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- Minimal U(1) two-higgs-doublet models for quark and lepton flavorPublication . Rocha, José Maria Rebelo; Câmara, Henrique Pedro Fernandes de Noronha Brito; Gonzalez Felipe, Ricardo; Rafael Joaquim, FilipeIn the context of the 2HDM, and assuming that neutrinos acquire masses via the Weinberg operator, we perform a systematic analysis to determine the minimal quark and lepton flavor patterns, compatible with masses, mixing and CP violation data, realizable by Abelian symmetries. We determine four minimal models for quarks, where the number of independent parameters matches the number of observables. For the lepton sector, three minimal predictive models are identified. Namely, we find scenarios with a preference for the upper/lower octant of the theta 23 atmospheric mixing angle, that exhibit lower bounds on the lightest neutrino masses currently probed by cosmology and testable at future neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, even for a normally ordered neutrino masses. We investigate the phenomenology of each model taking into account all relevant theoretical, electroweak precision observables, scalar sector constraints, as well as stringent quark flavor processes such as B-* X s gamma, B s-* mu-mu & thorn; - mu & thorn; and meson oscillations, and the charged lepton flavor-violating decays e - alpha-* e - beta e & thorn; gamma e - delta and e alpha-* e beta gamma. We show that, in some cases, Abelian flavor symmetries provide a natural framework to suppress flavor-changing neutral couplings and lead to scenarios featuring heavy neutral/charged scalar masses below the TeV scale within the reach of current experiments.
- Crustal and uppermost mantle structure near the Gloria Fault, North Atlantic, from ocean bottom seismometer surface wave observationsPublication . Pinzón, Juan I.; Custódio, Susana; Silveira, Graça; Krüger, Frank; Mata, João; Matias, LuisIn this work, we present both 1-D and 3-D shear wave velocity (Vs) models of the oceanic crust and uppermost mantle below the Deep OCean Test ARray area, located similar to 70 km north of the central section of the Gloria Fault, in the eastern North-Atlantic Ocean. The velocity models are inferred from the dispersion of surface waves recorded on ocean bottom seismometers. Dispersion measurements are obtained from the analysis of ambient seismic noise at short periods (< 14 s) and teleseismic surface waves at long periods (> 14 s) using the two-station method. The 1-D Vs model is inferred from the joint inversion of Rayleigh wave phase velocities and Love wave group and phase velocities. The 3-D tomographic model is obtained by inversion of 2-D Love wave group velocity maps as a function of depth, further constrained by the average of Love wave phase velocities obtained from ambient noise (4-9 s) and the average Rayleigh and Love wave phase velocities calculated from teleseismic data (14-44 s).The 1-D Vs model shows a sediment layer with a low velocity of 1.05 km s-1, similar to previous studies in the region. Below the sediments, we find an oceanic crust with velocities ranging from 3.3 to 4.5 km s(-1). The model reaches an unusually high velocity of 4.9 km s(-1) in a 20 km thick layer at depths between 16 and 36 km. We interpret this fast velocity layer as indicative of the presence of harzburgite, a residue of enhanced melting that might have been formed by the proximity between the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Azores mantle plume. At greater depths the velocity decreases, forming a low-velocity zone that reaches a minimum at similar to 70 km depth, which we interpret as the maximum depth for the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary. The 3-D model shows a structure that is mostly horizontally layered, with Vs isocontours at 3.5-4.5 km s(-1) highlighting oscillations of the crustal structure with wavelengths of similar to 25-30 km. These oscillations may be due to changes in the rate of mantle upwelling and magma supply rate.
- From the lebombo monocline to the Mozambique deep basin, using combined wide-angle and reflection seismic dataPublication . Moulin, Maryline; Leprêtre, Angelique; Verrier, Fanny; Schnürle, Philippe; Evain, Mikael; Clarens, Philippe; Thompson, Joseph; Dias, Nuno; Afilhado, Alexandra; Loureiro, Afonso; Aslanian, DanielThe North Natal valley (NNV), South Mozambique margin, is a key area for the understanding of the SW Indian Ocean history since the Gondwana break-up as its crustal nature and geometry strongly impacted the recon-struction of the paleogeography before the rifting. It is also of considerable importance for the understanding of the evolution of a margin system as the NNV is situated at the transition between divergent and strike-slip segments and at the conjunction of Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian Indian Ocean and the Valanginian-Aptian Atlantic one. As one part of the PAMELA project (PAssive Margins Exploration Laboratories), the NNV and the East Limpopo margin have been investigated during the MOZ3/5 cruise (2016), through the acquisition of 7 intersecting wide-angle profiles and coincident marine multichannel (720 traces) seismic as well as potential field data. Simultaneously, land seismometers were deployed in the Mozambique coastal plain (MCP), extending six of those profiles on land for about 100 km in order to provide information on the onshore-offshore transition. Wide-angle seismic data are of major importance as they can highlight constraints on the crustal structure of the margin and the position of the continent-ocean boundary in an area where the crustal nature is poorly known and largely controversial. The MOZ3/5 data set therefore reveals new essential constraints for kinematic re-constructions. This work presents results on the crustal structure from P-waves velocity modeling along two E-W wide-angle profiles (MZ1 and MZ2) through the NNV, from the Lebombo Monocline to the Mozambique Basin (MB), and crossing the Mozambique Fracture Zone (MFZ). The new geophysical data reveals an upper sedimentary sequence characterized by