Flavor Physics in the Randall-Sundrum Model: I. Theoretical Setup and Electroweak Precision Tests

A complete discussion of tree-level flavor-changing effects in the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with brane-localized Higgs sector and bulk gauge and matter fields is presented. The bulk equations of motion for the gauge and fermion fields, supplemented by boundary conditions taking into account the couplings to the Higgs sector, are solved exactly. For gauge fields the Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposition is performed in a covariant R_xi gauge. For fermions the mixing between different generations is included in a completely general way. The hierarchies observed in the fermion spectrum and the quark mixing matrix are explained naturally in terms of anarchic five-dimensional Yukawa matrices and wave-function overlap integrals. Detailed studies of the flavor-changing couplings of the Higgs boson and of gauge bosons and their KK excitations are performed, including in particular the couplings of the standard W and Z bosons. A careful analysis of electroweak precision observables including the S and T parameters and the Zbb couplings shows that the simplest RS model containing only Standard Model particles and their KK excitations is consistent with all experimental bounds for a KK scale as low as a few TeV, if one allows for a heavy Higgs boson and/or for an ultra-violet cutoff below the Planck scale. The study of flavor-changing effects includes analyses of the non-unitarity of the quark mixing matrix, anomalous right-handed couplings of the W bosons, tree-level flavor-changing neutral current couplings of the Z and Higgs bosons, the rare decays t-->c(u)+Z and t-->c(u)+h, and the flavor mixing among KK fermions. The results obtained in this work form the basis for general calculations of flavor-changing processes in the RS model and its extensions.Comment: 70 pages, 12 figures. v2: Incorrect treatment of phases in zero-mode approximation corrected, and discussion of electroweak precision tests modified. v3: Additional minor modifications and typos corrected; version published in JHE

Nonstandard electroconvection in a bent-core oxadiazole material

Electroconvection (EC) phenomena have been investigated in the nematic phase of a bent-core oxadiazole material with negative dielectric anisotropy and a frequency dependent conductivity anisotropy. The formation of longitudinal roll (LR) patterns is one of the predominant features observed in the complete frequency and voltage range studied. At voltages much above the LR threshold, various complex patterns such as the "crisscrossed" pattern, bimodal varicose, and turbulence are observed. Unusually, the nonstandard EC (ns-EC) instability in this material, is observed in a regime in which we measure the dielectric and conductivity anisotropies to be negative and positive respectively. A further significant observation is that the EC displays distinct features in the high and low temperature regimes of the nematic phase, supporting an earlier report that EC patterns could distinguish between regions that have been reported as uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases

Effects of chemical releases by the STS-3 Orbiter on the ionosphere

The Plasma Diagnostics Package, flown aboard STS-3 as part of the first Shuttle payload (OSS-1), recorded the effects of various chemical releases from the Orbiter. Changes in the plasma environment was observed during flash evaporator system releases, water dumps and maneuvering thruster operations. During flash evaporator operations, broadband Orbiter-generated electrostatic noise was enhanced and plasma density irregularities were observed to increase by 3 to 30 times with a spectrum which rose steeply and peaked below 6 Hz. In the case of water dumps, background electrostatic noise was enhanced at frequencies below about 3 kHz and suppressed at frequencies above 2 kHz. Thruster activity also stimulated electrostatic noise with a spectrum which peaked at approximately 0.5 kHz. In addition, ions with energies up to 1 keV were seen during some thruster events

High resolution measurements of density structures in the Jovian plasma sheet

A recent effort to digitize the plasma density by using the low frequency cutoff of trapped continuum radiation in the vicinity of the Jovian plasma sheet has revealed the existence of sharply defined density structures in the plasma sheet. These structures typically have a plasma density which is relatively constant but of order 50 percent greater or less than in the surrounding plasma. At the boundaries of these structures, the transitions from low to high density occur on time scales of about ten seconds, which correspond to spatial dimensions on the order of a few ion Larmor radii. The structures themselves last for intervals from less than a minute to more than five minutes, corresponding to size scales from a fraction of a Jovian radius to more than a Jovian radius, depending of the velocity of the structure relative to the spacecraft. In view of the importance of near corotation plasma flows, these structures are likely to be limited in both the longitudinal and radial dimensions and, therefore, could represent flux tubes with greatly varying plasma content. These observations are presented as among the first to directly address the theoretically proposed interchange instability

