Precision predictions for associated gluino-gaugino production at the LHC

Now that the mass limits for gluinos have been pushed to the few-TeV range, they might only be visible at the LHC in associated production with lighter gauginos. We compute the corresponding cross section at next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) and next-to-leading order (NLO) precision in the QCD coupling constant. The resulting expressions are implemented in the public code RESUMMINO and can be directly used in the corresponding experimental searches.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Proceedings of the EPS Conference on High-Energy Physics (EPS-HEP 2017), Venice, Ital

Transverse-Momentum Resummation for Slepton-Pair Production at the LHC

We perform a first precision calculation of the transverse-momentum (q_T) distribution of slepton pair and slepton-sneutrino associated production at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We implement soft-gluon resummation at the next-to-leading logarithmic (NLL) level and consistently match the obtained result to the pure fixed-order perturbative result at leading order (LO) in the QCD coupling constant, i.e. O(alpha_s). We give numerical predictions for stau_1 stau_1^* and stau_1 sneutrino_tau^* + stau_1^* sneutrino_tau production, also implementing recent parameterizations of non-perturbative effects. The results show a relevant contribution of resummation both in the small and intermediate q_T-regions and little dependence on unphysical scales and non-perturbative contributions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Precision predictions for direct gaugino and slepton production at the LHC

The search for electroweak superpartners has recently moved to the centre of interest at the LHC. We provide the currently most precise theoretical predictions for these particles, use them to assess the precision of parton shower simulations, and reanalyse public experimental results assuming more general decompositions of gauginos and sleptons.Comment: 5 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures, proceedings of ICHEP 201

Squark and Gaugino Hadroproduction and Decays in Non-Minimal Flavour Violating Supersymmetry

We present an extensive analysis of squark and gaugino hadroproduction and decays in non-minimal flavour violating supersymmetry. We employ the so-called super-CKM basis to define the possible misalignment of quark and squark rotations, and we use generalized (possibly complex) charges to define the mutual couplings of (s)quarks and gauge bosons/gauginos. The cross sections for all squark-(anti-)squark/gaugino pair and squark-gaugino associated production processes as well as their decay widths are then given in compact analytic form. For four different constrained supersymmetry breaking models with non-minimal flavour violation in the second/third generation squark sector only, we establish the parameter space regions allowed/favoured by low-energy, electroweak precision, and cosmological constraints and display the chirality and flavour decomposition of all up- and down-type squark mass eigenstates. Finally, we compute numerically the dependence of a representative sample of production cross sections at the LHC on the off-diagonal mass matrix elements in the experimentally allowed/favoured ranges.Comment: 35 pages, 29 (partly colour) figures. Some typos corrected, wording of several paragraphs improved, version accepted by Nucl. Phys.

Odd Chern-Simons Theory, Lie Algebra Cohomology and Characteristic Classes

We investigate the generic 3D topological field theory within AKSZ-BV framework. We use the Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism to construct explicitly cocycles of the Lie algebra of formal Hamiltonian vector fields and we argue that the perturbative partition function gives rise to secondary characteristic classes. We investigate a toy model which is an odd analogue of Chern-Simons theory, and we give some explicit computation of two point functions and show that its perturbation theory is identical to the Chern-Simons theory. We give concrete example of the homomorphism taking Lie algebra cocycles to Q-characteristic classes, and we reinterpreted the Rozansky-Witten model in this light.Comment: 52 page

Chern-Simons action for inhomogeneous Virasoro group as an extension of three dimensional flat gravity

We initiate the study of a Chern-Simons action associated to the semi-direct sum of the Virasoro algebra with its coadjoint representation. This model extends the standard Chern-Simons formulation of three dimensional flat gravity and is similar to the higher-spin extension of three dimensional anti-de Sitter or flat gravity. The extension can also be constructed for the exotic but not for the cosmological constant deformation of flat gravity.Comment: 15 pages. Version to appear in J. of Math. Phy

Critical behavior of a cellular automaton highway traffic model

We derive the critical behavior of a CA traffic flow model using an order parameter breaking the symmetry of the jam-free phase. Random braking appears to be the symmetry-breaking field conjugate to the order parameter. For $v_{\max}=2$, we determine the values of the critical exponents $\beta$, $\gamma$ and $\delta$ using an order-3 cluster approximation and computer simulations. These critical exponents satisfy a scaling relation, which can be derived assuming that the order parameter is a generalized homogeneous function of $|\rho-\rho_c|$ and p in the vicinity of the phase transition point.Comment: 6 pages, 12 figure

George Engel's Epistemology of Clinical Practice.

George Engel's (1913-1999) biopsychosocial model, one of the most significant proposals for the renewal of medicine in the latter half of the 20th century, has been understood primarily as a multi-factorial approach to the etiology of disease and as a call to re-humanize clinical practice. This common reading of Engel's model misses the central aspect of his proposal, that the biopsychosocial model is an epistemology for clinical work. By stating the simple fact that the clinician is not dealing directly with a body, but first, and inevitably, with a person, Engel challenged the epistemology implicit in the classical clinical method-a method predicated on the possibility of direct access to the body. Framed in epistemological terms, the issue at stake is not the need to complement medical science with humane virtues, but rather to acknowledge that the object of clinical practice is not the body but the patient

Graded Differential Geometry of Graded Matrix Algebras

We study the graded derivation-based noncommutative differential geometry of the $Z_2$-graded algebra ${\bf M}(n| m)$ of complex $(n+m)\times(n+m)$-matrices with the ``usual block matrix grading'' (for $n\neq m$). Beside the (infinite-dimensional) algebra of graded forms the graded Cartan calculus, graded symplectic structure, graded vector bundles, graded connections and curvature are introduced and investigated. In particular we prove the universality of the graded derivation-based first-order differential calculus and show, that ${\bf M}(n|m)$ is a ``noncommutative graded manifold'' in a stricter sense: There is a natural body map and the cohomologies of ${\bf M}(n|m)$ and its body coincide (as in the case of ordinary graded manifolds).Comment: 21 pages, LATE