Laboratory tests for the cosmic neutrino background using beta-decaying nuclei

We point out that the Pauli blocking of neutrinos by cosmological relic neutrinos can be a significant effect. For zero-energy neutrinos, the standard parameters for the neutrino background temperature and density give a suppression of approximately 1/2. We show the effect this has on three-body beta decays. The size of the effect is of the same order as the recently suggested neutrino capture on beta-decaying nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, contribution to procedings of PANIC 200

Emergent Electroweak Gravity

We show that any massive cosmological relic particle with small self-interactions is a super-fluid today, due to the broadening of its wave packet, and lack of any elastic scattering. The WIMP dark matter picture is only consistent its mass $M \gg M_{\rm Pl}$ in order to maintain classicality. The dynamics of a super-fluid are given by the excitation spectrum of bound state quasi-particles, rather than the center of mass motion of constituent particles. If this relic is a fermion with a repulsive interaction mediated by a heavy boson, such as neutrinos interacting via the $Z^0$, the condensate has the same quantum numbers as the vierbein of General Relativity. Because there exists an enhanced global symmetry $SO(3,1)_{space}\times SO(3,1)_{spin}$ among the fermion's self-interactions broken only by its kinetic term, the long wavelength fluctuation around this condensate is a Goldstone graviton. A gravitational theory exists in the low energy limit of the Standard Model's Electroweak sector below the weak scale, with a strength that is parametrically similar to $G_N$.Comment: 4 page

Invisible Quarkonium Decays as a Sensitive Probe of Dark Matter

We examine in a model-independent manner the measurements that can be performed at B-factories with sensitivity to dark matter. If a singlet scalar, pseudo-scalar, or vector is present and mediates the Standard Model - dark matter interaction, it can mediate invisible decays of quarkonium states such as the $\Upsilon$, $J/\Psi$, and $\eta$. Such scenarios have arisen in the context of supersymmetry, extended Higgs sectors, solutions the supersymmetric $\mu$ problem, and extra U(1) gauge groups from grand unified theories and string theory. Existing B-factories running at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ can produce lower $\Upsilon$ resonances by emitting an Initial State Radiation (ISR) photon. Using a combination of ISR and radiative decays, the initial state of an invisibly decaying quarkonium resonance can be tagged, giving sensitivity to the spin and CP-nature of the particle that mediates standard model-dark matter interactions. These measurements can discover or place strong constraints on dark matter scenarios where the dark matter is approximately lighter than the $b$-quark. For the decay chains $\Upsilon(nS) \to \pi^+ \pi^- \Upsilon(1S)$ (n=2,3) we analyze the dominant backgrounds and determine that with $400 fb^{-1}$ collected at the $\Upsilon(4S)$, the B-factories can limit BR(\Upsilon(1S) \to invisible) \lsim 0.1%.Comment: 20 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in PR

VEGA Pathfinder navigation for Giotto Halley encounter

Results of the VEGA Pathfinder concept which was used to successfully target the European Space Agnecy's Giotto spacecraft to a 600 km encounter with the comet Halley are presented. Pathfinder was an international cooperative navigation activity involving USSR, European and U.S. space agencies. The final Giotto targeting maneuver was based on a comet location determined from optical data acquired by the earlier arriving Soviet VEGA spacecraft. Inertial pointing angles extracted from optical images of the comet nucleus were combined with a precise estimate of the VEGA encounter orbits determined using VLBI data acquired by NASA's Deep Space Network to predict the location of Halley at Giotto encounter. This article describes the VLBI techniques used to determine the VEGA orbits and shows that the insensitivity of the VLBI data strategy to unmodeled dynamic error sources resulted in estimates of the VEGA orbits with an accuracy of 50 km

