Physics Beyond the Standard Model and Cosmological Connections: A Summary from LCWS 06

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is likely to provide us important insights into the sector of physics that may supersede our current paradigm viz., the Standard Model. In anticipation of the possibility that the ILC may come up in the middle of the next decade, several groups are vigourously investigating its potential to explore this new sector of physics. The Linear Collider Workshop in Bangalore (LCWS06) had several presentations of such studies which looked at supersymmetry, extra dimensions and other exotic possibilities which the ILC may help us discover or understand. Some papers also looked at the understanding of cosmology that may emerge from studies at the ILC. This paper summarises these presentations.Comment: 8 pages (including cover page) LaTeX, Summary talk presented at the International Linear Collider Workshop in Bangalore, India in March 200

Molecular consequences of cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) gene mutations in the exocrine pancreas

Background and aims: We tested the hypothesis that the actual or predicted consequences of mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator gene correlate with the pancreatic phenotype and with measures of quantitative exocrine pancreatic function. Methods: We assessed 742 patients with cystic fibrosis for whom genotype and clinical data were available. At diagnosis, 610 were pancreatic insufficient, 110 were pancreatic sufficient, and 22 pancreatic sufficient patients progressed to pancreatic insufficiency after diagnosis. Results: We identified mutations on both alleles in 633 patients (85.3%), on one allele in 95 (12.8%), and on neither allele in 14 (1.9%). Seventy six different mutations were identified. The most common mutation was ΔF508 (71.3%) followed by G551D (2.9%), G542X (2.3%), 621+1G→T (1.2%), and W1282X (1.2%). Patients were categorized into five classes according to the predicted functional consequences of each mutation. Over 95% of patients with severe class I, II, and III mutations were pancreatic insufficient or progressed to pancreatic insufficiency. In contrast, patients with mild class IV and V mutations were consistently pancreatic sufficient. In all but four cases each genotype correlated exclusively with the pancreatic phenotype. Quantitative data of acinar and ductular secretion were available in 93 patients. Patients with mutations belonging to classes I, II, and III had greatly reduced acinar and ductular function compared with those with class IV or V mutations. Conclusion: The predicted or known functional consequences of specific mutant alleles correlate with the severity of pancreatic disease in cystic fibrosis.published_or_final_versio

WMAP-Compliant Benchmark Surfaces for MSSM Higgs Bosons

We explore `benchmark surfaces' suitable for studying the phenomenology of Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (MSSM), which are chosen so that the supersymmetric relic density is generally compatible with the range of cold dark matter density preferred by WMAP and other observations. These benchmark surfaces are specified assuming that gaugino masses m_{1/2}, soft trilinear supersymmetry-breaking parameters A_0 and the soft supersymmetry-breaking contributions m_0 to the squark and slepton masses are universal, but not those associated with the Higgs multiplets (the NUHM framework). The benchmark surfaces may be presented as M_A-tan_beta planes with fixed or systematically varying values of the other NUHM parameters, such as m_0, m_{1/2}, A_0 and the Higgs mixing parameter mu. We discuss the prospects for probing experimentally these benchmark surfaces at the Tevatron collider, the LHC, the ILC, in B physics and in direct dark-matter detection experiments. An Appendix documents developments in the FeynHiggs code that enable the user to explore for her/himself the WMAP-compliant benchmark surfaces.Comment: Minor corrections, references added. 43 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear in JHE

Difficult Scenarios for NMSSM Higgs Discovery at the LHC

We identify scenarios not ruled out by LEP data in which NMSSM Higgs detection at the LHC will be particularly challenging. We first review the `no-lose' theorem for Higgs discovery at the LHC that applies if Higgs bosons do not decay to other Higgs bosons - namely, with L=300 fb^-1, there is always one or more `standard' Higgs detection channel with at least a 5 sigma signal. However, we provide examples of no-Higgs-to-Higgs cases for which all the standard signals are no larger than 7 sigma implying that if the available L is smaller or the simulations performed by ATLAS and CMS turn out to be overly optimistic, all standard Higgs signals could fall below 5 sigma even in the no-Higgs-to-Higgs part of NMSSM parameter space. In the vast bulk of NMSSM parameter space, there will be Higgs-to-Higgs decays. We show that when such decays are present it is possible for all the standard detection channels to have very small significance. In most such cases, the only strongly produced Higgs boson is one with fairly SM-like couplings that decays to two lighter Higgs bosons (either a pair of the lightest CP-even Higgs bosons, or, in the largest part of parameter space, a pair of the lightest CP-odd Higgs bosons). A number of representative bench-mark scenarios of this type are delineated in detail and implications for Higgs discovery at various colliders are discussed.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure

Using Tau Polarization to Discriminate between SUSY Models and Determine SUSY Parameters at ILC

In many SUSY models the first SUSY signal in the proposed International Linear Collider is expected to come from the pair production of $\tilde\tau_1$, followed by its decay into $\tau$+LSP. We study a simple and robust method of measuring the polarization of this $\tau$ in its 1-prong hadronic decay channel,and show how it can be used to discriminate between SUSY models and to determine SUSY parameters.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, minor corrections; version published in Phys. Lett.

