Recent Results from the MINOS experiment

MINOS is an accelerator neutrino oscillation experiment at Fermilab. An intense high energy neutrino beam is produced at Fermilab and sent to a near detector on the Fermilab site and also to a 5 kTon far detector 735 km away in the Soudan mine in northern Minnesota. The experiment has now had several years of running with millions of events in the near detector and hundreds of events recorded in the far detector. I will report on the recent results from this experiment which include precise measurement of $|\Delta m^2_{32}|$, ~analysis of neutral current data to limit the component of sterile neutrinos, and the search for $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ conversion. The focus will be on the analysis of data for $\nu_\mu \to \nu_e$ conversion. Using data from an exposure of $3.14\times 10^{20}$ protons on target, we have selected electron type events in both the near and the far detector. The near detector is used to measure the background which is extrapolated to the far detector. We have found 35 events in the signal region with a background expectation of $27\pm 5(stat)\pm 2(syst)$. Using this observation we set a 90% C.L. limit of $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13} < 0.29$ for $\delta_{cp} = 0$ and normal mass hierarchy. Further analysis is under way to reduce backgrounds and improve sensitivity.Comment: This was prepared for the proceedings of the XIII International Workshop on Neutrino Telescopes at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in Venice, Italy held on March 10-13, 2009. The presentation was on behalf of the MINOS collaboratio

Status of the MINOS experiment

I will present the status of the long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment MINOS at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). I will summarize the status of the detector and beam construction, the expected event rates and sensitivity to physics. I will also comment on possible future plans to improve the performance of the experiment.Comment: Invited talk at the Seventh International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics (TAU02), Santa Cruz, Ca, USA, Sept 2002, 7 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX Higher res figures at http://minos.phy.bnl.gov/~diwan/tau02_th08.p

Muon Decay Asymmetries from KL0→π0μ+μ−K^0_L \to \pi^0 \mu^+ \mu^- Decays

We have examined the decay $K^0_L \to \pi^0 \mu^+ \mu^-$ in which the branching ratio, the muon energy asymmetry and the muon decay asymmetry could be measured. In particular, we find that within the Standard Model the longitudinal polarization ($P_L$) of the muon is proportional to the direct CP violating amplitude. On the other hand the energy asymmetry and the out-of-plane polarization ($P_N$) depend on both indirect and direct CP violating amplitudes. Although the branching ratio is small and difficult to measure because of background, the asymmetries could be large $\cal{O}$(1) in the Standard Model. A combined analysis of the energy asymmetry, $P_L$ and $P_N$ could be used to separate indirect CPV, direct CPV, and CP conserving contributions to the decay.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, To be Published in Physical Review

Artificial insemination studies in Macrobrachium idella (Hilgendorf, 1898)

A simple method for artificial insemination of Macrobrachium idella has been developed. Observations on virili ty in different size groups of males have been reported. The insemination procedu re involved extrusion of spermatophores by electrical stimulus and attachment of sperm mass at the receptive area of newly moulted normal and eye ablated females. Manually placed spermatophorcs were retained through spawning. Fertilization was obtained and eggs fertilized in this way, hatched to normal healthy larvae. The exact lime for placement of spermatophores after the pre-spawning moult of female has been worked oul. Further successful spawning could be obse rved for more than one female simultaneously by using whole sperm mass of a single male. Freshly extruded spermalophores and those stored in refrigerated condition (6°q for different lime duration have al so been used in inseminating females artificially with good success

Effect of salinity stress on neurosecretory cells, protein and free amino acid content and rate of ammonia excretion of the prawn Penaeus indicus H Milne Edwards

Stress induced changes resulting from salinity exposure are sought in the neurosecretory cells of different neuroendocrine centres, in protein and free amino acid content in haemolymph, muscle. and hepatopancreas, and in rale of ammonia excretion in the prawn Penaeusindicus. Prawns acclimated to low saline medium (S . 10%0) when uansferred to rugh saline medium (5 .. 4Q%.o) showed liule change in their neurosecrelOry cell histologY'. However, protein and free amino acid content in haemolymph. muscle. and hepatopancreas increased considerably. Simultaneously, the rate of ammonia excretion was reduced. Prawns acclimated 10 high salinity medium when transferred 10 low salinity exhibited changes in the above parameters in reverse to those findings in the former experiment. The probable reasons for such changes are discussed

Decaying neutralino dark matter in anomalous U(1)HU(1)_H models

In supersymmetric models extended with an anomalous $U(1)_H$ different R-parity violating couplings can yield an unstable neutralino. We show that in this context astrophysical and cosmological constraints on neutralino decaying dark matter forbid bilinear R-parity breaking neutralino decays and lead to a class of purely trilinear R-parity violating scenarios in which the neutralino is stable on cosmological scales. We have found that among the resulting models some of them become suitable to explain the observed anomalies in cosmic-ray electron/positron fluxes.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures. References added, typos corrected, accepted version in Phys Rev