DISCRETE '08: Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries

11 Dec 2008, 09:00 → 16 Dec 2008, 19:00 Europe/Madrid

Valencia, Spain

Jose Bernabeu (IFIC), Vasiliki Mitsou (IFIC)

The aim of the Symposium is to bring together experts on the field of Discrete Symmetries in order to discuss its prospects on the eve of the LHC era. The general state of the art for CP, T and CPT symmetries will be reviewed and their interplay with Baryogenesis, Early Cosmology, Quantum Gravity and the Dark Sector of the Universe will be emphasised. Connections with physics beyond the Standard Model, in particular Supersymmetry, will be investigated. Experimental implications in current and proposed facilities will receive particular attention.

Preface to the proceedings http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/011001

Proceedings http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1

Thursday, 11 December

PLENARY-I

Convener: Vasiliki MITSOU (IFIC - Valencia)

1 Welcome

Speaker: Francisco J. (IFIC's Director) BOTELLA

Slides

• AWelcome.pdf
• AWelcome.ppt
• WelcomeDISCRETE.pdf
• WelcomeDISCRETE.ppt

2 Time reversal violation

I will discuss issues related to time reversal invariance and non-invariance in particle physics and beyond. I will examine how the match of CP violation and T violation that occurs under CPT symmetry manifests itself somewhat differently in K and in B decays.

Speaker: Prof. Helen Quinn (SLAC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012001

Slides T_irreversability.pdf T_irreversability.ppt

3 Electric Dipole Moments

Speaker: Dr David Wark (Imperial Coll. London & Rutherford)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012002

10:30 Coffee break

PLENARY-II

Convener: Francisco J. BOTELLA (IFIC - Valencia)

4 Searching for New Physics with Rare Decays and CP Violation

After summarizing the present status of weak decays of K and B mesons within the Standard Model we outline a program for the search for new physics with the help of rare and CP violating decays of K and B mesons and of leptons. Also electric dipole moments of the neutron and electron play an important role in this program. In this context we will discuss several extensions of the Standard Model: MSSM, Littlest Higgs with T-parity and Randall-Sundrum models.

Speaker: Prof. Andrzej Buras (TU Munich)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012004

Slides Buras_Valencia08.pdf

5 Baryogenesis

We will discuss different mechanisms for baryogenesis with special emphasis to those of them that can be experimentally tested

Speaker: Prof. Mikhail Shaposhnikov (EPFL)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012005

Slides shaposhnikov.pdf.pdf

12:30 Lunch break

Parallel Session A. CP violation in the SM and beyond-I

Convener: David WARK (Imperial College)

6 Rare B decays including EW, leptonic and hadronic-penguin decays

Rare decays, i.e. decays that are expected to have very small branching fractions, are sensitive to new physics beyond the Standard Model. The large samples of BB-bar pairs accumulated at the B factories provide good opportunities to measure such decay modes. We present a review of recent measurements including hadronic- electroweak-penguin decays, as well as leptonic decays.

Speaker: Debabrata Mohapatra (Virginia Tech.)

Slides rareBdecays.pdf

7 Study of the eta--pi+ pi- e+ e- decay at KLOE

The KLOE experiment has concluded its data taking in March 2006, having acquired an integrated luminosity of 2.5 fb-1 of e+e- collisions at the center of mass energy around the phi(1020) resonance. The complete data set includes a sample of 100 million eta's produced through the radiative decay phi --> eta gamma and tagged by means of the monochromatic recoil photon. This huge amount of data allows to perform the first test of CP violation in eta decays through the study of the rare eta --> pi+ pi- e+ e- channel, measuring the asymmetry between the pi+pi- and the e+e- decay planes in the eta rest frame (Aphi). Being this process flavor conserving, such an observation will point to unexpected mechanism of CP violation, thus providing an hint of new physics beyond the Standard Model. A study of the eta --> pi+ pi- e+ e- decay based on a data sample of 1.7 fb-1 will be presented. Electrons and pions are identified using both the time of flight to the calorimeter and the momentum of each track. Cuts on track momenta and on photon conversion on the beam pipe allow to significantly reduce the background, with a final 20% contamination. The analysis efficiency for the signal is ~8%, dominated by geometrical acceptance. The final sample of about 1600 signal events, 100 times larger than today best measurement, is used to measure both the eta --> pi+ pi- e+ e- branching fraction and the asymmetry Aphi.

Speaker: Roberto Versaci (INFN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012050

Slides versaci_discrete08.pdf

8 Vus and CP invariance test from Kaon decays with the KLOE detector

The KLOE experiment has provided precise measurements of the branching ratio of the main neutral and charged kaon decay modes, of the $K_L$ and the $K^{\pm}$ lifetimes, and of the $K_L$ vector and scalar form factors. We present a description of the above measurements and an overall fit of all our data, with particular attention to correlations. These data provide the basis for the determination of the value of the CKM matrix element $V_{us}$ and a test of the unitarity of the quark mixing matrix. \noindent In addition our first measurement of the charge asimmetry in $K_S$ semileptonic decays, $A_S$, gaves us the possibility to contribute to the knowledge of $\Re(\varepsilon)$ and testing the CPT symmetry through the Bell Steinberger relation.

Speaker: Patrizia De Simone (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012051

Slides Valencia08_desimone.pdf

9 SUSY contributions to Phi_Bs from highly non-degenerate sfermions

We reconsider the mass insertion approximation in the limit in which the sfermions are highly non-degenerate. We show that the correlation between the supersymmetric contributions to Delta F = 1 and Delta F = 2 observables strongly depends on the sfermion spectrum. In particular, we show that larger contributions to the phase of the Bs mixing amplitude are allowed in the non-degenerate case.

Speaker: Andrea Romanino (SISSA/ISAS)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012059

Slides romanino.pdf

10 The QED corrections in the Standard Model

The radiative correction (of the type g/2pi) is one of the commonly used methods of a comparison of the effects with very different scales [1]. For example, Bernstein marked the closeness of the QED correction (alpha/pi) to the parameter of CP-nonconservation in kaon decay [2]. There is an exact coincidence between QED radiative correction alpha/2pi=1.159 10-3 with the ratio between well-known Standard Model parameters m-mu/MZ=1.159 10-3 [3], while the lepton ratio m-mu/m-e=206.77 become integer 207.01 after small QED correction for the electron rest mass. We follow Nambu suggestion [4] that empirical relations in particle masses could be useful for the SM-development, and consider additional empirical relations in well-known particle masses, including top-quark and tau-lepton. Indirect confirmation of these tuning effects in particle masses was found in the corresponding tuning effects in the nuclear data [5]. References: [1] I.T.Dyatlov, Phys. Rev. D 45 (1992) 1636. [2] J.Bernstein, Elementary Particles and their Currents, Stevens In. publ., 1968. [3] S.I.Sukhoruchkin, Nucl. Phys. A, 782 (2007) 37. [4] Y.Nambu, Nucl. Phys. A, 629, 3c (1998). [5] S.I.Sukhoruchkin, "Fundamental origin of nuclear tuning effects", Proc. Int. Conf. Nucl. Data Sci. Technol,. Nice, 2007, http://nd2007.edpsciences.org.

Speaker: Dr Sergey Sukhoruchkin (Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012064

Slides sukh_val.pdf sukh_val.ppt

Parallel Session B. Family symmetries-I

Convener: Graham ROSS (Oxford University)

11 Searches for Fourth Generation Particles and Heavy Neutrinos at CMS

This presentation will adress the experimental issues and discovery potentials for a fourth generation charge -1/3 quark decaying to a W and a top quark and for a right-handed W that decays to a lepton and a heavy neutrino, predicted by Left-Right-symmetric models. Both produce almost background-free final states containing multiple leptons and jets. The residual backgrounds and reach for each type of particle is presented for 100 pb-1 of 14 TeV data.

Speaker: Kai-Feng Chen (Physics Department - National Taiwan University (NTU))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012080

Slides discrete08-cms.pdf

12 Electric Dipole Moments from Spontaneous CP Violation in SU(3)-flavoured SUSY

The SUSY flavour problem is deeply related to the origin of flavour and hence to the origin of the SM Yukawa couplings themselves. Since all CP-violation in the SM is restricted to the flavour sector, it is possible that the SUSY CP problem is related to the origin of flavour as well. In this work, we present three variations of an SU(3) flavour model with spontaneous CP violation. Such models explain the hierarchy in the fermion masses and mixings, and predict the structure of the flavoured soft SUSY breaking terms. In such a situation, both SUSY flavour and CP problems do not exist. We use electric dipole moments and lepton flavour violation processes to distinguish between these models, and place constraints on the SUSY parameter space.

Speaker: Mr Joel Jones Perez (Universitat de Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012082

Slides EDMsfromCPVinSU3.pdf

13 LFV and Dipole Moments in Models with A4 Flavour Symmetry

It is presented an analysis on lepton flavour violating transitions, leptonic magnetic dipole moments and electric dipole moments in a class of models characterized by the flavour symmetry A4 x Z3 x U(1)_{FN}, whose choice is motivated by the approximate tri-bimaximal mixing observed in neutrino oscillations. A low-energy effective Lagrangian is constructed, where these effects are dominated by dimension six operators, suppressed by the scale M of new physics. All the flavour breaking effects are universally described by the vacuum expectation values <Phi> of a set of spurions. Two separate cases, a supersymmetric and a general one, are described. An upper limit on (theta)_13 of a few percent is concluded.

Speaker: Mr Luca Merlo (Università di Padova & INFN Padova)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012083

Slides Merlo,Discrete.pdf

14 Lepton flavour violating processes in an S(3)-invariant extension of the Standard Model

A variety of lepton flavour violating effects related to neutrino oscillations and mixings will be systematically discussed in the framework of a minimal S3-invariant extension of the Standard Model. We will give explicit analytical expressions for the matrices of the Yukawa couplings, the results of a computation of the branching ratios of some selected flavour-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes and the contribution of the exchange of neutral flavour-changing scalars to the anomaly of the muon’s magnetic moment, in terms of the masses of the charged leptons and the neutral Higgs bosons. It will also be shown that the S3×Z2 flavour symmetry and the strong mass hierarchy of the charged leptons strongly suppress the FCNC processes in the leptonic sector and give a nearly tri-bimaximal neutrino mixing matrix. The contribution of the FCNCs to the anomaly of the muon’s magnetic moment is small but non-negligible.

Speaker: Alfonso Mondragon (Instituto de Fisica, UNAM)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012081

Slides S3-a-mondragon.pdf.pdf

15 Embedding discrete symmetries: Large neutrino mixingin SO(10) GUT

We present a common explanation of the fermion mass hierarchy and the large lepton mixing angles in the context of a grand unified flavor and gauge theory (GUTF). Our starting point is a SU(3)xU(1) flavor symmetry and a SO(10) GUT, a basic ingredient of our theory which plays a major role is that two different breaking pattern of the flavor symmetry are at work. On one side, the dynamical breaking of SU(3)xU(1) flavor symmetry into U(2)xZ_3 explains why one family is much heavier than the others. On the other side, an explicit symmetry breaking of SU(3) into a discrete flavor symmetry leads to the observed tribimaximal mixing for the leptons. We write an explicit model where this discrete symmetry group is A4. Naturalness of the charged fermion mass hierarchy appears as a consequence of the continuous SU(3) flavor symmetry. Moreover, the same discrete A4-GUT invariant operators are the root of the large lepton mixing, small Cabibbo angle, and neutrino masses. *based on work made in collaboration: F. Bazzocchi, S. Morisi, M. Picariello, E. Torrente-Lujan

Speaker: Prof. emilio torrente-lujan (dept. fisica)

16 Discrete Rotational Subgroups of the Standard Model dictate Family Symmetries and Masses

Family symmetries of leptons and quarks are expressions of specific discrete rotational subgroups of the Standard Model gauge group. Their discrete symmetry properties include elliptic modular functions and the invariant J from which one predicts mass ratios, without any need for a Higgs. The family hierarchies, the origin of baryon number, and exact color symmetry are explained. The geometric properties dictate 3 lepton families and 4 quark families and the unique unification of the fundamental interactions in 4-D spacetime as well as in 10-D spacetime with the discrete group Weyl E8 x Weyl E8. The 4th quark family predicted masses are: b' quark state at ~80 GeV and t' quark at ~2600 GeV! (1) "Unification of Interactions in Discrete Spacetime", www.ptep-online.com/index_files/2006/PP-04-01.PDF (2) "Geometrical Basis for the Standard Model", Int. J. of Theor. Phys., 33 (1994), pp. 279-305 or www.sciencegems.com/gbsm.html]

Speaker: Dr Frank Potter (Sciencegems.com)

Slides Discrete08_Potter.PDF

16:30 Coffee break

Parallel Session A. CP violation in the SM and beyond-II

Convener: Andrzej BURAS (TU Munich)

17 Review of CP violation studies at Tevatron

The most recent Tevatron results concerning CP violation are reviewed, including beta_s phase and Delta_Gamma measurements performed in the B0(s) --> J/psi phi decay

Speaker: Juan Pablo Fernandez

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012052

Slides cpvattev-discrete08-jpfr.pdf

18 Single top quark measurements at the Tevatron

After many years searching for electroweak production of top quarks, the Tevatron collider experiments have now moved from obtaining first evidence for single top quark production to an impressive array of measurements that test the standard model in several directions. The talk will present single top results from both CDF and D0, including measurements of the single top quark cross sections, limits on the CKM matrix element Vtb, and searches for evidence of anomalous single top production mechanisms.