Combined LHC/ILC analysis of a SUSY scenario with heavy sfermions

We discuss the potential of combined analyses at the Large Hadron Collider and the planned International Linear Collider to explore low-energy supersymmetry in a difficult region of the parameter space characterized by masses of the scalar SUSY particles around 2 TeV. Precision analyses of cross sections for light chargino production and forward--backward asymmetries of decay leptons and hadrons at the ILC, together with mass information on chi^0_2 and squarks from the LHC, allow us to determine the underlying fundamental gaugino/higgsino MSSM parameters and to constrain the masses of the heavy, kinematically inaccessible sparticles. No assumptions on a specific SUSY-breaking mechanism are imposed. For this analysis the complete spin correlations between production and decay processes are taken into account.Comment: new figure added, updated to match the published versio

Probing lepton flavour violation in slepton NLSP scenarios

In supersymmetric models where the gravitino is the lightest superparticle, the next-to-lightest superparticle (NLSP) is long-lived, and hence could be collected and studied in detail. We study the prospects of direct detection of lepton flavour violation in charged slepton NLSP decays. Mixing angles in the slepton sector as small as ~ 3\times 10^{-2} (9\times 10^{-3}) could be probed at the 90% confidence level if 3\times 10^3 (3\times 10^4) sleptons could be collected.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. v2:Comments and references are adde

Research into Neospora caninum-What Have We Learnt in the Last Thirty Years?

BACKGROUND:Neospora caninum has been recognised world-wide, first as a disease of dogs, then as an important cause of abortions in cattle for the past thirty years. Over that time period, there have been improvements in the diagnosis of infection and abortion, new tests have been developed and validated, and it is timely to review progress to date. METHODS:Bibliometric methods were used to identify major trends and research topics present in the published literature on N. caninum. The tools used were SWIFT-Review, VOSviewer and SciMAT, along with the published papers found in the MEDLINE, Dimensions and Web of Science databases. A systematic review of the published Neospora literature (n = 2933) was also carried out via MEDLINE and systematically appraised for publications relevant to the pathogenesis, pathology and diagnosis of Neospora abortions. RESULTS:A total of 92 publications were included in the final analysis and grouped into four main time periods. In these four different time periods, the main research themes were "dogs", "abortion", "seroprevalence" and "infection". Diagnostics, including PCR, dominated the first two time periods, with an increased focus on transmission and abortions, and its risk factors in cattle. CONCLUSIONS:Longitudinal analyses indicated that the main themes were consistently investigated over the last 30 years through a wide range of studies, with evolving emphasis initially on dogs and diagnostic test development, followed by application to cattle, the identification of the risk factors leading to abortion, and in the latter time periods, an understanding of the immunity and a search for vaccines

Measurement of SUSY masses via cascade decays for SPS 1a

If R-parity conserving supersymmetry exists below the TeV-scale, new particles will be produced and decay in cascades at the LHC. The lightest supersymmetric particle will escape the detectors, thereby complicating the full reconstruction of the decay chains. In this paper we expand on existing methods for determining the masses of the particles in the cascade from endpoints of kinematical distributions. We perform scans in the mSUGRA parameter space to delimit the region where this method is applicable. From the examination of theoretical distributions for a wide selection of mass scenarios it is found that caution must be exerted when equating the theoretical endpoints with the experimentally obtainable ones. We provide analytic formulae for the masses in terms of the endpoints most readily available. Complications due to the composite nature of the endpoint expressions are discussed in relation to the detailed analysis of two points on the SPS 1a line. Finally we demonstrate how a Linear Collider measurement can improve dramatically on the precision of the masses obtained

Particle creation rate for dynamical black holes

We present the particle creation probability rate around a general black hole as an outcome of quantum fluctuations. Using the uncertainty principle for these fluctuation, we derive a new ultraviolet frequency cutoff for the radiation spectrum of a dynamical black hole. Using this frequency cutoff, we define the probability creation rate function for such black holes. We consider a dynamical Vaidya model, and calculate the probability creation rate for this case when its horizon is in a slowly evolving phase. Our results show that one can expect the usual Hawking radiation emission process in the case of a dynamical black hole when it has a slowly evolving horizon. Moreover, calculating the probability rate for a dynamical black hole gives a measure of when Hawking radiation can be killed off by an incoming flux of matter or radiation. Our result strictly suggests that we have to revise the Hawking radiation expectation for primordial black holes that have grown substantially since they were created in the early universe. We also infer that this frequency cut off can be a parameter that shows the primordial black hole growth at the emission moment.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. The paper was rewritten in more clear presentation and one more appendix is adde