Majorana: From Atomic and Molecular, to Nuclear Physics

In the centennial of Ettore Majorana’s birth (1906–1938?), we re-examine some aspects of his fundamental scientific production in atomic and molecular physics, including a not well known short communication. There, Majorana critically discusses Fermi’s solution of the celebrated Thomas–Fermi equation for electron screening in atoms and positive ions. We argue that some of Majorana’s seminal contributions in molecular physics already prelude to the idea of exchange interactions (or Heisenberg–Majorana forces) in his later works on theoretical nuclear physics. In all his papers, he tended to emphasize the symmetries at the basis of a physical problem, as well as the limitations, rather than the advantages, of the approximations of the method employed.     

Ettore Majorana and his heritage seventy years later

The physicists working in several areas of research know quite well the name of Ettore Majorana, since it is currently associated to fundamental concepts like Majorana neutrinos in particle physics and cosmology or Majorana fermions in condensed matter physics. But, probably, very few is known about other substantial contributions of that ingenious scholar, and even less about his personal background. For non specialists, instead, the name of Ettore Majorana is usually intimately related to the fact that he disappeared rather mysteriously on March 26, 1938, just seventy years ago, and was never seen again. The life and the work of this Italian scientist is the object of the present review, which will also offer a summary of the main results achieved in recent times by the historical and scientific researches on his work.     

A theory of ferromagnetism by Ettore Majorana

We present and analyze in detail an unknown theory of ferromagnetism developed by Ettore Majorana as early as the beginnings of 1930s, substantially different in the methods employed from the well-known Heisenberg theory of 1928 (and from later formulations by Bloch and others). Similarly to this, however, it describes successfully the main features of ferromagnetism, although the key equation for the spontaneous mean magnetization and the expression for the Curie temperature are different from those deduced in the Heisenberg theory (and in the original phenomenological Weiss theory). The theory presented here contains also a peculiar prediction for the number of nearest neighbors required to realize ferromagnetism, which avoids the corresponding arbitrary assumption made by Heisenberg on the basis of known (at that time) experimental observations. Some applications of the theory (linear chain, triangular chain, etc.) are, as well, considered.     

Search for Majorana Neutrino Signal in B_c Meson Rare Decay

We study the B c meson rare decay in order to search for the Majorana neutrino signal. It is found that the corresponding decay rate is sensitive to the Majorana neutrino mass and mixing angles. The signal of B±c→ l±1l±2 M induced by the Majorana neutrino within the mass region mπmnmB may be observed at LHCb.     

Searching for supersymmetry at LEP/LHC

For theep collider at LEP/LHC, we study the production and the signal coming from sleptons and squarks for several processes. We show how the supersymmetric signal can be extracted from the Standard Model background processes. In particular the large backgrounds due to singleW andZ production are considered. All the results are based on exact calculations of the matrix elements at tree level. Total cross sections and various kinematical distributions are presented.     

Searching for L-violating supersymmetry at the LHC

The possibility to simulate lepton number violating supersymmetric models has been introduced into the recently updated Pythia event generator, now containing 1278 decay channels of SUSY particles into SM particles via lepton number violating interactions. This generator has been used in combination with the AtlFast detector simulation to study the impact of lepton number violation () on event topologies in the ATLAS detector, and trigger menus designed for -SUSY are proposed based on very general considerations. In addition, a rather preliminary analysis is presented on the possibility for ATLAS to observe a signal above the background in several mSUGRA scenarios, using a combination of primitive cuts and neural networks to optimize the discriminating power between signal and background events over regions of parameter space rather than at individual points. It is found that a discovery is possible roughly for TeV and TeV with an integrated luminosity of 30 fb, corresponding to one year of data taking with the LHC running at “mid-luminosity”, cms. Received: 5 October 2001 / Revised version: 20 November 2001 / Published online: 18 January 2002     

Distinguishable RGE Running Effects Between Dirac Neutrinos and Majorana Neutrinos with Vanishing Majorana CP-Violating Phases

In a novel parametrization of neutrino mixing and in the approximation of τ-lepton dominance, we show that the one-loop renormalization-group equations （RGEs） of Dirac neutrinos are different from those of Majorana neutrinos even if two Majorana CP-violating phases vanish. As the latter can keep vanishing from the electroweak scale to the typical seesaw scale, it makes sense to distinguish between the RGE running effects of neutrino mixing parameters in Dirac and Majorana cases. The differences are found to be quite large in the minimal supersymmetric standard model with sizable tan β, provided the masses of three neutrinos are nearly degenerate or have an inverted hierarchy.     

