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A. Masiero

Publications and source records attributed to A. Masiero.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Probing New Physics through mu-e Universality in K->lnu

The recent NA48/2 improvement on R_K=Gamma(K->e nu_e)/Gamma(K->mu nu_mu) emphasizes the role of K_l2 decays in probing the mu-e universality. Supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model can exhibit mu-e non-universal contributions. Their origin is twofold: those deriving from lepton flavor conserving couplings are subdominant with respect to those arising from lepton flavor violating (LFV) sources. We show that mu-e non-universality in K_l2 is quite effective in constraining relevant regions of SUSY models with LFV (for instance, supergravities with a see-saw mechanism for neutrino masses). A comparison with analogous bounds coming from tau LFV decays proves the relevance of the measurement of R_K to probe LFV in SUSY.

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Constraining pre Big-Bang-Nucleosynthesis Expansion using Cosmic Antiprotons

A host of dark energy models and non-standard cosmologies predict an enhanced Hubble rate in the early Universe: perfectly viable models, which satisfy Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), cosmic microwave background and general relativity tests, may nevertheless lead to enhancements of the Hubble rate up to many orders of magnitude. In this paper we show that strong bounds on the pre-BBN evolution of the Universe may be derived, under the assumption that dark matter is a thermal relic, by combining the dark matter relic density bound with constraints coming from the production of cosmic-ray antiprotons by dark matter annihilation in the Galaxy. The limits we derive can be sizable and apply to the Hubble rate around the temperature of dark matter decoupling. For dark matter masses lighter than 100 GeV, the bound on the Hubble-rate enhancement ranges from a factor of a few to a factor of 30, depending on the actual cosmological model, while for a mass of 500 GeV the bound falls in the range 50-500. Uncertainties in the derivation of the bounds and situations where the bounds become looser are discussed. We finally discuss how these limits apply to some specific realizations of non-standard cosmologies: a scalar-tensor gravity model, kination models and a Randall-Sundrum D-brane model.

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Re (epsilon'/epsilon_K) vs. B_d -> phi K_S CP asymmetry

In a SUSY GUT seesaw scenario, the largeness of the atmospheric neutrino mixing can reflect itself into an enhanced flavor changing mixing of beauty and strange right-handed scalar quarks. If the CP violating phase in such down type squark RR insertion is the main source of CP asymmetry in B_d -> phi K_S and the gluino contributions to K0-K0 bar and B0-B0 bar mixing are negligible, there is a correlation between Re (epsilon'/epsilon_K) and B_d -> phi K_S CP asymmetry, in addition to that with the strange quark CEDM. The current data on Re (epsilon'/epsilon_K) = (16.7 +- 2.6) 10^-4 imply that S_{phi K} should be greater than \sim 0.5 (0.25) for mu tan beta = 1 (5) TeV, assuming the RR dominance in b -> s transition and the minimal supergravity type boundary conditions for soft parameters.

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Dark Matter Relic Abundance and Scalar-Tensor Dark Energy

Scalar-tensor theories of gravity provide a consistent framework to accommodate an ultra-light quintessence scalar field. While the equivalence principle is respected by construction, deviations from General Relativity and standard cosmology may show up at nucleosynthesis, CMB, and solar system tests of gravity. After imposing all the bounds coming from these observations, we consider the expansion rate of the universe at WIMP decoupling, showing that it can lead to an enhancement of the dark matter relic density up to few orders of magnitude with respect to the standard case. This effect can have an impact on supersymmetric candidates for dark matter.

astro-ph↗

Enhancement of Dark Matter Abundance in Scalar-Tensor Dark Energy

In Scalar-Tensor theories of gravity, the expansion rate of the universe in the past may differ considerably from the standard one. After imposing the constraints coming from nucleosynthesis, CMB, type Ia supernovae, and solar system tests of General Relativity, we consider the expansion rate of the universe at WIMP decoupling, showing that it can lead to an enhancement of the dark matter relic density of some orders of magnitude with respect to the standard case. This effect may have a deep impact on most popular candidates for dark matter, as the supersymmetric neutralino.

astro-ph↗

SUSY Seesaw and FCNC

After a quarter of century of intense search for new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM), two ideas stand out to naturally cope with (i) small neutrino masses and (ii) a light higgs boson : Seesaw and SUSY. The combination of these two ideas, i.e. SUSY seesaw exhibits a potentially striking signature: a strong (or even very strong) enhancement of lepton flavour violation (LFV), which on the contrary remains unobservable in the SM seesaw. Indeed, even when supersymmetry breaking is completely flavour blind, Renormalisation Group running effects are expected to generate large lepton flavour violating entries at the weak scale. In Grand Unified theories, these effects can be felt even in hadronic physics. We explicitly show that in a class of SUSY SO(10) GUTs there exist cases where LFV and CP violation in B-physics can constitute a major road in simultaneously confirming the ideas of Seesaw and low-energy SUSY.

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Lepton Flavor Violation, Neutralino Dark Matter and the Reach of the LHC

We revisit the phenomenology of the Constrained MSSM with right-handed neutrinos (CMSSMRN). A supersymmetric seesaw mechanism, generating neutrino masses and sizable lepton flavour violating (LFV) entries is assumed to be operative. In this scheme, we study the complementarity between the `observable ranges' of various paths leading to the possible discovery of low energy SUSY: the reach of the Cern Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the quest for neutralino dark matter signals and indirect searches through LFV processes. Within the regions of the CMSSMRN parameter space compatible with all cosmo-phenomenological requirements, those which are expected to be probed at the LHC will be typically also accessible to upcoming LFV experiments. Moreover, parameter space portions featuring a heavy SUSY particle spectrum could be well beyond LHC reach while leaving LFV searches as the only key to get a glimpse on SUSY.

