Top quark asymmetry from a non-Abelian horizontal symmetry

Motivated by the persistence of a large measured top quark forward-backward asymmetry at the Tevatron, we examine a model of non-Abelian flavor gauge symmetry. The exchange of the gauge bosons in the $t$-channel can give a large asymmetry due to the forward Rutherford scattering peak. We address generic constraints on non-Abelian $t$-channel physics models including flavor diagonal resonances and potentially dangerous contributions to inclusive top pair cross sections. We caution on the general difficulty of comparing theoretical predictions for top quark signals to the existing experimental results due to potentially important acceptance effects. The first signature at the Large Hadron Collider can be a large inclusive top pair cross section, or like-sign dilepton events, although the latter signal is much smaller than in Abelian models. Deviations of the invariant mass distributions at the LHC will also be promising signatures. A more direct consistency check of the Tevatron asymmetry through the LHC asymmetry is more likely to be relevant at a later stage.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Gluino decays with heavier scalar superpartners

We compute gluino decay widths in supersymmetric theories with arbitrary flavor and CP violation angles. Our emphasis is on theories with scalar superpartner masses heavier than the gluino such that tree-level two-body decays are not allowed, which is relevant, for example, in split supersymmetry. We compute gluino decay branching fractions in several specific examples and show that it is plausible that the only accessible signal of supersymmetry at the LHC could be four top quarks plus missing energy. We show another example where the only accessible signal for supersymmetry is two gluon jets plus missing energy.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Added references and minor typos and errors corrected (no change in numerical results

Holomorphic selection rules, the origin of the mu term, and thermal inflation

When an abelian gauge theory with integer charges is spontaneously broken by the expectation value of a charge Q field, there remains a Z_Q discrete symmetry. In a supersymmetric theory, holomorphy adds additional constraints on the operators that can appear in the effective superpotential. As a result, operators with the same mass dimension but opposite sign charges can have very different coupling strengths. In the present work we characterize the operator hierarchies in the effective theory due to holomorphy, and show that there exist simple relationships between the size of an operator and its mass dimension and charge. Using such holomorphy-induced operator hierarchies, we construct a simple model with a naturally small supersymmetric mu term. This model also provides a concrete realization of late-time thermal inflation, which has the ability to solve the gravitino and moduli problems of weak-scale supersymmetry.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Olfactory variation in mouse husbandry and its implications for refinement and standardisation: UK survey of non-animal scents

With their highly sensitive olfactory system, the behaviour and physiology of mice are not only influenced by the scents of conspecifics and other species, but also by many other chemicals in the environment. The constraints of laboratory housing limit a mouse’s capacity to avoid aversive odours that could be present in the environment. Potentially odorous items routinely used for husbandry procedures, such as sanitizing products and gloves, could be perceived by mice as aversive or attractive, and affect their behaviour, physiology and experimental results. A survey was sent to research institutions in the UK to enquire about husbandry practices that could impact on the olfactory environment of the mouse. Responses were obtained from 80 individuals working in 51 institutions. Husbandry practices varied considerably. Seventy percent of respondents reported always wearing gloves for handling mice, with nitrile being the most common glove material (94%) followed by latex (23%) and vinyl (14%). Over six different products were listed for cleaning surfaces, floors, anaesthesia and euthanasia chambers and behavioural apparatus. In all cases Trigene™ (now called Anistel™) was the most common cleaning product used (43, 41, 40 and 49%, respectively). Depending on the attribute considered, between 7 and 19% of respondents thought that cleaning products definitely, or were likely to, have strong effects on standardization, mouse health, physiology or behaviour. Understanding whether and how these odours affect mouse welfare will help to refine mouse husbandry and experimental procedures through practical recommendations, to improve the quality of life of laboratory animals and the experimental data obtained

On the Elevated Temperature Thermal Stability of Nanoscale Mn-Ni-Si Precipitates Formed at Lower Temperature in Highly Irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels.

Atom probe tomography (APT) and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) techniques were used to probe the long-time thermal stability of nm-scale Mn-Ni-Si precipitates (MNSPs) formed in intermediate and high Ni reactor pressure vessel steels under high fluence neutron irradiation at ≈320 °C. Post irradiation annealing (PIA) at 425 °C for up to 57 weeks was used to determine if the MNSPs are: (a) non-equilibrium solute clusters formed and sustained by radiation induced segregation (RIS); or, (b) equilibrium G or Γ2 phases, that precipitate at accelerated rates due to radiation enhanced diffusion (RED). Note the latter is consistent with both thermodynamic models and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Both the experimental and an independently calibrated cluster dynamics (CD) model results show that the stability of the MNSPs is very sensitive to the alloy Ni and, to a lesser extent, Mn content. Thus, a small fraction of the largest MNSPs in the high Ni steel persist, and begin to coarsen at long times. These results suggest that the MNSPs remain a stable phase, even at 105 °C higher than they formed at, thus are most certainly equilibrium phases at much lower service relevant temperatures of ≈290 °C