Dark matter and nature of electroweak phase transition with an inert doublet

We provide a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of the prospects to realize Dark Matter (DM) in the Inert Doublet Model, while simultaneously enhancing the Electroweak Phase Transition (EWPhT) such as to allow for electroweak baryogenesis. Instead of focusing on certain aspects or mass hierarchies, we perform extensive, yet fine-grained, parameter space scans, where we analyze the nature of the EWPhT in both the light and the heavy DM regions, confronting it with the amount of DM potentially residing in the lightest inert-doublet state. Thereby, we point out a viable region where a non-trivial two-step EWPhT can appear, without being in conflict with direct-detection bounds, which could leave interesting imprints in gravitational wave signatures. We propose new benchmarks with this feature as well as update benchmarks with a strong first-order transition in the light of new XENON1T limits. Moreover, taking into account these latest bounds as well as relevant collider constraints, we envisage a new region for light DM with a small mass splitting, lifting the usual assumption of exact degeneracy of the new non-DM scalars, such as to avoid collider bounds while providing a fair DM abundance over a rather large DM mass range. This follows from a detailed survey of the impact of co-annihilations on the abundance, dissecting the various channels

ENERGY BASED SEISMIC DESIGN OF A TIMBER CORE-WALL MULTI-STOREY HYBRID BUILDING

Current earthquake design philosophy in North America recommends an equivalent static force procedure (ESFP). Much research lately has been in new performance based methodologies including direct displacement based design (DDBD) and energy-based design (EBD). Research in energy-based design has not had the attention of DDBD yet now is gaining in popularity because of the methods reliance on the velocity spectrum and duration of earthquake hazard. This paper discusses an energy based methodology in designing a novel multi-storey hybrid building consisting of a timber-steel core wall system. This hybrid system combines Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels with steel plates and connections to provide the required strength and ductility to core walled buildings. To improve the applicability of the hybrid system an EBD methodology is proposed to design the core-walled building. The methodology is proposed as it does not rely on empirical formulas and force modification factors to determine the final design of the structure. In order to assess the feasibility of the EBD method, it is implemented in the design of a 7-storey building based off an already built concrete benchmark building. The design is first carried out following the ESFP outlined by the National Building Code of Canada for Vancouver, BC. Nonlinear time history analysis is carried out on the ESFP design and the proposed EBD methodology using 10 ground motions selected at 2% in 50 years return period, to evaluate the suitability of the method and the results of the ESFP and EBD methodologies are discussed and compared

Effect of magnetic field on the phase transition in a dusty plasma

The formation of self-consistent crystalline structure is a well-known phenomenon in complex plasmas. In most experiments the pressure and rf power are the main controlling parameters in determining the phase of the system. We have studied the effect of externally applied magnetic field on the configuration of plasma crystals, suspended in the sheath of a radio-frequency discharge using the Magnetized Dusty Plasma Experiment (MDPX) device. Experiments are performed at a fixed pressure and rf power where a crystalline structure is formed within a confining ring. The magnetic field is then increased from 0 to 1.28 T. We report on the breakdown of the crystalline structure with increasing magnetic field. The magnetic field affects the dynamics of the plasma particles and first leads to a rotation of the crystal. At higher magnetic field, there is a radial variation (shear) in the angular velocity of the moving particles which we believe leads to the melting of the crystal. This melting is confirmed by evaluating the variation of the pair correlation function as a function of magnetic field.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Holographic Composite Higgs Model Building: Soft Breaking, Maximal Symmetry, and the Higgs Mass

We study the emergence and phenomenological consequences of recently proposednew structures, namely soft breaking of the Higgs shift symmetry and `maximalsymmetry' of the composite sector, in holographic realizations of compositeHiggs models. For the former, we show that soft breaking can also successfullybe implemented in a full 5D warped model, where symmetry-restoring universalboundary conditions for the fermion fields allow to break the problematicconnection between a realistically light Higgs and anomalously light toppartners. For the latter, we demonstrate that the minimal incarnation ofmaximal symmetry in the holographic dual leads to a sharp prediction of$m_h\approx 197$ GeV for $f=800$ GeV. We find that a viable implementation ispossible with sizable negative gauge brane kinetic terms, allowing for$m_h=125$ GeV. Overall, both approaches offer promising directions to improvethe naturalness also of holographic realizations of composite Higgs models.<br

Axiflavon-Higgs Unification

In this talk, a unified model of scalar particles that addresses the flavour hierarchies, solves the strong CP problem, delivers a dark matter candidate, and radiatively triggers electroweak symmetry breaking is discussed. The recently proposed axiflavon is embedded together with an (elementary) Goldstone Higgs-sector in a single multiplet (and thereby also a model of flavour and strong CP conservation for the latter is provided). Bounds on the axion decay constant follow from requiring a SM-like Higgs potential at low energies and are confronted with constraints from flavour physics and astrophysics. In the minimal implementation, the axion decay constant is restricted to $f_a \approx (10^{11}-10^{12})$ GeV, while adding right-handed neutrinos allows for a heavy-axion model at lower energies, down to $f_a \sim 10$ TeV