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Worries and Hopes for SUSY in CKM Physics: The b to s Example

We discuss the twofold role of flavor and CP violation as a constraint in model building and as a signal of SUSY. Considering as an example b to s transitions, we analyze present bounds on SUSY parameters, discuss possible deviations from SM predictions in Bd and Bs physics and present strategies to reveal SUSY signals in present and future experiments in the CKM domain.

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b -> s Transitions: A New Frontier for Indirect SUSY Searches

The present unitarity triangle fit, whose essential input is represented by the s to d and b to d transition processes, fully agrees with the SM. However, most of the phenomena involving b to s transitions are still largely unexplored and hence b to s phenomenology still constitutes a place for new physics manifestations, in spite of the tremendous experimental and theoretical progress on B to X_s gamma. We perform a systematic study of the CP conserving and violating SUSY contributions to b to s processes in a generic MSSM. We consider gluino exchange contributions including NLO QCD corrections and lattice hadronic matrix elements for Delta B = 2 and Delta B = 1 processes. We take into account all available experimental information on processes involving b to s transitions (B to X_s gamma, B to X_s l^+ l^- and the lower bound on the B_s - bar B_s mass difference Delta M_s). We study the correlations among the relevant observables under scrutiny at present or in a not too far future: Delta M_s and the amount of CP violation in B to phi K_s, B_s to J/psi phi, B to X_s gamma. In particular we discuss the recent data by BaBar and BELLE on the time-dependent CP asymmetry in the decay B to phi K_s which suggest a deviation from the SM expectation. Our results show that the processes involving b to s transitions represent a splendid opportunity to constrain different MSSM realizations, and, even more important, that they offer concrete prospects to exhibit SUSY signals at B factories and hadron colliders in spite of all the past frustration in FCNC searches of new physics hints.

hep-ph↗

b to s transitions: where to look for SUSY

We present a systematic study of the CP conserving and violating SUSY contributions to b to s processes in a generic MSSM, considering gluino exchange contributions. Experimental information on B to Xs gamma, B to Xs l+ l- and the Bs-Bsbar mass difference Delta Ms have been taken into account. We study the induced correlations among several observables: Delta Ms and the amount of CP violation in B to phi Ks, Bs to J/psi phi, B to Xs gamma. Our results show that b to s transitions represent a splendid opportunity to constrain different MSSM realizations and offer concrete prospects to exhibit SUSY signals at B factories and hadron colliders.

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Grand Unification of Quark and Lepton FCNCs

In the context of Supersymmetric Grand Unified theories with soft breaking terms arising at the Planck scale, it is generally possible to link flavor changing neutral current and CP violating processes occurring in the leptonic and hadronic sectors. We study the correlation between flavor changing squark and slepton mass insertions in models à la SU(5). We show that the constraints coming from lepton flavor violation exhibit a strong impact on CP-violating B decays.

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Mixed Dark Matter from Axino Distribution

We study the possibility of mixed dark matter obtained through the phase space distribution of a single particle. An example is offered in the context of SUSY models with a Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Axinos in the 100 keV range can naturally have both thermal and non-thermal components. The latter one arises from the lightest neutralino decays and derelativizes at z ~ 10^4.

astro-ph↗

B_d-Bbar_d Mixing and the B_d -> J/psi K_s Asymmetry in General SUSY Models

We present a next-to-leading order determination of the gluino-mediated SUSY contributions to B_d-Bbar_d mixing and to the CP asymmetry a_{J/psi K_s} in the framework of the mass-insertion approximation. Using hadronic matrix elements recently computed on the lattice, we obtain improved constraints on the squark-mass splittings.

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General Flavour Blind MSSM and CP Violation

We study FCNC and CP violating processes in the MSSM without a new flavour structure (flavour blind MSSM). The low energy parameters are determined by the running of the soft breaking terms from the GUT scale with SUSY phases consistent with the EDM constraints. We find that the CP asymmetry in b -> s gamma can reach large values potentially measurable at B factories, especially in the low BR(b -> s gamma) region. We analyze the SUSY contributions to the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon pointing out its impact on the b -> s gamma CP asymmetry and on the SUSY spectrum.

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Non-local symmetry breaking in Kaluza-Klein theories

Scherk-Schwarz gauge symmetry breaking of a D-dimensional field theory model compactified on a circle is analyzed. It is explicitly shown that forbidden couplings in the unbroken theory appear in the one-loop effective action only in a non-local way, implying that they are finite at all orders in perturbation theory. This result can be understood as a consequence of the local gauge symmetry, but it holds true also in the global limit.

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CP Violation in SUSY

Supersymmetry exhibts new sources of CP violation. We discuss the implications of these new contributions to CP violation both in the K and B physics. We show that CP violation puts severe constraints on low energy SUSY, but it represents also a promising ground to look for signals of new physics.

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Signals of Supersymmetric Flavour Models in B Physics

If the mechanism of Supersymmetry breaking is not flavour blind, some flavour symmetry is likely to be needed to prevent excessive flavour changing neutral current effects. We discuss two flavour models (based respectively on a U(2) and on a SU(3) horizontal symmetry) providing a good fit to fermion masses and mixings and particularly constraining the supersymmetry soft breaking terms. We show that, while reproducing successfully the Standard Model fit of the unitarity triangle, it is possible to obtain sizable deviations from the Standard Model predictions for three very clean B-physics observables: the time dependent CP asymmetries in $B_d \to J/ψK^0$ and in $B_s \to J/ψϕ$ and the $B_s-\bar{B}_s$ mass difference. Our analysis exhibits with two explicit realizations that in supersymmetric theories with a new flavour structure in addition to the Yukawa matrices there exist concrete potentialities for revealing supersymmetry indirectly in theoretically clean $B$-physics observables.

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