Detecting metastable staus and gravitinos at the ILC

A study of various SUSY scenarios is presented in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is the gravitino and the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle is a scalar tau with lifetimes ranging from seconds to years. Gravitinos are interesting dark matter candidates which can be produced in decays of heavier sparticles at the International Linear Collider (ILC), but remain undetected in direct searches of astrophysical experiments. We investigate the detection and measurement of metastable staus, which may be copiously produced at the ILC either directly or via cascade decays. A proper choice of the experimental conditions will allow one to collect large samples of s coming to rest in the calorimeters of the ILC detector and to study the subsequent decays . Detailed simulations show that the properties of the stau and the gravitino, such as mass and lifetime and mass, can be accurately determined at a future ILC and may provide direct access to the gravitational coupling, respectively Planck scale.     

Measurement of CP violation in stop cascade decays at the LHC

We study the potential observation at the LHC of CP-violating effects in stop production and subsequent cascade decays, , , , within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. We study T-odd asymmetries based on triple products between the different decay products. There may be a large CP asymmetry at the parton level, but there is a significant dilution at the hadronic level after integrating over the parton distribution functions. Consequently, even for scenarios where large CP intrinsic asymmetries are expected, the measurable asymmetry is rather small. High luminosity and precise measurements of masses, branching ratios and CP asymmetries may enable measurements of the CP-violating parameters in cascade decays at the LHC.     

Associated charged Higgs and $W$ boson production in the MSSM at the CERN large hadron collider

We investigate the viability of observing charged Higgs bosons () produced in association with bosons at the CERN large hadron collider, using the leptonic decay and hadronic decay, within different scenarios of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with both real and complex parameters. Performing a parton level study we show how the irreducible standard model background from jets can be controlled by applying appropriate cuts and find that the size of a possible signal depends on the cuts needed to suppress QCD backgrounds and misidentifications. In the standard maximal mixing scenario of the MSSM we find a viable signal for large and intermediate masses () when using softer cuts (,  50 GeV), whereas for harder cuts (, 100 GeV) we only find a viable signal for very large (). We have also investigated a special class of MSSM scenarios with large mass splittings among the heavy Higgs bosons where the cross-section can be resonantly enhanced by factors up to one hundred, with a strong dependence on the -violating phases. Even so we find that the signal after cuts remains small except for small masses () when using the softer cuts. Finally, in all the scenarios we have investigated we have only found small -asymmetries.     

Fragmentation function and hadronic production of the heavy supersymmetric hadrons

The light top-squark may be the lightest squark, and its lifetime may be ‘long enough’ in a kind of SUSY models that have not been ruled out yet experimentally, so colorless ‘supersymmetric hadrons (superhadrons)’ (q is a quark excluding the t-quark) may be formed as long as the light top-squark can be produced. The fragmentation function of into heavy ‘supersymmetric hadrons (superhadrons)’ (Q̄=c̄ or b̄) and hadronic production of the superhadrons are investigated quantitatively. The fragmentation function is calculated precisely. Due to the difference in spin of the SUSY component, the asymptotic behavior of the fragmentation function is different from those of the existing ones. The fragmentation function is also applied to compute the production of heavy superhadrons at the hadronic colliders Tevatron and LHC in the so-called fragmentation approach. The resultant cross-section for the heavy superhadrons is too small to observe at Tevatron, but large enough at LHC, when all the relevant parameters in the SUSY models are taken within the favored region for the heavy superhadrons. The production of ‘light superhadrons’ (q=u,d,s) is also roughly estimated with the same SUSY parameters. It is pointed out that the production cross-sections of the light superhadrons may be much greater than those of the heavy superhadrons, so that even at Tevatron the light superhadrons may be produced in great quantities. PACS 12.38.Bx; 13.87.Fh; 12.60.Jv; 14.80.Ly     

Search for stable hadronizing squarks and gluinosin e + e- collisions up to \sqrt{s} = 209 GeV