On The Origin of Neutrino Mass and Mixing in the Standard Model

One can describe cosmological relic neutrinos by adding Lagrange multipliers to the Standard Model Lagrangian for them. The two possible Lagrange multipliers are a chemical potential, which fixes the mean neutrino/anti-neutrino asymmetry, and a Majorana mass, which fixes the mean spin-entropy. Because these neutrinos originated from a thermal bath, their entropy should be maximal, implying that each state in the background is a symmetric superposition of a neutrino and anti-neutrino. Therefore the Standard Model must be augmented by a flavor-diagonal Majorana neutrino mass matrix. This impacts the propagator via tadpole diagrams due to self-interactions. In the low-energy limit, neutrino self-interactions are entirely off-diagonal because same-flavor four-fermion operators vanish by Pauli exclusion. These interactions must be diagonalized when propagating through a bath of neutrinos, using the U(3) global flavor symmetry. U(3) gets broken broken down to SO(3) by Majorana masses, and down to $A_4$ if the three masses are different. Thus our universe today contains tri-bimaximal mixing and Majorana neutrinos. Neutrino mixing is due to the mismatch between the flavor-diagonal Majorana mass matrix arising at finite density and the self-interaction diagonal finite density propagator. The mass hierarchy is inverted and Majorana phases are absent. Lepton number is conserved and the neutrino-less double beta decay experiment absorbs a pair of neutrinos from the relic background and will prove their Majorana nature.One can describe cosmological relic neutrinos by adding Lagrange multipliers to the Standard Model Lagrangian for them. The two possible Lagrange multipliers are a chemical potential, which fixes the mean neutrino/anti-neutrino asymmetry, and a Majorana mass, which fixes the mean spin-entropy. Because these neutrinos originated from a thermal bath, their entropy should be maximal, implying that each state in the background is a symmetric superposition of a neutrino and anti-neutrino. Therefore the Standard Model must be augmented by a flavor-diagonal Majorana neutrino mass matrix. This impacts the propagator via tadpole diagrams due to self-interactions. In the low-energy limit, neutrino self-interactions are entirely off-diagonal because same-flavor four-fermion operators vanish by Pauli exclusion. These interactions must be diagonalized when propagating through a bath of neutrinos, using the U(3) global flavor symmetry. U(3) gets broken broken down to SO(3) by Majorana masses, and down to $A_4$ if the three masses are different. Thus our universe today contains tri-bimaximal mixing and Majorana neutrinos. Neutrino mixing is due to the mismatch between the flavor-diagonal Majorana mass matrix arising at finite density and the self-interaction diagonal finite density propagator. The mass hierarchy is inverted and Majorana phases are absent. Lepton number is conserved and the neutrino-less double beta decay experiment absorbs a pair of neutrinos from the relic background and will prove their Majorana nature

A Necessity of Morals

John Martin Fischer has stated that his initial motivation for his work The Metaphysics of Free Will was “to defend moral culpability from the threats of causal determinism and divine omniscience” while also asserting semi-compatibilism. Taking that a step further, the goal for my own work is to defend our need for moral culpability from a metaphysical standpoint. In this essay I will argue that ultimately there are only two possibilities when it comes to a moral-metaphysical framework, only one of which involves human culpability: either human existence has intrinsic meaning and worth, therefore giving weight to our moral decision making and warranting our own culpability when making moral judgments, or that there is ultimately no objective value to human existence, thereby neutralizing any supposed moral implications attached to our actions

The Effect of Nicotine Replacement Therapy Advertising on Youth Smoking

This paper examines the effect of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) advertising on youth smoking. NRT advertising could decrease smoking by informing smokers that the product can make quitting easier and thus inducing more smokers to try and quit. However, a moral hazard is created because NRT advertising increases the expectation that cessation is relatively easy. NRT advertising could thus induce youth to smoke, to smoke more and/or to delay quit attempts. Data from Nielsen Media Research (Nielsen) and the Monitoring the Future Surveys (MTF) have been used in the empirical work. The Nielsen data are matched to the MTF data by month, year and market. The availability of lagged advertising data allow for calculation of an advertising stock variable. The Nielsen data also measure exposure to national advertising on a local level which allows for use of national advertising data. An exogenous shock allows for bypassing problems of endogeneity. The results indicate that NRT advertising has no effect on participation but increases smoking by youth who do smoke. The elasticity of smoking with respect to NRT advertising is about .10 and the elasticity of smoking with respect to price is about -1.03. Since average youth smoking is about 5.77 cigarettes per day, an increase of 10 percent in NRT advertising would increase this average to about 5.82 cigarettes per day. It is also estimated that a ban on NRT advertising would be equivalent to a 10 percent increase in cigarette prices.