10781940
Universal dynamics of spontaneous Lorentz violation and a new spin-dependent inverse-square law force
We study the universal low-energy dynamics associated with the spontaneous breaking of Lorentz invariance down to spatial rotations. The effective lagrangian for the associated Goldstone field can be uniquely determined by the non-linear realization of a broken time diffeomorphism symmetry, up to some overall mass scales. It has previously been shown that this symmetry breaking pattern gives rise to a Higgs phase of gravity, in which gravity is modified in the infrared. In this paper, we study the effects of direct couplings between the Goldstone boson and standard model fermions, which necessarily accompany Lorentz-violating terms in the theory. The leading interaction is the coupling to the axial vector current, which reduces to spin in the non-relativistic limit. A spin moving relative to the ``ether rest frame will emit Goldstone Cerenkov radiation. The Goldstone also induces a long-range inverse-square law force between spin sources with a striking angular dependence, reflecting the underlying Goldstone shockwaves and providing a smoking gun for this theory. We discuss the regime of validity of the effective theory describing these phenomena, and the possibility of probing Lorentz violations through Goldstone boson signals in a way that is complementary to direct tests in some regions of parameter space.
118951198
Neutrino constraints on spontaneous Lorentz violation
We study the effect of spontaneous Lorentz violation on neutrinos. We consider two kinds of effects: static effects, where the neutrino acquires a Lorentz-violating dispersion relation, and dynamic effects, which arise from the interactions of the neutrino with the Goldstone boson of spontaneous Lorentz violation. Static effects are well detailed in the literature. Here, special emphasis is given to the novel dynamic effect of Goldstone-Cerenkov radiation, where neutrinos moving with respect to a preferred rest frame can spontaneously emit Goldstone bosons. We calculate the observable consequences of this process and use them to derive experimental bounds from SN1987A and the CMBR. The bounds derived from dynamic effects are complementary to - and in many cases much stronger than - those obtained from static effects.
603052
Spontaneous Lorentz breaking at high energies
Theories that spontaneously break Lorentz invariance also violate diffeomorphism symmetries, implying the existence of extra degrees of freedom and modifications of gravity. In the minimal model (``ghost condensation'') with only a single extra degree of freedom at low energies, the scale of Lorentz violation cannot be larger than about M ~ 100GeV due to an infrared instability in the gravity sector. We show that Lorentz symmetry can be broken at much higher scales in a non-minimal theory with additional degrees of freedom, in particular if Lorentz symmetry is broken by the vacuum expectation value of a vector field. This theory can be constructed by gauging ghost condensation, giving a systematic effective field theory description that allows us to estimate the size of all physical effects. We show that nonlinear effects become important for gravitational fields with strength Φ1/2 g, where g is the gauge coupling, and we argue that the nonlinear dynamics is free from singularities. We then analyze the phenomenology of the model, including nonlinear dynamics and velocity-dependent effects. The strongest bounds on the gravitational sector come from either black hole accretion or direction-dependent gravitational forces, and imply that the scale of spontaneous Lorentz breaking is M Min(1012GeV, g21015GeV). If the Lorentz breaking sector couples directly to matter, there is a spin-dependent inverse-square law force, which has a different angular dependence from the force mediated by the ghost condensate, providing a distinctive signature for this class of models.
118513003
Exotic top partners and Little Higgs
A bstractLittle Higgs models often give rise to top partners beyond the minimal ones necessary for the cancellation of quadratic divergences. We review how this occurs and discuss the phenomenology of these exotic states. We emphasize the possible importance of new pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone bosons in top partner decays. Indeed, cascade decays of exotic top partners may be the best way to discover these new bosons. We illustrate these points with a new Little Higgs construction based on an SO(10)/SO(5)2 coset structure, which fills a gap in the model building literature. These observations motivate new search strategies for top partners at the LHC, including for final states with b-jets and a large multiplicity of electroweak bosons.