Speaker: Prof. John Parsons (Columbia University)

Slides DISCRETE08_singletop_parsons.pdf

19 Rare K and B Decays in a Warped Extra Dimension with Custodial Protection

We present a particular warped extra-dimensional model (WED), where the flavour diagonal and flavour non-diagonal $Z$ boson couplings to left-handed down quarks are protected by the custodial symmetry $P_{L,R}$. After the introduction of the model, we present a complete study of rare $K$ and $B$ meson decays, including $K^+\to \pi^+\nu\bar\nu$, $K_L\to\pi^0\nu\bar\nu$, $K_L\to\pi^0 l^+l^-$, $K_L\to \mu^+\mu^-$, $B_{s,d}\to \mu^+\mu^-$ and $B_{s,d}\to X_{s,d}\nu\bar\nu$. In particular we restrict the parameter space of our theory to the subspace which fits all quark masses, mixing angles and $\Delta F=2$ observables, such as $\epsilon_K$, keeping the Kaluza-Klein scale in reach of the LHC ($\sim(2-3)TeV$) (see also talk by B. Duling). There we show that, in addition to the one loop contribution of the Standard Model, the dominating contribution to the rare decays of $K$ and $B_{s,d}$ mesons is the tree level exchange of the KK new heavy electroweak gauge bosons $Z_H$ and $Z^\prime$. We identify several correlations not only between the various $\Delta F=1$ observables, but also between $\Delta F=1$ and $\Delta F=2$ observables. Both observables can differ significantly from what predicted by the Standard Model.

Speaker: Ms Stefania Gori (Technische Universität München)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012062

Slides GoriTalk.pdf

20 $\Delta F=2$ processes in a model with a warped extra dimension and custodial protection

After a brief theoretical introduction of the warped extra-dimenional (WED) model with custodial protection the results of arXiv:0809.1073 are presented. In this work we analyze the impact of Kaluza-Klein (KK) gauge boson modes on $\Delta F=2$ observables, for the first time considering the full operator basis and including NLO RG running. It is pointed out that the dominant contribution in the B-system does not come from the KK gluon, but that contributions from KK excitations of the weak gauge bosons are competitive. Among them the dominant role is played by $Z_H$ and $Z^\prime$, since the $Z$ contribution is suppressed by the custodial protection of the model (see talk by S. Gori). In a numerical analysis we assess the amount of fine tuning necessary for obtaining realistic values for quark masses and mixings and at the same time realistic values for $\epsilon_K$, the measure for CP violation in K meson mixing. We are able to show that a mass of the lightest KK gluon of 2-3 TeV, and hence in the reach of the LHC, is still possible for moderate fine tuning. These results enable us to predict not yet measured $\Delta F=2$ observables, such as $S_{\psi\phi}$ and $A_s^{SL}$, which can differ significantly from their SM values.

Speaker: Mr Bjoern Duling (Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Physikdepartment)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012061

Slides Duling_Discrete08.pdf

Parallel Session B. Leptogenesis

Convener: Mikhail SHAPOSHNIKOV (EPFL)

21 Neutrino Masses, Mixing, Majorana and Dirac CP-Violation and Leptogenesis

The CP-violation necessary for the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe $Y_B$ in ``flavoured'' leptogenesis scenario can arise from the ``low energy'' PMNS neutrino mixing matrix $U$ and/or from the ``high energy'' part of neutrino Yukawa couplings, which can mediate CP-violating phenomena only at some high energy scale. In the proposed talk i) the possibility that the requisite CP-violation in leptogenesis is provided exclusively by the Majorana or Dirac phases in the neutrino mixing matrix and ii) the interplay between the indicated two types of CP-violation in ``flavoured'' leptogenesis, will be discussed. Results obtained within the type I see-saw model with three heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos having hierarchical mass spectrum will be reported.

Speaker: Prof. Serguey Petcov (SISSA)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012075

Slides PetcovDIS111208.pdf.pdf

22 Flavoured Leptogenesis: a succesful thermal leptogenesis with M1 below 10^8 GeV

We prove that taking correctly into account the lepton flavour dependence of the $CP$ asymmetries and washout processes, it is possible to obtain successful thermal leptogenesis from the decays of the second right-handed neutrino. The asymmetries in the muon and tau-flavour channels are then not erased by the inverse decays of the lightest right-handed neutrino, $N_1$. In this way, we reopen the possibility of ``thermal leptogenesis'' in models with a strong hierarchy in the right-handed Majorana masses that is typically the case in models with up-quark--neutrino Yukawa unification.

Speaker: Oscar M. Vives Garcia (U. Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012076

Slides discreteOV.pdf

23 Effects of Lightest Neutrino Mass in Leptogenesis

The effects of the lightest neutrino mass in ``flavoured'' leptogenesis are investigated in the case when the CP-violation necessary for the generation of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe is due exclusively to the Dirac and/or Majorana phases in the neutrino mixing matrix U. The type I see-saw scenario with three heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos having hierarchical spectrum is considered. The ``orthogonal'' parametrisation of the matrix of neutrino Yukawa couplings, which involves a complex orthogonal matrix R, is employed. Results for light neutrino mass spectrum with normal and inverted ordering (hierarchy) are obtained. It is shown, in particular, that if the matrix R is real and CP-conserving and the lightest neutrino mass m_3 in the case of inverted hierarchical spectrum lies the interval 5 \times 10^{-4} eV < m_3 < 7 \times 10^{-3} eV, the predicted baryon asymmetry can be larger by a factor of \sim 100 than the asymmetry corresponding to negligible m_3 \cong 0. As consequence, we can have successful thermal leptogenesis for 5 \times 10^{-6} eV < m_3 < 5 \times 10^{-2} eV even if R is real and the only source of CP-violation in leptogenesis is the Majorana and/or Dirac phase(s) in U.

Speaker: Mr Emiliano Molinaro (S.I.S.S.A.)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012077

Slides TALK_MOLINARO_DISCRETE08.pdf

24 Variations on Leptogenesis

We study variations of the standard leptogenesis scenario that can arise if an additional mass scale related to the breaking of some new symmetry (as for example a flavor or the B-L symmetry) is present below the mass $M_{N_1}$ of the lightest right-handed Majorana neutrino. Our scheme is inspired by U(1) models of flavor \`a la Froggatt-Nielsen, and involves new vectorlike heavy fields $F$. We show that depending on the specific hierarchy between $M_{N_1}$ and the mass scale of the fields $F$, qualitatively different realizations of leptogenesis can emerge. We compute the CP asymmetries in $N_1$ decays in all the relevant cases, and we conclude that in most situations leptogenesis could be viable at scales much lower than in the standard scenario.

Speaker: Dr Diego Aristizabal (LNF (INFN))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012078

Slides diego-aristizabal.pdf

Friday, 12 December

PLENARY-III

Convener: Carlos LACASTA LLACER (IFIC - Valencia)

25 CPT and Decoherence in Quantum Gravity

In this talk I give first a brief review of several models of quantum gravity entailing quantum decoherence of matter propagating in space-time foam backgrounds, and discuss the pertinent physical consequences. In particular, I discuss various parametrizations of quantum-gravity decoherence effects in a wide range of probes, from neutral mesons to neutrinos, including cosmic ones. I pay particular emphasis on discussing the strong model dependence of the magnitude of these effects. Then, I discuss the emergence of a perturbatively ill-defined CPT operator (intrinsic CPT Violation), as a consequence of the evolution of initially pure quantum mechanical states to mixed ones in such stochastic quantum gravity media. This leads to observable (in principle) and rather unique modifications to the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations in entangled states of neutral mesons (omega-effect), which for some models of foam, especially those based on string theory ideas, could be falsifiable already at the next generation facilities. Current bounds of the omega-effect from KLOE Experiment at DaPhiNE and B-factories are also given.

Speaker: Prof. Nikos MAVROMATOS (King's College London)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012007

Slides DISCRETE08_mavromatos.pdf DISCRETE08_mavromatos.ppt

26 Search for CPT Violation and Decoherence Effects in the Neutral Kaon System

The experimental study of the neutral kaon system allows us to perform very accurate tests of CPT symmetry and quantum mechanics. The most recent and significant experimental results will be reviewed, including the ones obtained by the KLOE collaboration in the study of correlated kaon pairs produced at the DAFNE phi-factory; future perspectives will be briefly discussed.

Speaker: Dr Antonio Di Domenico (Sapienza Universita' di Roma & INFN sez. di Roma)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012008

Slides didomenico_discrete08_web.pdf

10:30 Coffee break

PLENARY-IV

Convener: Joannis PAPAVASSILIOU (IFIC - Valencia)

27 Strings, Symmetries and Holography

I will review the impact of symmetry principles on the conceptual development of string theory, from the early days to the recent emphasis on duality and holography.

Speaker: Prof. Jose L. F. Barbon (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012009

Slides Discrete08_Barbon.pdf

28 Underground Detectors for Particle and Astroparticle Science

The study of extremely rare phenomena calls for an environment free of cosmic and radioactive backgrounds which might mimic true signals. Laboratories deep underground, well shielded against particles from cosmic rays, meet this requirement. I will briefly introduce the subject and focus on on-going efforts towards next generation underground detectors.

Speaker: Prof. Andre Rubbia (ETH)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012020

Slides Discrete08_Rubbia.pdf

12:30 Lunch break

Parallel Session A. Supersymmetry and other searches-I

Convener: André RUBBIA (ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics)

29 SUSY CP phases and asymmetries at colliders

In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, physical phases of complex parameters lead to CP violation. We show how triple products of particle momenta or spins can be used to construct asymmetries, that allow us to probe these CP phases. We discuss the production of charginos and neutralinos at the International Linear Collider (ILC). For the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we discuss CP asymmetries in squark decays, and in the tri-lepton signal. We find that the CP asymmetries can be as large as 40 %.

Speaker: Olaf Kittel (University of Granada)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012094

Slides olaf_kittel.pdf.pdf

30 Spectroscopy and new physics searches in bottomonium decays

We present recent results in quarkonium spectroscopy and searches for new physics in bottomonium decays. Highlights include the discovery of the bottomonium ground state in the reaction Y(3S)->gamma eta_b. We present new limits on invisible and radiative Upsilon decays which constrain models with light Higgs or light dark matter candidates.

Speaker: Rainer Bartoldus (Representative from the Babar collaboration)

Slides Discrete08_Bartoldus.pdf

31 Prospects for SUSY discovery based on inclusive searches with the ATLAS detector

The search for Supersymmetry (SUSY) among the possible scenarios of New Physics is one of the most relevant goals of the ATLAS experiment running at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. In the present work the expected prospects for discovering SUSY with the ATLAS detector are reviewed, and in particular for the first fb^-1 of collected integrated luminosity. All studies and results reported here are based on inclusive search analyses realized with Monte Carlo signal and background data simulated through the ATLAS apparatus.

Speaker: Andrea Ventura (Università del Salento + INFN Lecce)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012087

Slides D08_AtlasSusyInclusive_Ventura.pdf D08_AtlasSusyInclusive_Ventura.ppt

32 Prospects for detecting long-lived supersymmetric particles with ATLAS

In certain supersymmetry breaking scenarios, characteristic signatures can be expected which would not necessarily be found in generic SUSY searches for events containing high-pT multi-jets and large missing transverse energy. In this talk, I will present the expected response of the ATLAS detector to signatures involving high-pT photons which may or may not appear to point back to the primary collision vertex and long-lived charged sleptons and R-hadrons. Such processes often have the advantage of small Standard Model backgrounds and their observation could provide unique constraints on the different SUSY breaking scenarios. Using these signatures discovery potentials are estimated for either Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking or Split-Supersymmetry scenarios. These studies have been performed using Monte Carlo samples of SUSY and background processes corresponding to integrated luminosity of about 1fb^(-1), corresponding to the first year of LHC running.

