mini-seesaw mechanism" combines naturally suppressed Dirac and Majorana masses to achieve light Standard Model neutrinos via a low-scale seesaw. A key feature of this approach is the presence of multiple light (order GeV) sterile-neutrinos that mix with the Standard Model. In this work we study the bounds on these light sterile-neutrinos from processes like \mu ---> e + \gamma, invisible Z-decays, and neutrinoless double beta-decay. We show that viable parameter space exists and that, interestingly, key observables can lie just below current experimental sensitivities. In particular, a motivated region of parameter space predicts a value of BR(\mu ---> e + \gamma) within the range to be probed by MEG.Comment: 1+26 pages, 7 figures. v2 JHEP version (typo's fixed, minor change to presentation, results unchanged