We report the results of a search for ${\nu }_{\mu }$ disappearance by the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search [D. G. Michael et al. (MINOS), Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 191801 (2006).]. The experiment uses two detectors separated by 734 km to observe a beam of neutrinos created by the Neutrinos at the Main Injector facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The data were collected in the first 282 days of beam operations and correspond to an exposure of $1.27\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target. Based on measurements in the Near Detector, in the absence of neutrino oscillations we expected $336\pm 14$ ${\nu }_{\mu }$ charged-current interactions at the Far Detector but observed 215. This deficit of events corresponds to a significance of 5.2 standard deviations. The deficit is energy dependent and is consistent with two-flavor neutrino oscillations according to $|\Delta m^2|={2.74}_{-0.26}^{+0.44}\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{eV}}^2/c^4$ and ${sin}^{2}2\theta >0.87$ at 68% confidence level.

We dilate the scaling region of the lattice anharmonic oscillator at strong coupling by introducing the parameter $\delta$. Performing expansion in $\delta$, the calculation of the mass gap in the continuum limit via the series expansion effective at large lattice spacings is then studied. We show that the dilation on the mass parameter $M$ recovers the scaling behavior of the hopping parameter $\beta$ and allows for precise approximation of the mass gap.

We compute the couplings of the zero modes and first excited states of gluons, $W$’s, $Z$ gauge bosons, as well as the Higgs, to the zero modes and first excited states of the third generation quarks, in a Randall-Sundrum Gauge-Higgs unification scenario based on a bulk $SO(5)\times U(1{)}_X$ gauge symmetry, with gauge and fermion fields propagating in the bulk. Using the parameter space consistent with electroweak precision tests and radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, we study numerically the dependence of these couplings on the parameters of our model. Furthermore, after emphasizing the presence of light excited states of the top quark, which couple strongly to the Kaluza-Klein gauge bosons, the associated collider phenomenology is analyzed. In particular, we concentrate on the possible detection of the first excited state of the top, $t^1$, which tends to have a higher mass than the ones accessible via regular QCD production processes. We stress that the detection of these particles is still possible due to an increase in the pair production of $t^1$ induced by the first excited state of the gluon, $G^1$.

If the lighter top squark has no kinematically allowed two-body decays that conserve flavor, then it will form hadronic bound states. This is required in models that are motivated by the supersymmetric little hierarchy problem and obtain the correct thermal relic abundance of dark matter by top-squark-mediated neutralino annihilations, or by top-squark-neutralino coannihilations. It is also found in models that can accommodate electroweak-scale baryogenesis within minimal supersymmetry. I study the prospects for detecting scalar stoponium from its diphoton decay mode at the Large Hadron Collider, updating and correcting previous work. Under favorable circumstances, this signal will be observable over background, enabling a uniquely precise measurement of the superpartner masses through a narrow peak in the diphoton invariant mass spectrum, limited by statistics and electromagnetic calorimeter resolutions.

We calculate mesonic two-point functions in the $ϵ$-regime of two-flavor QCD on the lattice with exact chiral symmetry. We use gauge configurations of size ${16}^3\times 32$ at $a\sim 0.11\mathrm{fm}$ generated with dynamical overlap fermions. The sea quark mass is fixed at around 3 MeV and the valence quark mass is varied in the range 1–4 MeV, both of which are in the $ϵ$-regime. We find a good consistency with the expectations from the next-to-leading order calculation in the $ϵ$-expansion of (partially quenched) chiral perturbation theory. From a fit we obtain the pion decay constant $F=87.3(5.6)\mathrm{MeV}$ and the chiral condensate ${\Sigma }^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}=[239.8(4.0)\mathrm{MeV}{]}^3$ up to next-to-next-to-leading order contributions.

A detailed comparison is made between the topological structure of quenched QCD as revealed by the recently proposed over-improved stout-link smearing in conjunction with an improved gluonic definition of the topological density on one hand and a similar analysis made possible by the overlap-fermionic topological charge density both with and without variable ultraviolet cutoff ${\lambda }_{\mathrm{cut}}$. The matching is twofold, provided by fitting the density-density two-point functions on one hand and by a point-by-point fitting of the topological densities according to the two methods. We point out the similar cluster structure of the topological density for moderate smearing and $200\mathrm{MeV}<{\lambda }_{\mathrm{cut}}<600\mathrm{MeV}$, respectively. We demonstrate the relation of the gluonic topological density for extensive smearing to the location of the overlap zero modes and the lowest overlap nonzero mode as found for the unsmeared configurations.

We present an improved calculation of the $B\to K$ transition form factor with a chiral current in the QCD light-cone sum rule approach. Under the present approach, the most uncertain twist-3 contribution is eliminated. And the contributions from the twist-2 and the twist-4 structures of the kaon wave function are discussed, including the $S{U}_f(3)$-breaking effects. One-loop radiative corrections to the kaonic twist-2 contribution together with the leading-order twist-4 corrections are studied. The $S{U}_f(3)$-breaking effect is obtained, $\frac{F_{+}^{B\to K}(0)}{F_{+}^{B\to \pi }(0)}=1.16\pm 0.03$. By combining the light-cone sum rule results with the newly obtained perturbative QCD results that have been calculated up to $\mathcal{O}(1/m_b^2)$ by Wu, Huang, and Fang [Eur. Phys. J. C 52, 561 (2007)], we present a consistent analysis of the $B\to K$ transition form factor in the large and intermediate energy regions.

