WIMPs in a 3-3-1 model with heavy Sterile neutrinos
In this work we show that from the spectrum of particles of a 3-3-1 gauge model with heavy sterile neutrinos we can have up to three Cold Dark Matter candidates as WIMPs. We obtain their relic abundance and analyze their compatibility with recent direct detection experiments, exploring the possibility of explaining the two events reported by CDMS-II. An interesting outcome of this 3-3-1 model, concerning direct detection of two WIMPs in the model, is a strong bound on the symmetry breaking scale, which imposes it to be above 3 TeV.

title: Light composite Higgs from an effective action for technicolor
abstract: We compute an effective action for a composite Higgs boson formed by new fermions belonging to a general technicolor non-Abelian gauge theory, using a quite general expression for the fermionic self-energy that depends on a certain parameter ($\ensuremath{\alpha}$), that defines the technicolor theory from the extreme walking behavior up to the one with a standard operator product expansion behavior. We discuss the values of the trilinear and quadrilinear scalar couplings. Our calculation spans all the possible physical possibilities for mass and couplings of the composite system. In the case of extreme walking technicolor theories we verify that it is possible to have a composite Higgs boson with a mass as light as the present experimental limit, contrary to the usual expectation of a heavy mass for the composite Higgs boson. In this case we obtain an upper limit for the Higgs boson mass, (${M}_{H}\ensuremath{\le}\mathcal{O}(700)\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}$ for $SU(2{)}_{\mathrm{TC}}$), and the experimental data on the Higgs boson mass constrain $SU(N{)}_{\mathrm{TC}}$ technicolor gauge groups to be smaller than $SU(10{)}_{\mathrm{TC}}$.

title: Spontaneous CP violation in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos
abstract: complex VEV's in the respective model. Obtain the con- straint equations on the phases which come from the minimum condition of the scalar potential. Check how many phases the gauge transformation can eliminate. Finally, wherever it is possible, redefine the fields as to absorb the remaining phases. If, in the end, at least one phase survives, then the SCPV mechanism works in the model considered. In this work we implement the SCPV mechanism in the SU� 3� CSU� 3� LU� 1� N (3-3-1) gauge model for the electroweak and strong interactions that possess right- handed neutrinos composing the fundamental representa- tion (6). The SCPV was already considered in other ver- sions of the 3-3-1 models (7,8). In general all the 3-3-1 models require at least three scalar triplets in order to generate the correct particle masses of the model. Considering that each scalar triplet involves at least one neutral scalar, we are going to have at least three phases when no complex coupling is assumed. Nevertheless, the SU� 3� LU� 1� N symmetry allows us to eliminate two of these phases and, certainly, the minimum condition of the scalar potential of the model will provide an additional constraint over the phases. Thus, it is expected that, in the case of three triplets and three phases, the gauge symmetry and the minimum constraint lead to a trivial solution, i.e., that these three phases can be washed out of the model. It was shown in Ref. (7) that this kind of 3-3-1 model requires three triplets and one scalar sextet in order for SCPV to be implemented. The minimal 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos also requires only three scalar triplets to generate the needed masses. What motivates our investigation of the SCPV in this model is that its scalar sector differs from the other models in a subtle aspect. Two of its three scalar triplets possess each one two neutral scalars. Thus, in this model, we dispose from the beginning of a total of five neutral scalars. When we assume that all of them develop complex VEV's, five phases appear in the model. We will show that in this scenario one phase still survives the gauge transformation, the constraints for the minimum of the

title: Fixed points and vacuum energy of dynamically broken gauge theories
abstract: We show that if a gauge theory with dynamical symmetry breaking has nontrivial fixed points, they will correspond to extrema of the vacuum energy. This relationship provides a different method to determine fixed points.

title: Bounds on the simplest little Higgs model mass spectrum through Z leptonic decay
abstract: We derive the leptonic neutral current in the simplest little Higgs model and compute the contribution of the model to the decay width $Z\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$. Using the precision electroweak data we obtain a strong lower bound $f\ensuremath{\ge}5.6\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$ at 95% C.L. on the characteristic energy scale of the model. It results in a lower bound for the new gauge bosons ${W}^{\ensuremath{'}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ and ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ as being ${M}_{{W}^{\ensuremath{'}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}}\ensuremath{\ge}2.6\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$ and ${M}_{{Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}}\ensuremath{\ge}3.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{TeV}$, respectively. We also present the allowed values of the $k={f}_{1}/{f}_{2}$ which is the parameter relating the two vacuum expectation values of the scalar triplets in the model, and the $\ensuremath{\mu}$ parameter of a quadratic term, involving the triplets, necessary to provide an acceptable mass range for the standard Higgs boson.

