Search

Cathodoluminescence VUV spectra of free pure nitrogen clusters produced by condensation of gas mixtures in supersonic jets expanding into vacuum were studied. The clusters were of icosahedral structure, as evidenced by our electron diffraction measurements, i.e., quasicrystals, and contained about 1000 atoms. The cluster temperature was about 40 K. The luminescence spectra measured in the range of 45,000-75,000 cm^-1 clearly showed three vibronic w -> X series of transitions from the excited 'w' to the ground 'X' state, which are intrinsic to nitrogen molecules. All the transitions revealed a strong dependence of the matrix shift of their peak positions on vibration quantum number, while for bulk samples of N2 the matrix shift is known to remain unchanged. Our analysis showed that in clusters the vibrational anharmonicity parameter changes drastically for both the upper and lower states, while the change in the vibrational frequencies is much less prominent. The results obtained provide information about an abnormally strong influence of cluster environment on the nonlinear contribution to the vibrations of nitrogen molecules., Comment: The complete version is to be published

Leptoquark-Higgs interactions induce mixing between leptoquark states with different chiralities once the electro-weak symmetry is broken. In such LQ models Majorana neutrino masses are generated at 1-loop order. Here we calculate the neutrino mass matrix and explore the constraints on the parameter space enforced by the assumption that LQ-loops explain current neutrino oscillation data. LQs will be produced at the LHC, if their masses are at or below the TeV scale. Since the fermionic decays of LQs are governed by the same Yukawa couplings, which are responsible for the non-trivial neutrino mass matrix, several decay branching ratios of LQ states can be predicted from measured neutrino data. Especially interesting is that large lepton flavour violating rates in muon and tau final states are expected. In addition, the model predicts that, if kinematically possible, heavier LQs decay into lighter ones plus either a standard model Higgs boson or a $Z^0/W^{\pm}$ gauge boson. Thus, experiments at the LHC might be able to exclude the LQ mechanism as explanation of neutrino data., Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures

Cathodoluminescence spectra of free xenon clusters produced by condensation of xenon-argon gas mixtures in supersonic jets expanding into vacuum were studied. By varying initial experimental parameters, including xenon concentration, we could obtain clusters with a xenon core (300-3500 atoms) covered by an argon outer shell as well as shell-free xenon clusters (about 1500 atoms). The cluster size and temperature (about 40 K for both cases) were measured electronographically. Luminescence bands evidencing the existence of bulk and surface excitons were detected for shell-free xenon clusters. The emission from bulk excitons in small clusters is supposed to be due to processes of their multiple elastic reflections from the xenon-vacuum interface. A presence of an argon shell causes extinction of the excitonic bands. In addition, some new bands were found which have no analogs for bulk xenon cryosamples., Comment: The final modified version will be published in Phys. Rev. A 76 (2007)

Luminescence of surface and free bulk excitons is detected in xenon for the first time for substrate-free rare-gas clusters. Xenon clusters were produced by the method of gas condensation in a supersonic jet emitted into vacuum. Optical study was accompanied by electron diffraction measurements to determine the structure of clusters., Comment: The more complete version of the paper is to be published in 'Low Temperature Physics' (2007)

We revisit the well known "Black Box" theorem establishing a fundamental relation between the amplitude of neutrinoless double beta decay and the effective Majorana neutrino mass. We extend this theorem to the general case of arbitrary lepton number and lepton flavor violating (LFNV) processes and to the three generation Majorana neutrino mass matrix. We demonstrate the existence of a general set of one-to-one correspondence relations between the effective operators generating these processes, and elements of the neutrino mass matrix, such that if one of these two quantities vanishes the other is guaranteed to vanish as well, and moreover, if one of these quantities is non-zero the other is guaranteed to be non-zero. We stress that this statement remains valid even in the presence of arbitrary new physics contributions. As a particularly important example, we then show that neutrino oscillation data imply that neutrinoless double beta decay must occur at a certain non-zero rate., Comment: 11 pages, 1 fig

In this paper, electron diffraction and optical methods are used together for the first time to study the problem of phase equilibrium in binary clusters of heavy rare gases. For the argon-xenon system, a new effect of its decay into pure components with a sharp interface between the xenon core and the argon shell is observed., Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, rapid communication

We study possible contribution of the Majorana neutrino mass eigenstate $\nu_h$ dominated by a sterile neutrino component to neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay. From the current experimental lower bound on the $0\nu\beta\beta$-decay half-life of $^{76}$Ge we derive stringent constraints on the $\nu_h-\nu_e$ mixing in a wide region of the values of $\nu_h$ mass. We discuss cosmological and astrophysical status of $\nu_h$ in this mass region., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; v2 added comments and references

