The B -- TAU FCNC connection in SUSY Unified Theories

In the context of SUSY grand unification a link is established between the hadronic and leptonic soft breaking sectors. Such relation is here exploited in particular for FCNC processes in B physics. It is shown how bounds on leptonic FCNC involving the third generation translate into constraints on FC B decays. In the second part of the contribution we show that tests of lepton universality in K and B decays can represent an interesting handle to obtain relevant information on the amount of FCNC in the second and third fermion generation.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. Based on talks given at: DIF06, International Workshop on discoveries in flavour physics at e+e- colloders, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (Italy), February 28- March 03, 2006; XLIst Rencontres de Moriond, La Thuile, 5-11 March 2006; CORFU2005, Corfu Summer Institute on EPP, Corfu, Greece, September 4-26, 200

Probing New Physics through mu-e Universality in K->lnu

The recent NA48/2 improvement on R_K=Gamma(K->e nu_e)/Gamma(K->mu nu_mu) emphasizes the role of K_l2 decays in probing the mu-e universality. Supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model can exhibit mu-e non-universal contributions. Their origin is twofold: those deriving from lepton flavor conserving couplings are subdominant with respect to those arising from lepton flavor violating (LFV) sources. We show that mu-e non-universality in K_l2 is quite effective in constraining relevant regions of SUSY models with LFV (for instance, supergravities with a see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses). A comparison with analogous bounds coming from tau LFV decays proves the relevance of the measurement of R_K to probe LFV in SUSY.Comment: v2: 5 pages, 1 figure. Comments and 2 references adde

Oxidation of clofibric acid in aqueous solution using a non-thermal plasma discharge or gamma radiation

In this work, we study degradation of clofibric acid (CFA) in aqueous solution using either ionizing radiation from a $^{60}$Co source or a non-thermal plasma produced by discharges in the air above the solution. The results obtained with the two technologies are compared in terms of effectiveness of CFA degradation and its by-products. In both cases the CFA degradation follows a quasi-exponential decay in time well modelled by a kinetic scheme which considers the competition between CFA and all reaction intermediates for the reactive species generated in solution as well as the amount of the end product formed. A new degradation law is deduced to explain the results. Although the end-product CO$_2$ was detected and the CFA conversion found to be very high under the studied conditions, HPLC analysis reveals several degradation intermediates still bearing the aromatic ring with the chlorine substituent. The extent of mineralization is rather limited. The energy yield is found to be higher in the gamma radiation experiments.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure

Constraints on SUSY Lepton Flavour Violation by rare processes

We study the constraints on flavour violating terms in low energy SUSY coming from several processes as li -> lj gamma, li -> lj lj lj and mu -> e in Nuclei. We show that a combined analysis of the processes allows us to extract additional information with respect to an individual analysis of all the processes. In particular, it makes possible to put bounds on sectors previously unconstrained by li -> lj gamma. We perform the analysis both in the mass eigenstate and in the mass insertion approximations clarifying the limit of applicability of these approximations.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures. Typos corrected, several references and equations added. Results and conclusions completely unchanged. Accepted version for publication in JHE

Slepton mass-splittings as a signal of LFV at the LHC

Precise measurements of slepton mass-splittings might represent a powerful tool to probe supersymmetric (SUSY) lepton flavour violation (LFV) at the LHC. We point out that mass-splittings of the first two generations of sleptons are especially sensitive to LFV effects involving $\tau-\mu$ transitions. If these mass-splittings are LFV induced, high-energy LFV processes like the neutralino decay {\nt}_2\to\nt_1\tau^{\pm}\mu^{\mp} as well as low-energy LFV processes like $\tau\to\mu\gamma$ are unavoidable. We show that precise slepton mass-splitting measurements and LFV processes both at the high- and low-energy scales are highly complementary in the attempt to (partially) reconstruct the flavour sector of the SUSY model at work. The present study represents another proof of the synergy and interplay existing between the LHC, i.e. the {\em high-energy frontier}, and high-precision low-energy experiments, i.e. the {\em high-intensity frontier}.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. v2: added discussion on backgrounds, added references, version to be published on JHE

