A covariant approach to general field space metric in multi-field inflation

We present a covariant formalism for general multi-field system which enables us to obtain higher order action of cosmological perturbations easily and systematically. The effects of the field space geometry, described by the Riemann curvature tensor of the field space, are naturally incorporated. We explicitly calculate up to the cubic order action which is necessary to estimate non-Gaussianity and present those geometric terms which have not yet known before.Comment: (v1) 18 pages, 1 figure; (v2) references added, typos corrected, to appear in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics; (v3) typos in (54), (62) and (64) correcte

A general formula of the effective potential in 5D SU(N) gauge theory on orbifold

We show a general formula of the one loop effective potential of the 5D SU(N) gauge theory compactified on an orbifold, $S^1/Z_2$. The formula shows the case when there are fundamental, (anti-)symmetric tensor and adjoint representational bulk fields. Our calculation method is also applicable when there are bulk fields belonging to higher dimensional representations. The supersymmetric version of the effective potential with Scherk-Schwarz breaking can be obtained straightforwardly. We also show some examples of effective potentials in SU(3), SU(5) and SU(6) models with various boundary conditions, which are reproduced by our general formula.Comment: 22 pages;minor corrections;references added;typos correcte

T-odd Correlations in the Decay of Scalar Fermions

We define a CP sensitive asymmetry in the sfermion decays \ti f \to f \ti\chi^0_j \ell \bar \ell, f \ti\chi^0_j q \bar q, based on triple product correlations between the momenta of the outgoing fermions. We study this asymmetry in the MSSM with complex parameters. We show that the asymmetry is sensitive to the phases of the parameters $\mu$ and $M_1$. The leading contribution stems from the decay chain \ti f\to f \ti\chi^0_j\to f \ti\chi^0_1 Z\to f \ti\chi^0_1 \ell \bar \ell (f \ti\chi^0_1 q \bar q), for which we obtain analytic formulae for the amplitude squared. The asymmetry can go up to 3% for \ti f\to f \ti\chi^0_1 \ell \bar \ell, and up to 20% for \ti f\to f \ti\chi^0_1 q \bar q. We also estimate the rates necessary to measure the asymmetry.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; comments and references added; two tables added; version to appear in Eur. Phys.

CP sensitive observables in e+e- -> neutralino_i neutralino_j and neutralino decay into the Z boson

We study CP sensitive observables in neutralino production e+e- -> neutralino_i neutralino_j and the subsequent two-body decays of the neutralino neutralino_i -> neutralino_n Z and of the Z boson Z -> l \bar l (q \bar q). We identify the CP odd elements of the Z boson density matrix and propose CP sensitive triple-product asymmetries. We calculate these observables and the cross sections in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with complex parameters \mu and M_1 for an e+e- linear collider with \sqrt{s}=800 GeV and longitudinally polarized beams. We show that the asymmetries can reach 3% for Z -> l \bar l and 18% for Z -> q \bar q and discuss the feasibility of measuring these asymmetries.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figures, comments and references added; version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Towards 5D Grand Unification without SUSY Flavor Problem

We consider the renormalization group approach to the SUSY flavor problem in the supersymmetric SU(5) model with one extra dimension. In higher dimensional SUSY gauge theories, it has been recently shown that power corrections due to the Kaluza-Klein states of gauge fields run the soft masses generated at the orbifold fixed point to flavor conserving values in the infra-red limit. In models with GUT breaking at the brane where the GUT scale can be larger than the compactification scale, we show that the addition of a bulk Higgs multiplet, which is necessary for the successful unification, is compatible with the flavor universality achieved at the compactification scale.Comment: JHEP style file of 35 pages with 3 figures, Version to appear in JHE

Axionic dark energy and a composite QCD axion

We discuss the idea that the model-independent (MI) axion of string theory is the source of quintessential dark energy. The scenario is completed with a composite QCD axion from hidden sector squark condensation that could serve as dark matter candidate. The mechanism relies on the fact that the hidden sector anomaly contribution to the composite axion is much smaller than the QCD anomaly term. This intuitively surprising scenario is based on the fact that below the hidden sector scale $\Lambda_h$ there are many light hidden sector quarks. Simply, by counting engineering dimensions the hidden sector instanton potential can be made negligible compared to the QCD anomaly term.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Fabrication of Highly Ordered Nanoparticle Arrays Using Thin Porous Alumina Masks

Highly ordered nanoparticle arrays have been successfully fabricated by our group recently using ultra-thin porous alumina membranes as masks in the evaporation process. The sizes of the nanoparticles can be adjusted from 5-10 nm to 200 nm while the spacing between adjacent particles can also be adjusted from several nanometers to about twice the size of a nanoparticle. The configuration of the nanoparticles can be adjusted by changing the height of the alumina masks and the evaporation direction. Due to the high pore regularity and good controllability of the particle size and spacing, this method is useful for the ordered growth of nanocrystals. Different kinds of nanoparticle arrays have been prepared on silicon wafer including semiconductors (e.g., germanium) and metals (e.g., nickel). The germanium nanoparticle arrays have potential applications in memory devices while the nickel catalyst nanoparticle arrays can be used for the growth of ordered carbon nanotubes.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