The systematic study of (anti-)neutrino accompanied beta^-beta^-, beta^+beta^+ decays and beta^+/EC, EC/EC electron captures is performed under the assumption of single intermediate nuclear state dominance. The corresponding half-lives are evaluated both for transitions to the ground state as well as to the 0^+ and 2^+ excited states of final nucleus. It is stressed that the hypothesis of single state dominance can be confirmed or ruled out by the precision measurements of the differential characteristics of the 2nbb-decays of 100Mo and 116Cd as well as beta^+/EC electron capture in 106Cd, 130Ba and 136Ce., Comment: 17 pages including 3 eps figure

The non-photonic neutrino exchange mechanism of the lepton flavor violating muon-electron conversion in nuclei is revisited. First we determine the nucleon coupling constants for the neutrino exchange mechanism in a relativistic quark model taking into account quark confinement and chiral symmetry requirements. This includes a new, previously overlooked tree-level contribution from neutrino exchange between two quarks in the same nucleon. Then for the case of an additional sterile neutrino we reconsider the coherent mode of this process. The presence of a mixed sterile-active neutrino state heavier than the quark confinement scale Lambda_c (~1 GeV) may significantly improve the prospects for observation of this process in future experiments as compared to the conventional scenario with only light neutrinos. Turning the arguments around we derive new experimental constraints on |U_(mu h)| and |U_(e h)| mixing matrix elements from the non-observation of muon--electron conversion., Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, 1 Postscript figure

A general Lorentz-invariant parameterization for the short-range part of the 0vBB decay rate is derived. Combined with the long range part already published this general parameterization in terms of effective B-L violating couplings allows one to extract the 0vBB limits on arbitrary lepton number violating theories., Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures

Using the neutrino oscillations and neutrinoless double beta decay experimental data we reconstructed an upper limit for the three generation neutrino mass matrix. We compared this matrix with the predictions of the minimal supersymmetric(SUSY) model with R-parity violation(\rp) and extracted stringent limits on trilinear \rp coupling constants $\lambda_{i33}, \lambda'_{i33}$. Introducing an additional $U(1)_X$ flavor symmetry which had been successful in explaining to relate various \rp parameters. In this model we found a unique scenario for the neutrino masses and the \rp couplings compatible with the neutrino oscillation data. Then we derived predictions for certain experimentally interesting observables., Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure; additional references included, minor corrections and typos fixed. Version to appear in Nucl.Phys. B

We analyze constraints on the parameters of the R-parity violating supersymmetry which can be extracted from non-observation of the neutrinoless nuclear double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) at a given half-life lower bound. Our analysis covers a large class of phenomenologically viable R-parity violating SUSY models. We introduce special characteristics: the SUSY sensitivity of a $\beta\beta$ decaying isotope and the SUSY reach of a $0\nu\beta\beta$ experiment. The former provides a physical criterion for a selection of the most promising isotopes for SUSY searches and the latter gives a measure of success for a $0\nu\beta\beta$ experiment in exploring the R-parity violating SUSY parameter space. On this basis we discuss prospects for exploration of supersymmetry in various $0\nu\beta\beta$ experiments., Comment: 11 pages, 5 Postscript figures. Modified and updated version is printed also in Proc. of NANP97 (JINR, Dubna, July 7--11, 1997): Phys. Atom Nucl, 1998, 61, vol. 6, p.1092--1096

A general Lorentz--invariant parameterization for the long-range part of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay rate is derived. Combined with the short range part this general parameterization in terms of effective $B-L$ violating couplings will allow it to extract the $0\nu\beta\beta$ limits on arbitrary lepton number violating theories. Several new nuclear matrix elements appear in the general formalism compared to the standard neutrino mass mechanism. Some of these new matrix elements have never been considered before and are calculated within pn-QRPA. Using these, limits on lepton number violating parameters are derived from experimental data on $^{76}$Ge., Comment: replaced by revised version to appear in Phys. Lett. B, discussion of nuclear matrix elements included

Double beta decay has been proven to be a powerful tool to constrain $B-L$ violating physics beyond the standard model. We present a representation for the long-range part of the general $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay rate allowed by Lorentz-invariance. Combined with the short range part this general parametrization in terms of effective $B-L$ violating couplings will provide the $0\nu\beta\beta$ limits on arbitrary lepton number violating theories., Comment: Talk presented by H. P\"as at the Erice School on Nuclear Physics, 19th course "Neutrinos in Astro, Particle and Nuclear Physics", Erice, Italy, 16-24 September 1997, 2 pages, Latex, requires worldsci.sty

