Supersymmetric relics from the big bang

We consider the cosmological constraints on supersymmetric theories with a new, stable particle. Circumstantial evidence points to a neutral gauge/Higgs fermion as the best candidate for this particle, and we derive bounds on the parameters in the lagrangian which govern its mass and couplings. One favored possibility is that the lightest neutral supersymmetric particle is predominantly a photino $\text{～}\text{γ}$ with mass above $\text{1}\text{2}$ GeV, while another is that the lightest neutral supersymmetric particle is a Higgs fermion with mass above 5 GeV or less than O(100) eV. We also point out that a gravitino mass of 10 to 100 GeV implies that the temperature after completion of an inflationary phase cannot be above 10¹⁴ GeV, and probably not above 3 × 10¹² GeV. This imposes constraints on mechanisms for generating the baryon number of the universe.     

Nucleosynthesis bounds in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking theories

In gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking theories the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle can decay during or after the nucleosynthesis epoch. The decay products such as photons and hadrons can destroy the light element abundances. Restricting the damage that these decays can do leads to constraints on the abundance and lifetime of the NLSP. We compute the freezeout abundance of the NLSP by including all coannihilation thresholds which are particularly important in the case in which the NLSP is the lightest stau. We find that the upper bound on the messenger scale can be as stringent as 10¹² GeV when the NLSP is the lightest neutralino and 10¹³ GeV when the NLSP is the lightest stau. Our findings disfavour models of gauge mediation where the messenger scale is close to the GUT scale or results from balancing renormalisable interactions with non-renormalisable operators at the Planck scale. When combined with the requirement of no gravitino overabundance, our bound implies that the reheating temperature after inflation must be less than 10⁷ GeV.     

Nonlinear increase in the energy input into a medium at the fusion of regularized femtosecond filaments

We consider dark matter consisting of long-living particles with masses 10⁷ GeV ? M ?10¹⁶ GeV decaying through hadronic channel as a source of high-energy neutrino. Using recent data on high-energy neutrino from IceCube and Pierre Auger experiments, we derive the upper-limits on neutrino flux from dark matter decay and constraints on dark matter parameter space. For the dark matter masses of order 10⁸ GeV the constraints derived are slightly stronger than those obtained for the same dark matter model using the highenergy gamma-ray limits.     

Effective rank-five superstring models from CP3×CP3

We consider three-generation, rank-six superstring models based on the simplest known Calabi-Yau space. Assuming a breaking scale (to rank-five) M_B≳10¹⁶ GeV, as required by cosmology and other constraints, we describe the particle spectrum in a class of models in which the proton is stable and the neutrinos are massless. These models are effectively rank-five down to the weak scale O(100) GeV. We find that Higgs fields typically will have massess in excess of O(10⁶) GeV due to higher order non-renormalizable interactions, hence rendering the conventional spontaneous breakdown of the electroweak symmetries impossible.     

Estimating the fraction of gamma quanta in the primary cosmic ray flux with energies of ∼1017 eV from the MSU EAS array data

Using data from the MSU EAS array and model calculations, we search for events with abnormally small fractions of muons with energies above 10 GeV in showers with particle numbers of >2 × 10⁷ and zenith angles of <30 degrees. We confirm with good statistical accuracy that the content of gamma quanta in the primary cosmic ray flux can be as high as 2% at energies of ～10¹⁷ eV.     

Axion constraints from white dwarf cooling times

Hypothetical, pseudoscalar particles would be abundantly emitted from the interior of white dwarfs through bremsstrahlung processes. These stars would then rapidly cool. From the observed number of hot degenerates we find a new bound on the Yukawa coupling to electrons of g < 4 × 10⁻¹³. For “invisible axions” this translates into a new bound on the Peccei-Quinn scale of v > 1 × 10⁹ GeV, corresponding to m_a < 3 × 10⁻² eV.     

Constraints on cosmologically regenerated gravitinos

Cosmological constraints on the regenerated abundance of gravitinos as a function of the maximum reheating temperature T_h are examined. We combine the bound that arises in order for stable photinos produced by gravitino decays to not overdominate the mass density of the universe together with that inferred from the distortions produced in the cosmic microwave background radiation as well as constraints from the observed deuterium and ³He abundances. This suffices to constrain T_h to be below between 10¹⁷ and 10¹⁰ GeV for gravitions in the mass below ～ 10 TeV. More massive gravitinos, however, could be produced at T_h<10¹⁴ GeV.     