7293408
Semi-annihilation of dark matter
We show that the thermal relic abundance of dark matter can be affected by a new type of reaction: semi-annihilation. Semi-annihilation takes the schematic form ψiψj → ψkφ, where ψi are stable dark matter particles and φ is an unstable state. Such reactions are generically present when dark matter is composed of more than one species with “flavor” and/or “baryon” symmetries. We give a complete set of coupled Boltzmann equations in the presence of semi-annihilations, and study two toy models featuring this process. Semi-annihilation leads to non-trivial dark matter dynamics in the early universe, often dominating over ordinary annihilation in determining the relic abundance. This process also has important implications for indirect detection experiments, by enriching the final state spectrum from dark matter (semi-)annihilation in the Milky Way.
30709826
Precision jet substructure from boosted event shapes.
Jet substructure has emerged as a critical tool for LHC searches, but studies so far have relied heavily on shower Monte Carlo simulations, which formally approximate QCD at the leading-log level. We demonstrate that systematic higher-order QCD computations of jet substructure can be carried out by boosting global event shapes by a large momentum Q and accounting for effects due to finite jet size, initial-state radiation (ISR), and the underlying event (UE) as 1/Q corrections. In particular, we compute the 2-subjettiness substructure distribution for boosted Z→qq[over ¯] events at the LHC at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading-log order. The calculation is greatly simplified by recycling known results for the thrust distribution in e(+)e(-) collisions. The 2-subjettiness distribution quickly saturates, becoming Q independent for Q > or approximately equal to 400 GeV. Crucially, the effects of jet contamination from ISR/UE can be subtracted out analytically at large Q without knowing their detailed form. Amusingly, the Q=∞ and Q=0 distributions are related by a scaling by e up to next-to-leading-log order.
33624256
LARGE SYNOPTIC SURVEY TELESCOPE: FROM SCIENCE DRIVERS TO REFERENCE DESIGN
In the history of astronomy, major advances in our understanding of the Universe have come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. Aided by rapid progress in information technology, current sky surveys are changing the way we view and study the Universe. Next-generation surveys will maintain this revolutionary progress. We focus here on the most ambitious survey currently planned in the visible band, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: constraining dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. It will be a large, wide-field ground-based system designed to obtain multiple images covering the sky that is visible from Cerro Pachon in Northern Chile. The current baseline design, with an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg{sup 2} field of view, and a 3,200 Megapixel camera, will allow about 10,000 square degrees of sky to be covered using pairs of 15-second exposures in two photometric bands every three nights on average. The system is designed to yield high image quality, as well as superb astrometric and photometric accuracy. The survey area will include 30,000 deg{sup 2} with {delta} < +34.5{sup o}, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, ugrizy, covering the wavelength range 320-1050 nm. About 90% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will observe a 20,000 deg{sup 2} region about 1000 times in the six bands during the anticipated 10 years of operation. These data will result in databases including 10 billion galaxies and a similar number of stars, and will serve the majority of science programs. The remaining 10% of the observing time will be allocated to special programs such as Very Deep and Very Fast time domain surveys. We describe how the LSST science drivers led to these choices of system parameters.
120104766
Data-acquisition modelling and simulation
Abstract We report on the current status of our program to develop a complete top-down design environment for data-acquisition systems. Our effort now focuses on four distinct projects: (1) a model of the existing CDF muon detector trigger and data acquisition, with one board described down to the gate level; (2) a HyperCard enviroment for the automatic incorporation of manufacturers' parts specifications into the design library; (3) translation of component descriptions between different design tools; (4) coordination of a multi-designer environment.
122591307
The Dark Energy Camera
I describe the camera (DECam) that we are building in order to perform the Dark Energy Survey on the Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo (CTIO). The DES science goals are described in John Peoples’ talk. DECam will also be available to the astronomy community as a CTIO facility instrument.
120057201
Testing the Dark Energy Camera on a telescope simulator
The Dark Energy Camera is a new prime-focus instrument to be delivered to the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in 2011. Construction is in-progress at this time at Fermilab. In order to verify that the camera meets technical specifications for the Dark Energy Survey and to reduce the time required to commission the instrument while it is on the telescope, we are constructing a "Telescope Simulator" and performing full system testing prior to shipping to CTIO. This presentation will describe the Telescope Simulator and how we use it to verify some of the technical specifications.
116478167
Study of dalitz-plot distributions of the decays eta ---> pi+ pi- pi0 and eta ---> pi+ pi- gamma