We consider contributions of R-parity conserving softly broken supersymmetry (SUSY) to neutrinoless double beta ($\znbb$) decay via the (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass term. The latter is a generic ingredient of any weak-scale SUSY model with a Majorana neutrino mass. The new R-parity conserving SUSY contributions to $\znbb$ are realized at the level of box diagrams. We derive the effective Lagrangian describing the SUSY-box mechanism of $\znbb$-decay and the corresponding nuclear matrix elements. The 1-loop sneutrino contribution to the Majorana neutrino mass is also derived. Given the data on the $\znbb$-decay half-life of $^{76}$Ge and the neutrino mass we obtain constraints on the (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass. These constraints leave room for accelerator searches for certain manifestations of the 2nd and 3rd generation (B-L)-violating sneutrino mass term, but are most probably too tight for first generation (B-L)-violating sneutrino masses to be searched for directly., Comment: LATEX, 29 pages + 4 (uuencoded) figures appended

We prove a low-energy theorem valid for any model of weak scale softly broken supersymmetry. It claims that the neutrino Majorana mass, the B-L violating mass of the sneutrino and the neutrinoless double beta decay amplitude are intimately related to each other such that if one of them is non-zero the other two are also non-zero and, vice versa, if one of them vanishes the other two vanish as well. The theorem is a consequence of the underlying supersymmetry and independent of the mechanisms of neutrinoless double beta decay and (s-)neutrino mass generation., Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 1 Postscript figure

We prove a general low-energy theorem establishing a generic relation between the neutrino Majorana mass and the superpartner sneutrino B-L-violating "Majorana"-like mass term. The theorem states that, if one of these two quantities is non-zero the other one is also non-zero and, vice versa, if one of them vanishes the other vanishes, too. The theorem is a consequence of the underlying supersymmetry (SUSY) and valid for any realistic gauge model with weak scale softly broken SUSY., Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 1 Postscript figure

We address the question of how light can be the lightest supersymmetric particle neutralino to be a reliable cold dark matter (CDM) particle candidate. To this end we have performed a combined analysis of the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) taking into account cosmological and accelerator constraints including those from the radiative $b\rightarrow s\gamma$ decay. Appropriate grand unification (GUT) scenarios were considered. We have found that the relaxation of gaugino mass unification is sufficient to obtain a phenomenologically and cosmologically viable solution of the MSSM with the neutralino as light as 3~GeV. We have found good prospects for direct detection of these superlight CDM neutralinos via elastic scattering off various nuclei in the forthcoming experiments with low-threshold DM detectors. In a certain sense, these experiments can probe the gaugino mass unification giving constraints on the possible GUT scenarios within the MSSM., Comment: 20 pages, 5 Postscript figures

We performed a combined analysis of the parameter space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) taking into account cosmological and accelerator constraints including those from the radiative $b\rightarrow s\gamma$ decay measured by the CLEO collaboration. Special attention is paid to the event rate, $R$, of direct dark matter neutralino detection. We have found domains of the parameter space with $R\simeq 5-10$~events/kg/day. This would be within the reach of current dark matter experiments. The $b\rightarrow s\gamma$ data do not essentially reduce these large event rate domains of the MSSM parameter space., Comment: 21 pages, 4 Postscript figures

Within the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model it is possible to predict the low energy gauge couplings and masses of the 3. generation particles from a few parameters at the GUT scale. In addition the MSSM predicts elektroweak symmetry breaking due to large radiative corrections from Yukawa couplings, thus relating the Z^0 boson mass to the top quark mass. From a \chi^2 analysis, in which these constraints can be considered simultaneously, one can calculate the probability for each point in the MSGUT parameter space. Our fits include full second order corrections for the gauge and Yukawa couplings, low energy treshold effects, contributions of all (s)particles to the Higgs potential and corrections to m_b from qluinos and higgsinos, which exclude (in our notation) positive values of the mixing parameter in the Higgs potential \mu for the large tan \beta region. Further constraints can be derived from the branching ratio for the radiative (penguin) decay of the b-quark into s \gamma and the lower limit on the lifetime of the universe, which requires the dark matter density due to the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) not to overclose the universe. For particles, which are most likely to have masses in the LEP II energy range, the cross sections are given for the various energy scenarios at LEP II. For low tan \beta the production of the lightest Higgs boson, which is expected to have a mass below 103 GeV, is the most promising channel, while for large tan \beta the production of charginos and/or neutralinos covers the preferred parameter space., Comment: LaTeX + 28 eps figs, 43 pages

