CBBN in the CMSSM

Catalyzed big bang nucleosynthesis (CBBN) can lead to an overproduction of ^6Li in gravitino dark matter scenarios in which the lighter stau is the lightest Standard Model superpartner. Based on a treatment using the state-of-the-art result for the catalyzed ^6Li production cross section, we update the resulting constraint within the framework of the constrained minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM). We confront our numerical findings with recently derived conservative limits on the gaugino mass parameter and the reheating temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Submitted for the SUSY07 proceeding

Axinos in Cosmology and at Colliders

The axino, the fermionic superpartner of the axion, is a well-motivated candidate for cold dark matter if it is the lightest supersymmetric particle. Since the axino couples very weakly to the matter multiplets, the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) has a long lifetime, which has important consequences for both cosmology and collider phenomenology. Assuming that a charged slepton is the NLSP, we calculate the complete leading one- and two-loop contributions to its decay. We analyze in detail constraints on the parameters space from cosmology and discuss how this scenario can be probed at colliders. Scenarios in which both the axino and the gravitino are lighter than the long-lived charged slepton are also explored with particular emphasis on cosmological constraints and collider phenomenology.Comment: 64 pages, 22 figure

Changes in Compulsory Schooling and the Causal Effect of Education on Health: Evidence from Germany

In this paper we investigate the causal effect of years of schooling on health and health-related behavior in West Germany. We apply an instrumental variables approach using as natural experiments several changes in compulsory schooling laws between 1949 and 1969. These law changes generate exogenous variation in years of schooling both across states and over time. We find evidence for a strong and significant causal effect of years of schooling on long-term illness for men but not for women. Moreover, we provide somewhat weaker evidence of a causal effect of education on the likelihood of having weight problems for both sexes. On the other hand, we find little evidence for a causal effect of education on smoking behavior. Overall, our estimates suggest significant non-monetary returns to education with respect to health outcomes and not necessarily with respect to health-related behavior.