Speaker: Emma Torro Pastor (IFIC CSIC - Universitat de Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012088

Slides long_lived.pdf

33 Measuring Lepton Flavour Violation at LHC with Long-Lived Slepton in the Coannihilation Region

When the mass difference between the lightest slepton, the NLSP, and the lightest neutralino, the LSP, is smaller than the tau mass, the lifetime of the lightest slepton increases in many orders of magnitude with respect to typical lifetimes of other supersymmetric particles. These small mass differences are possible in the MSSM and, for instance, they correspond to the coannihilation region of the CMSSM for $M_{1/2} \gsim 700$ GeV. In a general gravity-mediated MSSM, where the lightest supersymmetric particle is the neutralino, the lifetime of the lightest slepton is inversely proportional to the square of the intergenerational mixing in the slepton mass matrices. Such a long-lived slepton would produce a distinctive signature at LHC and a measurement of its lifetime would be relatively simple. Therefore, the long-lived slepton scenario offers an excellent opportunity to study lepton flavour violation at ATLAS and CMS detectors in the LHC and an improvement of the leptonic mass insertion bounds by more than five orders of magnitude would be possible.

Speaker: Takashi Shimomura (University of Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012092

Slides discrete08.pdf

34 Supersymmetric seesaw type-II: LHC and lepton flavour violating phenomenology

We study the supersymmetric version of the type-II seesaw mechanism assuming minimal supergravity boundary conditions. We calculate branching ratios for lepton flavour violating (LFV) scalar tau decays, potentially observable at the LHC, as well as LFV decays at low energy, such as $l_i ¥to l_j +¥gamma$ and compare their sensitivity to the unknown seesaw parameters. In the minimal case of only one triplet coupling to the standard model lepton doublets, ratios of LFV branching ratios can be related unambigously to neutrino oscillation parameters. We also discuss how measurements of soft SUSY breaking parameters at the LHC can be used to indirectly extract information of the seesaw scale.

Speaker: Dr Satoru Kaneko (IFIC, Valencia Univ.)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012093

Slides Kaneko.pdf

35 Predictions of Finite Unified Theories

We study Finite Unified Theories (FUTs) in the context of low-energy phenomenology observables. The realistic FUTs we have studied all need or imply discrete symmetries to be all-loop finite. We present a detailed scanning of all-loop finite SU(5) FUTs, where we include the theoretical uncertainties at the unification scale and then apply several phenomenological constraints. Taking into account the restrictions from the top and bottom quark masses we can discriminate between different models. Including further low-energy constraints such as B physics observables, the bound on the lightest Higgs boson mass and the cold dark matter density, we determine the predictions of the allowed parameter space for the Higgs boson sector and the supersymmetric particle spectrum of the selected model. We present a similar analysis for SU(3)^3 FUT models, where the theories are finite if and only if they have three generations.

Speaker: Prof. Myriam Mondragon (Instituto de Fisica, UNAM)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012096

Slides fut-m-mondragon.pdf

Parallel Session B. Famility symmetries-II

Convener: Antonio DI DOMENICO (niversita' di Roma & INFN sez. di Roma)

36 Searches for LFV at B factories

Lepton-flavor violating (LFV) decay in tau (and also in D, and B) is expected to be very small in the Standard Model, even taking into account the effect of neutrino mixing. Therefore, the observation of such decays would be clear evidence of new physics. The production rate of tau and D pairs at B factory is comparable to that of B meson pairs and hence B factories are also excellent tau/charm factories. Many LFV decay modes have been searched for at the B factories. We present the current status of searches for tau LFV decays as well as D and B LFV decays. Some of the upper limits are now reaching to range predicted by some new physics models.

Speaker: Kiyoshi Hayasaka (KEK)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012079

Slides DISCRETE08_hayasaka.pdf

Parallel Session C. The Quantum vacuum-I

Convener: Mariano QUIROS (ICREA/UAB)

37 Searches for Higgs at Tevatron

A summary of the latest results of Standard Model Higgs boson searches from CDF and D0 analyses with 2.4 -3.0 fb-1 of Tevatron data are reviewed. 95 % C.L. upper limits on Higgs boson production are shown for Higgs masses ranging from 100 to 200 GeV

Speaker: Bruno Casal

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012025

Slides higgsaAtTevatron.pdf.pdf

38 Higgs Discovery Potential with ATLAS

The standard an non-standard Higgs boson search at the Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS experiment through its observation in the ZZ(*), WW(*), gamma-gamma, tau-tau and other final states is reported. The discovery potential in terms of significance sensitivy is reviewed and discussed. The studies are based on the analysis of Monte Carlo signal and background data simulated in detail through the experimental apparatus.

Speaker: Valls Ferrer Juan (Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC) UV-CSIC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012026

Slides Higgs_Atlas_DISCRETE_08.pdf

39 Review of the little Higgs and twin Higgs models

It has been thought for long time that supersymmetry was the unique theory to solve the hierarchy problem. However, several alternative theories have been proposed in recent years. In the following we review two of them, the so called Little Higgs and Twin higgs theories, and the possibilities to test them at the LHC.

Speaker: Eduardo Ros (Universidad de Valencia)

40 Jet reconstruction in LHCb for searching Higgs-like particles

One of the actual greatest challenges in High Energy Physics is the discovery of the Higgs boson which is responsible for the Model Standard particles mass generation. The Higgs mass is not known and cannot be predicted by the theory. However results from previous experiments have shown that m_H^0 > 114 GeV/c2. Below ~150 GeV/c2 the Higgs decay into two b-quarks dominates. The two quarks form a string which fragments, giving rise to hadronization in jets containing b-hadrons. The study is focused on the mechanisms in which the Higgs boson is produced in association with a gauge boson decaying leptonically H^0 + W^\pm -> bb + l\nu and H^0 + Z^0 -> bb + ll , for Higgs masses in the range 100 - 130 GeV/c . The gauge bosons decay produces hard leptons quite often isolated from the b-jets. Hence an isolated lepton with high transverse momentum is required in order to reject the large QCD background. The aim of this research work is precisely to assess the feasibility to observe such a light Higgs boson at the LHCb experiment at CERN by using the detector capability to identify b-hadrons. In our case, this information will be used to reconstruct b-jets.

Speaker: Alessandro Camboni (Universidad de Barcelona)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012027

Slides camboni_discrete08.pdf.pdf

41 Conditions for vacuum stability in an S(3) extension of the Standard Model

We analyse the gauge symmetry breaking and the vacuum stability conditions of an S(3)-invariant extension of the Standard Model. The description of electroweak symmetry breaking is more involved because the theory has three complex SU(2) doublet Higgs fields (H1,H2) and HS, that belong to a singlet and a doublet representation of the S(3)-flavour group respectively. We find that the Higgs potential has three types of minima: a normal minimum, an electric charge breaking (CB) minimum and a CP violating (CPB) one, according to the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs fields H1, H2 and HS. Assuming that the non-vanishing vev of the SU(2)L Higgs doublet in the singlet representation of S3 is real, we obtain that the deepest minimum is the normal one. This condition gives rise to the Pakvasa-Sugawara minimum, where there is an S(2) residual symmetry. This feature simplifies the structure, and therefore the computation, of the Higgs mass matrices. We present also some results on the mass spectrum of the Higgs bosons in the theory.

Speaker: Ezequiel Rodriguez (Universidad de Sonora)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012028

Slides Valencia_2008.pdf

42 COSMOLOGICAL DARK ENERGY THROUGH NEUTRINO OSCILLATIONS, AND QUANTUM MECHANICS.

We argue that the present classical formalism of neutrino oscillations is just approximate (cf. PDG 2006), thus requiring various second-order corrections : internal kinetic dispersion from internal mass dispersion ; curing Lorentz invariance violation between different MASS EIGENSTATES, in transitions of the kind m1=m2, through energy shifts (m2^2-m1^2)/(2p), made salient in phase factors ; so, necessary transfers of quadri-momentum with any medium, even "vacuum" ; so, evidence of ethereal "DARK ENERGY" of purely weak essence, within "vacuum" oscillations ; actual violation of some deeply rooted principles of "quantum mechanics" (corpuscular elementarity, orthogonality of eigenstates amplitudes, Wigner's rules of super-selection, Heisenberg's relations of uncertainty) ; strict non-hermiticity of the Hamiltonian operator, involving FINITE PROPER LIFETIMES ; neutrino mass matrices duly of the "CKM" type, as for quarks ; "UBIQUITY" concept and existence of "PROBABILITY WAVES", instead of matter waves, giving serious credibility to the paradoxical lemma of intense radiation from the vicinity of so-called "black holes" and "pulsars" (so, faking genuine "white wells"). Spontaneous individual birth of zero-mass neutrinos (not by pairs, from Lorentz invariance !), might explain the paradoxical excess of "dark energy" over "dark mass", overwhelming at cosmological scales.

Speaker: Maurice LALOUM (CNRS / IN2P3)

Slides DARK_ENERGY_EVIDENCED.doc DARK_ENERGY_EVIDENCED.pdf

43 Tachyon-Dilaton Inflation as an alpha'-non perturbative solution in first quantized String Cosmology

Applying a novel non-perturbative functional method framework to a two-dimensional bosonic sigma model with tachyon, dilaton and graviton backgrounds we construct exact (non perturbative in alpha') inflationary solutions, consistent with world-sheet Weyl Invariance. The mechanism for inflation entails a (partial) "alignment" between tachyon and dilaton backgrounds in the solution space, in a way to be explained in detail in the talk. Some speculative remarks as to how one can exit from the inflationary phase, as well as possible scenarios for reheating based on string creation at the end of inflation, may also be presented, if time allows. The advantage of our method is that the solutions are valid directly in four target-space-time dimensions, as a result of the non trivial dilaton configurations. Whether the model is phenomenologically realistic, with respect to its particle physics aspects, remains an open issue.

Speaker: Anna Kostouki (King's College London)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012030

Slides Kostouki.ppt

Parallel Session B. P, T, CPT symmetries, Lorentz violation and Decoherence-I

Convener: Antonio DI DOMENICO (Universita' di Roma & INFN sez. di Roma)

44 CPT and Lorentz violation as signatures for Planck-scale physics

Minuscule deviations from CPT and Lorentz symmetry can arise in a number of theoretical approaches to quantum gravity. This opens an avenue for probing fundamental physics possibly arising at the Planck scale. We list some theoretical ideas along these lines. We further review Standard-Model Extension (SME), which describes the emergent low-energy effects. In the context of the SME, we discuss various experimental results that have been obtained recently .

Speaker: Ralf Lehnert (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Physik)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012036

Slides Discrete08.pdf Discrete08.ppt

45 Antiprotonic helium and CPT symmetry

Recent progress in the laser and microwave spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium atoms carried out at CERN’s Antiproton Decelerator facility (AD) will be reviewed. Laser transitions were induced between Rydberg states of the exotic three-body system antiproton-electron-alpha particle. Successive refinements in the experimental techniques improved the fractional precision on the transition frequencies from 3 parts in 10^6 to <1 part in 10^8. This progress in the experimental field was matched by similar advances in computing methods for evaluating the expected transition frequencies in three-body QED calculations. The comparison of experimental and theoretical frequencies for seven transitions in antiprotonic heium-4 and five in antiprotonic heium-3 yielded an antiproton-to-electron mass ratio of 1836.152 674(5). This agrees with the known proton-to-electron mass ratio at the level of ~3× 10^−9. The experiment also sets a limit on any CPT-violating difference between the antiproton and proton charges and masses of the same value. The hyperfine structure of a state in antiprotonic helium has also been measured by microwave spectroscopy with increasing precision, from 3x10^-5 in 2001 to 2x^10^-6 in 2008 for the two allowed M1 transitions. This is one order of magnitude more accurate than the most precise three-body QED calculation. The difference of the two observed tranistion frequencies, which is directly sensitive to the antiproton magnetic moment, has been determined to about the theoretical accuracy (relative precision 1x10^-3). A more detailed analysis together with increases in the theoretical precision may soon yield an improvement in the value of the antiproton magnetic moment.