title: Scalar Bilepton Dark Matter
abstract: In this work we show that 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos has a natural weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter candidate. It is a complex scalar with mass of order of some hundreds of GeV which carries two units of lepton number, a scalar bilepton. This makes it a very peculiar WIMP, very distinct from supersymmetric or extra-dimension candidates. Besides, although we have to make some reasonable assumptions concerning the several parameters in the model, no fine tuning is required in order to get the correct dark matter abundance. We also analyze the prospects for WIMP direct detection by considering recent and projected sensitivities for WIMP–nucleon elastic cross section from CDMS and XENON collaborations.

title: Generalized Chaplygin gas model, supernovae, and cosmic topology
abstract: In this work we study to which extent the knowledge of spatial topology may place constraints on the parameters of the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) model for unification of dark energy and dark matter. By using both the Poincar\'e dodecahedral and binary octahedral spaces as the observable spatial topologies, we examine the current type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) constraints on the GCG model parameters. We show that the knowledge of spatial topology does provide additional constraints on the ${A}_{s}$ parameter of the GCG model but does not lift the degeneracy of the $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ parameter.

title: Search for new physics in final states with a lepton and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at the LHC
abstract: This Letter describes the search for an enhanced production rate of events with a charged lepton and a neutrino in high-energy pp collisions at the LHC. The analysis uses data collected with the CMS detector, with an integrated luminosity of 5.0  fb-1 at √s=7  TeV, and a further 3.7  fb-1 at √s=8  TeV. No evidence is found for an excess. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on a heavy charged gauge boson (W′) in the sequential standard model, a split universal extra dimension model, and contact interactions in the helicity-nonconserving model. For the last, values of the binding energy below 10.5 (8.8) TeV in the electron (muon) channel are excluded at a 95% confidence level. Interpreting the lν final state in terms of a heavy W′ with standard model couplings, masses below 2.90 TeV are excluded.

title: Calibration of the CMS drift tube chambers and measurement of the drift velocity with cosmic rays
abstract: This paper describes the calibration procedure for the drift tubes of the CMS barrel muon system and reports the main results obtained with data collected during a high statistics cosmic ray data-taking period. The main goal of the calibration is to determine, for each drift cell, the minimum time delay for signals relative to the trigger, accounting for the drift velocity within the cell. The accuracy of the calibration procedure is influenced by the random arrival time of the cosmic muons relative to the LHC clock cycle. A more refined analysis of the drift velocity was performed during the offline reconstruction phase, which takes into account this feature of cosmic ray events.

title: A study on analytic parametrizations for proton–proton cross-sections and asymptotia
abstract: A comparative study on some representative parametrizations for the total and elastic cross-sections as a function of energy is presented. The dataset comprises pp and scattering in the c.m. energy interval 5 GeV–8 TeV. The parametrization for the total cross-section at low and intermediate energies follows the usual reggeonic structure (non-degenerate trajectories). For the leading high-energy pomeron contribution, we consider three distinct analytic parametrizations: either a power (P) law, or a log-squared (L2) law or a log-raised-to-γ (Lγ) law, where the exponent γ is treated as a real free fit parameter. The parametrizations are also extended to fit the elastic (integrated) cross-section data in the same energy interval. Our main conclusions are the following: (1) the data reductions with the logarithmic laws show strong dependence on the unknown energy scale involved, which is treated here either as a free parameter or fixed at the energy threshold; (2) the fit results with the P law, the L2 law (free scale) and the Lγ law (fixed scale and exponent γ above 2) are all consistent within their uncertainties and with the experimental data up to 7 TeV, but they partially underestimate the high-precision TOTEM measurement at 8 TeV; (3) once compared with these results, the L2 law with fixed scale is less consistent with the data and, in the case of a free scale, this pomeron contribution decreases as the energy increases below the scale factor (which lies above the energy cutoff); (4) in all cases investigated, the predictions for the asymptotic ratio between the elastic and total cross-sections, within the uncertainties, do not exceed the value 0.430 (therefore, below the black-disc limit) and the results favor rational limits between 1/3 and 2/5. We are led to conclude that the rise of the hadronic cross-sections at the highest energies still constitutes an open problem, demanding further and detailed investigation.

title: A mobile data acquisition system
abstract: A mobile data aquisition (MobiDAQ) was developed for the ATLAS central hadronic calorimeter (TileCal). MobiDAQ has been designed in order to test the functionalities of the TileCal front-end electronics and to acquire calibration data before the final back-end electronics were built and tested. MobiDAQ was also used to record the first cosmic ray events acquired by an ATLAS subdetector in the underground experimental area.