We present the results of a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of $B^0\to {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}{\pi }^0$ decays based on a $414{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$ data sample that contains $449\times {10}^{6}B\overline{B}$ pairs. The data were collected on the ${\rm Y}(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collider. Combining our analysis with information on charged $B$ decay modes, we perform a full Dalitz and isospin analysis and obtain a constraint on the quark mixing angle ${\varphi }_2$, $68°<{\varphi }_2<95°$ at the 68.3% confidence level for the ${\varphi }_2$ solution consistent with the standard model. A large standard-model–disfavored region also remains. The branching fractions for the decay processes $B^0\to {\rho }^{\pm }(770){\pi }^{\mp }$ and $B^0\to {\rho }^0(770){\pi }^0$ are measured to be $(22.6\pm 1.1[\mathrm{stat}]\pm 4.4[\mathrm{syst}])\times {10}^{-6}$ and $(3.0\pm 0.5[\mathrm{stat}]\pm 0.7[\mathrm{syst}])\times {10}^{-6}$, respectively. These are the first branching fraction measurements of the process $B^0\to \rho (770)\pi$ with the lowest resonance $\rho (770)$ explicitly separated from the radial excitations.

Recently, an extension of the standard model based on ideas of Lee and Wick has been discussed. This theory is free of quadratic divergences and hence has a Higgs mass that is stable against radiative corrections. Here, we address the question of whether or not it is possible to couple very heavy particles, with masses much greater than the weak scale, to the Lee-Wick standard model degrees of freedom and still preserve the stability of the weak scale. We show that in the LW-standard model the familiar seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses preserves the solution to the hierarchy puzzle provided by the higher derivative terms. The very heavy right-handed neutrinos do not destabilize the Higgs mass. We give an example of new heavy degrees of freedom that would destabilize the hierarchy, and discuss a general mechanism for coupling other heavy degrees of freedom to the Higgs doublet while preserving the hierarchy.

Black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binaries are expected to be among the leading sources of gravitational waves observable by ground-based detectors, and may be the progenitors of short-hard gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs) as well. We discuss our new fully general relativistic calculations of merging BHNS binaries, which use high-accuracy, low-eccentricity, conformal thin-sandwich configurations as initial data. Our evolutions are performed using the moving puncture method and include a fully relativistic, high-resolution shock-capturing hydrodynamics treatment. Focusing on systems in which the neutron star is irrotational and the black hole is nonspinning with a $3:1$ mass ratio, we investigate the inspiral, merger, and disk formation in the system. We find that the vast majority of material is promptly accreted and no more than 3% of the neutron star’s rest mass is ejected into a tenuous, gravitationally bound disk. We find similar results for mass ratios of $2:1$ and $1:1$, even when we reduce the neutron stars (NS) compaction in the $2:1$ mass ratio case. These ambient disks reach temperatures suitable for triggering SGRBs, but their masses may be too small to produce the required total energy output. We measure gravitational waveforms and compute the effective strain in frequency space, finding measurable differences between our waveforms and those produced by binary black hole mergers within the advanced LIGO band. These differences appear at frequencies corresponding to the emission that occurs when the NS is tidally disrupted and accreted by the black hole. The resulting information about the radius of the neutron star may be used to constrain the neutron star equation of state.

Can the Large Hadron Collider explain the masses and mixings of the known fermions? A promising possibility is that these masses and mixings are determined by flavor symmetries that also govern new particles that will appear at the LHC. We consider well-motivated examples in supersymmetry with both gravity and gauge mediation. Contrary to spreading belief, new physics need not be minimally flavor violating. We build nonminimally flavor violating models that successfully explain all known lepton masses and mixings, but span a wide range in their predictions for slepton flavor violation. In natural and favorable cases, these models have metastable sleptons and are characterized by fully reconstructible events. We outline many flavor measurements that are then possible and describe their prospects for resolving both the standard model and new physics flavor puzzles at the Large Hadron Collider.

The custodial Randall-Sundrum model based on $\mathrm{SU}(2{)}_L\times \mathrm{SU}(2{)}_R\times \mathrm{U}(1{)}_{B-L}$ generates new flavor-changing-neutral-current (FCNC) phenomena at tree level, mediated by Kaluza-Klein (KK) neutral gauge bosons. Based on two natural assumptions of universal 5D Yukawa couplings and no cancellation in explaining the observed standard model (SM) fermion mixing matrices, we determine the bulk Dirac mass parameters. Phenomenological constraints from lepton-flavor violations are also used to specify the model. From the comprehensive study of $B\to K^{*}{l}^{+}{l}^{\prime -}$, we found that only the $B\to K^{*}{e}^{+}{e}^{-}$ decay has sizable new physics effects. The zero value position of the forward-backward asymmetry in this model is also evaluated, with about 5% deviation from the SM result. Other effective observables are also suggested such as the ratio of two differential (or partially integrated) decay rates of $B\to K^{*}{e}^{+}{e}^{-}$ and $B\to K^{*}{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$. For the first KK gauge boson mass of $M_A^{(1)}=2–4\mathrm{TeV}$, we can have about 10%–20% deviation from the SM results.