Speaker: Prof. Eberhard Widmann (Stefan Meyer Institute)

Slides Widmann-pbarHe&CPT-DISCRETE2008.pdf

46 Testing CPT with the ground-state hyperfine splitting of antihydrogen

The hydrogen atom is one of the most extensively studied atomic systems, and its ground state hyperfine splitting (GS-HFS) at 1.42 GHz has been measured with an extremely high precision of 10^-12. Therefore the antimatter counterpart of hydrogen, the antihydrogen atom, consisting of an antiproton and a positron, is an ideal laboratory for studying the CPT symmetry. V.A. Kostelecky and his colleagues created an extension to the standard model by introducing parameters into its Lagrangian which violate either the CPT symmetry or the Lorentz invariance [1]. These parameters have a dimension of energy (or frequency), therefore their model claim that it is not the relative but the absolute precision of a measurement which matters when doing a CPT test. Thus by measuring a relatively small quantity on the energy scale (like the 1.42 GHz GS-HFS), a smaller relative accuracy is needed to reach the same absolute precision. This makes a measurement of the antihydrogen GS-HFS with a relative accuracy of 10^-4 competitive to the measured relative mass difference of 10^-18 between K^0 and K^0bar, which is often quoted as the most precise CPT test so far. The ASACUSA collaboration at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator (AD) plans to measure the antihydrogen GS-HFS in an atomic beam apparatus [2] similar to the ones which were used in the early days of hydrogen HFS spectroscopy. The apparatus will use antihydrogen atoms produced either in a superconducting radiofrequency Paul trap or in a superconducting cusp trap (i.e. anti-Helmholtz coils). In the former case, the apparatus would consist of two sextupole magnets for the selection and analysis of the spin of the antihydrogen atoms, respectively, and a radiofrequency resonator in between them to flip the spin. In the latter case, the first sextupole could be omitted because the cusp trap should be able to provide a partially polarized antihydrogen beam. This atomic beam method has the advantage that antihydrogen atoms of temperatures up to 150 K can be used. Simulations showed that such an experiment is feasible if appr. 100 antihydrogen atoms per second can be produced in the ground state, and that an accuracy of appr. 10^-7 can be reached within reasonable measuring times [3]. [1] R. Bluhm, V.A. Kostelecky, N. Russell, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 (1999) 2254. [2] ASACUSA collaboration, Proposal CERN-SPSC 2005-002, SPSC P-307 Add. 1, 2005. [3] B. Juhasz, E. Widmann, Proceedings of the Fourth Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry (CPT'07), Bloomington, USA (World Scientific, Singapore, 2008), p. 239.

Speaker: Dr Bertalan Juhasz (Stefan Meyer Institute for Subatomic Physics)

Slides juhasz_talk_discrete08.key.zip

47 Tests of T and CPT symmetries at B factories

We present tests of T and CPT symmetries from the asymmetric-energy B factories (Babar and Belle). We report the results of constraints on the CPT violation parameter z in B0 - B0bar flavor oscillations. Results integrated over time and as a function of the Earth's sidereal time are presented using inclusive dilepton events. Constraints on z from a joint analysis of CP and flavor eigenstates are also presented. Finally, we present precision measurements of the tau+, tau- mass difference.

Speaker: Alberto Lusiani (Representative from the Babar collaboration)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012037

Slides Lusiani.pdf

48 Examination of quantum gravity effects with neutrino

We discuss effects suggested to be induced in the neutrino physics by models of quantum gravity. In particular, quantum decoherence can lead to fewer neutrinos of all active flavours being detected in a long baseline experiments as compared to three-flavour standard neutrino oscillations. We discuss the potential of CNGS and J-PARC beams in constraining models of quantum gravity induced decoherence. Another effect is related to the interaction of energetic particles with quantum gravity induced foamy structure of space-time. This interaction might violate Lorentz invariance, so that a radiation probe does not propagate at a universal speed. We consider the limits that may be set on such violation of Lorentz invariance using data from supernova explosions and the CNGS long-baseline experiment.

Speaker: Dr Alexandre Sakharov (CERN, ETHZ)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012038 http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012039

Slides CNGS_discr.pdf CNGS_discr.ppt

17:00 Coffee break

Parallel Session A. Supersymmetry and other searches-II

Convener: Athanasios LAHANAS (University of Athens)

49 Top physics studies in SM and BSM with the ATLAS detector

The LHC will be a top quark factory, producing large numbers of top quarks even at the initial low luminosities. This will enable a rich program of top quark physics to be explored, both within the Standard Model and using top quarks as probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. Recent studies from ATLAS will be presented, including prospects for modes and angular correlations, and the precision measurement of the top quark mass. The search for physics beyond the Standard Model will be illustrated with searches for rare top decays involving flavour-changing neautral currents, and the reconstruction of ttbar resonances resulting from new heavy particles in various models.

Speaker: Dr Susana Cabrera Urban (Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC) UV-CSIC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012085

Slides top-sm-bsm-discrete08-iter-sc-dev.pdf top-sm-bsm-discrete08-iter-sc-dev.ppt

50 Charge asymmetries of top quarks: a window to new physics at hadron colliders.

Several models predict the existence of heavy colored resonances decaying to top quarks in the TeV energy range that might be discovered at the LHC. In some of those models, moreover, a sizable charge asymmetry of top versus antitop quarks might be generated. The detection of these exotic resonances, however, requires selecting data samples where the top and the antitop quarks are highly boosted, which is experimentally very challenging. We assess that the measurement of the top quark charge asymmetry at the LHC is very sensitive to the existence of excited states of the gluon with axial-vector couplings to quarks. We use a toy model with general flavour independent couplings, and show that a signal can be detected with relatively not too energetic top and antitop quarks. We also compare the results with the asymmetry predicted by QCD, and show that its highest statistical significance is achieved with data samples of top-antitop quark pairs of low invariant masses.

Speaker: Ms Paola Ferrario (IFIC-Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012091

Slides Ferrario2.pdf Ferrario.pdf

51 Associated production of weak bosons at LHC with the ATLAS detector

The study of the associated production of weak vector bosons at LHC allows to search for New Physics through the measurement of possible deviations of the weak boson self-couplings from the expectation within the Standard Model. The sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to Standard Model diboson (W+W−, W± Z, Z Z, W± gamma, and Z gamma ) production in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 14 TeV, using final states containing electrons, muons and photons, is presented. These studies use Monte Carlo data sets (with full detector simulation) from the ATLAS Computer System Commissioning, which furthermore include detailled trigger information as well as effects of detector calibration and alignment corrections. The influence of backgrounds on diboson detection is assessed using further dedicated large samples of fully simulated background events. The sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to anomalous triple gauge boson couplings is determined. Even for small integrated luminosities (about 0.1 fb-1) the sensitivity to anomalous triple gauge boson couplings at the LHC can be significantly improved by ATLAS, when comparing to results from Tevatron that use 1.0 fb−1 of data.

Speaker: Marius Groll (Institut fur Physik-Johannes-Gutenberg-Universitaet)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012086

Slides diboson.pdf diboson.ppt

52 Searches for leptoquarks at D0

We present recent results of searches for leptoquarks with the D0 detector at Tevatron. Leptoquarks are exotic bosons which would mediate lepton-quark interactions as predicted in multiple extensions of the Standard Model, among which supersymmetry. The D0 detector has recorded over 4 fb-1 of proton-antiproton collisions delivered by the Fermilab Tevatron collider. Operating at 1.96 TeV, the Tevatron remains at the energy frontier and is one of the best device to test theories beyond the Standard Model. A summary of the latest searches for leptoquarks with the D0 experiment is presented in this talk, corresponding to an integrated luminosity from 1 to 2.5 fb-1.

Speaker: Dr Anne-Fleur Barfuss (IPHC/GRPHE/UHA)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012084

Slides barfuss.pdf

53 Search for Extra Dimensions at CMS

A possible solution to the hierarchy problem is the presence of extra space dimensions beyond the three ones which are known from our everyday experiences. The phenomenological ADD model of large extra dimensions predicts a $E_{Tmiss}$+jet signature. Randall-Sundrum-type extra dimensions predict di-lepton and di-jet resonances. This presentation will address the experimental issues and discovery potential for these new particles at the LHC with the CMS detector during early data taking.

Speaker: Leonardo Benucci (INFN Sezione di Pisa (INFN))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012090

Slides DISCRETE_LBenucci.pdf

54 Probing TeV gravity with the ATLAS detector

Models with compactified extra space dimensions offer a new way to address outstanding problems in and beyond the Standard Model. In these models, the strength of gravity is strongly increased at small distances, which opens up the possibility of observing quantum gravity effects in the TeV energy range reachable by the LHC. One of the most spectacular phenomena would be the production of microscopic black holes. Searches for mini black holes are foreseen in the ATLAS experiment with the start-up of data taking in 2009. We present feasibility studies for the triggering and reconstruction of the black hole event topologies, determination of the Standard Model backgrounds, and the black hole discovery potential.

Speaker: Dr Victor Lendermann (University of Heidelberg)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012089

Slides talk_discrete.pdf

Parallel Session B. P, T, CPT symmetries, Lorentz violation and Decoherence-II

Convener: Nikos MAVROMATOS (King's College London)

55 The omega effect as a discriminant of space-time foam

Neutral meson two-particle flavour entangled states of EPR type are produced in meson factories. Breakdown of CPT invariance allows a modified entanglement. Such a change has been called the omega effect. Models involving spontaneous breakdown of Lorentz and CPT do not give rise to such an entanglement. There is another route which can lead to the lack of a well defined CPT operator based on non-unitary evolution owing to decoherence induced by space-time foam. We will show that the omega effect is not an automatic consequence of space-time foam although it can be generated in a model. Two classes of semi-microscopic theoretical models of stochastic space-time foam in quantum gravity are discussed. Although the first class of models deals with a specific model of foam, initially constructed in the context of non-critical (Liouville) string theory involving D-particle solitons, it will be viewed here in the more general context of effective quantum-gravity models. The relevant Hamiltonian perturbation, describing the interaction of the meson with the foam medium, consists of off-diagonal stochastic metric fluctuations, connecting distinct mass eigenstates (or the appropriate generalisation thereof in the case of K-mesons); the perturbation is proportional to the relevant momentum transfer (along the direction of motion of the meson pair). There are two kinds of CPT-violating effects in this case, which can be experimentally disentangled: one (termed ``$\omega$-effect'') is associated with the failure of the indistinguishability between the neutral meson and its antiparticle, and affects the entanglement properties of the initial state of the two-meson system; the second effect is generated by the time evolution of the system in the medium of the space-time foam, and can result in time-dependent contributions of the $\omega$-effect type in the time profile of the two meson state. Estimates of both effects are given, which show that, at least in certain models, such effects may not be far from the sensitivity of experimental facilities available currently or in the near future. The other class of quantum gravity models involves a medium of gravitational fluctuations which behaves like a ``thermal bath''. In this model both of the above-mentioned intrinsic CPT violation effects are not valid even after exercising a total freedom in the choice of the state of the bath.

Speaker: Sarben Sarkar (King's College London)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012040

Slides Sarkar_Discrete_2008.pdf

56 Parity Breaking at high densities

We investigate dynamical parity violation in dense baryon matter in the framework of effective quark models. Dynamical parity violation can appear in models with at least two scalar and two pseudoscalar fields, where both scalar fields are condensed at normal zero-density conditions. For certain regions of the low-energy constants, one of pseudoscalar fields can then also condense at some critical value of the baryon density. The phenomenon results in mixing of the scalar and pseudoscalar physical degrees of freedom, hence giving rise to manifest parity violation in the decays. We discuss the implications and possible experimental signatures for parity violation in strong interactions in future experiments with heavy-ion collisions. We also analyze the persistence of this phenomenon at finite temperature and its relevance in connection with the Vafa-Witten arguments against the possibility of spontaneous parity breaking.

Speaker: Domenec Espriu (Universitat de barcelona)

Slides Valencia.pdf

57 Cosmology of Non-Hermitian (C)PT-invariant scalar matter

We consider the PT symmetric flat Friedmann model of two scalar fields with positive kinetic terms. While the potential of one ("normal") field is taken real, that of the other field is complex. We study a complex classical solution of the system of the two Klein-Gordon equations together with the Friedmann equation. The solution for the normal field is real while the solution for the second field is purely imaginary, realizing classically the "phantom" behavior. The energy density and pressure are real and the corresponding geometry is well-defined. The Lagrangian for the linear perturbations has the correct potential signs for both the fields, so that the problem of stability does not arise. The background dynamics is determined by an effective action including two real fields one normal and one "phantom". Remarkably, the phantom phase in the cosmological evolution is transient and the Big Rip never occurs.

