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Item First limits on the very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission of a fast radio burst HESS observations of FRB 150418(EDP Sciences, 2017-01-01) Colafrancesco, S.; Jingo, M.; Shafi, N.; Abdalla, H.; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Andersson, T.; Angüner, E. O.; Arakawa, M.; Arrieta, M.; Aubert, P.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Barnard, M.; Chen, A.; Jingo, M.; Komin, N.; Shafi, N.Aims. Following the detection of the fast radio burst FRB150418 by the SUPERB project at the Parkes radio telescope, we aim to search for very-high energy gamma-ray afterglow emission. Methods. Follow-up observations in the very-high energy gamma-ray domain were obtained with the H.E.S.S. imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope system within 14.5 h of the radio burst. Results. The obtained 1.4 h of gamma-ray observations are presented and discussed. At the 99% C.L. we obtained an integral upper limit on the gamma-ray flux of Φγ(E > 350 GeV) < 1.33 × 10-8 m-2 s-1. Differential flux upper limits as function of the photon energy were derived and used to constrain the intrinsic high-energy afterglow emission of FRB 150418. Conclusions. No hints for high-energy afterglow emission of FRB 150418 were found. Taking absorption on the extragalactic background light into account and assuming a distance of z = 0.492 based on radio and optical counterpart studies and consistent with the FRB dispersion, we constrain the gamma-ray luminosity at 1 TeV to L < 5.1 × 1047 erg/s at 99% C.L.Item Characterizing the gamma-ray long-term variability of PKS2155 304 with HESS and Fermi-LAT(EDP Sciences, 2017-02) Chen, A.; Colafrancesco, S.; Jingo, M.; Collaboration, H.E.S.S.; Abdalla, H.; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, F.; Akhperjanian, A.G.; Andersson, T.; Angüner, E.O.; Arrieta, M.; Aubert, P.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Barnard, M.; Becherini, Y.; Becker Tjus, J.; Berge, D.; Bernhard, S.; Komin, Nu.Studying the temporal variability of BL Lac objects at the highest energies provides unique insights into the extreme physical processes occurring in relativistic jets and in the vicinity of super-massive black holes. To this end, the long-term variability of the BL Lac object PKS 2155-304 is analyzed in the high (HE, 100 MeV < E < 300 GeV) and very high energy (VHE, E > 200 GeV) γ-ray domain. Over the course of ∼9 yr of H.E.S.S. observations the VHE light curve in the quiescent state is consistent with a log-normal behavior. The VHE variability in this state is well described by flicker noise (power-spectral-density index βVHE = 1.10-0.13 +0.10) on timescales larger than one day. An analysis of ∼5.5 yr of HE Fermi-LAT data gives consistent results (βHE = 1.20-0.23 +0.21), on timescales larger than 10 days) compatible with the VHE findings. The HE and VHE power spectral densities show a scale invariance across the probed time ranges. A direct linear correlation between the VHE and HE fluxes could neither be excluded nor firmly established. These long-term-variability properties are discussed and compared to the red noise behavior (β ∼ 2) seen on shorter timescales during VHE-flaring states. The difference in power spectral noise behavior at VHE energies during quiescent and flaring states provides evidence that these states are influenced by different physical processes, while the compatibility of the HE and VHE long-term results is suggestive of a common physical link as it might be introduced by an underlying jet-disk connection.Item Gamma-ray blazar spectra with H.E.S.S. II mono analysis: The case of PKS2155-304 and PG1553+113(EDP Sciences, 2017-04) Chen, A.; Colafrancesco, S.; Jingo, M.; Komin, Nu.; Shafi, N.; Abdalla, H.; Abramowski, A.; Aharonian, F.; Ait Benkhali, F.; Akhperjanian, A. G.; Andersson, T.; Angüner, E. O.; Arrieta, M.; Aubert, P.; Backes, M.; Balzer, A.; Barnard, M.; Becherini, Y.; Becker Tjus, J.; Berge, D.; Bernhard, S.Context. The addition of a 28 m Cherenkov telescope (CT5) to the H.E.S.S. array extended the experiment's sensitivity to lower energies. The lowest energy threshold is obtained using monoscopic analysis of data taken with CT5, providing access to gamma-ray energies below 100 GeV for small zenith angle observations. Such an extension of the instrument's energy range is particularly beneficial for studies of active galactic nuclei with soft spectra, as expected for those at a redshift ≥0.5. The high-frequency peaked BL Lac objects PKS 2155-304 (z = 0:116) and PG 1553+113 (0:43 < z < 0:58) are among the brightest objects in the gamma-ray sky, both showing clear signatures of gamma-ray absorption at E > 100 GeV interpreted as being due to interactions with the extragalactic background light (EBL). Aims. The aims of this work are twofold: to demonstrate the monoscopic analysis of CT5 data with a low energy threshold, and to obtain accurate measurements of the spectral energy distributions (SED) of PKS 2155-304 and PG 1553+113 near their SED peaks at energies 100 GeV. Methods. Multiple observational campaigns of PKS 2155-304 and PG 1553+113 were conducted during 2013 and 2014 using the full H.E.S.S. II instrument (CT1'5). A monoscopic analysis of the data taken with the new CT5 telescope was developed along with an investigation into the systematic uncertainties on the spectral parameters which are derived from this analysis. Results. Using the data from CT5, the energy spectra of PKS 2155-304 and PG 1553+113 were reconstructed down to conservative threshold energies of 80 GeV for PKS 2155-304, which transits near zenith, and 110 GeV for the more northern PG 1553+113. The measured spectra, well fitted in both cases by a log-parabola spectral model (with a 5.0φ statistical preference for non-zero curvature for PKS 2155-304 and 4.5φ for PG 1553+113), were found consistent with spectra derived from contemporaneous Fermi-LAT data, indicating a sharp break in the observed spectra of both sources at E 100 GeV. When corrected for EBL absorption, the intrinsic H.E.S.S. II mono and Fermi-LAT spectrum of PKS 2155-304 was found to show significant curvature. For PG 1553+113, however, no significant detection of curvature in the intrinsic spectrum could be found within statistical and systematic uncertainties.Item Generation of radical species in CVD grown pristine and N-doped solid carbon spheres using H2 and Ar as carrier gases(Royal Society of Chemistry, 2017) Mutuma, B.K.; Matsoso, B.J.; Ranganathan, K.; Wamwangi, D.; Coville, N.J; Keartland, J.Solid carbon spheres (CSs, d ≈ 200 nm) were synthesized (yield, <40%) in a vertically oriented chemical vapor deposition (CVD) reactor using acetylene as a carbon source and Ar or H2 as the carrier gas. The CSs synthesized in the presence of H2 exhibited a broader thermal gravimetric derivative curve and a narrower paramagnetic signal than the CSs synthesized in Ar. Post synthesis doping of both types of CSs with nitrogen was achieved by passing acetonitrile at 800 °C for 1 h over the CSs in a CVD reactor. The N-doped CSs (NCSs) synthesized under both H2 and Ar displayed an increase in ID/IG ratios as obtained from Raman spectroscopy and showed an increase in the paramagnetic signal due to the presence of nitrogen induced defects compared to the undoped CSs. The NCSs synthesized in H2 had less graphitic-N (22%) than those produced in Ar (50%). The presence of a higher percentage of pyridinic-N and pyrrolic-N for the NCSs prepared with H2 as carrier gas suggested H2 etching effects on the CSs. Further, the N-doped carbon spheres obtained in the presence of H2 gave a higher N/C ratio (5.0) than in the presence of Ar (3.7). The introduction of edge defects and paramagnetic centers in CSs in the presence of H2 gas without the aid of a metal catalyst opens up a platform for regulating surface and catalytic reactions of CSsItem Inelastic magnon scattering(Elsevier, 2017-05) De Mello Koch, R.; Van Zyl, H.J.R.We study the worldsheet S-matrix of a string attached to a D-brane in AdS5×S5. The D-brane is either a giant graviton or a dual giant graviton. In the gauge theory, the operators we consider belong to the su(2|3)sector of the theory. Magnon excitations of open strings can exhibit both elastic (when magnons in the bulk of the string scatter) and inelastic (when magnons at the endpoint of an open string participate) scattering. Both of these S-matrices are determined (up to an overall phase) by the su(2|2)2global symmetry of the theory. In this note we study the S-matrix for inelastic scattering. We show that it exhibits poles correspondingto boundstates of bulk and boundary magnons. A crossing equation is derived for the overall phase. It reproduces the crossing equation for maximal giant gravitons, in the appropriate limit. Finally, scattering in the su(2)sector is computed to two loops. This two loop result, which determines the overall phase to two loops, will be useful when a unique solution to the crossing equation is to be selected.Item Measuring CP nature of top-Higgs couplings at the future LargeHadron electron Collider(Elsevier, 2017-07) Coleppa, B.; Kumar, M.; Kumar, S.; Mellado, B.We