Searches for stable, hadronizing scalar quarks and gluinos are performed using the data collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP. Gluon splitting into a gluino or a squark pair is searched for at centre-of-mass energies around the Z resonance, in the e ⁺ e^- and processes. Stable squark pair production, and stop pair production with subsequent decays into a stable gluino, , are also directly searched for at centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Altogether, stable hadronizing stop (sbottom) quarks are excluded up to masses of 95 (92) , and stable hadronizing gluinos are excluded up to 26.9 , at 95% confidence level. In the framework of R-parity-conserving supersymmetric models in which the gluino and the stop quark are the two lightest supersymmetric particles, a 95% C.L. lower limit of 80 is set on the stop quark mass.Received: 23 May 2003, Published online: 24 October 2003     

Search for Higgs bosons in SUSY cascades in CMS and dark matter with non-universal gaugino masses

In grand-unified theories (GUT), non-universal boundary conditions for the gaugino masses may arise at the unification scale and may affect the observability of the neutral MSSM Higgs bosons (h/H/A) at the LHC. The implications of such non-universal gaugino masses are investigated for Higgs boson production in the SUSY cascade decay chain , , , produced in pp interactions. In the singlet representation with universal gaugino masses only the light Higgs boson can be produced in this cascade with the parameter region of interest for us, while with non-universal gaugino masses heavy neutral MSSM Higgs boson production may dominate. The allowed parameter space in the light of the WMAP constraints on the cold dark-matter relic density is investigated in the above scenarios for gaugino mass parameters. We also demonstrate that combination of representations can give the required amount of dark matter in any point of the parameter space. In the non-universal case we show that heavy Higgs bosons can be detected in the cascade studied in parameter regions with the WMAP preferred neutralino relic density.     

The role of beam polarization for radiative neutralino production at the ILC

We analyze the impact of electron and positron beam polarization on radiative neutralino production at the international linear collider (ILC). We focus on three different mSUGRA scenarios in turn at the Higgs strahlung threshold, the top pair production threshold, and at 500 GeV. In these scenarios at the corresponding , radiative neutralino production is the only supersymmetric production mechanism that is kinematically allowed. The heavier neutralinos and charginos as well as the sleptons, squarks and gluinos are too heavy to be pair produced. We calculate the signal cross section and also the standard model background from radiative neutrino production. For our scenarios, we obtain significances larger than 10 and signal to background ratios between 2% and 5%, if we have electron beam polarization –0.8 and positron beam polarization –0.3. If we have electron beam polarization of , then the signal is observable with but both the significance and the signal to background ratio are significantly improved for .     

Measurements of charged kaon semileptonic decay branching fractions K±→π0μ±ν and K±→π0e±ν and their ratio

Measured ratios of decay rates for , and are presented. These measurements are based on K^± decays collected in a dedicated run in 2003 by the NA48/2 experiment at CERN. The results obtained are and . Using the PDG average for the K^±→π^±π⁰ normalisation mode, both values are found to be larger than the current values given by the particle data book and lead to a larger magnitude of the |V_us| CKM element than previously accepted. When combined with the latest particle data book value of |V_ud|, the result is in agreement with unitarity of the CKM matrix. In addition, a new measured value of is compared to the semi-empirical predictions based on the latest form factor measurements. An erratum to this article can be found at     

Jet properties from two-particle azimuthal correlations in d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ =200 GeV at STAR

We present measurements of azimuthal correlations between photons (from π⁰ decay) and charged hadrons in d+Au collisions at  =200 GeV. We use di-hadron correlations to study parton fragmentation in d+Au collisions at RHIC. Specifically, the near-side and away-side peaks of the azimuthal angular difference distribution are used to measure the root-mean-squared (RMS) fragmentation transverse momentum and the mean intrinsic parton transverse momentum . The measurements with leading photons are compared to results using leading charged particles. PACS  25.75.-q     

Squarks and gluinos at a TeV e + e − collider: testing the identity of Yukawa and gauge couplings in SUSY-QCD

Supersymmetry predicts the identity of Yukawa and gauge couplings in the QCD sector: . We examine whether the  Yukawa coupling can be determined, by methods complementary to LHC, by analyzing squark–gluino final states at a TeV e ⁺ e ⁻ collider.     

Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for associated production of top squarks and charginos at the CERN LHC

We present the calculations of the complete next-to-leading order (NLO) inclusive total cross sections for the associated production processes in the minimal supersymmetric standard model at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Our calculations show that the total cross sections for the production for the lighter top squark masses in the region 100 GeV 160 GeV can reach 1 pb in the favorable parameter space allowed by the current precise experiments, and in other cases the total cross sections generally vary from 10 fb to several hundred fb except for both 500 GeV and the production channel. Moreover, we find that the NLO QCD corrections in general enhance the leading order total cross sections significantly, and vastly reduce the dependence of the total cross sections on the renormalization/factorization scale, which leads to increased confidence in predictions based on these results.Received: 2 March 2003, Revised: 28 May 2003, Published online: 11 July 2003     

Thermal unparticles: a new form of energy density in the universe

An unparticle with scaling dimension has peculiar thermal properties due to its unique phase space structure. We find that the equation of state parameter , the ratio of pressure to energy density, is given by providing a new form of energy in our universe. In an expanding universe, the unparticle energy density evolves dramatically differently from that for photons. For , even if at a high decoupling temperature T _D is very small, it is possible to have a large relic density at present photon temperature T _γ ⁰, large enough to play the role of dark matter. We calculate T _D and using photon–unparticle interactions for illustration.     

Pair-produced heavy particle topologies: MSSM neutralino properties at the LHC from gluino/squark cascade decays

Processes of the form pp → anything → X_iX_j → + + notE are studied via a technique that may be viewed as an adaptation of time-honoured Dalitz plot analyses. X_i and X_j are new heavy states (with i, j =1, . . .,n), which may be identical or distinct; and and are necessarily distinct standard model (SM) fermion pairs whose invariant masses can be measured. A Dalitz-like plot of said invariant masses, versus , exhibits a topology connected to the masses and specific decay chains of X_i and X_j. Aside from relatively minor details, observed patterns consist of a collection of box and wedge shapes. This collection is model-dependent: comparison of the observed pattern to the possibilities for a specific model yields information on which new particle pair combinations are actually being produced, information beyond that extractable from conventional one-dimensional invariant mass distributions. The technique is illustrated via application to the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) process pp → → e⁺e^- + μ⁺μ^- notE. Here the heavy states are neutralinos (i = 2,3,4) - note that is excluded - which are produced in gluino/squark ( / ) cascade decay chains. Even with fairly modest expectations for the LHC performance during the first few years, this method still provides substantial insight into the neutralino mass spectrum and couplings if gluino/squark masses are relatively low (≃ 400 GeV). Arrival of the final proofs: 29 November 2005     

Determination of the η and η<Superscript>′</Superscript> mixing angle from the pseudoscalar transition form factors

The possible range of the η– mixing angle is determined from the transition form factors F_ηγ(Q²) and with the help of up-to-date experimental data. For this purpose, the quark-flavor mixing scheme is adopted and the pseudoscalar transition form factors are calculated in the framework of light-cone pQCD, in which the transverse-momentum corrections and the contributions beyond the leading Fock state have been carefully taken into consideration. We construct a phenomenological expression to estimate the contributions to the form factors beyond the leading Fock state, based on their asymptotic behavior at Q²→0 and . By taking the quark-flavor mixing scheme, our results lead to , where the first error comes from the experimental uncertainty and the second error from the uncertainties of the parameters of the wavefunction. The possible intrinsic charm component in η and is discussed, and our present analysis also disfavors a large intrinsic charm component in η and , e.g. . PACS 13.40.Gp; 12.38.Bx; 14.40.Aq     