Speaker: Prof. Alexander Andrianov (Universitata de Barcelona)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012043

Slides Discrete08.pdf Discrete08.ppt

58 CPT, Lorentz invariance and anomalous clash of symmetries

I analyze the role of Lorentz symmetry in the perturbative non-gravitational anomalies for a single family of fermions. The theory is assumed to be translational invariant, power-counting renormalizable and based on a local action, but is allowed to have general Lorentz violating operators, including those that break CPT. I study the conservation of global and gauge currents associated with general internal symmetry groups and find that Lorentz symmetry does not participate in the clash of symmetries that leads to the anomalies.

Speaker: Dr Alberto Salvio (EPF of Lausanne and IFAE, Barcelona)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012042

Slides DiscreteSalvio.pdf.pdf

59 Gravity from Spontaneous Breaking of Local Lorentz Symmetry

We present a model of gravity based on spontaneous Lorentz symmetry breaking. We start from a model with spontaneously broken symmetries for a massless 2-tensor with a linear kinetic term and a nonderivative potential, which is shown to be equivalent to linearized general relativity, with the Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons playing the role of the gravitons. We apply the a bootstrap procedure to the model based on the principle of consistent coupling to the total energy energy-momentum tensor. It is shown that the resulting lagrangian for the NG modes is equivalent to General Relativity in a fixed gauge.

Speaker: Prof. Robertus Potting (Universidade do Algarve)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012041

Slides talk_DISCRETE08.pdf

60 P, C, T for Neutral Particles

We present a realization of a quantum field theory, envisaged many years ago by Gelfand, Tsetlin, Sokolik and Bilenky. Considering the special case of the (1/2,0)+(0,1/2) field and developing the Majorana construct for neutrino we show that fermion and its antifermion can have the same intrinsic parities. The construct can be applied to explanation of the present situation in neutrino physics.

Speaker: Prof. Valeri Dvoeglazov (Universidad de Zacatecas)

Parallel Session C. The Quantum vacuum-II

Convener: Jose L. F. BARBON (IFT-UAM)

61 Standard(-like) Model from an SO(12) Grand Unified Theory in six-dimensions with $S_2$ extra-space

We analyze a gauge-Higgs unification model which is based on a gauge theory defined on a six-dimensional spacetime with an $S^2$ extra-space. We impose a symmetry condition for a gauge field and non-trivial boundary conditions of the $S^2$. We provide the scheme for constructing a four-dimensional theory from the six-dimensional gauge theory under these conditions. We then construct a concrete model based on an SO(12) gauge theory with fermions which lie in a 32 representation of SO(12), under the scheme. This model leads to a Standard-Model(-like) gauge theory which has gauge symmetry SU(3) $\times$ SU(2)$_L$ $\times$ U(1)$_Y$($\times$ U(1)$^2$) and one generation of SM fermions, in four-dimensions. The Higgs sector of the model is also analyzed, and it is shown that the electroweak symmetry breaking and the prediction of W-boson and Higgs-boson masses are obtained.

Speaker: Mr Takaaki Nomura (Saitama University)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012029

Slides discrete08-nomura.pdf discrete08-nomura.ppt

Parallel Session C. Entanglement

Convener: Jose L. F. BARBON (IFT-UAM)

62 New experimental limit on the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation by electrons - the VIP experiment

The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP), reflecting the spin-statistics connection, represents a fundamental principle of the modern physics. Even if today there are no compelling reasons to doubt its validity, it still spurs a lively debate on its possible limits, as testified by the abundant contributions found in the literature and in topical conferences. We present a method of searching for possible small violations of PEP for electrons, through the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons (brought inside the copper bar by circulating current) which can have the probability to do the Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1 s level already occupied by two electrons. We describe, then, the VIP (VIolation of PEP) experiment, a much improved version of the Ramberg and Snow one (Ramberg and Snow, Phys. Lett. B238 (1990) 438); VIP is in data taking since 2006 at the Gran Sasso underground laboratories. The goal of VIP is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10**-29 - 10**-30, so improving on Ramberg and Snow limit by 3-4 orders of magnitude. We report preliminary experimental results and briefly discuss some of the implications of a possible violation.

Speaker: Catalina Curceanu (LNF-INFN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012031

Slides discrete08-valencia-catalina2.pdf discrete08-valencia-catalina2.ppt

63 Entanglement in Fermionic Systems

The characterization of entanglement is a fundamental issue for Quantum Information Theory. But the definition of entanglement depends on the notion of locality, and thus on the tensor product structure of the state space of the composite system. This notion is affected by the presence of superselection rules that restrict the accessible Hilbert space to a direct sum of subspaces. Indistinguishability of particles imposes one such restriction, namely to totally symmetric or totally antisymmetric states. The entanglement can in this case be defined with respect to partitions of modes in the second quantization formalism. For fermionic systems the Fock space of m modes is isomorphic to the space of m qubits, but the action of creation and annihilation operators is not local, due to their anticommutation. Conservation of the parity of fermion number imposes another relevant superselection rule. It requires that local physical observables commute with the local parity operator. Taking into account the considerations above, it is possible to define the set of separable states or equivalently the concept of entanglement for fermionic systems in a number of ways. We study such possibilities, the relationship between different sets and their possible characterization.

Speaker: Dr Mari Carmen Banuls (Max-Planck-Institute for Quantum Optics)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012032

Slides EntFermStms_MCBP.pdf EntFermStms_MCBP.ppt

64 What has CP violation to do with nonlocality?

I show how basic questions of quantum mechanics can be investigated for systems in high energy physics. In particular the massive kaon-antikaon system is specially suitable as it offers a unique laboratory to tests various aspects of particle physics as well to test the foundations of quantum mechanics (e.g tests of Bell inequalities, local realistic theories, quantum marking and erasure concepts, decoherence effects, Bohr's complementary principle,...). I will show that the Nature of these systems provides us with new and novel insights into the perculiarities of the quantum theory which are partly not offered by other quantum systems. In detail I will show how nonlocality and CP violation is connected and how a "kaonic" eraser experiment offers a new option that can only be achived with neutral kaons. In addition this experiment could be performed at DAPHNE.

Speaker: Dr Beatrix Hiesmayr (University of Vienna)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012033

Slides

• Hiesmayr.rar
• ValenciaHiesmayr2008.pdf
• ValenciaHiesmayr2008.ppt

65 Symmetry aspects in emergent quantum mechanics

There is an energy-parity symmetry hidden in the Liouville equation, which resembles the one proposed recently by Randall and Sundrum as protective symmetry for the cosmological constant. We argue heuristically that this symmetry should be broken due to the coarse-graining which is inherent in physics, say, of the Standard Model, when the fundamental scale related to spacetime is the Planck length. It is shown that a correspondingly modified classical ensemble theory, incorporating information loss, quite generally leads to quantum mechanics, in the form of the von Neumann equation for density matrices. Thus, the emergence of quantum phenomena may be tied to attractive fixed point behaviour that arises in the statistical mechanics of classical objects, if and when not all data characterising their situation are experimentally accessible.

Speaker: Prof. Hans-Thomas Elze (Universita di Pisa)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012034

Slides Elze.pdf

66 Exotic statistics in string cosmology

We discuss the origin of exotic statistics, in the sense of Tsallis, in the context of certain models of string cosmology, in which the dilaton expectation value, and hence the string coupling, are "fuzzy".Situations like this can characterize some versions of string spacetime foam. The effect of such stochastically fluctuating spacetimes on particle statistics is examined, determining the conditions under which exotic statistics for dark matter particles is achieved. Following then standard treatments we derive the modified Boltzmann equation for thermal relics and discuss the effects of this exotic statistics on the relic abundances.

Speaker: ariadne vergou (king's college london)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012035

Slides ariadne_vergou.ppt

67 Canonical Commutation Relations and Adiabatic Parasites

The central theme of the talk is the study of a quantum particle, constrained to move in the neighborhood of a space curve, and its backreaction on the curve, viewed, in its turn, as a quantum system. In particular, the effect of this symbiosis on the canonical commutation relations of the 1+1 effective quantum field theory of the curve is studied, and potential implications are outlined.

Speaker: Prof. Chryssomalis Chryssomalakos (Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico)

Slides adiabaticparasites.pdf adiabaticparasites.ppt

Saturday, 13 December

PLENARY-V

Convener: Cecilia JARLSKOG (Lund U.)

68 The nature of the electroweak Higgs sector

I will review, from a theorist's point of view, the main ideas behind electroweak symmetry breaking including their problems and solutions. In particular the talk will contain a description of the Higgs sector in the minimal Standard Model of electroweak interactions, supersymmetric theories (the MSSM), Little Higgs theories, gauge-Higgs unification, unHiggs theories,...

Speaker: Mariano Quiros (IFAE Barcelona)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012010

Slides discrete_quiros.pdf

69 Dark energy

I will review the vacuum energy problem as well as the the basic models for dark energy or modification of gravity, emphasizing the conceptual aspects rather than the techniques involved. The difficulties encountered in each approach will also be discussed.

Speaker: Dr Pierre Binetruy (APC, Universite Paris Diderot)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012011

Slides Discrete08_Binetruy.pdf

10:30 Coffee break

PLENARY-VI

Convener: Fernando MARTINEZ-VIDAL (IFIC - Valencia)

70 Family Symmetries

In the lepton sector the atmospheric and solar mixing angles are large, in stark contrast with the quark sector where all the mixing angles are small. I will discuss how, if neutrino masses are generated by the seesaw mechanism, this difference can naturally result in a manner consistent with an underlying quark-lepton symmetry. Morever the near tri-bi-maximal mixing observed in the neutrino sector strongly suggests that there is an underlying spontaneously broken non Abelian discrete family symmetry.

Speaker: Prof. Graham G. Ross (Oxford University)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012006

Slides Discrete08_Ross.pdf

71 Status and Prospects of CP-Violation Experiments

Totally unexpected violation of CP symmetry was discovered in 1964 in the neutral kaon decays. Although an elegant way to explain this within the framework of the Standard Model was proposed already 1973 by Kobayashi and Maskawa, we had to wait till 2002 to confirm this when the CP violation in the decay amplitudes was established in the neutral kaon decays (non zero epsilon prim), and CP violation in the neutral B meson decays into J/psi K-short final state was observed and confirmed the Standard Model expectation. Now the goal of the experimental effort to study CP violation has shifted to look for a sign of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this talk, we review the past and current experimental efforts to study CP violation and discuss future prospects.

Speaker: Dr Tatsuya Nakada (CERN & EPFL Lausanne)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012003

Slides Discrete08_Nakada.pdf

72 Little Review on Leptogenesis

The scenario of baryogenesis through leptogenesis will be reviewed. This is an appealing scenario that may relate the observed baryon asymmetry in the Universe to the low-energy neutrino data. Particular emphasis will be put on recent developments on the field, such as the flavourdynamics of leptogenesis and resonant leptogenesis near the electroweak phase transition. I will illustrate how these recent developments enable the modelling of phenomenologically predictive scenarios that can directly be tested at the LHC and indirectly in low-energy experiments of lepton-number and lepton-flavour violation.

Speaker: Prof. Apostolos Pilaftsis (University of Manchester)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012017

Slides Discrete08_Pilaftsis.pdf Discrete08_Pilaftsis.ps

13:15 Lunch break

Parallel Session A. Experimental prospects

Convener: Tatsuya NAKADA (CERN- EPFL Lausanne)

73 Status of the Super Flavor Factory SuperB

The SuperB collider is a novel asymmetric e+e- collider, capable of reaching luminosities beyond 10^36 cm-2s-1 with beam currents comparable to those at the current generation B factories. Many of the components of the PEP-II collider can be used in SuperB. The low currents also allow the use of BABAR as the basis for a detector upgrade. The very high luminosity, together with the ability to have a polarized electron beam and to run at energies that are optimal for b, c and tau physics, allows SuperB to sensitively search for New Physics effects such as lepton flavor violation, anomalous CP-violating asymmetries, and CP violation in DDbar mixing processes. The current status of the SuperB project will be described.

Speaker: Prof. David Hitlin (Caltech)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012097

Slides Hitlin_Discrete08.pdf Hitlin_Discrete08.ppt

74 Status of the KEK Super B Factory

We report the status of the accelerator and detector design for the KEK Super B factory, which is part of the KEK roadmap, the laboratory's plan for the next five years. The KEK Super B factory will be based on an upgrade of the existing KEKB accelerator and will reuse parts of the Belle detector.

Speaker: Marko Bracko (KEK)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012098

Slides SuperBelle_DISCRETE08_Bracko.ppt

75 The KLOE-2 Project

A project for the continuation of the KLOE physics program with an upgraded detector has been proposed for running at the upgraded phi-factory collider DAFNE of the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of INFN. The new experiment will profit of the higher luminosity of the machine and of a better coverage of the zone close to the interaction region both for tracks and for photons. The physics goals of the experiment will be discussed with special emphasis on those related to studies on discrete symmetries conservation. The status of the detector's hardware upgrade as well as the schedule of the experiment will also be presented.

