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Cosmological Collider Physics gives us the opportunity to probe high-energy physics from observing the space–time fluctuations generated during inflation imprinted on the cosmic microwave background. In other words, it is a method to investigate physics on energy scales that cannot be reached by terrestrial accelerators by means of precise observations of the universe. In this paper, we focus on the case where the GUT scale is close to the energy scale of inflation, and calculate three-point function of inflaton by exchanging the Higgs boson in GUT at tree level. The results are found to be consistent with the current observed restrictions on non-Gaussianity without a drastic fine-tuning of parameters, and it might be possible to detect the signature of the Higgs boson in GUT by 21 cm spectrum, future LSS and future CMB depending on our model parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species spreading beyond their native ranges are important study objects in ecology and environmental sciences and research on biological invasions is thriving. Along with an increase in the number of publications, the research field is experiencing an increase in the diversity of methods applied and questions asked. This development has facilitated an upsurge in information on invasions, but it also creates conceptual and practical challenges. To provide more transparency on which kind of research is actually done in the field, the distinction between invasion science, encompassing the full spectrum of studies on biological invasions and the sub-field of invasion biology, studying patterns and mechanisms of species invasions with a focus on biological research questions, can be useful. Although covering a smaller range of topics, invasion biology today still is the driving force in invasion science and we discuss challenges stemming from its embeddedness in the social context. Invasion biology consists of the building blocks 'theory', 'case studies' and 'application', where theory takes the form of conceptual frameworks, major hypotheses and statistical generalisations. Referencing recent work in philosophy of science, we argue that invasion biology, like other biological or ecological disciplines, does not rely on the development of an all-encompassing theory in order to be efficient. We suggest, however, that theory development is nonetheless necessary and propose improvements. Recent advances in data visualisation, machine learning and semantic modelling are providing opportunities for enhancing knowledge management and presentation and we suggest that invasion science should use these to transform its ways of publishing, archiving and visualising research. Along with a stronger focus on studies going beyond purely biological questions, this would facilitate the efficient prevention and management of biological invasions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss settings that predict precision gauge unification in the minimal supersymmetric standard model. We show that, if one requires anomaly freedom and fermion masses while demanding that unification is not an accident, only R symmetries can forbid the supersymmetric Higgs mass term μ. We then review the proof that R symmetries are not available in conventional grand unified theories (GUTs) and argue that this prevents natural solutions to the doublet-triplet splitting problem in four dimensions. On the other hand, higher-dimensional GUTs do not suffer from this problem. We briefly comment on an explicit string-derived model in which the μ and dimension five proton decay problems are solved by an order four discrete R symmetry, and comment on the higher-dimensional origin of this symmetry. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

This Letter presents a search for high mass e+e- or μ+μ- resonances in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV at the LHC. The data were recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2010 and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of ~40 pb-1. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed in the search region of dilepton invariant mass above 110 GeV. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the cross section times branching ratio of Z' resonances decaying to dielectrons and dimuons as a function of the resonance mass. A lower mass limit of 1.048 TeV on the Sequential Standard Model Z' boson is derived, as well as mass limits on Z* and E6-motivated Z' models. © 2011 CERN.

This Letter presents a search for high mass e+e- or μ+μ- resonances in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV at the LHC. The data were recorded by the ATLAS experiment during 2010 and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of ~40 pb-1. No statistically significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed in the search region of dilepton invariant mass above 110 GeV. Upper limits at the 95% confidence level are set on the cross section times branching ratio of Z' resonances decaying to dielectrons and dimuons as a function of the resonance mass. A lower mass limit of 1.048 TeV on the Sequential Standard Model Z' boson is derived, as well as mass limits on Z* and E6-motivated Z' models. © 2011 CERN.

The Standard Model is the best tested and most widely accepted theory of elementary particles we have today. It may seem complicated and arbitrary, but it has hidden patterns that are revealed by the relationship between three "grand unified theories": theories that unify forces and particles by extending the Standard Model symmetry group U(1) × SU(2) × SU(3) to a larger group. These three are Georgi and Glashow's SU(5) theory, Georgi's theory based on the group Spin(10), and the Pati-Salam model based on the group SU(2) × SU(2) × SU(4). In this expository account for mathematicians, we explain only the portion of these theories that involves finite-dimensional group representations. This allows us to reduce the prerequisites to a bare minimum while still giving a taste of the profound puzzles that physicists are struggling to solve. © 2010.

