36,464 research outputs found
The value of the fine structure constant over cosmological times
The optical spectra of objects classified as QSOs in the SDSS DR6 are
analyzed with the aim of determining the value of the fine structure constant
in the past and then check for possible changes in the constant over
cosmological timescales. The analysis is done by measuring the position of the
fine structure lines of the [OIII] doublet (4959 and 5008) in QSO nebular
emission. From the sample of QSOs at redshifts z < 0.8 a subsample was selected
on the basis of the amplitude and width of the [OIII] lines. Two different
method were used to determine the position of the lines of the [OIII] doublet,
both giving similar results. Using a clean sample containing 1568 of such
spectra, a value of Delta alpha /alpha=(+2.4 +-2.5) x 10^{-5} (in the range of
redshifts 0-0.8) was determined. The use of a larger number of spectra allows a
factor ~5 improvement on previous constraints based on the same method. On the
whole, we find no evidence of changes in alpha on such cosmological timescales.
The mean variation compatible with our results is 1/ Delta
alpha/alpha=(+0.7 +- 0.7) x 10^{-14} yr^{-1}. The analysis was extended to the
[NeIII] and [SII] doublets, although their usefulness is limited due to the
fact that all these doublets in QSOs tend to be fainter than [OIII], and that
some of them are affected by systematics.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journa
A random laser tailored by directional stimulated emission
A disordered structure embedding an active gain material and able to lase is
called random laser (RL). The RL spectrum may appear either like a set of sharp
resonances or like a smooth line superimposed to the fluorescence. A recent
letter accounts for this duality with the onset of a mode locked regime in
which increasing the number of activated modes results in an increased inter
mode correlation and a pulse shortening ascribed to a synchronization
phenomenon. An extended discussion of our experimental approach together with
an original study of the spatial properties of the RL is reported here.Comment: 9 Pages; 16 Figure
Proposal for a Supersymmetric Standard Model
The fact that neutrinos are massive suggests that the minimal supersymmetric
standard model (MSSM) might be extended in order to include three gauge-singlet
neutrino superfields with Yukawa couplings of the type . We
propose to use these superfields to solve the problem of the MSSM without
having to introduce an extra singlet superfield as in the case of the
next-to-MSSM (NMSSM). In particular, terms of the type in the
superpotential may carry out this task spontaneously through sneutrino vacuum
expectation values. In addition, terms of the type avoid the
presence of axions and generate effective Majorana masses for neutrinos at the
electroweak scale. On the other hand, these terms break lepton number and
R-parity explicitly implying that the phenomenology of this model is very
different from the one of the MSSM or NMSSM. For example, the usual neutralinos
are now mixed with the neutrinos. For Dirac masses of the latter of order
GeV, eigenvalues reproducing the correct scale of neutrino masses are
obtained.Comment: 9 pages, latex, title modified. Final version published in PR
Toward Supergravity Spectral Action
A spectral action of Euclidean supergravity is proposed. We calculate up to
, the Seeley-Dewitt coefficients in the expansion of the spectral action
associated to the supergravity Dirac operator. This is possible because in
simple supergravity, as in pure gravity, a well defined and mathematically
consistent Dirac operator can be constructed.Comment: 10pages, no figures, matches published versio
Eviction of a 125 GeV "heavy"-Higgs from the MSSM
We prove that the present experimental constraints are already enough to rule
out the possibility of the ~125 GeV Higgs found at LHC being the second
lightest Higgs in a general MSSM context, even with explicit CP violation in
the Higgs potential. Contrary to previous studies, we are able to eliminate
this possibility analytically, using simple expressions for a relatively small
number of observables. We show that the present LHC constraints on the diphoton
signal strength, tau-tau production through Higgs and BR(B -> X_s gamma) are
enough to preclude the possibility of H_2 being the observed Higgs with m_H~125
GeV within an MSSM context, without leaving room for finely tuned
cancellations. As a by-product, we also comment on the difficulties of an MSSM
interpretation of the excess in the gamma-gamma production cross section
recently found at CMS that could correspond to a second Higgs resonance at
m_H~136 GeV.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures. Final version accepted at JHEP. Sections 2, 3
and appendices simplified. Experimental results updated, several references
added. Small typos corrected and a new comparison of approximate formulas
with full expressions include
Dynamics of Entanglement Transfer Through Multipartite Dissipative Systems
We study the dynamics of entanglement transfer in a system composed of two
initially correlated three-level atoms, each located in a cavity interacting
with its own reservoir. Instead of tracing out reservoir modes to describe the
dynamics using the master equation approach, we consider explicitly the
dynamics of the reservoirs. In this situation, we show that the entanglement is
completely transferred from atoms to reservoirs. Although the cavities mediate
this entanglement transfer, we show that under certain conditions, no
entanglement is found in cavities throughout the dynamics. Considering the
entanglement dynamics of interacting and non-interacting bipartite subsystems,
we found time windows where the entanglement can only flow through interacting
subsystems, depending on the system parameters.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures, publishe in Physical Review
- …