Speaker: Dr Fabio Bossi (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012099

Slides bossi.pdf.pdf

76 Status of CMS Commissioning

A review will be given on the status of CMS completion and readiness for data taking. The commissioning procedure and results for the different detectors commissioning campaigns will be summarized. The operation and performance of the whole detector during the cosmic ray data taking campaign will be reviewed.

Speaker: Prof. Teresa Rodrigo (Universidad de Cantabria)

Slides Discrete-CMS.pdf Discrete-CMS.ppt

77 Commissioning of the ATLAS detector with cosmic rays and first LHC beams

Looking towards first LHC collisions, the ATLAS detector is being commissioned using all types of physics data available: cosmic rays and events produced during a few days of LHC single beam operations. In addition to putting in place the trigger and data acquisition chains, commissioning of the full software chain is a main goal. This is interesting not only to ensure that the reconstruction, monitoring and simulation chains are ready to deal with LHC physics data, but also to understand the detector performance in view of achieving the physics requirements. The status of the integration of the complete software chain will be presented as well as the data analysis results.

Speaker: Dr Maria Jose Costa (IFIC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012100

Slides ATLASCommissioning_13.12.08_Final.pdf

78 Triggers for New Physics at the LHC

Theorists' projections of beyond-the-SM discoveries at 14 TeV of LHC proton-proton collisions come with interesting challenges for experimentalists. The CMS trigger system has been designed to cope with unprecedented luminosities and accelerator bunch-crossing rates of up to 40 MHz. We will discuss the difficulties of event selection in the harsh LHC environment and the trigger strategies that have been developed to identify New Physics signatures. Finally, we will report on trigger studies using cosmic data collected at the LHC.

Speaker: Matthias U. Mozer (Unknown)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012101

Slides heep.pdf

79 MUSiC - A General Search for Deviations from Standard Model Predictions in CMS

We present a model independent analysis approach, systematically scanning the data for deviations from the Standard Model Monte Carlo expectation. Such an analysis can contribute to the understanding of the detector and the tuning of the event generators. Furthermore, due to the minimal theoretical bias this approach is sensitive to a variety of models of new physics, including those not yet thought of. Events are classified into event classes according to their particle content (muons, electrons, photons, jets and missing transverse energy). A broad scan of various distributions is performed, identifying significant deviations from the Monte Carlo simulation. We outline the importance of systematic uncertainties, which are taken into account rigorously within the algorithm. Possible detector effects and generator issues, as well as models involving supersymmetry and new heavy gauge bosons have been used as an input to the search algorithm.

Speaker: Philipp Biallass (Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule (RWTH))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012102

Slides MUSiC_biallass.pdf MUSiC_biallass.ppt

80 Tagging performance in the LHCb

To do precise CP violation measurements, it is necessary a very accurate determination of the flavour of the B-meson. This contribution explains and summarizes the flavour tagging performances for the LHCb experiment. This is obtained through a combination of several methods, based on different signatures, as for example the charge of decay products or the vertex charge of the opposite B. The probability of a tag to be wrong, called wrong tag fraction "\omega", dilutes the observed asymmetry by a factor "1-2\omega", therefore is necessary to optimize for "\omega" along with the efficiency for one event to be tagged, what is usually referred to as the effective efficiency "E_{tag}(1−2\omega)^2". The use of control channels, which are decays to flavour-specific final states, will allow to determine "\omega", which is then used as an input for the determination of CKM angles. To improve the tagging algorithms, we have implemented multivariate analysis tools which improve the efficiency and purity of the tagging.

Speaker: Mr Marc Grabalosa Gandara (Depto. d' Estruc. i Cons. de la Mat-Facultad de Fisica-Universid)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012103

Slides TaggingPerformanceLHCb.pdf TaggingPerformanceLHCb.ppt

Parallel Session B. Neutrino mass mixing and CP-I

Convener: Niki SAOULIDOU (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

81 Two Body Weak Decays Studies in an Ion Storage Ring

We have studied in a heavy ion storage ring at GSI Darmstadt, Germany the orbital electron capture decays of H-like 140Pr,142Pm and 122I ions and found that the time dependence of the electron capture rate is not exponential but time modulated with a period of T= 7.o6(8) s, 7.10(22) s and 6.04 s for 140Pr,142Pm and 122I, respectively, in the laboratory system of the ions moving with 071% of speed of light (Lorentz factor γ= 1.43). The modulation amplitude is a= 0.20(3) for all three nuclei . Such modulation periods correspond to a small energy difference of 8.6x10-16 eV for a quantum beat type phenomenon. We attribute it to flavor mixing of massive neutrinos with a squared mass difference of 2.22(3)x 10-4 eV². It is 2.75 times larger than reported by the KamLAND neutrino oscillation experiment. The difference will be discussed in terms of neutrino mass modification by vacuum polarisation of lepton-W boson pairs in the high Coulomb field of the daughter nuclei.

Speaker: Prof. Paul Kienle (Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012065

Slides DISCRETE08_Talk.pdf DISCRETE08_Talk.ppt

82 OPERA : on the way to nu-tau observation

The hypothesis of neutrino flavour changing in weak interaction representation via oscillations is confirmed by several experiments, all based on the observation of the disappearance of a given neutrino flavour. The direct appearance of a flavour different from the initial one, was never observed so far. OPERA is the first long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment employing nuclear emulsions for the direct observation of tau neutrinos in the CERN to Gran Sasso muon neutrino beam. At present the experiment is in the data taking phase. The number of detected neutrino interactions is approaching one thousand. Current status and a summary of results from 2007 and 2008 runs will be presented.

Speaker: Igor Kreslo (Laboratorium fuer Hochenergiephysik)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012066

Slides Opera_Kreslo_DESCRETE08.pdf Opera_Kreslo_DESCRETE08.ppt

83 The Double Chooz reactor neutrino experiment

The Double Chooz reactor neutrino experiment will be the next detector to search for a non vanishing q13 mixing angle with unprecedented sensitivity, which might open the way to unveiling CP violation in the leptonic sector. The measurement of this angle will be based in a precise comparison of the antineutrino spectrum at two identical detectors located at different distances from the Chooz nuclear reactor cores in France. Double Chooz is particularly attractive because of its capability to explore sin2(2q13) down to 0.03 @ 90% C.L. for DM2 = 2.5 x 10-3 eV2 in three years of data taking with both detectors. The installation of the far detector started in May 2008 and the first neutrino data are expected in 2009. In this talk, I will review the current status of the Double Chooz experiment, its physics potential and the design and expected performance of the detector.

Speaker: Dr Inés Gil Botella (Cent.de Investigac.Energeticas Medioambientales y Tecnol. (CIEMAT))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012067

Slides DoubleChooz_DISCRETE08.pdf

84 Lepton flavour violating stau decays versus seesaw parameters: correlations and expected number of events for both seesaw type-I and II

In minimal supergravity (mSugra), the neutrino sector is related to the slepton sector by means of the renormalization group equations. This opens a door to indirectly test the neutrino sector via measurements at LHC. Concretely, for the simplest seesaw type-I, we present the correlations between seesaw parameters and ratio of stau lepton flavour violating (LFV) branching ratios. We find some simple, extreme scenarios for the unknown right-handed parameters, where ratios of LFV branching ratios correlate with neutrino oscillation parameters. On the other hand, we scan the mSugra parameter space, for both seesaw type-I and II, to find regions where LFV stau decays can be maximized, while respecting low-energy experimental bounds. We estimate the expected number of events at LHC for a sample luminosity of ${\cal L} = 100 fb^{-1}$.

Speaker: Dr Albert Villanova del Moral (CFTP, Instituto Superior Técnico)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012074

Slides AVillanovadelMoral.pdf

85 Quasi-degenerate neutrinos and tri-bi-maximal mixing

We consider how, for quasi-degenerate neutrinos with tri-bi-maximal mixing at a high energy scale, the mixing angles are affected by radiative running from high to low-energy scales in a supersymmetric theory. The limits on the high energy scale that follow from consistency with the observed mixing are determined. We construct a model in which a non-Abelian discrete family symmetry leads both a quasi-degenerate neutrino mass spectrum and to near tri-bi-maximal mixing.

Speaker: Ivo de Medeiros Varzielas (CFTP, IST)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012070

Slides ivo.pdf.pdf

86 Modelling tri-bimaximal neutrino mixing

We suggest ways to model tri-bimaximal lepton mixing from first principles that avoid the problem of the vacuum alignment present in all models for tri-bimaximal mixing. This is achieved by using a single A4-triplet of Higgs scalars as well as three fermion triplets, and maintaining A4 as a symmetry of the full Lagrangian. The model realization we discuss is potentially testable at the LHC through the peculiar leptonic decay patterns of the fermionic and scalar triplet

Speaker: Dr Stefano Morisi (IFIC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012069

Slides morisi.pdf

87 The relationship between Leptogenesis and low energy observables

TBD

Speaker: Mrs Margarida N. Rebelo (IST Lisbon)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012072

Slides Rebelo08.pdf

88 Analytical description of the Earth matter effect on neutrino oscillations

We present an analytical description of neutrino oscillations in matter based on the Magnus expansion of the time evolution operator. The approximated expressions obtained for the case of two neutrino mixing that propagate in the Earth potential, give considerably better results and in a wider energy range than the perturbative expressions existing in the literature. We apply our formalism to the cases of low and high energy neutrinos which are relevant for the next generation of neutrino detectors.

Speaker: Juan C. D'Olivo (Universidad de Mexico)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012071

Slides Discrete08_DOlivo.pdf

Monday, 15 December

PLENARY-VII

Convener: Gabriela BARENBOIM (IFIC - Valencia)

89 SUSY Dark Matter and LHC

Our triple siege on low-energy SUSY, namely its direct searches at the LHC and its indirect searches in SUSY Dark Matter (DM) and flavor physics ( FCNC and CPV), is likely to finally tell us about the existence and nature of such extension of the SM. I'll review the prospects to reveal SUSY DM in direct and indirect DM searches discussing the interplay and complementarity of such searches with the LHC and flavor physics. In particular, I wish to emphasize that the "canonical picture" of SUSY DM may find important variants once one takes into account the uncertainties on the cosmological behavior before nucleosynthesis and/or the richness of SUSY options in extending the SM.

Speaker: Prof. Antonio Masiero (Padua U & INFN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012018

Slides DISCRETE08_masiero.pdf DISCRETE08_masiero.ppt

90 Dark matter in CP-violating Supersymmetry

Supersymmetry provides ideal candidates for CDM. The LSP neutralino is perhaps the best motivated candidate and the most popular SUSY models can be in agreement with accelerator and WMAP data. Supersymmetric CP-violating phases, although phenomenologically and theoretically interesting, especially for Baryogenesis scenarios, are tightly constrained by the Electric Dipole Moments (EDMs) data. Two-loop RGE running from the Unification to the Electroweak scale renormalizes the gaugino mass phases with important consequences for EDMs. In minimal CP-violating extensions of mSUGRA, with non-universal boundary conditions at the unification scale, EDMs and WMAP data can be simultaneously satisfied for large values of the phases in regions where neutralinos annihilate through a rapid Higgs resonance. These regions of the parameter space are accessible to LHC.

Speaker: Prof. Athanasios Lahanas (University of Athens)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012019

Slides

• Discrete08_Lahanas.pdf
• Discrete08_Lahanas.ppt
• Discrete08_Lahanas.zip

10:30 Coffee break

PLENARY-VIII

Convener: Carmen GARCIA (IFIC - Valencia)

91 Physics at LHC

This talk will cover the expected performance of the ATLAS and CMS detectors and some of the highlights of the global commissioning work done in 2008 with basically fully operational detectors. A selection of early physics measurements based on 2009/2010 data will be then presented. These are meant to illustrate the importance of understanding the performance of these complex detectors, while beginning at the same time to explore the exciting physics possibilities opened up by the LHC even in its first years of operation.

Speaker: Dr Daniel Froidevaux (CERN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012021

Slides Valencia_DF_151208.pdf Valencia_DF_151208.ppt

92 High energy cosmic rays

I will review some of the physics we are learning or expect to learn in the near future through the observation of cosmic rays. This involves a combination of data from accelerators, ground arrays, atmospheric fluorescence detectors, and balloon and satellite experiments. I will discuss the data of the Pierre Auger Observatory, PAMELA, ATIC and FST among other experiments.