We advocate the idea that proton decay may probe physics at the Planck scale instead of the GUT scale. This is possible because supersymmetric theories have dimension-5 operators that can induce proton decay at dangerous rates, even with R-parity conservation. These operators are expected to be suppressed by the same physics that explains the fermion masses and mixings. We present a thorough analysis of nucleon partial lifetimes in models with a string-inspired anomalous U(1)_X family symmetry which is responsible for the fermionic mass spectrum as well as forbidding R-parity violating interactions. Protons and neutrons can decay via R-parity conserving non-renormalizable superpotential terms that are suppressed by the Planck scale and powers of the Cabibbo angle. Many of the models naturally lead to nucleon decay near present limits without any reference to grand unification.

We construct models of warped unification with a bulk SO(10) gauge symmetry and boundary conditions that preserve the SU(4)_C x SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R Pati-Salam gauge group (422). In the dual 4D description, these models are 422 gauge theories in which the apparent unification of gauge couplings in the minimal supersymmetric standard model is explained as a consequence of strong coupling in the ultraviolet. The weakness of the gauge couplings at low energies is ensured in this 4D picture by asymptotically non-free contributions from the conformal sector, which are universal due to an approximate SO(10) global symmetry. The 422 gauge symmetry is broken to the standard model group by a simple set of Higgs fields. An advantage of this setup relative to SU(5) models of warped unification is that matter is automatically required to fill out representations of 422, providing an elegant understanding of the quantum numbers of the standard-model quarks and leptons. The models also naturally incorporate the see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses and bottom-tau unification. Finally, they predict a rich spectrum of exotic particles near the TeV scale, including states with different quantum numbers than those that appear in SU(5) models.

We present a new supersymmetric extension of the standard model. The model is constructed in warped space, with a unified bulk symmetry broken by boundary conditions on both the Planck and TeV branes. In the supersymmetric limit, the massless spectrum contains exotic colored particles along with the particle content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Nevertheless, the model still reproduces the MSSM prediction for gauge coupling unification and does not suffer from a proton decay problem. The exotic states acquire masses from supersymmetry breaking, making the model completely viable, but there is still the possibility that these states will be detected at the LHC. The lightest of these states is most likely A_5^XY, the fifth component of the gauge field associated with the broken unified symmetry. Because supersymmetry is broken on the SU(5)-violating TeV brane, the gaugino masses generated at the TeV scale are completely independent of one another. We explore some of the unusual features that the superparticle spectrum might have as a consequence.

I first emphasize the importance of searching for nucleon decay in the context of supersymmetric models. The status of minimal SUSY SU(5) model is reviewed, which can be definitively ruled out by a combination of superKamiokande and LEP-2 experiments. Non-minimal models may provide some suppression in the nucleon decay rates, but there is still a good chance for superKamiokande. I point out that the operators suppressed even by the Planck-scale are too large. We need a suppression mechanism for the operators at the level of 10-7, and the mechanism, I argue, may well be a flavor symmetry. A particular example predicts p --> K0e+ to be the dominant mode which does not arise in GUT models.

The General Theory of Relativity (GR) and the Dynamic Universe (DU) are evaluated in how they explain frequencies of atomic clocks. DU and GR predict the frequencies with equal accuracy, but their explanations, the postulates they apply in the explanations and the word-views that come along with them are entirely different. The central argument is that if unified and understandable physics is appreciated, then DU deserves to be taken as a viable alternative to GR. In GR different frequencies of identical atomic clocks are explained by letting rates of the flow of time in their frames of reference vary as functions of the clocks' states of motion and gravitation. The GRbased world-view is nonunderstandable because GR violates absolute simultaneity, and disunified because quantum mechanics is built on different postulates than GR. In DU different frequencies of identical atomic clocks are explained by letting their frequencies vary as functions of their states of motion and gravitation. As DU commits to absolute simultaneity and as the postulates of DU suffice as the ontological ground of quantum mechanics at least partially, DU provides an understandable and unified scientific world-view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]