low velocities generally not exceeding 3 km/s, and up to 3 km thick where a major contouritic structure was observed. This feature formes together with several other contouritic structures, a N-S alignment just west of the MFZ, which produces high positive gravity anomalies, previously thought to be related to the magmatism that built the Galathea and Dana Plateaus. High velocity lenses are locally identified through the sedimentary layers and interpreted as inter-bedded volcanic sills. Furthermore, from the NNV to the MFZ, the underlying sequence is formed of a 3.0-3.5 km thick volcano-sedimentary sequence presenting important lateral changes in its seismic signature and characterized by a large velocity range (4.4 to 5.8 km/s), which partly reflects variations in the volcanic/sedi-mentary ratio laterally and with depth. At depth, an initially smoother and reduced eastward thinning of the crust occurs to the West below the continental shelf, from 34 to 31 km thick. The crustal thickness remains relatively constant of about 28-29 km along the Central Domain (CD), whereas a second and major region of thinning (26 to 12 km thick) is imaged West of the MFZ, in the southward prolongation of the Limpopo Corridor (LC). By contrast, as the eastern extremity, the crust is <10 km thick when reaching the MB. Crustal velocities reveal low velocity gradients, with atypical high velocities, increasing to 7.3 to 7.6 km/s at the base of the crust, and globally in the whole crust in the LC, just West of the MFZ. We interpreted the velocity architecture com-bined with the evidence of volcanism at shallower depths as indicative of an intensively intruded continental
- Freeze-in as a complementary process to freeza-outPublication . Capucha, Rodrigo; Elyaouti, Karim; Mühlleitner, Margarete; Plotnikov, Johann; Santos, RuiThere are many extensions of the Standard Model with a dark matter (DM) candidate obtained via the freeze-out mechanism. It can happen that after all experimental and theoretical constraints are taken into account, all parameter points have a relic density below the experimentally measured value. This means that the models solve only partially the DM problem, and at least one more candidate is needed. In this work we show that it is possible to further extend the model with a DM candidate obtained via the freeze-in mechanism to be in agreement with the relic density experimental measurement. Once the relic density problem is solved with this addition, new questions are raised. This new model with at least two DM candidates could have a freeze-out undetectable DM particle both in direct and indirect detection. This could happen if the freeze-out DM particle would have a very low density. Hence, a collider DM hint via excess in the missing energy with no correspondence in direct and indirect detection experiments, could signal the existence of a Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP). Conversely, if a DM particle is found and a particular model can explain all observables except the correct relic density, an extension with an extra FIMP would solve the problem. The freeze-in DM candidate, due to the small portal couplings, will not change the remaining phenomenology.
- Collider phenomenology of new neutral scalars in a flavored multi-higgs modelPublication . Ferreira, Pedro; Gonçalves, João; de Aguiar e Pestana de Morais, António; Onofre, Antonio; Pasechnik, Roman; Vatellis, VasileiosIn this work, we propose and explore for the first time a new collider signature of heavy neutral scalars typically found in many distinct classes of multi-Higgs models. This signature, particularly relevant in the context of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) measurements, is based on a topology with two charged leptons and four jets arising from first and second generation quarks. As an important benchmark scenario of the multi-Higgs models, we focus on a recently proposed Branco-Grimus-Lavoura (BGL) type model enhanced with an Abelian U(1) flavor symmetry and featuring an additional sector of right-handed neutrinos. We discuss how kinematics of the scalar fields in this model can be used to efficiently separate the signal from the dominant backgrounds and explore the discovery potential of the new heavy scalars in the forthcoming LHC runs. The proposed method can be applied for analysis of the statistical significance of heavy scalars' production at the LHC and future colliders in any multi-Higgs model.
- Electroweak corrections to higgs boson decays in a complex singlet extension of the SM and their phenomenological impactPublication . Egle, Felix; Mühlleitner, Margarete; Santos, Rui; Viana, JoãoThe complex singlet extension CxSM of the Standard Model (SM) is a simple extension of the SM with two visible Higgs bosons in the spectrum and a Dark Matter (DM) candidate. In this paper we complete the computation of the next-to-leading (NLO) electroweak (EW) corrections to on-shell and non-loop-induced Higgs decays. Our calculations are implemented in the code EWsHDECAY which also includes the relevant QCD corrections. Performing an extensive parameter scan in the model and including all relevant theoretical and experimental single- and di-Higgs as well as DM constraints, we obtain a viable parameter sample. We find that current DM constraints are able to test the model in DM mass regions where collider searches are not sensitive. The relative EW corrections turn out to be large for scenarios with relatively large couplings, threshold effects or small leading-order (LO) widths. Otherwise, they are of typical EW size and can amount up to about 20-25%. The theory uncertainty derived from the change of the renormalization scheme dependence then is of a few per cent. While the NLO corrections applied in the constraints due to single- and di-Higgs searches impact the validity of specific parameter points, the overall shape of the allowed parameter region is not yet sensitive to the EW corrections. This picture will change with further increased experimental precision in the future and necessitates precise predictions on the theory side as presented in this paper.