Speaker: Prof. Graciela Gelmini (UCLA)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012012

Slides Discrete-GELMINI.pdf

12:30 Lunch break

Parallel Session A. CP violation in the SM and beyond-III

Convener: Helen QUINN (SLAC)

93 Experimental review of CP violation and CKM angles at B factories

Since CP violation in the B meson system was first observed in B->charmonium K0 decays, an extensive program of measurements of CP violation and the angles of CKM Unitarity triangle in various decay modes has been carried out at the B factories. We review the current status of the CKM angles and as well as the search for new new CP violating phase in penguin dominated modes.

Speaker: Kai-Feng. Chen (KEK)

Slides discrete08-belle.pdf

94 Experimental review of CKM sides at B factories

We present the current status of the determination of the length of the sides of the Unitarity Triangle of the CKM matrix. We will review measurements of |Vcb| and |Vub| from inclusive and exclusive semileptonic b->c and b->u transitions. We will also discuss constraints on |Vtd/Vts| from radiative penguin decays.

Speaker: Arantza Oyanguren (Representative from the Babar collaboration)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012054

Slides oyanguren.pdf oyanguren.ppt

95 Results on D mixing and CP violation

Evidence for charm mixing has been reported by several experiments over the past year and a half. When combined, these measurements exclude the absence of charm mixing with a significance of more than 6 standard deviations. Any sign of CP violation in D mixing would be a clear sign of new physics. We present a review of recent charm mixing measurements and searches for CP violation from the asymmetric-energy B factories (Babar and Belle), CLEOc, and CDF.

Speaker: Milind Purohit (Representative from the Babar collaboration)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012053

Slides PurohitValenciaDec08.pdf

96 New states and charmonium spectroscopy at B factories

Recently, new states including charm and anti-charm quarks have been observed in B factories in various processes. In particular, states that do not fit in the spectrum of ordinary charmonium states predicted by theory are of great interest. We present a review of recent observations of these states.

Speaker: Marko Bracko (KEK)

Slides New_states_DISCRETE_08_Bracko.pdf

97 The NA62 experiment at CERN

The K+ to pi+ nu nubar decay is a flavor changing neutral currentprocess which proceed through box and purely electroweak penguin diagrams. It is very clean theoretically: short distance dynamics dominates, c-quarks contributions have been evaluated to NNLO order at 5%, and the hadronic matrix elements can be parameterized in terms of the K+ to pi0 e+ nubar branching ratio that is well known experimentally. For these reasons K+ to pi+ nu nubar, together with KL to pi0 nu nubar, is extremely sensitive to new physics contributions. Moreover, it allows a precise measurement of the CKM parameter V_td, independent from B oscillation measurements. The computed branching ratio is (8.0 +- 1.1) 10^(-11). The existing measurement, based on 3 events from E787/949 experiments at BNL, is (1.47 +-1.30 +-0.89) 10^(-10), compatible with the SM within errors. A 10% accuracy measurement is required to provide a significative test of new physics scenarios. This is the goal of the proposed NA62 experiment at the CERN SPS, that aims to collect about 80 events in two years of data taking, keeping background contamination lower than 10%. The experiment will be based on the NA48 apparatus and will use the same CERN-SPS beam line which produced the kaon beam for the NA48 experiment. The experiment is being designed to reach 10^(-12) sensitivity per event, exploiting a decay in flight technique which allows to reach a 10% signal acceptance. The detector requires a sophisticated technology for which an intense R&D program has started. The flux of K+ will be about 100 times higher than for NA48, opening many other physics opportunities. The status of the project, the R&D program and the perspectives of the experiment will be discussed.

Speaker: Eduardo Cortina

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012055

Slides NA62_DISCRETE08.pdf

Parallel Session B. High energy Messengers-I

Convener: Francis HALZEN (University of Wisconsin)

98 Antimatter and Dark Matter research with PAMELA Space Mission

"Antimatter and Dark matter research with the PAMELA space mission On the 15th of June 2006, the PAMELA satellite-borne experiment was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome and it has been collecting data since July 2006. The apparatus is composed of a time-of-flight system, a silicon-microstrip magnetic spectrometer, a silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter, an anticoincidence system, a shower tail counter scintillator and a neutron detector. The combination of these devices allows for precision studies of the charged cosmic radiation to be conducted over a wide energy range (100 MeV - 100's GeV) with high statistics. The primary scientific goal is the measurement of the antiproton and positron energy spectrum in order to search for exotic sources, such as dark matter particle annihilations. PAMELA is also searching for primordial antinuclei (anti-helium), and testing cosmic-ray propagation models through precise measurements of the antiparticle energy spectrum and precision studies of light nuclei and their isotopes. Moreover, PAMELA is investigating phenomena connected with solar and earth physics. Results for antiproton-proton and positron-electron ratios after two years of in flight data taking are presented.

Speaker: Prof. Piero Spillantini (Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita' di Firenze)

Slides Spillantini.pdf Spillantini.ppt

99 The AMS-02 Experiment on the ISS

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) on the International Space Station (ISS) is the first large acceptance magnetic spectrometer to perform high statistics studies of cosmic rays in space. The experiment will address fundamental questions regarding primary antimatter and dark matter contents of the universe. In addition, the precision studies of cosmic rays in a wide energy range will result in a greatly improved understanding of the cosmic ray propagation in our galaxy. The detector is now in its final assembly stage at CERN (Geneva) and it will be shipped to KSC (Florida) for integration with the Space Shuttle in 2010.

Speaker: Dr Jorge Casaus (CIEMAT)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012045

Slides ValenciaNov08.pdf

100 Results from the MAGIC Cherenkov Telescope

VHE Gamma Ray Astronomy is today a well established and successful discipline. Among the major Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes in operation, MAGIC, a 17 m single dish telescope, has reached the lowest energy threshold. This unique feature has allowed the discovery of VHE gamma rays from 3C279, the farthest Blazar detected in VHE, as well as the first observation of the VHE pulsed emission from the Crab pulsar. In addition a number of galactic and extra-galactic sources have been discovered or confirmed. Moreover, MAGIC has constrained limits of the Quantum Gravity Mass Scale, the Extra-galactic Background Light and gamma ray fluxes from Dark Matter annihilation. In 2009 a second 17 m telescope, MAGIC-II, will start operation. The stereoscopic observation mode will improve the angular and energy resolution, reducing the background at the same time. All this will improve the sensitivity of the instrument by more than a factor two.

Speaker: Dr Emiliano Carmona (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut))

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012046

Slides Discrete08-MAGIC.pdf

101 ANTARES and KM3NeT

The installation of the ANTARES neutrino telescope was completed on May 30th 2008. With its 12 lines and 900 photomultipliers ANTARES is at present the largest neutrino telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. Its layout, technical features, expected performances and first results will be presented. KM3NeT is a step forward in neutrino astronomy in the Mediterranean Sea. A design study funded by the VI Framework Programme of the European Commission is well underway and its preparatory phase, funded by the VII FP, has started. KM3NeT is included in the ESFRI list and Roadmap of large infrastructures and classified as high priority by ASPERA and ASTRONET. Details of the present concepts to build such a km3 telescope and its capabilities will be given.

Speaker: Dr Juan José Hernández-Rey (Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (IFIC) UV-CSIC)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012047

Slides Juanjo-DISCRETE08-15-12-08.pdf Juanjo-DISCRETE08-15-12-08.ppt

102 Selected results from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Southern Pierre Auger Observatory is complete. Data have been taken since January 2004 while the array was being constructed, what amounts to more than 1 year of exposure with the full array. Results on the energy spectrum of UHECRs above 10^18 eV measured with vertical and inclined showers are presented. Inclined showers are also used to search for ultra-high energy neutrinos, and a competitive limit on their diffuse flux for energies above ~ 10^17 eV has also been placed.

Speaker: Jaime Alvarez-Muñiz (Santiago U.)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012044

Slides Alvarez-Muniz-DISCRETE08_Auger.pdf Alvarez-Muniz-DISCRETE08_Auger.ppt

16:30 Coffee break

Parallel Session A. CP violation in the SM and beyond-IV

Convener: Graciela GELMINI B. (UCLA-CERN)

103 Small violations of 3x3 unitarity, the phase in Bs mixing and visible t->cZ decays at the LHC

In the framework of a model with violation of $3\times 3$ unitarity we show that it is possible to accommodate the observed size of the phase in $B^0_s$--$\bar B^0_s$ mixing. This $3\times 3$ unitarity mixing violation is associated to the presence of a new $Q=2/3$ isosinglet quark $T$ with a mass not exceeding 500 GeV. The crucial point is the fact that this framework allows for $\chi\equiv\arg(-V_{ts}V_{cb}V_{tb}^*V_{cs}^*)$ of order $\lambda$, to be contrasted with the situation in the Standard Model, where $\chi$ is constrained to be of order $\lambda^2$. This scenario implies rare top decays $t\to cZ$ at a rate observable at the LHC and $|V_{tb}|$ significantly different from unity. Additionally one may also account for the observed size of $D^0$--$\bar D^0$ mixing without having to invoke long distance contributions. It is also shown that the observed size of $D^0$--$\bar D^0$ mixing constrains $\chi^\prime\equiv\arg(-V_{cd}V_{us}V_{cs}^*V_{ud}^*)$ to be of order $\lambda^4$, which is significantly smaller than what is allowed in generic models with violations of $3\times 3$ unitarity.

Speaker: Dr Miguel Nebot (INFN - Roma Tre)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012058

Slides nebot_discrete08.pdf

104 B_s mixing phase and lepton flavor violation in supersymmetric SU(5)

We inspect consequences of the latest B_s mixing phase measurements on lepton flavor violation in a supersymmetric SU(5) theory. The O(1) phase, preferring a non-vanishing squark mixing, generically implies tau -> (e + mu) gamma and mu -> e gamma. Depending on the gaugino and the scalar mass parameters as well as tan beta, the rates turn out to be detectable or even already excessive, if the RR mass insertion of down-type squarks is nonzero. We find that it becomes easy to reconcile B_s mixing phase with lepton flavor violation given: gaugino to scalar squared mass ratio around 1/12, both LL and RR insertions with decent sizes, and low tan beta.

Speaker: Dr Jae-hyeon Park (INFN Padova)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012060

Slides disc08jhpark.pdf

105 High precision probes for new physics through CP-violating measurements at LHCb

LHCb is an experiment which has been designed to make precise measurements of CP violating quantities in B-hadron decays. The scope and experimental challenges of this programme are outlined. Our knowledge of the unitarity triangle will be improved significantly with respect to the present status. In particular, the precision on the angle gamma is expected to improve dramatically. Comparison of processes that are sensitive to new physics and those that are dominated by tree-level measurements will provide stringent tests of the Standard Model. Also of the highest interest will be the first precise measurement of the CP violating phase in Bs-Bsbar oscillations. Here LHCb will achieve the sensitivity necessary to resolve the very small value of this parameter predicted in the Standard Model, and will be able to see any enhancements coming from new physics processes with rather little data. Finally, a programme to search for CP violation in D decays will provide a complementary and powerful method of searching for evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model.

Speaker: Marco Adinolfi (CERN)

Slides Valencia_15_Dec_2008.ppt.pdf Valencia_15_Dec_2008.ppt.ppt

106 Rare Decays at LHCb

The LHCb experiment will already in 2009 obtain more B-meson decays than has been recorded by any other experiment previously. This provides a unique opportunity for studying very rare decays where the effects of physics beyond the Standard Nodel might be dominating. The decay Bs -> mu+ mu- is very sensitive to an extended Higgs sector and might be the first place to see the effects of new physics in data from LHC. We will discuss the details of the planned analysis and show that un upper limit for the branching ratio can be set right down to the SM prediction with the data expected in 2009. The decays Bs -> phi gamma and Bd -> K*0 mu+ mu- are flavour changing neutral current decays that cannot happen at the tree level. Through the virtual particles in the box and penguin diagrams responsible for the decays, they are sensitive to new particles well into the TeV mass range. The first results on B -> K(*) l+ l- decays from the e+e- B factories provide some tantalising hints for physics beyond the Standard Model. We will show how LHCb will be able to increase the precision of these measurements by a large factor and thus would be able to provide a clear signature of new physics from rare decays.

