122178650
New search for processes violating the Pauli exclusion principle in sodium and in iodine
In this paper a new search for non-Paulian nuclear processes, i.e. processes normally forbidden by the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP), is presented. It has been carried out at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN by means of the highly radiopure DAMA/LIBRA set-up (sensitive mass of about 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)). In particular, a new improved upper limit for the spontaneous non-Paulian emission rate of protons with energy Ep≥ 10 MeV in 23Na and 127I has been obtained: 1.63 × 10−33 s−1 (90% C.L.). The corresponding limit on the relative strength (δ2) for the searched non-Paulian transition is δ2≲(3–4)×10−55 (90% C.L.). Moreover, PEP-violating electron transitions in iodine atoms have also been investigated. Lifetimes shorter than 4.7×1030 s are excluded at 90% C.L.; this allows us to derive the limit δe2<1.28×10−47 (90% C.L.). This latter limit can also be related to a possible finite size of the electron in composite models of quarks and leptons providing superficial violation of the PEP; the obtained upper limit on the electron size is r0<5.7×10−18 cm (energy scale of E≳3.5 TeV).
124862840
DIRECT DETECTION OF DARK MATTER PARTICLES
17766827
Investigating electron interacting dark matter
Some extensions of the standard model provide dark matter candidate particles which can have a dominant coupling with the lepton sector of the ordinary matter. Thus, such dark matter candidate particles (chi(0)) can be directly detected only through their interaction with electrons in the detectors of a suitable experiment, while they are lost by experiments based on the rejection of the electromagnetic component of the experimental counting rate. These candidates can also offer a possible source of the 511 keV photons observed from the galactic bulge. In this paper this scenario is investigated. Some theoretical arguments are developed and related phenomenological aspects are discussed. Allowed intervals and regions for the characteristic phenomenological parameters of the considered model and of the possible mediator of the interaction are also derived considering the DAMA/NaI data.
118311956
DAMA investigations on Dark Matter at Gran Sasso: results and perspectives
The DAMA/NaI experiment (≃ 100 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl)) at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. had the unique feature to effectively investigate the presence of Dark Matter particles in the galactic halo by exploiting the model independent annual modulation signature. A total exposure of more than 105 kg × day, collected over seven annual cycles, has pointed out at 6.3 σ C.L. an effect which satisfies all the many peculiarities of the signature. Neither systematics nor side reactions able to account for the observed effect were found. No experiment whose result can be directly compared in a model independent way with the experimental one of DAMA/NaI is available so far. Searches in space experiments are not in contradiction with DAMA/NaI. Several (but still few with respect to the possibilities) corollary model dependent quests for the candidate particle have also been carried out; others are in progress. At present the second generation DAMA/LIBRA set‐up (≃ 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(...
117048271
First DAMA/LIBRA Results and Beyond
The DAMA project is an observatory for rare processes and it is operative deep underground at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the I.N.F.N. Its main apparatus is the DAMA/LIBRA set-up, consisting of ≃250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) detectors. Its first results — obtained by exploiting over four annual cycles the model independent annual modulation signature for Dark Matter (DM) particles — confirm by those of the former DAMA/NaI, supporting the evidence for Dark Matter presence in the galactic halo at 8.2 σ C.L.. The DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA data, in fact, satisfy all the many peculiarities of the DM annual modulation signature. Neither systematic effects nor side reactions able to account for the observed modulation amplitude and to contemporaneously satisfy all the several requirements of the DM signature are available. Future perspectives are also addressed.
119701812
Signals from dark Universe: DAMA/LIBRA at LNGS
The DAMA/LIBRA set-up (about 250 kg highly radiopure NaI(Tl) sensitive mass) is running at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the INFN. The first DAMA/LIBRA results point out the presence of a dark matter particle component in the galactic halo, as well as the former DAMA/NaI set-up; cumulatively the data support such evidence at 8.2σ CL and satisfy all the peculiarities of the dark matter annual modulation signature.