New constraints on “INO” masses from cosmology (I). Supersymmetric “inos”

In this first paper we derive new constraints on gravitino and photino masses in big bang cosmology. First, in the context of induced supersymmetry breaking we calculate explicitly the gravitino decay rate into gauginos, and find that in the absence of significant dilution the gravitino mass must be ?5 × 10⁴ GeV in order not to affect nucleosynthesis. We also find in this case that constraints in the lightest R-odd particle, the photino, differ significantly from earlier bounds based on analogy with stable heavy neutrino bounds in the standard model, due to out of equilibrium gravitino decay. In order to avoid both these constraints the gravitino distribution must be severely suppressed. If this is due to inflation, it must occur at a scale ?10¹⁰?10¹¹ GeV.     

A search for new massive particles

We have searched for an almost stable, charged particle produced in 400 GeV proton-nucleus collisions. A total of 5 × 10¹⁰ light secondary particles were sampled in a secondary beam of 70 GeV/c momentum. If a 4.5 to 6.0 GeV mass particle is produced with a cross section comparable with the production cross section of the upsilon then this experiment places an upper limit on the lifetime of such a particle of about 5 × 10^?8 s.     

Probing hadronic polarizations with dilepton anisotropies

We investigate the production of e ⁺ e ^? pairs from p + Be and nucleus-nucleus collisions from 2 GeV/A to 200 GeV/A within a covariant transport approach and focus on the dilepton angular anisotropies as a function of the dilepton invariant mass. Whereas the low mass regime yields information about the Dalitz decays of the Δ, η and ω, above M ≈ 0.5 GeV the angular anisotropies provide additional information about the π ⁺ π ^? → ρ ⁰ → e ⁺ e ^? channel in the medium. The anisotropy coefficient is found to change its sign for M > 0.5 GeV in case of nucleus-nucleus reactions when increasing the bombarding energy from 2 GeV/A to 200 GeV/A which sheds some light on the ππ → ρ dynamics.     

Conversion of dark matter axions to photons in magnetospheres of neutron stars

We propose a new method to detect observational appearance of dark matter axions. The method utilizes radio observations of neutron stars. It is based on the conversion of axions to photons in strong magnetic fields of neutron stars (the Primakoff effect). If the conversion occurs, the radio spectrum of the object has a very distinctive feature—a narrow spike at the frequency corresponding to the rest mass of the axion. For example, if the coupling constant of the photon-axion interaction is M = 10¹⁰ GeV, the density of dark matter axions is ρ = 10⁻²⁴ g cm⁻³ and the axion mass is 5 μeV; then the flux from a strongly magnetized (10¹⁴ G) neutron star at the distance 300 pc from the Sun is expected to be about few tenths of millijansky at a frequency of about 1200 MHz in a bandwidth of about 3 MHz. Close-by X-ray dim isolated neutron stars are proposed as good candidates to look for such radio emission. The article is published in the original.     

Astrophysical constraints on broken supersymmetry

Arguments on the evolution of stars at an advanced stage constrain the interaction strength of light neutral fermions appearing in broken supersymmetric theories. In particular a consideration of white dwarfs leads to a bound on the fundamental scale of supersymmetry breaking d > 2.6 × 10³GeV², an order of magnitude improvement compared to the existing bound. A new bound on the scalar electron mass is obtained also.     

Search for heavy quasistable leptons

Negative results of a search for heavy quasistable charged leptons at the IHEP accelerator are reported. For the selection of heavy leptons a system of scintillation and gas ?erenkov counters was used. The upper limit estimations of the differential cross sections for heavy lepton production in pN collisions at E_p = 70 GeV are, for example, d²σ/dpω (p = 30 GeV/c, θ = 2 mrad, 1 ? M_λ ? 4.8 GeV) = 4.10^?38 cm²/sr · GeV. The results of the present work, together with the data on muon pair production in nucleon-nucleon interactions, show that there are no heavy charged leptons with masses from 0.55 GeV (τ_λ > 7 · 10^?10 sec) up to 4.5 GeV (τ_λ > 3 · 10^?8 sec).     

The cosmology of decaying gravitinos

We consider the cosmological constraints on unstable particles with masses O(m_W). Constraints from the energy density during primordial nucleosynthesis, from subsequent entropy generation, and from perturbations of the microwave background are not as restrictive as bounds from the dissociation of light elements. Most restrictive is the need to avoid over-production of D and ³He through the photo-dissociation of ⁴He. When applied to gravitinos, this bound imposes an upper limit of O(10⁸) GeV on the reheating temperature after inflation, which could create problems for baryosynthesis in supersymmetric theories. These problems can be avoided if the photino is heavier than the gravitino.     