Some relations between Lagrangian models and synthetic random velocity fields

We propose an alternative interpretation of Markovian transport models based on the well-mixedness condition, in terms of the properties of a random velocity field with second order structure functions scaling linearly in the space time increments. This interpretation allows direct association of the drift and noise terms entering the model, with the geometry of the turbulent fluctuations. In particular, the well known non-uniqueness problem in the well-mixedness approach is solved in terms of the antisymmetric part of the velocity correlations; its relation with the presence of non-zero mean helicity and other geometrical properties of the flow is elucidated. The well-mixedness condition appears to be a special case of the relation between conditional velocity increments of the random field and the one-point Eulerian velocity distribution, allowing generalization of the approach to the transport of non-tracer quantities. Application to solid particle transport leads to a model satisfying, in the homogeneous isotropic turbulence case, all the conditions on the behaviour of the correlation times for the fluid velocity sampled by the particles. In particular, correlation times in the gravity and in the inertia dominated case, respectively, longer and shorter than in the passive tracer case; in the gravity dominated case, correlation times longer for velocity components along gravity, than for the perpendicular ones. The model produces, in channel flow geometry, particle deposition rates in agreement with experiments.Comment: 54 pages, 8 eps figures included; contains additional material on SO(3) and on turbulent channel flows. Few typos correcte

ERK-1 MAP kinase prevents TNF-induced apoptosis through bad phosphorylation and inhibition of bax translocation in HeLa cells

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 signaling is involved in tumor cell survival through the regulation of Bcl-2 family members. To explore this further and to demonstrate the central role of the mitochondria in the ERK1/2 pathway we used the HeLa cellular model where apoptosis was induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and cycloheximide (CHX). We show that HeLa cells overexpressing ERK-1 displayed resistance to TNF and CHX. HeLa cells overexpressing a kinase-deficient form of ERK-1 (K71R) were more sensitive to TNF and CHX. In the ERK-1 cells, Bad was phosphorylated during TNF + CHX treatment. In the HeLa wt cells and in the K71R clones TNF and CHX decreased Bad phosphorylation. ERK-1 cells treated with TNF and CHX did not release cytochrome c from the mitochondria. By contrast, HeLa wt and K71R clones released cytochrome c. Bax did not translocate to the mitochondria in ERK-1 cells treated with TNF + CHX. Conversely, HeLa wt and K71R clones accumulated Bax in the mitochondria. In the HeLa wt cells and in both ERK-1 transfectants Bid was cleaved and accumulated in the mitochondria. The caspase-8 inhibitor IETD-FMK and the mitochondrial membrane permeabilization inhibitor bongkrekic acid (BK), partially prevented cell death by TNF + CHX. Anisomycin, a c-Jun N-terminal kinases activator, increased TNF-killing. The ERK-1 cells were resistant to TNF and anisomycin, whereas K71R clones resulted more sensitive. Our study demonstrates that in HeLa cells the ERK-1 kinase prevents TNF + CHX apoptosis by regulating the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway through different mechanisms. Inhibition of the intrinsic pathway is sufficient to almost completely prevent cell death. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Antisymmetric tensor unparticle and the radiative lepton flavor violating decays

We study the contribution of the tensor unparticle mediation to the branching ratios of the radiative lepton flavor violating decays and predict a restriction region for free parameters of the scenario by using experimental upper limits. We observe that the branching ratios of the radiative lepton flavor violating decays are sensitive to the fundamental mass scales of the scenario and to the scale dimension of antisymmetric tensor unparticle. We obtain a more restricted set for the free parameters in the case of the \mu\rightarrow e \gamma decayComment: 15 pages, 10 figure