Prospects for discovering supersymmetry at the LHC

Supersymmetry is one of the best-motivated candidates for physics beyond the standard model that might be discovered at the LHC. There are many reasons to expect that it may appear at the TeV scale, in particular because it provides a natural cold dark-matter candidate. The apparent discrepancy between the experimental measurement of g _μ −2 and the standard-model value calculated using low-energy e ⁺ e ⁻ data favours relatively light sparticles, accessible to the LHC. A global likelihood analysis including this, other electroweak precision observables and B decay observables suggests that the LHC might be able to discover supersymmetry with 1/fb or less of integrated luminosity. The LHC should be able to discover supersymmetry via the classic missing-energy signature, or in alternative phenomenological scenarios. The prospects for discovering supersymmetry at the LHC look very good. CERN-PH-TH/2008-208.     

Search for supersymmetry at the LHC in events with jets and missing transverse energy

A search for events with jets and missing transverse energy is performed in a data sample of pp collisions collected at √s=7 TeV by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The analyzed data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.14 fb(-1). In this search, a kinematic variable α(T) is used as the main discriminator between events with genuine and misreconstructed missing transverse energy. No excess of events over the standard model expectation is found. Exclusion limits in the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model are set. In this model, squark masses below 1.1 TeV are excluded at 95% C.L. Gluino masses below 1.1 TeV are also ruled out at 95% C.L. for values of the universal scalar mass parameter below 500 GeV.     

Distinguishable RGE Running Effects Between Dirac Neutrinos and Majorana Neutrinos with Vanishing Majorana CP-Violating Phases

In a novel parametrization of neutrino mixing and in the approximation of т-lepton dominance, we show that the one-loop renormalization-group equations (RGEs) of Dirac neutrinos are different from those of Majorana neutrinos even if two Majorana CP-violating phases vanish. As the latter can keep vanishing from the electroweak scale to the typical seesaw scale, it makes sense to distinguish between the RGE running effects of neutrino mixing parameters in Dirac and Majorana cases. The differences are found to be quite large in the minimal supersymmetric standard model with sizable tanβ, provided the masses of three neutrinos are nearly degenerate or have an inverted hierarchy.     

Search for supersymmetry at LEP-2

An extensive effort to search for a hint of a supersymmetric signal was carried out by the four LEP Collaborations. All LEP data, up to centre-of-mass energy of 209 GeV, was carefully analysed with no observed SUSY signal. In an attempt to further increase the sensitivity of the search, the four groups combined some of their searches, to no avail.     

FCNC-induced heavy-quark events at the LHC from supersymmetry

We analyze the production and subsequent decay of the neutral Higgs bosons h≡h⁰,H⁰,A⁰$h\equiv h^0,H^0,A^0$ of the MSSM into electrically neutral quark pairs of different flavors (qq^′≡tc,bs$q{q}^{\prime }\equiv tc,bs$, depending on h  ) at the LHC, i.e. σ(pp→h→qq^′)$\sigma (pp\to h\to q{q}^{\prime })$, and compare with the direct FCNC production mechanisms σ(pp→qq^′)$\sigma (pp\to q{q}^{\prime })$. The cross-sections are computed in the unconstrained MSSM with minimal flavor-mixing sources and taking into account the stringent bounds from b→sγ$b\to s\gamma$. We extend the results previously found for these FCNC processes, which are singularly uncommon in the SM. Specifically, we report here on the SUSY-EW part of σ(pp→h→qq^′)$\sigma (pp\to h\to q{q}^{\prime })$ and the SUSY-QCD and SUSY-EW contributions to σ(pp→bs)$\sigma (pp\to bs)$. In this way, the complete map of MSSM predictions for the qq^′$q{q}^{\prime }$-pairs produced at the LHC becomes available. The upshot is that the most favorable channels are: (1) the Higgs boson FCNC decays into bs, and (2) the direct production of tc   pairs, both of them at the ∼1 pb$\sim 1\text{pb}$ level and mediated by SUSY-QCD effects. If, however, the SUSY-QCD part is suppressed, we find a small SUSY-EW yield for σmax_{(pp→h→tc)}∼¹⁰⁻⁴ pb$\sigma {(pp\to h\to tc)}_{\max }\sim {10}^{\mathrm{-4}}\text{pb}$ but, at the same time, σmax_{(pp→h→bs)}∼0.1–1 pb$\sigma {(pp\to h\to bs)}_{\max }\sim 0.1\text{–}1\text{pb}$, which implies a significant number (∼¹⁰⁴–¹⁰⁵$\sim {10}^4\text{–}{10}^5$) of bs   pairs per 100 fb⁻¹$100{\text{fb}}^{\mathrm{-1}}$ of integrated luminosity.     