A new mechanism for neutrinoless double beta ($\znbb$) decay based on leptoquark exchange is discussed. Due to the specific helicity structure of the effective four-fermion interaction this contribution is strongly enhanced compared to the well-known mass mechanism of $\znbb$ decay. As a result the corresponding leptoquark parameters are severely constrained from non-observation of $\znbb$-decay. These constraints are more stringent than those derived from other experiments., Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 1 figure

We discuss an extension of the standard model (SM) with vector and scalar leptoquarks. The renormalizable leptoquark Lagrangian consistent with the SM gauge symmetry is presented including the leptoquark-Higgs interactions previously not considered in the literature. We discuss the importance of these new interactions for leptoquark phenomenology. After the electro-weak symmetry breaking they generate non-trivial leptoquark mass matrices. These lead to mixing between different $SU(2)_L$-multiplets of the leptoquarks and induce at low energies new effective 4-fermion lepton-quark vertices. The latter affect the standard leptoquark phenomenology. We discuss constraints on these interactions from the helicity-suppressed $\pi\rightarrow \nu + e$ decay., Comment: LaTeX, 9 pages, no figures

The neutrinoless double beta decay ($\znbb$) induced by light Majorana neutrino exchange between decaying nucleons, accompanied by the squark exchange inside one nucleon, recently discussed by Babu and Mohapatra, is carefully analyzed both from the particle and nuclear physics sides. New nuclear matrix elements relevant to this mechanism are calculated. We extend the analysis to include mixing of light neutrinos with heavy and "sterile" neutrinos. It introduces another supersymmetric (SUSY) contribution to $\znbb$. We discuss constraints on the \rp MSSM parameters imposed by the current experimental limit on $\znbb$ decay half-life of $^{76}$Ge., Comment: LATEX, 10 pages + 2 (uuencoded) figures appended

Because of the fine--tuning problem in classical Majoron models in recent years several new models were invented. It is pointed out that double beta decays with Majoron emission depend on new matrix elements, which have not been considered in the literature. A calculation of these matrix elements and phase space integrals is presented. We find that for new Majoron models extremely small decay rates are expected., Comment: 12 pages, postscript encoded as uu-file

We consider the neutralino as a dominant Dark Matter particle in the galactic halo and investigate some general issues of direct Dark Matter searches via elastic neutralino-nucleus scattering. On the basis of conventional assumptions about the nuclear and nucleon structure we analyse constraints on SUSY model parameter space accessible by the direct Dark Matter searches. This analysis shows that Dark Matter detectors fall into the THREE different categories with respect to their sensitivity to different groups of the SUSY model parameters. We calculate the event rate for various experimentally interesting isotopes within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) taking into account the known accelerator and cosmological constraints on the MSSM parameter space. We investigate the role of nuclear spin in elastic neutralino - nucleus scattering. It is found that the contribution of the spin-dependent interaction to this process is subdominant for nuclei with atomic weights A > 50., Comment: 17 pages, 8 Postscript figures, uses worldsci.sty Talk at the Workshop on Double Beta Decay and Related Topics, Trento, Italy, 1995 (to appear in the Workshop Proceedings)

Within the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) it is possible to predict the low energy gauge couplings and masses of the 3.generation particles from a few parameters at the GUT scale, and electroweak symmetry breaking. Further constraints can be derived from the branching ratio for the radiative (penguin) decay of the b-quark into s gamma and the lower limit on the lifetime of the universe, which requires the dark matter density due to the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) not to overclose the universe. From a chi^2 analysis, in which these constraints can be considered simultaneously, one can calculate the probability for each point in the MSGUT parameter space. The recently measured top quark mass prefers two solutions for the mixing angle in the Higgs sector: tan beta in the range between 1 and 3 or alternatively tan beta approx 25-50. For both cases we find a unique chi^2 minimum in the parameter space. For the low tan beta solution these additional constraints can be fulfilled simultaneously for quite a large region of the parameter space. In contrast, for the high tan beta solution the correct value for the b --> s gamma rate is obtained only for small values of the gaugino scale. For particles, which are most likely to have masses in the LEP II energy range, the cross sections are given for the various energy scenarios at LEP II. The highest LEP II energies (205 GeV) are just high enough to cover a large region of the preferred parameter space, both for the low and high tan beta solutions. For low tan beta the production of the lightest Higgs boson, which is expected to have a mass below 115 GeV, is the most promising channel, while for large tan beta the production of charginos and/or neutralinos covers the preferred parameter space., Comment: 39 pages, latex + 28 eps figs, replaced for additional refs. and typo corrections, ftp://ekpux3.physik.uni-karlsruhe.de/IEKP-KA9507.ps.Z

