Indirect constraints on the triple gauge boson couplings from Z -> b(b)over-bar partial width: An update

We update the indirect bounds on anomalous triple gauge couplings coming from the non-universal one-loop contributions to the Z --> width. These bounds, which are independent of the Higgs boson mass, are in agreement with the standard model predictions for the gauge boson self-couplings since the present value of R-b agrees fairly well with the theoretical estimates. Moreover, these indirect constraints on Delta g(1)(Z) and g(5)(Z) are most stringent than the present direct bounds on these quantities, while the indirect limit on lambda(Z) is weaker than the available experimental data.

Scaling in few-body nuclear physics

The nuclear matter calculations with realistic nucleon-nucleon potentials present a general scaling between the nucleon-nucleus binding energy, the corresponding saturation density, and the triton binding energy. The Thomas-Efimov three-body effect implies in correlations among low-energy few-body and many-body observables. It is also well known that, by varying the short-range repulsion, keeping the two-nucleon information (deuteron and scattering) fixed, the four-nucleon and three-nucleon binding energies lie on a very narrow band known as a Tjon line. By looking for a universal scaling function connecting the proper scales of the few-body system with those of the many-body system, we suggest that the general nucleus-nucleon scaling mechanism is a manifestation of a universal few-body effect.

Search for neutral supersymmetric Higgs bosons in multijet events at root s=1.96 TeV

We have performed a search for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with bottom quarks in p (p) over bar collisions, using 260 pb(-1) of data collected with the D0 detector in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The cross sections for these processes are enhanced in many extensions of the standard model (SM), such as in its minimal supersymmetric extension at large tan beta. The results of our analysis agree with expectations from the SM, and we use our measurements to set upper limits on the production of neutral Higgs bosons in the mass range of 90 to 150 GeV.

A dynamical mechanism to explain the top-bottom quark mass hierarchy

We discuss the mass splitting between the the top and bottom quarks in a technicolor scenario. The model proposed here contains a left-right electroweak gauge group. An extended technicolor group and mirror fermions are introduced. The top-bottom quark mass splitting turns out to be intimately connected to the breaking of the left-right gauge symmetry. Weak isospin violation occurs within the experimental limits.

Search for neutral Higgs bosons decaying to tau pairs in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

A search for the production of neutral Higgs bosons Phi decaying into tau(+)tau(-) final states in p (p) over bar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV is presented. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 325 pb(-1), were collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Since no excess compared to the expectation from standard model processes is found, limits on the production cross section times branching ratio are set. The results are combined with those obtained from the D0 search for Phi b((b) over bar)-> b (b) over barb((b) over bar) and are interpreted in the minimal supersymmetric standard model.

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.

Ultra peripheral heavy ion collisions and the energy dependence of the nuclear radius

To estimate realistic cross sections in ultra peripheral heavy ion collisions we must remove effects of strong absorption. One method to eliminate these effects make use of a Glauber model calculation, where the nucleon-nucleon energy dependent cross sections at small impact parameter are suppressed. In another method we impose a geometrical cut on the minimal impact parameter of the nuclear collision ((b)min > R-1 + R-2, where R-i is the radius of ion 'i'). In this last case the effect of a possible nuclear radius dependence with the energy has not been considered in detail up to now. Here we introduce this effect showing that for final states with small invariant mass the effect is negligible. However when the final state has a relatively large invariant mass, e.g., an intermediate mass Higgs boson, the cross section can decrease up to 50%. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Constraints on a scalar-pseudoscalar Higgs mixing at future e(+)e(-) colliders: An update

We perform an update of our previous analysis of the constraints on possible deviations of Hb (b) over bar coupling parametrized as (m(b)/v)(a+igamma(5)b), arising from a scalar-pseudoscalar mixing, where the process e(+)e(-)-->b (b) over bar nu(ν) over bar was used. In this paper we include a complete simulation of the process e(+)e(-)-->b (b) over bare(+)e(-) and combine these results to obtain tighter bounds on the deviations of the parameters a and b from their standard model values that could be measured at the Next Linear Collider.

