Infrared Attractiveness in Extra Dimensions
We study the renormalization group flow and infrared structure of higher dimensional GUTs. In higher dimensional theories the couplings approach much faster the infrared fixed points, compared to the four‐dimensional case, due to their power law running behaviour. Therefore, tighter restrictions can be imposed to the couplings at the infrared region, enhancing thus the predictivity of the theories. We take a model with SU(5) as gauge group as a concrete example and show the running behaviour of the coupling constants. We also describe the predictions of low‐energy parameters, e.g. masses of the top quark and superparticles that result from the fixed point structure of the RGEs.

title: Conditions for vacuum stability in an S3 extension of the Standard Model
abstract: In this work we study the Higgs sector in the minimal S3 extension of the Standard Model. The S3 extended Standard Model, which has three Higgs doublets fields that belong to the three-dimensional reducible representation of the permutation group S3, has naturally new phenomena: there are several Higgs bosons, charged, neutral and pseuodscalar ones, and more than one potential minimum. We analyzed the stability of the minimal S3 invariant extension of the Higgs potential and show that at tree-level, the potential minimum preserving electric charge and CP symmetries, when it exists, is the global one.

title: Gauge-Yukawa Unification
abstract: Gauge-Yukawa Unification (GYU) yields a functional relation among the gauge and Yukawa couplings, and it may follow from the usual Grand Unification if it is supplemented with some additional principles. Postulating the principles of finiteness and reduction of couplings, we have achieved Gauge-Yukawa Unification in various supersymmetric unified models leading, among other things, to interesting predictions on the top quark mass.

title: Finite unified theories and the top quark mass
abstract: We present results of a study of two phenomenologically interesting SU (5) supersymmetric Grand Unified models, which are finite to all-loops before spontaneous symmetry breaking. The finiteness conditions provide us with relationships among the Yukawa and gauge couplings at the unification point, which in turn predict a heavy top quark mass (∼ 175 – 190 GeV).

title: Finiteness and the Higgs mass prediction
abstract: Finite Unified Theories (FUTs) are N=1 supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) which can be made finite to all-loop orders, leading to a drastic reduction in the number of free parameters. By confronting the predictions of SU(5) FUTs with the top and bottom quark masses we are able to discriminate among different models. Including further low-energy phenomenology constraints, such as B physics observables, the bound on the SM Higgs mass and the cold dark matter density, we derive predictions for the lightest Higgs boson mass and the sparticle spectrum.

title: Axial couplings on the world-line
abstract: We construct a world-line representation for the fermionic one-loop effective action with axial and also vector, scalar, and pseudo-scalar couplings. We use this expression to compute a few selected scattering amplitudes. These allow us to verify that our method yields the same results as standard field theory. In particular, we are able to reproduce the chiral anomaly. Our starting point is the second order formulation for the Dirac fermion. We translate the second order expressions into a world-line action.

title: Top quark mass measurement in the lepton + jets channel using a matrix element method and in situ jet energy calibration.
abstract: A precision measurement of the top quark mass m(t) is obtained using a sample of tt events from pp collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron with the CDF II detector. Selected events require an electron or muon, large missing transverse energy, and exactly four high-energy jets, at least one of which is tagged as coming from a b quark. A likelihood is calculated using a matrix element method with quasi-Monte Carlo integration taking into account finite detector resolution and jet mass effects. The event likelihood is a function of m(t) and a parameter Δ(JES) used to calibrate the jet energy scale in situ. Using a total of 1087 events in 5.6 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, a value of m(t)=173.0 ± 1.2 GeV/c(2) is measured.

title: Operational Experience with the CDF Run II Silicon Detector
abstract: The CDF Run II Silicon Detector is the largest operating silicon detector in High Energy Physics. Its 722,000 channels spread over 7 m 2 of silicon micro-strip sensors allow precision tracking and vertexing. The CDF silicon detector played a critical role in the discovery of B s mixing and is used extensively for the current Higgs Boson searches. Over the last 7 years, the detector efficiency has remained stable at 95% after the Run II commissioning period. The infrastructure (cooling, power supplies) problems dealt with are discussed.

title: Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron
abstract: The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson. Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.