Baryonium, tetraquark state and glueball in large-Nc QCD

From the large- QCD point of view, baryonia, tetraquark states, hybrids, and glueballs are studied. The existence of these states is argued for. They are constructed from baryons. In large- QCD, a baryonium is always identical to a glueball with valence gluons. The ground state glueball has a mass of about 2450 MeV. is identified as the lowest glueball. The lowest four-quark nonet should be , , and . Combining with the heavy quark effective theory, spectra of heavy baryonia and heavy tetraquark states are predicted. corrections are discussed. PACS 12.39.Mk; 14.20.-c; 12.38.Lg     

Associated production of a light Higgs boson and a chargino pair in the MSSM at linear colliders

In the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we study the light Higgs boson radiation off a light-chargino pair in the process at linear colliders with GeV. We analyze cross sections in the regions of the MSSM parameter space where the process cannot proceed via on-shell production and subsequent decay of either heavier charginos or the pseudoscalar Higgs boson A. Cross sections up to a few fb are allowed, according to present experimental limits on the Higgs boson, chargino and sneutrino masses. We also show how a measurement of the production rate could provide a determination of the Higgs boson couplings to charginos.Received: 24 June 2004, Revised: 13 May 2005, Published online: 19 July 2005     

Measurement of charm fragmentation ratios and fractionsin photoproduction at HERA

The production of , D⁰, D ⁺ , D_s ⁺ and charm hadrons and their antiparticles in e p scattering at HERA was measured with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of . The measurement has been performed in the photoproduction regime with the exchanged-photon virtuality and for photon-proton centre-of-mass energies in the range . The charm hadrons were reconstructed in the range of transverse momentum and pseudorapidity . The production cross sections were used to determine the ratio of neutral and charged D-meson production rates, , the strangeness-suppression factor, , and the fraction of charged D mesons produced in a vector state, . The measured and values agree with those obtained in deep inelastic scattering and in e ⁺ e^- annihilations. The measured value is smaller than, but consistent with, the previous measurements. The fractions of c quarks hadronising as a particular charm hadron, , were derived in the given kinematic range. The measured open-charm fragmentation fractions are consistent with previous results, although the measured is smaller and is larger than those obtained in e ⁺ e^- annihilations. These results generally support the hypothesis that fragmentation proceeds independently of the hard sub-process. Received: 12 August 2005, Revised: 8 September 2005, Published online: 6 October 2005     

CP-sensitive observables in chargino production with transverse $e^{\pm}$ beam polarization

We consider the process at a linear collider with transverse beam polarization. We investigate the influence of the CP phases on azimuthal asymmetries in with subsequent two-body decays and . We show that triple product correlations involving the transverse beam polarization vanish if at least one subsequent chargino decay is not observed. We derive this result within the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with complex parameters; however, it holds also in the general MSSM with SUSY flavor violation.Received: 29 March 2004, Published online: 30 July 2004     

Local Resolvent Estimates for <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-body Stark Hamiltonians

For an N-body Stark Hamiltonian , the resolvent estimate holds uniformly in with Re and Im , where , and is a compact interval. This estimate is well known as the limiting absorption principle. In this paper, we report that by introducing the localization in the configuration space, a refined resolvent estimate holds uniformly in with Re and Im . Dedicated to Professor Hideo Tamura on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Improving bounds on flavor changing vertices in the two Higgs doublet model from B^0-\bar{B}^0 mixing

We find some constraints on the flavor changing vertices of the two Higgs doublet model, from the measurement. Although bounds from this observable have already been considered, this paper takes into account the role of a new operator not included previously, as well as the vertices , and . Using the Cheng–Sher parametrization, we find that for a relatively light charged Higgs boson (200–300 GeV), we obtain , while the parameter could have values up to about 50. In addition, we use bounds for and obtained from at next to leading order, and study the case where the only vanishing vertex factors are the ones involving quarks from the first family. We obtain that is not sensitive to the change of the parameter , while .