Neutrinoless double beta decay ($\znbb$) induced by superparticle exchange is investigated. Such a supersymmetric (SUSY) mechanism of $\znbb$ decay arises within SUSY theories with R-parity non-conservation (\rp). We consider the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) with explicit \rp terms in the superpotential (\rp MSSM). The decay rate for the SUSY mechanism of $\znbb$ decay is calculated. Numerical values for nuclear matrix elements for the experimentally most interesting isotopes are calculated within pn-QRPA. Constraints on the \rp MSSM parameter space are extracted from current experimental half-life limits. The most stringent limits are derived from data on $^{76}$Ge. It is shown that these constraints are more stringent than those from other low-energy processes and are competitive to or even more stringent than constraints expected from accelerator searches., Comment: Latex, 38 pages, plus 11 figures (660kb) submitted seperately as uuencoded Postscript file

The neutrinoless double beta ($\znbb$) decay is analyzed within the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with explicit R-parity violation (\rp MSSM). We have found new supersymmetric contributions to this process and give the complete set of relevant Feynman diagrams. Operators describing $0^+ \longrightarrow 0^+$ nuclear transitions induced by the supersymmetric interactions of the \rp MSSM are derived. These operators can be used for calculating the $\znbb$ decay rate applying any specific nuclear model wave functions., Comment: 12 pages, latex, figures appended in uuencoded compressed PostScript form.

The top quark mass values from the CDF Collaboration and the precision electroweak data at LEP combined with the bottom mass value allow to establish bounds on the parameter tan beta in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) independent of the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters. We find: 0.96 < tan beta < 52.2 at the 95 % C.L., which is mostly the region tan beta >1, where radiative electroweak symmetry breaking is possible. Assuming electroweak symmetry breaking leads to: tan beta=1.2 +- 0.2, if one neglects the high tan beta solution, which is unlikely due to proton lifetime limits., Comment: 6 pages,IEKP-KA/94-08, latex

It is argued that large-scale ($>7^o$) cosmic microwave background anisotropy detected in COBE cosmic experiment can be considered as a trace of the quantum gravity fractal structure., Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX; the 3 figures can be obtained from altai@nusun.jinr.dubna.su

A modification of the standard model of electroweak interactions with the nonlocal Higgs sector is proposed. Proper form of nonlocality makes Higgs particles unobservable after the electroweak symmetry breaking. They appear only as a virtual state because their propagator is an entire function. We discuss some specific consequences of this approach comparing it with the conventional standard model., Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX, no figures

We consider the SUSY-model neutralino as a dominant Dark Matter particle in the galactic halo and investigate some general issues of direct DM searches via elastic neutralino-nucleus scattering. On the basis of conventional assumptions about the nuclear and nucleon structure, without referring to a specific SUSY-model, we prove that it is impossible in principle to extract more than three constraints on fundamental SUSY-model parameters from the direct Dark matter searches. Three types of Dark matter detectors probing different groups of parameters are recognized., Comment: 10 pages, 1 table Preprint JINR E2-93-447

We investigate the role of nuclear spin in elastic scattering of Dark Matter (DM) neutralinos from nuclei in the framework of the Minimal SUSY standard model (MSSM). The relative contribution of spin-dependent axial-vector and spin-independent scalar interactions to the event rate in a DM detector has been analyzed for various nuclei. Within general assumptions about the nuclear and nucleon structure we find that for nuclei with atomic weights $A > 50$ the spin-independent part of the event rate $R_{si}$ is larger than the spin-dependent one $R_{sd}$ in the domain of the MSSM parameter space allowed by the known experimental data and where the additional constraint for the total event rate $R =R_{sd} + R_{si} > 0.01$ is satisfied. The latter reflects realistic sensitivities of present and near future DM detectors. Therefore we expect equal chances for discovering the DM event either with spin-zero or with spin-non-zero isotopes if their atomic weights are $A_{1} \sim A_{2} > 50$., Comment: 14 pages, 5 .ps-figure, Preprint JINR E2-93-448