Precision unification and the scale of supersymmetry

In this letter, we study the implications of precise gauge coupling unification on supersymmetric particle masses. We argue that precise unification favors the superpartner masses that are in the range of several TeV and well beyond. We demonstrate this in the minimal supersymmetric theory with a common sparticle mass threshold, and two simple high-scale scenarios: minimal supergravity and minimal anomaly-mediated supersymmetry. We also identify candidate models with a Higgsino or a wino dark matter candidate. Finally, the analysis shows unambiguously that unless one takes foggy naturalness notions too seriously, the lack of direct superpartner discoveries at the LHC has not diminished the viability of supersymmetric unified theories in general nor even precision unification in particular.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Technical report: Trial experience and data capture in the Low Birth Weight South Asia Trial, a large cluster-randomised controlled trial in lowland Nepal

Objectives: i) to describe data capture in the Low Birth Weight South Asia Trial (LBWSAT) and factors affecting it; ii) to analyse to what extent differential data capture created bias in the available data. Methods: We describe the context, study design, data collection instruments used and their capture rates. Little of the data available were eligible for trial analyses, so use of the data for secondary analyses is important. Data capture was affected by data collector overload, pressure to enrol women in the food and cash transfer arms, delayed receipt of participant ID cards, enrolment of women at any gestational age (including after delivery at the start), in-migration into the food/cash arms to access transfers, political instability, conflict in the field team, logistical issues, establishment of a run-in period, hiatus of data collection during training, and lack of funds to extend the duration of the study. To assess the extent that differential data capture generated bias we described background characteristics by study arm and in-migration status. Then for each of the main data collection instruments we compared captured and not-captured enrolled women’s age, age at marriage, wealth score and height using t-tests and enrolled women’s and husband’s education using chi squared tests. Using mixed logistic regressions (adjusted for clustering using random effects) we assessed the odd of questionnaire capture in relation to these factors. Results: Small differences between captured and non-captured women were found. In-migrators were more prevalent in the cash/food transfer arms and compared with permanent residents were more likely to be living in their parental homes, younger, primigravida, adolescent, Muslim, slightly poorer and have some education. Analyses of captured and non-captured women by questionnaire revealed small differences in age, age at marriage, wealth score and education but mostly these differences were very small. The largest differences were between captured and non-captured women in the endline cross-sectional survey, when slightly older, less educated, poorer women were more likely to be captured. These women more likely to report to a measuring station in their community. Conclusions: Many challenges in implementing large-scale trials in the plains of Nepal affect rates of data capture, especially when several timebound follow-up data collection occasions are needed. Although in-migrated and permanent residents, and captured and non-captured women differed slightly, the differences were not large enough to be of concern

PMI: A Delta Psi(m) Independent Pharmacological Regulator of Mitophagy

Mitophagy is central to mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis and operates via the PINK1/Parkin pathway targeting mitochondria devoid of membrane potential (ΔΨm) to autophagosomes. Although mitophagy is recognized as a fundamental cellular process, selective pharmacologic modulators of mitophagy are almost nonexistent. We developed a compound that increases the expression and signaling of the autophagic adaptor molecule P62/SQSTM1 and forces mitochondria into autophagy. The compound, P62-mediated mitophagy inducer (PMI), activates mitophagy without recruiting Parkin or collapsing ΔΨm and retains activity in cells devoid of a fully functional PINK1/Parkin pathway. PMI drives mitochondria to a process of quality control without compromising the bio-energetic competence of the whole network while exposing just those organelles to be recycled. Thus, PMI circumvents the toxicity and some of the nonspecific effects associated with the abrupt dissipation of ΔΨm by ionophores routinely used to induce mitophagy and represents a prototype pharmacological tool to investigate the molecular mechanisms of mitophagy

Analytical Round Robin for Elastic-Plastic Analysis of Surface Cracked Plates: Phase I Results

An analytical round robin for the elastic-plastic analysis of surface cracks in flat plates was conducted with 15 participants. Experimental results from a surface crack tension test in 2219-T8 aluminum plate provided the basis for the inter-laboratory study (ILS). The study proceeded in a blind fashion given that the analysis methodology was not specified to the participants, and key experimental results were withheld. This approach allowed the ILS to serve as a current measure of the state of the art for elastic-plastic fracture mechanics analysis. The analytical results and the associated methodologies were collected for comparison, and sources of variability were studied and isolated. The results of the study revealed that the J-integral analysis methodology using the domain integral method is robust, providing reliable J-integral values without being overly sensitive to modeling details. General modeling choices such as analysis code, model size (mesh density), crack tip meshing, or boundary conditions, were not found to be sources of significant variability. For analyses controlled only by far-field boundary conditions, the greatest source of variability in the J-integral assessment is introduced through the constitutive model. This variability can be substantially reduced by using crack mouth opening displacements to anchor the assessment. Conclusions provide recommendations for analysis standardization