无中微子双贝塔衰变：寻找马约拉纳中微子之路

无中微子双贝塔衰变是目前粒子物理与核物理学家积极寻找的一种极其稀有的原子核衰变模式。它的发现将验证中微子是否是其本身的反粒子,也就是通常指的马约拉纳费米子。同时这一物理过程破坏轻子数守恒,也可以为宇宙初期的正反物质不对称性提供重要的条件。鉴于其极重要的物理意义,国际上多个实验组利用不同的探测器技术,在多种不同的目标同位素中寻找这一突破粒子物理标准模型的稀有衰变。目前主流实验还未发现确定的无中微子双贝塔衰变信号,但对其半衰期的限制已经达到了10²⁶年量级。国内近期也开展了一系列预研实验,期望在未来几年内可以确定一到两个切实可行的实验方案,开展吨级实验。     

Search for Majoron at the COMET experiment

A new Goldstone particle named Majoron is introduced in order to explain the origin of neutrino mass via some new physics models assuming that neutrinos are Majorana particles. By expanding the signal region and using likelihood analysis, it becomes possible to search for Majoron using experiments originally designed to search for begin{document}$ mu-e $end{document} conversion. For the COMET experiment, the sensitivity of process begin{document}$ mu rightarrow eJ $end{document} is able to reach begin{document}$ {cal{B}}(mu rightarrow eJ)=2.3times 10^{-5} $end{document} in Phase-I and begin{document}$ O(10^{-8}) $end{document} in Phase-II. Meanwhile, the sensitivities to search for Majoron in future experiments are also discussed in this article.     

Nuclear responses for double-beta decays by hadron, photon, and neutrino probes and MOON experiment

Neutrino-less double-beta decays (0νββ) with the mass sensitivities of the solar and atmospheric ν masses are of great interest for studying the Majorana nature of neutrinos and the absolute mass spectrum as suggested by recent ν oscillation experiments. Here nuclear responses (nuclear matrix elements) for 0νββ are crucial. They are well studied experimentally by using charge-exchange, photo-nuclear and neutrino reactions. MOON(Mo Observatory Of Neutrinos) is a high sensitivity 0νβ β experiment with the mass sensitivity of an order of 30 meV. Experimental studies of the nuclear responses and the present status of MOON are briefly discussed. Presented by the author at the Workshop on calculation of double-beta-decay matrix elements (MEDEX’05), Corfu, Greece, September 26–29, 2005.     

Search for new neutral gauge bosons at LHC

New heavy gauge bosons belonging to an extended (in relation to the Standard Model) gauge sector are present in Grand Unified Theories, as well as in a number of models aimed at solving the hierarchy problem—in particular, in the technicolor model and in some versions of multidimensional field theories (for example, in the Little Higgs model). The LHC potential for seeking new neutral gauge bosons in decays to two muons is studied.     

Event shape variables in supersymmetry searches at 7 TeV LHC

Supersymmetry (SUSY) signatures are probed at the Large Hadron Collider with 7?TeV energy in the framework of CMSSM with a new set of cuts based on event shapes and jet energy scales. It is showed that with our cuts, it is possible to probe a large portion of CMSSM parameter space in situations, where the SUSY cascade decay chain produces hard multijets + missing energy. We also extend our analysis to include other supersymmetries which produce hard multijets + missing energy.     

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos at future lepton colliders

A nonzero neutrino mass may be a sign of new physics beyond the standard model (SM). To explain the small neutrino mass, we can extend the SM using right-handed Majorana neutrinos in a low-scale seesaw mechanism, and the CP violation effect can be induced due to the CP phase in the interference of heavy Majorana neutrinos. The existence of heavy Majorana neutrinos may lead to lepton number violation processes, which can be used to search for the signals of heavy Majorana neutrinos. In this paper, we focus on the CP violation effect related to two generations of heavy Majorana neutrinos at \begin{document}$ 15 $\end{document} GeV \begin{document}$ <m_{N_1}< 70 $\end{document} GeV in the pair production of W bosons and rare decays. It is valuable to investigate Majorana neutrino production signals and the related CP violation effects in rare W boson decays at future lepton colliders.     

Search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry at HERA

A search for stop production in R-parity-violating supersymmetry has been performed in e⁺p interactions with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 65 pb^-1. At HERA, the R-parity-violating coupling λ’ allows resonant squark production, . Since the lowest-mass squark state in most supersymmetry models is the light stop, , this search concentrated on production of , followed either by a direct R-parity-violating decay, or by the gauge decay to . No evidence for stop production was found and limits were set on λ’₁₃₁ as a function of the stop mass in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The results have also been interpreted in terms of constraints on the parameters of the minimal supergravity model.