Speaker: Hugo Ruiz (CERN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012057

Slides Rare_Decays_Hugo_Ruiz.pdf Rare_Decays_Hugo_Ruiz.ppt

107 Commissioning and early LHCb Results

The LHCb experiment is designed to perform precision meausrements of CP violation and rare decay searches in the B sector. All subdetectors have been installed and are ready to exploit first data from CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The very first data collected with a minimal interaction trigger should allow the space alignment of the detector to be performed, once enough tracks have been reconstructed. Then, when energy and momentum scales have been calibrated, the particle identification will be commissioned. The trigger will also be commissioned ready for data-taking in 2009, when LHCb's nominal luminosity should be reached and the full physics programme deployed. First measurements comprise inclusive particle production, where final states containing a pair of oppositely charged muons (e.g. J/psi production) will be isolated. We will report on the status of the LHCb experiment and progress made towards first physics measurements.

Speaker: Abraham Gallas (CERN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012056

Slides DISCRETE08_Gallas.pdf

108 On quark-lepton complementarity

Recent measurements of the neutrino of the neutrino and quark mixing angles satisfy the empirical relations called quark lepton complementarity. This empirical data suggests the existence of a correlation between the mixing matrices of neutrinos and quarks. In this work, we examine the possibility that this correlation between the mixing angles of quarks and leptons originates in the similar hierarchy of quark and charged lepton mases and the see-saw mechanism type-I that gives mass to the Majorana neutrinos. We assume that the similar mass hierarchies of charged lepton masses and quark masses allows one to represent all the mass matrices of the Dirac fermions in terms of a four zeros Fritzsch texture.

Speaker: Mr Felix Gonzalez Canales (Instituto de Fisica UNAM)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012063

Slides Felix-Discrete-08.pdf

Parallel Session B. High energy Messengers-II

Convener: Mats LINDROOS (CERN)

109 Gamma rays from the annihilation of singlet scalar dark matter

We consider an extension of the Standard Model by a singlet scalar that accounts for the dark matter of the Universe. Within this model we compute, for the first time, the expected gamma ray flux from the annihilation of dark matter particles. In addition, an updated analysis of the parameter space of the model is presented. By enforcing the relic density constraint from the very beginning, the viable parameter space gets reduced to just two variables: the singlet mass and the higgs mass. Current direct detection constraints are then found to require a singlet mass larger than 50 GeV. Finally, it is shown that, over most of the viable region, the continuum gamma ray signal lies within the sensitivity of GLAST.

Speaker: Mr carlos yaguna (universidad autonoma de madrid)

Slides Yaguna.pdf

110 Sterile neutrinos and low reheating temperature

It is commonly assumed that the cosmological and astrophysical bounds on the mixings of sterile with active neutrinos are much more stringent than those obtained from laboratory measurements. We point out that in scenarios with a very low reheating temperature T_RH << 100 MeV at the end of (the last episode of) inflation or entropy creation, the abundance of sterile neutrinos becomes largely suppressed with respect to that obtained within the standard framework. Thus, in this case cosmological bounds become much less stringent than usually assumed, allowing sterile neutrinos to be ``visible'' in future experiments.

Speaker: Dr Sergio Palomares Ruiz (IST Lisbon)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012049

Slides Palomares.pdf Palomares.ppt

111 Extreme scenarios of new physics in the UHE astrophysical neutrino flavour ratios

We add an energy-independent Hamiltonian to the standard flavour oscillation one. This kind of physics might appear in theories where neutrinos couple differently to a plausible non-zero torsion of the gravitational field or more dramatically in the presence of CPT-violating physics in the flavour oscillations. If this contribution exists, experiments at higher energies are more sensitive to their free parameters, and flavour conversion could be severely modified. We show that this new physics modifies the neutrino mixing angles and find expressions that relate the new, effective, angles to the standard oscillation parameters $\Delta m_{ij}^2$, $\theta_{ij}$ and $\delta_{CP}$ and to the parameters in the new-physics Hamiltonian, within a three-neutrino formalism. We consider scenarios where the new parameters allow for extreme deviations of the expected neutrino flavour ratios at Earth from their standard values. We show that large departures of the standard flavour scenario are plausible, which would be a strong hint of the violation of a conserved symmetry.

Speaker: Mr Mauricio Bustamante (Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012048

Slides ExpoDISCRETE08.pdf

Parallel Session B. Neutrino mass mixing and CP-II

Convener: Mats LINDROOS (CERN)

112 Ettore Majorana meets his shadow

Seventy years have elapsed since Majorana's bold hypothesis about the neutrinos, and almost the same time since he dissappeared in misterious circunstances, a mistery yet as unresolved as the true nature of Neutrino. Probably we will never know what happened to the physicist but neutrinoless double deta decay experiments may unravel if the neutrino is its own antiparticle. I will offer a brief review of the satus of the field and the most promising techniques for the NEXT generation of experiments.

Speaker: Prof. Juan Jose Gomez Cadenas (IFIC-CSIC-UVEG)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012068

113 Spontaneous R-parity violation and the origin of neutrino mass

We study the phenomenology of supersymmetric models that explain neutrino masses through the spontaneous breaking of R-parity, finding strong correlations between the decays of the lightest neutralino and the neutrino mixing angles. In addition, the existence of a Goldstone boson, usually called majoron (J), completely modifies the phenomenology with respect to the standard picture, inducing large invisible branching ratios and charged lepton decays, like mu -> e J, interesting signals that can be used to constrain the model.

Speaker: Mr Avelino Vicente (IFIC - University of Valencia)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012073

Slides a_vicente.pdf

114 Finite Unified Theories

Finite Unified Theories are N=1 supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories, which can be made all-loop finite, both in the dimensionless (gauge and Yukawa couplings) and dimensionful (soft supersymmetry breaking terms) sectors. This remarkable property, is based on the reduction of couplings at the quantum level. We plan first to present the scheme of reduction of couplings, then the conditions for finiteness at one and two-loop in supersymmetric theories and finally the theorem which permits the construction of all-loop finite theories. We will conclude with a short presentation of the successes in constructing realistic all-loop finite models as well as in predicting the Higgs mass within these models.

Speaker: George Zoupanos (Physics Department-National Technical Univ. of Athens-Unknown)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012095

Slides zoupanos.pdf

Tuesday, 16 December

PLENARY-IX

Convener: Gustavo BRANCO (IST - Lisboa)

115 The origin of neutrino mass

I propose to give an outline based on partial answers to questions beneath ’the origin of neutrino mass’ : a) building on the limiting uncurved structure of 1 time + 3 space dimensions what is the full extent of space-time dimensions and their meaning in quantum gravity ? b) what is the origin and nature of spin 1 2 fermions ? c) if charge-like and orientation-like gaugeing is related , then what is the explanation for 3 colors and 3 families along the path of unification ?

Speaker: Prof. Peter Minkowski (ITO Bern)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012016

Slides nuorigin08.pdf

116 Neutrino Physics Experiments

fter making a brief introduction in neutrino physics I will discuss the status and prospects of experiments probing the "solar" and "atmospheric" parameters of the neutrino mixing matrix. Then I will focus on near and longer term experiments aiming to address the nature of the neutrino (Dirac or Majorana) and measure the absolute neutrino masses. Finally, I will describe reactor and accelerator experiments that will probe the "cross mixing" neutrino parameters with an aim to determine the hierarchy of the neutrino masses, and study if CP symmetry is violated in the neutrino sector.

Speaker: Prof. Niki Saoulidou (Fermilab)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012015

Slides DISCRETE_2008_NS.pdf

10:30 Coffee break

PLENARY-X

Convener: Manuel AGUILAR-BENITEZ (CIEMAT - Madrid)

117 Fundamental Physics with Cosmic Gamma Rays.

The present generation of ground-based cosmic gamma ray observatories will have soon observed almost hundred gamma ray sources allowing us to study the universe in the highest energy electromagnetic radiation observation domain. These results will improve by an order of magnitude with the next generation observatories (CTA/AGIS) and together with the results from the satellite-based Fermi observatory will allow for some unique studies with a deep impact on Fundamental Physics.

Speaker: Prof. Manel Martinez (IFAE)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012013

Slides Martinez.pdf Martinez.ppt

118 High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy: Towards a Kilometer-Scale Neutrino

Kilometer-scale neutrino detectors such as IceCube are discovery instruments covering nuclear and particle physics, cosmology and astronomy. Examples of their multidisciplinary missions include the search for the particle nature of dark matter and for additional small dimensions of space. In the end, their conceptual design is very much anchored to the observational fact that Nature produces photons and protons with energies in excess of one hundred and one hundred million Terraelectronvolts, respectively. The cosmic ray connection sets the scale of cosmic neutrino fluxes. The problem has been to develop a robust and affordable technology to build the kilometer-scale neutrino detectors required to do the science. The AMANDA telescope transforming ultra-clear deep Antarctic ice into a Cherenkov detector of muons and showers initiated by neutrinos of all three flavors, has met this challenge. Having collected more than 6000 well-reconstructed muon neutrinos of 50 GeV ~ 500 TeV energy, AMANDA represents a proof of concept for the ultimate kilometer-scale neutrino observatory, IceCube, now half complete and already producing results exceeding in sensitivity seven years of AMANDA data.

Speaker: Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012014

Slides discrete_halzen.pdf discrete_halzen.ppt

12:30 Lunch break

PLENARY-XI

Convener: Jose BERNABEU (IFIC - Valencia)

119 The Future of SuperFlavour Factories

Speaker: Prof. Marcello A. Giorgi (INFN - Univ di Pisa)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012022

Slides Giorgi-Future_of_SFF.pdf Giorgi-Future_of_SFF.ppt

120 The ultimate neutrino beam(s)

The advance in neutrino oscillation physics is driven by the availability of well characterized and high flux neutrino beams. The three present options for the next generation neutrino oscillation facility are super beams, neutrino factories and beta-beams. A super-beam is a very high intensity classical neutrino beam generated by protons impinging on a target where the neutrinos are generated by the secondary particles decaying in a tunnel down streams of the target. In a neutrino factory the neutrinos are generated from muons decaying in a storage ring with long straight sections pointing towards the detectors. In a beta-beam the neutrinos are also originating from decay in a storage ring but the decaying particles are radioactive ions rather than muons. I will in this presentation review the three options and discuss the pros and cons of each. The present joint design effort for a future high intensity neutrino oscillation in Europe within a common EU supported design study, EURONU, will also be presented. The design study will explore the physics reach, the detectors, the feasibility, the safety issues and the cost for each of the options so that the the community can take a decision on what to build when the facilities presently under exploitation and construction have to be replaced.

Speaker: Dr Mats Lindroos (CERN)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012023

Slides NeutrinoBeams-Discrete08-Mlindroos.pdf NeutrinoBeams-Discrete08-Mlindroos.pptx

121 CERN and the Future of Particle Physics

With the start-up of the LHC, particle physics is about to enter the Terascale, opening up a new chapter in high-energy physics. The results from LHC will provide a deeper understanding of the Universe and they will tell us which way to go in the future. The talk will comment on the physics prospects and schedule of the LHC. It will address the European roadmap of particle physics and look into the future of particle physics. The need of enlarged global collaboration will be presented and possible ways to achieve this.

Speaker: Dr Rolf-Dieter Heuer (CERN and DESY)

Paper http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/171/1/012024

Slides DISCRETE08heuer.pdf DISCRETE08heuer.ppt

16:45 Coffee break

Meeting CERN Director General - Spanish HEP

Convener: Jose BERNABEU (IFIC - Valencia)

122 Presentation

Speakers: Carlos PAJARES (Spanish delegate at CERN Council) (Santiago de Compostela U.), Juan FUSTER VERDU (Spanish HEP) (IFIC - Valencia), Rolf-Dieter HEUER (CERN DG) (DESY and CERN)

Slides

• CERN_heuer.pdf
• CERN_heuer.ppt
• ES_CERN_Pajares.pdf
• ES_CERN_Pajares.ppt
• FPA_Fuster.pdf
• FPA_Fuster.ppt

123 Round Table Discussion by Representatives from Spanish HEP

Speaker: CPAN, IFAE, IFIC, CIEMAT, IFCA, USant, UZar, UBar, UAM, UGr,...

Slides

• CIEMAT_Aguilar.pdf
• CIEMAT_Aguilar.ppt
• CPAN_Pich.pdf
• CPAN_Pich.ppt
• Granada_Pittau.pdf
• IFAE_Cavalli.pdf
• IFAE_Cavalli.ppt
• IFIC_Botella.pdf
• IFIC_Botella.ppt
• Santiago_USC.pdf
• Santiago_USC.ppt

124 General Open interventions by participants

-- Role of Spain at CERN -- CERN programme for 2009 - 2017 -- CERN position on Linear Collider -- Astroparticle Physics at CERN

Slides agenda.pdf agenda.ppt