So far, the infrared behavior of the gluon and ghost propagator based on the Gribov-Zwanziger approach predicted a positivity violating gluon propagator vanishing at zero momentum, and an infrared enhanced ghost propagator. However, recent data based on huge lattices have revealed a positivity violating gluon propagator which turns out to attain a finite nonvanishing value very close to zero momentum. At the same time the ghost propagator does not seem to be infrared enhanced anymore. We point out that these new features can be accounted for by yet unexploited dynamical effects within the Gribov-Zwanziger approach, leading to an infrared behavior in qualitatively good agreement with the new data.

A supersymmetric Lagrangian used to study D-particle probes in a D6-brane background is exactly soluble. We present an analysis of the classical and quantum mechanics of this theory, including classical trajectories in the bosonic theory, and the exact quantum spectrum and wave functions, including both bound and unbound states.

The generalized harmonic representation of Einstein’s equations is manifestly hyperbolic for a large class of gauge conditions. Unfortunately most of the useful gauges developed over the past several decades by the numerical relativity community are incompatible with the hyperbolicity of the equations in this form. This paper presents a new method of imposing gauge conditions that preserves hyperbolicity for a much wider class of conditions, including as special cases many of the standard ones used in numerical relativity: e.g., $K$ freezing, $\Gamma$ freezing, Bona-Massó slicing, conformal $\Gamma$ drivers, etc. Analytical and numerical results are presented which test the stability and the effectiveness of this new gauge-driver evolution system.

Unparticle exchange gives rise to long range forces which deviate from the inverse square law due to the noncanonical dimension of unparticles. It is well known that a potential of the form $r^{-n}$ where $n$ is not equal to 1 gives rise to a precession in the perihelion of planetary orbits. We calculate the constraints on unparticle couplings with baryons and leptons from the observations of perihelion advance of Mercury’s orbit.

We construct the effective field theory appropriate for describing the low-energy behavior of anisotropic Wilson lattice actions and the $\mathcal{O}(a)$ improved variant thereof. We then apply this effective field theory to the hadron spectrum and dispersion relations, focussing on the corrections due to the anisotropy. We point out an important feature of anisotropic lattices regarding the Aoki regime; for a given set of fermion masses and spatial lattice spacing, if an isotropic action is in the QCD-phase, this does not guarantee that the anisotropic action is outside the Aoki regime. This may be important in the tuning of bare parameters for anisotropic lattices using domain-wall and overlap fermions as well as Wilson and $\mathcal{O}(a)$-improved Wilson fermions.

We report improved measurements of time-dependent $CP$ violation parameters for $B^0({\overline{B}}^0)\to J/\psi {\pi }^0$ decay. This analysis is based on $535\times {10}^6$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs accumulated at the ${\rm Y}(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ collider. From the distribution of proper time intervals between the two $B$ decays, we obtain the following $CP$ violation parameters ${\mathcal{S}}_{J/\psi {\pi }^0}=-0.65\pm 0.21(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.05(\mathrm{syst})\mathrm{\text{and}}{A}_{J/\psi {\pi }^0}=+0.08\pm 0.16(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.05(\mathrm{syst}),$which are consistent with standard model expectations.

The instantaneous contributions to the third post-Newtonian (3PN) gravitational wave luminosity from the inspiral phase of a binary system of compact objects moving in a quasi-elliptical orbit is computed using the multipolar post-Minkowskian wave generation formalism. The necessary inputs for this calculation include the 3PN accurate mass quadrupole moment for general orbits and the mass octupole and current quadrupole moments at 2PN. Using the recently obtained 3PN quasi-Keplerian representation of elliptical orbits, the flux is averaged over the binary’s orbit. Supplementing this by the important hereditary contributions arising from tails, tails of tails, and tails-squared terms calculated in a previous paper, the complete 3PN energy flux is obtained. The final result presented in this paper would be needed for the construction of ready-to-use templates for binaries moving on noncircular orbits, a plausible class of sources not only for the space-based detectors like LISA but also for the ground-based ones.

The far-zone flux of energy contains hereditary (tail) contributions that depend on the entire past history of the source. Using the multipolar post-Minkowskian wave generation formalism, we propose and implement a semianalytical method in the frequency domain to compute these contributions from the inspiral phase of a binary system of compact objects moving in quasi-elliptical orbits up to third post-Newtonian (3PN) order. The method explicitly uses the quasi-Keplerian representation of elliptical orbits at 1PN order and exploits the doubly periodic nature of the motion to average the 3PN fluxes over the binary’s orbit. Together with the instantaneous (nontail) contributions evaluated in a companion paper, it provides crucial inputs for the construction of ready-to-use templates for compact binaries moving on quasi-elliptic orbits, an interesting class of sources for the ground-based gravitational-wave detectors such as LIGO and Virgo, as well as space-based detectors like LISA.