Collider and Dark Matter Phenomenology of Models with Mirage Unification

We examine supersymmetric models with mixed modulus-anomaly mediated SUSY breaking (MM-AMSB) soft terms which get comparable contributions to SUSY breaking from moduli-mediation and anomaly-mediation. The apparent (mirage) unification of soft SUSY breaking terms at Q=mu_mir not associated with any physical threshold is the hallmark of this scenario. The MM-AMSB structure of soft terms arises in models of string compactification with fluxes, where the addition of an anti-brane leads to an uplifting potential and a de Sitter universe, as first constructed by Kachru {\it et al.}. The phenomenology mainly depends on the relative strength of moduli- and anomaly-mediated SUSY breaking contributions, and on the Higgs and matter field modular weights, which are determined by the location of these fields in the extra dimensions. We delineate the allowed parameter space for a low and high value of tan(beta), for a wide range of modular weight choices. We calculate the neutralino relic density and display the WMAP-allowed regions. We show the reach of the CERN LHC and of the International Linear Collider. We discuss aspects of MM-AMSB models for Tevatron, LHC and ILC searches, muon g-2 and b->s \gamma branching fraction. We also calculate direct and indirect dark matter detection rates, and show that almost all WMAP-allowed models should be accessible to a ton-scale noble gas detector. Finally, we comment on the potential of colliders to measure the mirage unification scale and modular weights in the difficult case where mu_mir>>M_GUT.Comment: 34 pages plus 42 EPS figures; version with high resolution figures is at http://www.hep.fsu.edu/~bae

Development of a Virtual CFR Engine Model for Knocking Combustion Analysis

[EN] Knock is a major bottleneck to achieving higher thermal efficiency in spark-ignited (SI) engines. The overall tendency to knock is highly dependent on fuel anti-knock quality as well as engine operating conditions. It is, therefore, critical to gain a better understanding of fuel-engine interactions in order to develop robust knock mitigation strategies. In the present work, a numerical model based on three-dimensional (3-D) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was developed to capture knock in a Cooperative Fuel Research (CFR) engine. For combustion modeling, a hybrid approach incorporating the G-equation model to track turbulent flame propagation, and a homogeneous reactor multi-zone model to predict end-gas auto-ignition ahead of the flame front and post-flame oxidation in the burned zone, was employed. In addition, a novel methodology was implemented wherein a laminar flame speed lookup table generated a priori from a chemical kinetic mechanism could be used to provide flame speed as an input to the G-equation model, instead of using conventional empirical correlations. Multi-cycle Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations were performed for two different spark timings (STs) corresponding to non-knocking and knocking conditions, with other operating conditions kept the same as those of a standard Research Octane Number (RON) test. Iso-octane was considered as the fuel for the numerical study. Two different reduced kinetic mechanisms were employed to describe end-gas auto-ignition chemistry and to generate the flame speed lookup table. Experimental data, including intake/exhaust boundary conditions, was provided by a spark timing sweep study conducted in an in-house CFR engine. Moreover, cylinder wall/valve/port surface temperatures and residual gas fraction (RGF) were estimated using a well-calibrated one-dimensional (1-D) model. On the other hand, a novel methodology was also developed to analyze experimental data for the knocking case and identify the most representative cycle. For the non-knocking case, a good agreement was found between experiment and CFD simulation, with respect to cycle-averaged values of 10% burn point (CA10), 50% burn point (CA50) and peak pressure magnitude/location. The virtual CFR engine model was also demonstrated to be capable of predicting average knock characteristics for the knocking case, such as knock point, knock intensity and energy of resonance, with good accuracy.The submitted manuscript has been created by UChicago Argonne, LLC, Operator of Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne). Argonne, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science laboratory, is operated under Contract No. DEAC02-06CH11357. The U.S. Government retains for itself, and others acting on its behalf, a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable worldwide license in the said article to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. This research was partially funded by DOE's Office of Vehicle Technologies and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. The authors wish to thank Gurpreet Singh, Kevin Stork, and Leo Breton, program managers at DOE, for their support. This research was conducted as part of the Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines (Co-Optima) project sponsored by the U.S. DOE Office of EERE, Bioenergy Technologies and Vehicle Technologies OfficesPal, P.; Kolodziej, C.; Choi, S.; Som, S.; Broatch, A.; Gómez-Soriano, J.; Wu, Y.... (2018). Development of a Virtual CFR Engine Model for Knocking Combustion Analysis. SAE International Journal of Engines. 11(6):1069-1082. https://doi.org/10.4271/2018-01-0187S1069108211