investigate the sensitivity of top-Higgs coupling by considering the associated vertex as CP phase (ζt) dependent through the process pe−→t¯hνe in the future Large Hadron electron Collider. In particular the decay modes are taken to be h→bb¯ and t¯ → leptonic mode. Several distinct ζt dependent features are demonstrated by considering observables like cross sections, top-quark polarisation, rapidity difference between h and t¯ and different angular asymmetries. Luminosity (L) dependent exclusion limits are obtained for ζt by considering significance based on fiducial cross sections at different σ-levels. For electron and proton beam-energies of 60 GeV and 7 TeV respectively, at L=100 fb−1, the regions above π/5<ζt≤π are excluded at 2σ confidence level, which reflects better sensitivity expected at the Large Hadron Collider. With appropriate error fitting methodology we find that the accuracy of SM top-Higgs coupling could be measured to be κ=1.00±0.17(0.08) at s=1.3(1.8) TeV for an ultimate L=1ab−1.Item Probing anomalous couplings using di-Higgs production in electron–proton collisions(Elsevier, 2017-01) Kumar, M.; Ruan, X.; Islam, R.; Klein, M.; Klein, U.; Mellado, B.; Cornell, A.S.A proposed high energy Future Circular Hadron-Electron Collider would provide sufficient energy in a clean environment to probe di-Higgs production. Using this channel we show that the azimuthal angle correlation between the missing transverse energy and the forward jet is a very good probe for the non-standard hhh and hhWW couplings. We give the exclusion limits on these couplings as a function of integrated luminosity at a 95% C.L. using the fiducial cross sections. With appropriate error fitting methodology we find that the Higgs boson self coupling could be measured to be g(hhh)((1)) = 1.00(-0.17(0.12))(+0.24(0.14)) of its expected Standard Model value at root s = 3.5(5.0) TeV for an ultimate 10 ab(-1) of integrated luminosity.Item Effects of spatial fluctuations in the extragalactic background light on hard gamma-ray spectra(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017-06) Kudoda, A.M.; Faltenbacher, A.This study investigates the impact of the fluctuations in the extragalactic background light (EBL) on the attenuation of the hard gamma-ray spectra of distant blazars. EBL fluctuations occur on the scales up to 100 Mpc and are caused by the clustering of galaxies. The EBL photons interact with high-energy gamma-rays via the electron-positron pair production mechanism: gamma + gamma '-> e(+) + e(-). The attenuation of gamma-rays depends on their energy and the density of the intervening EBL photon field. Using a simple model for the evolution of the mean EBL photon density, we implement an analytical description of the EBL fluctuations. We find that the amplitudes of the EBL energy density can vary by +/- 1 per cent as a function of environment. The EBL fluctuations lead to mild alterations of the optical depth or equivalently the transmissivity for gamma-rays from distant blazars. Our model predicts maximum changes of +/- 10 per cent in the gamma-ray transmissivity. However, this translates into marginal differences in the power-law slopes of currently observed gamma-ray spectra. The slopes of deabsorbed gamma-ray spectra differ by not more than +/- 1 per cent if EBL fluctuations are included.Item Effect of the non-thermal Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect on the temperature determination of galaxy clusters(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017-08) Marchegiani, P.; Colafrancesco, S.A recent stacking analysis of Planck HFI data of galaxy clusters led to the derivation of the cluster temperatures using the relativistic corrections to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE). However, the temperatures of high-temperature clusters, as derived from this analysis, were basically higher than the temperatures derived from X-ray measurements, at a moderate statistical significance of 1.5 sigma. This discrepancy has been attributed by Hurier to calibration issues. In this paper, we discuss an alternative explanation for this discrepancy in terms of a non-thermal SZE astrophysical component. We find that this explanation can work if non-thermal electrons in galaxy clusters have a low minimum momentum (p(1) similar to 0.5-1), and if their pressure is of the order of 20-30 per cent of the thermal gas pressure. Both these conditions are hard to obtain if the non-thermal electrons are mixed with the hot gas in the intracluster medium, but can be possibly obtained if the non-thermal electrons