arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Chris Quigg.
I review the essentials of ultrahigh-energy neutrino interactions, show how neutral-current detection and flavor tagging can enhance the scientific potential of neutrino telescopes, and sketch new studies on neutrino encounters with dark matter relics and on gravitational lensing of neutrinos.
I survey motivations for education and outreach initiatives in the American context and explore the value of communicating physics for physicists and for the wider society. I describe the roles of large institutions, professional organizations, and funding agencies and cite some individual actions, local activities, and coordinated national programs. I note the emergence of transnational enterprises--not only to carry out research, but to communicate physics. A brief appendix collects some useful internet resources.
I report on the state of hadronic physics and spectroscopy as reflected in contributions to the HEP2005 Europhysics Conference. Topics of interest include lattice field theory calculations of the hadron spectrum, the continuing quest to account for the proton's spin, pentaquarks, high-statistics Dalitz-plot analyses, excited charmed--strange mesons, quarkonium spectroscopy, and the new levels associated with the charmonium spectrum. I also reflect on the goals of hadronic physics and assess the current state of the art.
In an undulant universe, cosmic expansion is characterized by alternating periods of acceleration and deceleration. We examine cosmologies in which the dark-energy equation of state varies periodically with the number of e-foldings of the scale factor of the universe, and use observations to constrain the frequency of oscillation. We find a tension between a forceful response to the cosmic coincidence problem and the standard treatment of structure formation.
Annihilation of extremely energetic cosmic neutrinos on the relic-neutrino background can give rise to absorption lines at energies corresponding to formation of the electroweak gauge boson $Z^{0}$. The positions of the absorption dips are set by the masses of the relic neutrinos. Suitably intense sources of extremely energetic ($10^{21}$ -- $10^{25}$-eV) cosmic neutrinos might therefore enable the determination of the absolute neutrino masses and the flavor composition of the mass eigenstates. Several factors--other than neutrino mass and composition--distort the absorption lines, however. We analyze the influence of the time-evolution of the relic-neutrino density and the consequences of neutrino decay. We consider the sensitivity of the lineshape to the age and character of extremely energetic neutrino sources, and to the thermal history of the Universe, reflected in the expansion rate. We take into account Fermi motion arising from the thermal distribution of the relic-neutrino gas. We also note the implications of Dirac vs. Majorana relics, and briefly consider unconventional neutrino histories. We ask what kinds of external information would enhance the potential of cosmic-neutrino absorption spectroscopy, and estimate the sensitivity required to make the technique a reality.
If the equation of state for "dark energy" varies periodically, the expansion of the Universe may have undergone alternating eras of acceleration and deceleration. We examine a specific form that survives existing observational tests, does not single out the present state of the Universe as exceptional, and suggests a future much like the matter-dominated past: a smooth expansion without a final inflationary epoch.
After commenting on the state of contemporary hadronic physics and spectroscopy, I highlight four areas where the action is: searching for the relevant degrees of freedom, mesons with beauty and charm, chiral symmetry and the D_{sJ} levels, and X(3872) and the lost tribes of charmonium.
To illustrate the campaign to extend our knowledge of the charmonium spectrum, I focus on a puzzling new state, $X(3872) \to π^+π^- J/ψ$. Studying the influence of open-charm channels on charmonium properties leads us to propose a new charmonium spectroscopy: additional discrete charmonium levels that can be discovered as narrow resonances of charmed and anticharmed mesons. I call attention to open issues for theory and experiment.
These four lectures constitute a gentle introduction to what may lie beyond the standard model of quarks and leptons interacting through $SU(3)_c \otimes SU(2)_L \otimes U(1)_Y$ gauge bosons, prepared for an audience of graduate students in experimental particle physics. In the first lecture, I introduce a novel graphical representation of the particles and interactions, the double simplex, to elicit questions that motivate our interest in physics beyond the standard model, without recourse to equations and formalism. Lecture 2 is devoted to a short review of the current status of the standard model, especially the electroweak theory, which serves as the point of departure for our explorations. The third lecture is concerned with unified theories of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic interactions. In the fourth lecture, I survey some attempts to extend and complete the electroweak theory, emphasizing some of the promise and challenges of supersymmetry. A short concluding section looks forward.
We explore the influence of open-charm channels on charmonium properties, and profile the 1:3D2, 1:3D3 and 2:1P1 charmonium candidates for X(3872). The favored candidates, the 1:3D2 and 1:3D3 levels, both have prominent radiative decays. The 1:3D2 might be visible in the $D^{0}\bar{D}^{*0}$ channel, while the dominant decay of the 1:3D3 state should be into $D\bar{D}$. We propose that additional discrete charmonium levels can be discovered as narrow resonances of charmed and anticharmed mesons.
To illustrate the campaign to understand heavy quarkonium systems, I focus on a puzzling new state, $X(3872) \to π^+π^- J/ψ$. Studying the influence of open-charm channels on charmonium properties leads us to propose a new charmonium spectroscopy: additional discrete charmonium levels that can be discovered as narrow resonances of charmed and anticharmed mesons. I recall some expectations for a new spectroscopy of mesons with beauty and charm, the $B_c$ ($b\bar{c}$) system. Throughout, I call attention to open issues for theory and experiment.
Neutrino telescopes that measure relative fluxes of ultrahigh-energy $ν_{e}, ν_μ, ν_τ$ can give information about the location and characteristics of sources, about neutrino mixing, and can test for neutrino instability and for departures from CPT invariance in the neutrino sector. We investigate consequences of neutrino mixing for the neutrino flux arriving at Earth, and consider how terrestrial measurements can characterize distant sources. We contrast mixtures that arise from neutrino oscillations with those signaling neutrino decays. We stress the importance of measuring $ν_{e}, ν_μ, ν_τ$ fluxes in neutrino observatories.
We outline a coherent strategy for exploring the four remaining narrow charmonium states [$η_{c}^{\prime}(2\slj{1}{1}{0})$, $h_{c}(1\slj{1}{2}{1})$, $η_{c2}(1\slj{1}{3}{2})$, and $ψ_{2}(1\slj{3}{3}{2})$] expected to lie below charm threshold. Produced in $B$-meson decays, these levels should be identifiable \textit{now} via striking radiative transitions among charmonium levels and in exclusive final states of kaons and pions. Their production and decay rates will provide much needed new tests for theoretical descriptions of heavy quarkonia.
After a short essay on the current state of particle physics, I review the antecedents of the modern picture of the weak and electromagnetic interactions and then undertake a brief survey of the $SU(2)_{L}\otimes U(1)_{Y}$ electroweak theory. I review the features of electroweak phenomenology at tree level and beyond, present an introduction to the Higgs boson and the 1-TeV scale, and examine arguments for enlarging the electroweak theory. I conclude with a brief look at low-scale gravity.