119248851
General Sum Rules for WW Scattering in Higgsless Models: Equivalence Theorem and Deconstruction Identities
We analyze inelastic 2{yields}2 scattering amplitudes for gauge bosons and Nambu-Goldstone bosons in deconstructed Higgsless models. Using the (KK) equivalence theorem in 4D (5D), we derive a set of general sum rules among the boson masses and multiboson couplings that are valid for arbitrary deconstructed models. Taking the continuum limit, our results naturally include the 5D Higgsless model sum rules for arbitrary 5D geometry and boundary conditions; they also reduce to the elastic sum rules when applied to the special case of elastic scattering. For the case of linear deconstructed Higgsless models, we demonstrate that the sum rules can also be derived from a set of general deconstruction identities and completeness relations. We apply these sum rules to the deconstructed 3-site Higgsless model and its extensions; we show that in 5D ignoring all higher KK modes (n>1) is inconsistent once the inelastic channels become important. Finally, we discuss how our results generalize beyond the case of linear Higgsless models.
888469
Ideal fermion delocalization in five dimensional gauge theories
We discuss ideal delocalization of fermions in a bulk $SU(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}U(1)$ Higgsless model with a flat or warped extra dimension. So as to make an extra dimensional interpretation possible, both the weak and hypercharge properties of the fermions are delocalized, with the $U(1{)}_{Y}$ current of left-handed fermions being correlated with the $SU(2{)}_{W}$ current. We find that (to subleading order) ideal fermion delocalization yields vanishing precision electroweak corrections in this continuum model, as found in corresponding theory-space models based on deconstruction. In addition to explicit calculations, we present an intuitive argument for our results based on Georgi's spring analogy. We also discuss the conditions under which the essential features of an $SU(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}U(1)$ bulk gauge theory can be captured by a simpler $SU(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2)$ model.
18272273
PRECISION ELECTROWEAK CONSTRAINTS ON HIDDEN LOCAL SYMMETRIES
In this talk we discuss the phenomenology of models with replicated electroweak gauge symmetries, based on a framework with the gauge structure [SU(2) or U(1)] x U(1) x SU(2) x SU(2).
119095037
Collider tests of compact space dimensions using weak gauge bosons
We present collider tests of the recent proposal for weak-scale quantum gravity due to new large compact space dimensions in which only the graviton $(G)$ propagates. We show that the existing high precision LEP-I $Z$-pole data can impose nontrivial constraints on the scale of the new dimensions, via the decay mode $Z\ensuremath{\rightarrow}f\overline{f}+G$ $(f\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}q,\ensuremath{\ell})$. These bounds are comparable to those obtained at high energy colliders and provide the first sensitive probe of the scalar graviton. We also study $W(Z)+G$ production and the anomalous $\mathrm{WW}(\mathrm{ZZ})$ signal from virtual $G$-states at the Fermilab Tevatron and compare them with the LEP-I bound and those from LEP-II and future linear colliders.
657584
Electroweak corrections and unitarity in linear moose models
We calculate the form of the corrections to the electroweak interactions in the class of Higgsless models which can be deconstructed to a chain of SU(2) gauge groups adjacent to a chain of U(1) gauge groups, and with the fermions coupled to any single SU(2) group and to any single U(1) group along the chain. The primary advantage of our technique is that the size of corrections to electroweak processes can be directly related to the spectrum of vector bosons ('KK modes'). In Higgsless models, this spectrum is constrained by unitarity. Our methods also allow for arbitrary background 5D geometry, spatially dependent gauge-couplings, and brane kinetic energy terms. We find that, due to the size of corrections to electroweak processes in any unitary theory, Higgsless models with localized fermions are disfavored by precision electroweak data. Although we stress our results as they apply to continuum Higgsless 5D models, they apply to any linear moose model including those with only a few extra vector bosons. Our calculations of electroweak corrections also apply directly to the electroweak gauge sector of 5D theories with a bulk scalar Higgs boson; the constraints arising from unitarity do not apply in this case.