are mainly confined in bubbles with a high amount of non-thermal plasma and a low amount of thermal plasma, or are in giant radio lobes/relics in the outskirts of the clusters. To derive more precise results on the properties of the non-thermal electrons in clusters, and in view of more solid detections of a discrepancy between X-ray- and SZE-derived cluster temperatures that cannot be explained in other ways, it would be necessary to reproduce the full analysis done by Hurier by systematically adding the non-thermal component of the SZE.Item Nonlinear interglitch dynamics, the braking index of the Vela pulsar and the time to the next glitch(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017-08) Akbal, O.; Buchner, S.; Pines, D.; Alpar, M.A.The interglitch timing of the Vela pulsar is characterized by a constant second derivative of the rotation rate. This takes over after the post-glitch exponential relaxation and is completed at about the time of the next glitch. The vortex creep model explains the second derivatives in terms of nonlinear response to the glitch. We present interglitch timing fits to the present sample covering 16 large glitches, taking into account the possibility that in some glitches part of the step in the spin-down ratemay involve a 'persistent shift', as observed in the Crab pulsar. Modifying the expression for the time between glitches with this hypothesis leads to better agreement with the observed interglitch time intervals. We extrapolate the interglitch model fits to obtain spin-down rates just prior to each glitch and use these to calculate the braking index n = 2.81 +/- 0.12. The next glitch should occur around 2017 December 22, +/- 197 d if no persistent shift is involved, but could occur as early as 2016 July 27, +/- 152 d if the 2013 glitch gave rise to a typical Vela persistent shift. Note added: Literally while we were submitting the first version of this paper on 2016 December 12, we saw ATel # 9847 announcing a Vela pulsar glitch which has arrived 138 d after our prediction with a persistent shift, within the 1 sigma uncertainty of 152 d.Item Confinement and diffusion time-scales of CR hadrons in AGN-inflated.(Oxford University Press (OUP), 2017-09) Prokhorov, D.A.; Churazov, E.M.While rich clusters are powerful sources of X-rays, γ -ray emission from these large cosmic structures has not been detected yet. X-ray radiative energy losses in the central regions of relaxed galaxy clusters are so strong that one needs to consider special sources of energy, likely active galactic nucleus (AGN) feedback, to suppress catastrophic cooling of the gas. We consider a model of AGN feedback that postulates that the AGN supplies the energy to the gas by inflating bubbles of relativistic plasma, whose energy content is dominated by cosmic-ray (CR) hadrons. If most of these hadrons can quickly escape the bubbles, then collisions of CRs with thermal protons in the intracluster medium (ICM) should lead to strong γ -ray emission, unless fast diffusion of CRs removes them from the cluster. Therefore, the lack of detections with modern γ -ray telescopes sets limits on the confinement time of CR hadrons in bubbles and CR diffusive propagation in the ICM.Item Systematics of quark/gluon tagging(Springer Verlag, 2017-07) Gras, P.; Höche, S.; Kar, D.; Larkoski, A.; Lönnblad, L.; Plätzer, S.; Siódmok, A.; Skands, P.; Soyez, G.; Thaler, J.By measuring the substructure of a jet, one can assign it a “quark” or “gluon” tag. In the eikonal (double-logarithmic) limit, quark/gluon discrimination is determined solely by the color factor of the initiating parton (CF versus CA). In this paper, we confront the challenges faced when going beyond this leading-order understanding, using both parton-shower generators and first-principles calculations to assess the impact of higher-order perturbative and nonperturbative physics. Working in the idealized context of electron-positron collisions, where one can define a proxy for quark and gluon jets based on the Lorentz structure of the production vertex, we find a fascinating interplay between perturbative shower effects and nonperturbative hadronization effects. Turning to proton-proton collisions, we highlight a core set of measurements that would constrain current uncertainties in quark/gluon tagging and improve the overall modeling of jets at the Large Hadron Collider.Item Mirror quintic vacua: hierarchies and inflation.