Cosmological term and fundamental physics

A nonvanishing cosmological term in Einstein's equations implies a nonvanishing spacetime curvature even in the absence of any kind of matter. It would, in consequence, affect many of the underlying kinematic tenets of physical theory. The usual commutative spacetime translations of the Poincare group would be replaced by the mixed conformal translations of the de Sitter group, leading to obvious alterations in elementary concepts such as time, energy and momentum. Although negligible at small scales, such modifications may come to have important consequences both in the large and for the inflationary picture of the early Universe. A qualitative discussion is presented, which suggests deep changes in Hamiltonian, Quantum and Statistical Mechanics. In the primeval universe as described by the standard cosmological model, in particular, the equations of state of the matter sources could be quite different from those usually introduced.

Closing the SU(3)(L)circle times U(1)(X) symmetry at the electroweak scale

We show that some models with SU(3)(C)circle times SU(3)(L)circle times U(1)(X) gauge symmetry can be realized at the electroweak scale and that this is a consequence of an approximate global SU(2)(L+R) symmetry. This symmetry implies a condition among the vacuum expectation value of one of the neutral Higgs scalars, the U(1)(X)'s coupling constant, g(X), the sine of the weak mixing angle sin theta(W), and the mass of the W boson, M-W. In the limit in which this symmetry is valid it avoids the tree level mixing of the Z boson of the standard model with the extra Z(') boson. We have verified that the oblique T parameter is within the allowed range indicating that the radiative corrections that induce such a mixing at the 1-loop level are small. We also show that a SU(3)(L+R) custodial symmetry implies that in some of the models we have to include sterile (singlets of the 3-3-1 symmetry) right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses, since the seesaw mechanism is mandatory to obtain light active neutrinos. Moreover, the approximate SU(2)(L+R)subset of SU(3)(L+R) symmetry implies that the extra nonstandard particles of these 3-3-1 models can be considerably lighter than it had been thought before so that new physics can be really just around the corner.

Renormalization in few-body nuclear physics

Renormalized fixed-point Hamiltonians are formulated for systems described by interactions that originally contain point-like singularities (as the Dirac-delta and/or its derivatives). They express the renormalization group invariance of quantum mechanics. The present approach for the renormalization scheme relies on a subtracted T-matrix equation.

Analysis of the Hb(b)over-bar coupling constant and CP-violation effects at the future e(+)e(-) collider

The e(+)e(-)-->b (B) over bar nu(ν) over bar process, where nu is an electron, muon, or tau-lepton neutrino, is analyzed in detail for the general form of the coupling constant of a Higgs boson with b quarks, with the (m(b)/v)(a + igamma(5)b) parameterization of the Hb (b) over bar interaction. This process is shown to be highly sensitive to this coupling constant. Experiments at the future with roots = 500-GeV linear collider will provide limits of 2 and 20% for deviations of the parameters a and b, respectively, from their Standard Model values. Results concerning the e(+)e(-)-->b (b) over bar nu(ν) over bar process in combination with the independent measurements of the partial width Gamma(H --> b (b) over bar) can testify to the CP origin of the Higgs sector of the theory. (C) 2003 MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica.

CP violation conditions in N-Higgs-doublet potentials

Conditions for CP violation in the scalar potential sector of general N-Higgs-doublet models are analyzed from a group theoretical perspective. For the simplest two-Higgs-doublet model potential, a minimum set of conditions for explicit and spontaneous CP violation is presented. The conditions can be given a clear geometrical interpretation in terms of quantities in the adjoint representation of the basis transformation group for the two doublets. Such conditions depend on CP-odd pseudoscalar invariants. When the potential is CP invariant, the explicit procedure to reach the real CP-basis and the explicit CP transformation can also be obtained. The procedure to find the real basis and the conditions for CP violation are then extended to general N-Higgs-doublet model potentials. The analysis becomes more involved and only a formal procedure to reach the real basis is found. Necessary conditions for CP invariance can still be formulated in terms of group invariants: the CP-odd generalized pseudoscalars. The problem can be completely solved for three Higgs-doublets.

Electrically charged topological solitons

Two new families of T-dual integrable models of dyonic type are constructed. They represent specific A(n)((1)) singular non-abelian affine Toda models having U(1) global symmetry. Their I-soliton spectrum contains both neutral and U(I)-charged topological solitons sharing the main properties of 4-dimensional Yang-Mills-Higgs monopoles and dyons. The semiclassical quantization of these solutions as well as the exact counterterms and the coupling constant renormalization are studied. (C) 2001 Elsevier B.V. B.V. All rights reserved.