Some properties of the very high Q 2 events of HERA

The kinematic reconstruction of neutral current high Q ² events at HERA is discussed in detail using as an example the recently published events of the H1 and ZEUS collaborations at Q ² > 15000 GeV2 and M > 180 GeV, which are more numerous than expected from Standard Model predictions. Taking into account the complete information of these events, the mass reconstruction is improved and the difference between the average mass of the samples of the two experiments is reduced from 26±10 GeV to 17±7 GeV, but remains different enough to render unlikely an interpretation of the excess observed by the two collaborations as originating from the decay of a single narrow resonance.     

Mass and lifetime limits on new long-lived particles in 300 GeV/c π− interactions

A sensitive search has been done for the production of new long-lived and penetrating particles by 300 GeV/c negative pions. No new state —decaying into at least two charged known particles —has been detected with mass above 1 GeV/c² and lifetime in the range 5·10^?11 s to 5·10^?7s. We give upper limits on production cross sections, and consequences on the existence of heavy “axion-like” particles, heavy neutrinos and supersymmetric particles. In particular, this experiment excludes the existence of light gluinos with lifetime in the range 5·10^?11 to 10^?8s: this closes the last “window of opportunity” for gluinos withM<2 GeV/c² and lifetime measurable in particle physics experiments.     

The quark condensate in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions

We compute the modification of the quark condensate <ˉq q> in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions and estimate the 4-volume, where the quark condensate is small (<ˉqq>/<ˉqq>⁰≤ 0.1–0.3) using hadron phase-space distributions obtained with the quark-gluon string model. As a function of the beam energy the 4-volume rises sharply at a beam energy E^lab/A ≃ (2–5) GeV, remains roughly constant up to beam energies ≃ 20 GeV and rises at higher energies. At low energies the reduction of the condensate is mainly due to baryons, while at higher energies the rise of the 4-volume is due to the abundant mesons produced. Based on our results we expect that moderate beam energies on the order of 10 GeV per nucleon are favourable for studying the restoration of chiral symmetry in a baryon-rich environment in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Received: 4 December 1997 / Revised version: 31 July 1998     

Light singlet particles and their cosmological consequences in witten-type supersymmetric models

In a class of supersymmetric gauge models which generate a large mass scale from a supersymmetry breaking mass scale M through loop corrections, there exists generally a very light scalar particle which transforms like a singlet under SU(3)_c × SU(2)_L with no U(1) charge. Cosmological constraints on such a particle are so severe that an upper bound is set on possible values of supersymmetry breaking scale in this class of models as M ? 500 TeV provided that the large mass scale is 10¹⁵ GeV and the mass of the light scalar particle is generated in one-loop order. This bound holds even if the goldstino is not absorbed into the gravitino.     

From stars to nuclei

We recall the basic physical principles governing the evolution of stars with some emphasis on the role played by the nuclear reactions. We argue that in general it is not possible from observations of stars to deduce constraints on the nuclear reaction rates. This is the reason why precise measurements of nuclear reaction rates are a necessity in order to make progresses in stellar physics, nucleosynthesis and chemical evolution of galaxies. There are however some stars which provides useful constraints on nuclear processes. The Wolf-Rayet stars of the WN type present at their surface CNO equilibrium patterns. There is also the particular case of the abundance of ²²Ne at the surface of WC stars. The abundance of this element is a measure of the initial CNO content. Very interestingly, recent determinations of its abundance at the surface of WC stars tend to confirm that massive stars in the solar neighborhood have initial metallicities in agreement with the Asplund et al. [1] solar abundances.     

Inclusive processes and shadow effects in deuteron

Using the data on inclusive spectra we analyze the contribution of inelastic intermediate states to the shadow correction Δ for high-energy (E > 10 GeV) hadron-deuteron scattering. We note that the intermediate states with large masses M² ～ ER^?1 may contribute appreciably to the shadow correction, but the estimate of this contribution in the framework of the Regge-pole model for inclusive processes shows that it is small. The main contribution to the Δ is due to the small masses M < 2 GeV, which are produced by diffraction dissociation. We calculate the value Δ_inel for pd, πd and Kd scattering and estimate the energy dependence of Δ. The results are in agreement with the existing experimental data.