(Springer Verlag, 2016-10) Bizet, N.C; Loaiza-Brito, O.; Zavala, IWe study the moduli space of type IIB string theory flux compactifications on the mirror of the CY quintic 3-fold in ℙ 4. We focus on the dynamics of the four dimensional moduli space, defined by the axio-dilaton τ and the complex structure modulus z. The z-plane has critical points, the conifold, the orbifold and the large complex structure with non trivial monodromies. We find the solutions to the Picard-Fuchs equations obeyed by the periods of the CY in the full z-plane as a series expansion in z around the critical points to arbitrary order. This allows us to discard fake vacua, which appear as a result of keeping only the leading order term in the series expansions. Due to monodromies vacua are located at a given sheet in the z-plane. A dS vacuum appears for a set of fluxes. We revisit vacua with hierarchies among the 4D and 6D physical scales close to the conifold point and compare them with those found at leading order in [1, 2]. We explore slow-roll inflationary directions of the scalar potential by looking at regions where the multi-field slow-roll parameters ϵ and η are smaller than one. The value of ϵ depends strongly on the approximation of the periods and to achieve a stable value, several orders in the expansion are needed. We do not find realizations of single field axion monodromy inflation. Instead, we find that inflationary regions appear along linear combinations of the four real field directions and for certain configurations of fluxes.Item Natural supersymmetry and unification in five dimensions(Springer Verlag, 2016-01) Abdalgabar, A.; Cornell, A.S.; Deandrea, A.; McGarrie, M.We explore unification and natural supersymmetry in a five dimensional extension of the standard model in which the extra dimension may be large, of the order of 1–10 TeV. Power law running generates a TeV scale At term allowing for the observed 125 GeV Higgs and allowing for stop masses below 2 TeV, compatible with a natural SUSY spectrum. We supply the full one-loop RGEs for various models and use metastability to give a prediction that the gluino mass should be lighter than 3.5 TeV for At ≥ −2.5 TeV, for such a compactification scale, with brane localised 3rd generation matter. We also discuss models in which only the 1st and 2nd generation of matter fields are located in the bulk. We also look at electroweak symmetry breaking in these models.Item Testing R-parity with geometry(Springer Verlag, 2016-03) He, Y.-H.; Jejjala, V.; Matti, C.; Nelson, B.D.We present a complete classification of the vacuum geometries of all renormalizable superpotentials built from the fields of the electroweak sector of the MSSM. In addition to the Severi and affine Calabi-Yau varieties previously found, new vacuum manifolds are identified; we thereby investigate the geometrical implication of theories which display a manifest matter parity (or R-parity) via the distinction between leptonic and Higgs doublets, and of the lepton number assignment of the right-handed neutrino fields. We find that the traditional R-parity assignments of the MSSM more readily accommodate the neutrino see-saw mechanism with non-trivial geometry than those superpotentials that violate R-parity. However there appears to be no geometrical preference for a fundamental Higgs bilinear in the superpotential, with operators that violate lepton number, such as (Formula presented.) , generating vacuum moduli spaces equivalent to those with a fundamental bilinear.Item LLM magnons(Springer Verlag, 2016-03) de Mello Koch, R.; Mathwin, C.; Van Zyl, H.J.R.We consider excitations of LLM geometries described by coloring the LLM plane with concentric black rings. Certain closed string excitations are localized at the edges of these rings. The string theory predictions for the energies of magnon excitations of these strings depends on the radii of the edges of the rings. In this article we construct the operators dual to these closed string excitations and show how to reproduce the string theory predictions for magnon energies by computing one loop anomalous dimensions. These operators are linear combinations of restricted Schur polynomials. The distinction between what is the background and what is the excitation is accomplished in the choice of the subgroup and the representations used to construct the operator.Item Anomalous dimensions of heavy operators from magnon energies(Springer Verlag, 2016-03) de Mello Koch, R.; Tahiridimbisoa, N.H.; Mathwin, C.We study spin chains with boundaries that are dual to open strings suspended between systems of giant gravitons and dual giant gravitons. Motivated by a geometrical interpretation of the central charges of su(2|2), we propose a simple and minimal all