- Wide-angle seismic imaging of divergente and transform segments of the Pará-Maranhão-Barreirinhas-Ceará margin, NW BrazilPublication . Schnürle, Philippe; Gallais, Flora; Afilhado, Alexandra; Moulin, Maryline; Dias, Nuno; Soares, José; Loureiro, Afonso; Fuck, Reinhardt; Cupertino, José António; Viana, Adriano; Aslanian, DanielThe structure of the North-East equatorial Brazilian margin was investigated during the MAGIC (Margins of brAzil, Ghana and Ivory Coast) seismic wide-angle experiment. This study focuses on the MC5 profile, that spans NW-SE 720 km in length, from the São Paulo Double Fracture Zone to the Barreirinhas margin and continental Borborema province. Its main objective is to understand the fundamental processes which lead to the thinning and finally to the breakup of the continental crust in a specific context of a divergent pull-apart system with two strike-slip borders. The experiment was devised to obtain the 2D structure along this profiles from joint pre-stack depth migration of streamer data and travel-time inversion by forward modeling of 43 Ocean Bottom Seismometers and 21 Land Seismic Stations records. Along the MC5 wide-angle transect, 4 major sectors are identified: 1) the São Paulo Double Fracture Zone presenting a 4.5 km thick volcano-sedimentary Basin on top of a 5.5 km thick basement; 2) a volcanic alignment and intermediate domain SE-ward, formed by the 4.5 km thick Basin III; 3) the 7.5 km thick Basin II, and the 5.5 km thick Basin I composing the continental slope and shelf. While all the offshore basement remains about 6 km thick in the deep-sea domains, acoustic velocity evolves from two-layer 4.8–6 km/s and 6.1–6.8 km/s beneath Basin III to two-layer high velocity 6.1–6.8 km/s and 7.2–7.4 km/s beneath Basin II and I, The necking zone, forming the Parnaiba Platform and associated Piaui-Camocim and Ceará Basins, is 50 km wide; 4) the Médio Coreaú and Ceará Central thrust belt, where the un-thinned continental crust thickness reaches 32 km. Finally, a schematic kinematic reconstruction that satisfies these observation is argumented.
- Neutrino physics: experimental and theoretical challengePublication . Gonzalez Felipe, RicardoThe existence of massive neutrinos is the first solid evidence of physics beyond the standard model of particle physics. A remarkable progress has been achieved in solar, atmospheric, reactor, and accelerator neutrino experiments during the last decades. On the theoretical side, several questions are being addressed, namely the Dirac or Majorana nature of neutrinos, the mechanisms for neutrino mass generation, and the relation between neutrinos and the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe, among others. This article provides a brief overview on some of the current experimental and theoretical aspects in neutrino physics.
- Aging effects on the rheology of LC solutions of hydroxypropylcellulosePublication . Leal, Catarina R.; Godinho, M. H.; Martins, A. F.; Fried, F.We apply the recently developed continuum theory of liquid crystalline polymers1 to interpret the behavior of the shear viscosity η(γ.) and the first normal-stress difference N1(γ.) measured for liquid crystalline solutions (c = 37%, c > c*) of HPC (Aldrich, Mw = 100,000) in acetic acid (AA) with different ages: 1 day, 1 month and 2 years. η(γ.) and N1(γ.) were measured over four decades in γ. N1(γ.) is observed to change from positive to negative and again to positive, as the shear rate γ. increases. η(γ.) shows a small newtonian plateau at low shear rates and a strong shear-thinning at higher values of γ. The rate of decrease of η(γ.) in this region is not monotonous, as usual, but shows an “hesitation” similar to one previously observed in a different system2. The aging effect promotes a “depolymerization”3 of HPC. This, in turn, should have a strong influence on the behavior of Nl(γ.) and η(γ.) which is indeed observed4. All these observations can be rationalized within the framework of the theory1.
- Rheological properties of lyotropic solutions of acetoxypropylcellulose in dimethylacetamide. A comparision with the thermotropic casePublication . Cidade, M. T.; Leal, Catarina R.The rheological properties of a thermotropic acetoxypropylcellulose (APC) were already described in previous works [1,2]. In this work we present the rheo logical properties, viscosity, Z, and first normal stress difference, N1, of lyotropic solutions of APC in dimethylacetamide (DMAc). The flow curve of the lyotropic solution presents the typical behavior for this type of system (Onogi and Asada Curve) [3] however, contrary to what happens with that other lyotropic system [4–7], the APC/DMAc system presents a con tinuous increase of N1 in function of the shear rate, which we attribute to the fact that APC has higher flexibility than the other liquid crystalline polymers studied so far—namely hydroxypropylcellulose and poly-benzyl-L-glutamate— that present a negative N1 region, as well as a low molecular weight. We will also present some remarks concerning rheo-optical studies preformed with APC/DMAc, by comparison with previous studies on thermotropic APC [8,9].