Properties of extragalactic dust inferred from linear polarimetry of Type Ia Supernovae

Aims
The aim of this paper is twofold: 1) to investigate the properties of extragalactic dust and compare them to what is seen in the Galaxy; 2) to address in an independent way the problem of the anomalous extinction curves reported for reddened Type Ia Supernovae (SN) in connection to the environments in which they explode. 

Methods
The properties of the dust are derived from the wavelength dependence of the continuum polarization observed in four reddened Type Ia SN: 1986G, 2006X, 2008fp, and 2014J. The method is based on the observed fact that Type Ia SN have a negligible intrinsic continuum polarization. This and their large luminosity makes them ideal tools to probe the dust properties in extragalactic environments.

Results
All four objects are characterized by exceptionally low total-to-selective absorption ratios (R<inf>V</inf>) and display an anomalous interstellar polarization law, characterized by very blue polarization peaks. In all cases the polarization position angle is well aligned with the local spiral structure. While SN 1986G is compatible with the most extreme cases of interstellar polarization known in the Galaxy, SN 2006X, 2008fp, and 2014J show unprecedented behaviours. The observed deviations do not appear to be connected to selection effects related to the relatively large amounts of reddening characterizing the objects in the sample.

Conclusions
The dust responsible for the polarization of these four SN is most likely of interstellar nature. The polarization properties can be interpreted in terms of a significantly enhanced abundance of small grains. The anomalous behaviour is apparently associated with the properties of the galactic environment in which the SN explode, rather than with the progenitor system from which they originate. For the extreme case of SN 2014J, we cannot exclude the contribution of light scattered by local material; however, the observed polarization properties require an ad hoc geometrical dust distribution.

The Unusually Luminous Extragalactic Nova SN 2010U

We present observations of the unusual optical transient SN 2010U, including spectra taken 1.03 days to 15.3 days after maximum light that identify it as a fast and luminous Fe II type nova. Our multi-band light curve traces the fast decline (t 2 = 3.5 ± 0.3 days) from maximum light (MV = -10.2 ± 0.1 mag), placing SN 2010U in the top 0.5% of the most luminous novae ever observed. We find typical ejecta velocities of ≈1100 km s-1 and that SN 2010U shares many spectral and photometric characteristics with two other fast and luminous Fe II type novae, including Nova LMC 1991 and M31N-2007-11d. For the extreme luminosity of this nova, the maximum magnitude versus rate of decline relationship indicates a massive white dwarf (WD) progenitor with a low pre-outburst accretion rate. However, this prediction is in conflict with emerging theories of nova populations, which predict that luminous novae from massive WDs should preferentially exhibit an alternate spectral type (He/N) near maximum light.

Update on the correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic matter

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz`min energy threshold, 6 x 10(19) eV. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.1 degrees from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the Veron-Cetty and Veron 12th catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is (38(-6)(+7))%, compared with 21% expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of (69-(+11)(13))%. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Supersymmetric 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos

We consider the supersymmetric extension of the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos. We study the mass spectra in the scalar and pseudoscalar sectors, and for a given set of the input parameters, we find that the lightest scalar in the model has a mass of 130 GeV and the lightest pseudoscalar has mass of 5 GeV. However, this pseudoscalar decouples from the Z(0) at high energy scales since it is almost a singlet under SU(2)(L)circle timesU(1)(Y).

Spontaneous CP violation in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos

We implement the mechanism of spontaneous CP violation in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos and recognize their sources of CP violation. Our main result is that the mechanism works already in the minimal version of the model and new sources of CP violation emerges as an effect of new physics at energies higher than the electroweak scale.

Large magnetic dipole moments for neutrinos with arbitrary non-calculable masses

We show that there is a general sort of neutrino effective interactions which allows, under certain conditions, to have relatively large magnetic dipole moments for neutrinos while keeping their masses non-calculable and arbitrarily small. The main ingredient of our mechanism for generating large magnetic moment to the neutrinos is the existence of a neutral scalar which has the only role to give mass to the neutrinos or the existence of flavor changing neutral currents in the neutrino sector. Although our approach is model independent, some models in which those interactions arise are commented.

Measuring the spectra of high energy neutrinos with a kilometer-scale neutrino telescope

We investigate the potential of a future kilometer-scale neutrino telescope, such as the proposed IceCube detector in the South Pole, to measure and disentangle the yet unknown components of the cosmic neutrino flux, the prompt atmospheric neutrinos coming from the decay of charmed particles and the extra-galactic neutrinos in the 10 TeV to 1 EeV energy range. Assuming a power law type spectra, dphi(nu)/dE(nu)similar toalphaE(nu)(beta), we quantify the discriminating power of the IceCube detector and discuss how well we can determine magnitude (alpha) as well as slope (beta) of these two components of the high energy neutrino spectrum, taking into account the background coming from the conventional atmospheric neutrinos.

Flavor changing interaction models and strictly massless neutrinos

It is well known that experimental data, coming from solar and atmospheric neutrino detectors and also from experiments which look for neutrino oscillations. strongly suggest that neutrinos must have a mass different from zero. However at least the solar and/or the atmospheric neutrino data can be related to new flavor changing interactions beyond the standard model instead to the finite mass of neutrinos. This new physics may induce i) extra effects in neutrino-matter interactions, ii) CP violation in pion and lepton decays and, iii) muonium to antimuonium transition. We give two examples of models in which all those effects arise even with strictly massless neutrinos: the 331 model and multi-Higgs doublet extension of the standard model (mHDM) with flavor changing neutral currents in the charged lepton sector. It means that in this kind of models if neutrino masses were eventually needed, they will be independent of the parameters of the new interactions.

Determining the oscillation parameters by solar neutrinos and KamLAND

The neutrino oscillation experiment KamLAND has provided us with the first evidence for e disappearance, coming from nuclear reactors. We have combined their data with all solar neutrino data, assuming two flavor neutrino mixing, and obtained allowed parameter regions which are compatible with the so-called large mixing angle MSW solution to the solar neutrino problem. The allowed regions in the plane of mixing angle and mass squared difference are now split into two islands at 99% C.L. We have speculated how these two islands can be distinguished in the near future. We have shown that a 50% reduction of the error on SNO neutral-current measurement can be important in establishing in each of these islands the true values of these parameters lie, We also have simulated KamLAND positron energy spectrum after I year of data taking, assuming the current best fitted values of the oscillation parameters, combined it the with current solar neutrino data and showed how these two split islands can be modified. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V. B.V.

Schizophrenic active neutrinos and exotic sterile neutrinos

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for heavy lepton partners of neutrinos in proton-proton collisions in the context of the type III seesaw mechanism

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in mu(+/-)mu(+/-) + jets and e(+/-)e(+/-) + jets events in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Gauging U(1) symmetries and the number of right-handed neutrinos

In this Letter we consider that assuming: (a) that the only left-handed neutral fermions are the active neutrinos, (b) that B - L is a gauge symmetry, and (c) that the L assignment is restricted to the integer numbers, the anomaly cancellation imply that at least three right-handed neutrinos must be added to the minimal representation content of the electroweak standard model. However, two types of models arise: (i) the usual one where each of the three identical right-handed neutrinos has total lepton number L = 1: (ii) and the other one in which two of them carry L = 4 while the third one carries L = -5. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Intrinsic flavor violation for massive neutrinos

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mass varying neutrinos in supernovae

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)