loop expression that interpolates between the anomalous dimensions computed in the gauge theory and energies computed in the dual string theory. The discussion makes use of a description in terms of magnons, generalizing results for a single maximal giant graviton. The symmetries of the problem determine the structure of the magnon boundary reflection/scattering matrix up to a phase. We compute a reflection/scattering matrix element at weak coupling and verify that it is consistent with the answer determined by symmetry. We find the reflection/scattering matrix does not satisfy the boundary Yang-Baxter equation so that the boundary condition on the open spin chain spoils integrability. We also explain the interpretation of the double coset ansatz in the magnon language.Item Interactions as intertwiners in 4D QFT(Springer Verlag, 2016-03) de Mello Koch, R.; Ramgoolam, S.In a recent paper we showed that the correlators of free scalar field theory in four dimensions can be constructed from a two dimensional topological field theory based on so(4, 2) equivariant maps (intertwiners). The free field result, along with recent results of Frenkel and Libine on equivariance properties of Feynman integrals, are developed further in this paper. We show that the coefficient of the log term in the 1-loop 4-point conformal integral is a projector in the tensor product of so(4, 2) representations. We also show that the 1-loop 4-point integral can be written as a sum of four terms, each associated with the quantum equation of motion for one of the four external legs. The quantum equation of motion is shown to be related to equivariant maps involving indecomposable representations of so(4, 2), a phenomenon which illuminates multiplet recombination. The harmonic expansion method for Feynman integrals is a powerful tool for arriving at these results. The generalization to other interactions and higher loops is discussed.Item Spin(7) compactifications and 1/4-BPS vacua in heterotic supergravity.(Springer Verlag, 2016-03) Angus, S.; Matti, C.; Svanes, E.E.We continue the investigation into non-maximally symmetric compactifications of the heterotic string. In particular, we consider compactifications where the internal space is allowed to depend on two or more external directions. For preservation of supersymmetry, this implies that the internal space must in general be that of a Spin(7) manifold, which leads to a 1/4-BPS four-dimensional supersymmetric perturbative vacuum breaking all but one supercharge. We find that these solutions allow for internal geometries previously excluded by the domain-wall-type solutions, and hence the resulting four-dimensional superpotential is more generic. In particular, we find an interesting resemblance to the superpotentials that appear in non-geometric flux compactifications of type II string theory. If the vacua are to be used for phenomenological applications, they must be lifted to maximal symmetry by some non-perturbative or higher-order effect.Item Large mass hierarchies from strongly-coupled dynamics(Springer Verlag, 2016-06) Athenodorou, A.; Bennett, E.; Bergner, G.; Elander, D.; Lin, C.-J.D.; Lucini, B.; Piai, M.Besides the Higgs particle discovered in 2012, with mass 125 GeV, recent LHC data show tentative signals for new resonances in diboson as well as diphoton searches at high center-of-mass energies (2 TeV and 750 GeV, respectively). If these signals are confirmed (or other new resonances are discovered at the TeV scale), the large hierarchies between masses of new bosons require a dynamical explanation. Motivated by these tentative signals of new physics, we investigate the theoretical possibility that large hierarchies in the masses of glueballs could arise dynamically in new strongly-coupled gauge theories extending the standard model of particle physics. We study lattice data on non-Abelian gauge theories in the (near-)conformal regime as well as a simple toy model in the context of gauge/gravity dualities. We focus our attention on the ratio R between the mass of the lightest spin-2 and spin-0 resonances, that for technical reasons is a particularly convenient and clean observable to study. For models in which (non-perturbative) large anomalous dimensions arise dynamically, we show indications that this mass ratio can be large, with R>5. Moreover,our results suggest that R might be related to universal properties of the IR fixed point. Our findings provide an interesting step towards understanding large mass ratios in the non-perturbative regime of quantum field theories with (near) IR conformal behaviour.