Stable massive particles at colliders

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

1. Introduction 2. One-dimensional solitons 3. Solitons in more dimensions - vortices and strings 4. Some topology 5. Magnetic monopoles with U(1) charges 6. Magnetic monopoles in larger gauge groups 7. Cosmological implications and experimental bounds 8. BPS solitons, supersymmetry, and duality 9. Euclidean solutions 10. Yang-Mills instantons 11. Instantons, fermions, and physical consequences 12. Vacuum decay Appendixes References Index.

Classical solutions in quantum field theory : Solitons and Instantons in High Energy Physics

The Tevatron has inspired new interest in the subject of magnetic monopoles. First there was the 1998 D0 limit on the virtual production of monopoles, based on the theory of Ginzburg and collaborators. In 2000 and 2004 results from an experiment (Fermilab E882) searching for real magnetically charged particles bound to elements from the CDF and D0 detectors were reported. The strongest direct experimental limits, from the CDF collaboration, have been reported in 2005. Less strong, but complementary, limits from the H1 collaboration at HERA were reported in the same year. Interpretation of these experiments also require new developments in theory. Earlier experimental and observational constraints on point-like (Dirac) and non-Abelian monopoles were given from the 1970s through the 1990s, with occasional short-lived positive evidence for such exotic particles reported. The status of the experimental limits on monopole masses will be reported, as well as the limitation of the theory of magnetic charge at present.

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Theoretical and experimental status of magnetic monopoles

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

We present the final results obtained by the MACRO experiment in the search for GUT magnetic monopoles in the penetrating cosmic radiation, for the range 4×10 −5 <β< 1. Several searches with all the MACRO sub-detectors (i.e. scintillation counters, limited streamer tubes and nuclear track detectors) were performed, both in stand alone and combined ways. No candidates were detected and a 90% Confidence Level (C.L.) upper limit to the local magnetic monopole flux was set at the level of 1.4 × 10 −16 cm −2 s −1 sr −1 . This result is the first experimental limit obtained in direct searches which is well below the Parker

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G. Battistoni

Papers

Final results of magnetic monopole searches with the MACRO experiment