0000000000760044
AUTHOR
Luis N. Epele
Monopolium: the key to monopoles
Dirac showed that the existence of one magnetic pole in the universe could offer an explanation for the discrete nature of the electric charge. Magnetic poles appear naturally in most Grand Unified Theories. Their discovery would be of greatest importance for particle physics and cosmology. The intense experimental search carried thus far has not met with success. Moreover, if the monopoles are very massive their production is outside the range of present day facilities. A way out of this impasse would be if the monopoles bind to form monopolium, a monopole- antimonopole bound state, which is so strongly bound, that it has a relatively small mass. Under these circumstances it could be produ…
Looking for magnetic monopoles at LHC with diphoton events
Magnetic monopoles have been a subject of interest since Dirac established the relation between the existence of monopoles and charge quantization. The intense experimental search carried thus far has not met with success. The Large Hadron Collider is reaching energies never achieved before allowing the search for exotic particles in the TeV mass range. In a continuing effort to discover these rare particles we propose here other ways to detect them. We study the observability of monopoles and monopolium, a monopole-antimonopole bound state, at the Large Hadron Collider in the $\gamma \gamma$ channel for monopole masses in the range 500-1000 GeV. We conclude that LHC is an ideal machine to …
Observation of the suppression of the flux of cosmic rays above 4x10^19eV
The energy spectrum of cosmic rays above 2.5 × 10¹⁸ eV, derived from 20,000 events recorded at the Pierre Auger Observatory, is described. The spectral index γ of the particle flux, J ∝ E-γ, at energies between 4 × 10¹⁸ eV and 4 × 10¹⁹ eV is 2.69 ± 0.02(stat) ± 0.06(syst), steepening to 4.2 ± 0.4(stat) ± 0.06(syst) at higher energies. The hypothesis of a single power law is rejected with a significance greater than 6 standard deviations. The data are consistent with the prediction by Greisen and by Zatsepin and Kuz'min.
Monopolium production from photon fusion at the Large Hadron Collider
6 pages, 6 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 14.80.Hv; 95.30.Cq; 98.70.-f; 98.80.-k.-- Printed version published Aug 2009.-- ArXiv pre-print available at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.0272
Primakoff scattering for polarized photons or polarized protons
Abstract We present a way to measure the axial coupling of the proton for the neutral strangeness current in coherent π0 production induced by photon-proton scattering. By means of the γ−Z−π0 triangle anomaly, the parity violating asymmetries for polarized photon or polarized proton Primakoff effect filter the couplings so as to leave the proton axial coupling only. We calculate the relevant observables induced by the electroweak interference and give results for regions of energy and Q2 of possible experimental interest. The polarized proton asymmetry is predicted to be 10−6-10−5 when Q2 ∼ 0.1−0.5 GeV2.
Upper limit on the diffuse flux of ultrahigh energy tau neutrinos from the Pierre Auger Observatory
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to Earth-skimming tau neutrinos that interact in Earth’s crust. Tau leptons from ντ charged-current interactions can emerge and decay in the atmosphere to produce a nearly horizontal shower with a significant electromagnetic component. The data collected between 1 January 2004 and 31 August 2007 are used to place an upper limit on the diffuse flux of ντ at EeV energies. Assuming an E−2ν differential energy spectrum the limit set at 90% C.L. is E2νdNντdEν<1.3×10−7 GeV cm−2 s−1 sr−1 in the energy range 2×1017 eV<E<2×1019 eV.
Correlation of the highest-energy cosmic rays with the positions of nearby active galactic nuclei
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory provide evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of the cosmic rays with the ighest-energies, which are correlated with the positions of relatively nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) [Pierre Auger Collaboration, Science 318 (2007) 938]. The correlation has maximum significance for cosmic rays with energy greater than ~6 x 1019 eV and AGN at a distance less than ~75 Mpc. We have confirmed the anisotropy at a confidence level of more than 99% through a test with parameters specified a priori, using an independent data set. The observed correlation is compatible with the hypothesis that cosmic rays with the highest-energies originate fro…