Phonon relaxation and internal friction in heterogeneous systems based on poly(vinyl chloride)

Phonon relaxation and internal friction in kaolin-and bentonite-filled PVC composites are studied. By varying the temperature and/or content of the ultrafine mineral filler in the PVC, one can control the contribution from phonon viscosity, damping force, and the effect of viscosity into the energy dissipation of ultrasonic oscillations in the MHz frequency interval. The dynamic character of the measurements makes it possible to differentiate between relaxation phenomena in the composites and to suggest methods for their controlled changes.     

Modified fluororubbers based on SKF-26: Relaxation and mechanical properties

Samples of SKF-26 fluororubber modified by incorporating pendant methoxy groups into the macromolecular chain were studied by dielectric spectroscopy and dynamic mechanical analysis.     

CP violation with Higgs-dependent Yukawa couplings

The framework of Higgs-dependent Yukawa couplings allows one to eliminate small couplings from the Standard Model, which can be tested at the LHC. In this work, I study the conditions for CP violation to occur in such models. I identify a class of weak basis invariants controlling CP violation. The invariant measure of CP violation is found to be more than 10 orders of magnitude greater than that in the Standard Model, which can be sufficient for successful electroweak baryogenesis.     

Additional stringy sources for electric dipole moments

We show that string models with low energy supersymmetry which accommodate the fermion mass hierarchy generally give nonuniversal soft trilinear couplings (A terms). In conjunction with the apparently large Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) phase, this results in large fermion electric dipole moments (EDMs) even in the absence of CP violating phases in the supersymmetry breaking auxiliary fields and the micro term. Nonobservation of the EDMs therefore implies that strings select special flavor and/or supersymmetry breaking patterns.