Hybrid Inflation, Dark Energy And Dark Matter

It has been suggested that the dark energy density \rho_v ~ 10^{-12} eV^4 in the universe is associated with a metastable (false) vacuum, while the true vacuum has a vanishing cosmological constant. By including supergravity corrections we show how this is naturally realized in realistic supersymmetric hybrid inflation models. With a fundamental supersymmetry breaking scale ~ TeV, the LSP is not a suitable candidate for cold dark matter. We consider axion physics to overcome this and simultaneously provide a resolution of the MSSM \mu problem.Comment: 11 pages, no figure

New Mechanisms for Transmission of Supersymmetry Breaking

We considered new mechanisms for transmission of supersymmetry breaking and their phenomenological consequences. Specifically, we investigated the scalar mass corrections via five-dimensional supergravity loops and explored the possibility that supersymmetry is an accidental symmetry of Nature. We find that both these lead to phenomenologically viable scenarios. In the former, the negative slepton mass-squared masses arising from minimal anomaly mediation is cured. In the latter, which constitutes a paradigm shift, we find a more natural framework for low-energy supersymmetry than the conventional picture

Reactor Searches for Neutrino Magnetic Moment as a Probe of Extra Dimensions

We present calculations of the magnetic moment contribution to neutrino electron scattering in large extra dimension brane-bulk models (LED) with three bulk neutrinos. We discuss the cases with two and three large extra dimensions of sizes $R$. The calculations are done using reactor flux from Uranium, $^{235}U$ as the neutrino source. We find that if the electron neutrino mass is chosen to be in the range of one eV, the differential cross section for $\bar{\nu}-e$ scattering for low electron recoil energy can be of the same order as the presently explored values in reactor experiments. Furthermore the spectral shape for the LED models is different from the four dimensional case. Future higher precision reactor experiments can therefore be used to provide new constraints on a class of large extra dimension theories.Comment: 8 pages; 3 figure

Minimal SUSY SO(10), b-τ\tau unification and large neutrino mixings

We show that the assumption of type II seesaw mechanism for small neutrino masses coupled with $b-\tau$ mass unification in a minimal SUSY SO(10) model leads not only to a natural understanding of large atmospheric mixing angle ($\theta_{23}$) among neutrinos, as recently pointed out, but also to large solar angle ($\theta_{12}$) and a small $\theta_{13}\equiv U_{e3}$ as required to fit observations. This is therefore a minimal, completely realistic grand unified model for all low energy observations that naturally explains the diverse mixing patterns between the quark and leptons without any additional inputs such as extra global symmetries. The proposed long baseline neutrino experiments will provide a crucial test of this model since it predicts $U_{e3}\simeq 0.16$ for the allowed range of parameters.Comment: 15 pages, latex, 3 figures, UMD-PP-03-03

Ghost Cosmology: Exact Solutions, Transitions Between Standard Cosmologies and Ghost Dark Energy/Matter Evolution

The recently proposed infrared modification of gravity through the introduction of a ghost scalar field results in a number of interesting cosmological and phenomenological implications. In this paper, we derive the exact cosmological solutions for a number of scenarios where at late stages, the ghost behaves like dark matter, or dark energy. The full solutions give valuable information about the non-linear regime beyond the asymptotic first order analysis presented in the literature. The generic feature is that these ghost cosmologies give rise to smooth transitions between radiation dominated phases (or more general power-law expansions) at early epochs and ghost dark matter resp. ghost dark energy dominated late epochs. The current age of our universe places us right at the non-linear transition phase. By studying the evolution backwards in time, we find that the dominance of the ghost over ordinary baryonic matter and radiative contributions persists back to the earliest times such that the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker geometry is dictated to a good approximation by the ghost alone. We also find that the Jeans instability occurs in the ghost dark energy scenario at late times, while it is absent in the ghost dark matter scenario.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures; added references, clarified a few minor point

Enhancement of Power Output by using Alginate Immobilized Algae in Biophotovoltaic Devices.

We report for the first time a photosynthetically active algae immobilized in alginate gel within a fuel cell design for generation of bioelectricity. The algal-alginate biofilm was utilized within a biophotovoltaics (BPV) device developed for direct bioelectricity generation from photosynthesis. A peak power output of 0.289 mWm-2 with an increase of 18% in power output compared to conventional suspension culture BPV device was observed. The increase in maximum power density was correlated to the maximum relative electron transport rate (rETRm). The semi-dry type of photosynthetically active biofilm proposed in this work may offer significantly improved performances in terms of fuel cell design, bioelectricity generation, oxygen production and CO2 reduction

Dark Matter in Gauge Mediation from Emergent Supersymmetry

We investigated the viability of neutralino dark matter in the gauge mediation from emergent supersymmetry proposal. In this proposal, supersymmetry is broken at Planck scale and consequently, the gravitino is superheavy and completely decouples from the low energy theory. Squarks and sleptons obtain their soft masses dominantly through gauge mediation with other mechanisms highly suppressed. The lightest supersymmetric partner, in contrast to traditional gauge mediation, is a neutralino which is also a dark matter candidate. By explicit calculation of the low energy spectra, the parameter space was constrained using the WMAP observed relic density of dark matter, LEP2 Higgs mass bounds, collider bounds on supersymmetric partners and exotic B-meson decays. We found that the model has intriguing hybrid features such as a nearly gauge-mediated spectrum (the exception being the superheavy gravitino) but with a dominant mSUGRA-like bino-stau coannihilation channel and at large $\tan \beta$, A-resonance-like annihilation.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Genetic and morphological analyses of Gracilaria firma and G. changii (Gracilariaceae, Rhodophyta), the commercially important agarophytes in western Pacific

Many studies classifying Gracilaria species for the exploitation of agarophytes and the development of the agar industry were conducted before the prevalence of molecular tools, resulting in the description of many species based solely on their morphology. Gracilaria firma and G. changii are among the commercially important agarophytes from the western Pacific; both feature branches with basal constrictions that taper toward acute apices. In this study, we contrasted the morpho-anatomical circumscriptions of the two traditionally described species with molecular data from samples that included representatives of G. changii collected from its type locality. Concerted molecular analyses using the rbcL and cox1 gene sequences, coupled with morphological observations of the collections from the western Pacific, revealed no inherent differences to support the treatment of the two entities as distinct taxa. We propose merging G. changii (a later synonym) into G. firma and recognize G. firma based on thallus branches with abrupt basal constrictions that gradually taper toward acute (or sometimes broken) apices, cystocarps consisting of small gonimoblast cells and inconspicuous multinucleate tubular nutritive cells issuing from gonimoblasts extending into the inner pericarp at the cystocarp floor, as well as deep spermatangial conceptacles of the verrucosatype. The validation of specimens under different names as a single genetic species is useful to allow communication and knowledge transfer among groups from different fields. This study also revealed considerably low number of haplotypes and nucleotide diversity with apparent phylogeographic patterns for G. firma in the region. Populations from the Philippines and Taiwan were divergent from each other as well as from the populations from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. Establishment of baseline data on the genetic diversity of this commercially important agarophyte is relevant in the context of cultivation, as limited genetic diversity may jeopardize the potential for its genetic improvement over time