The gamma decay from Coulomb excitation of 68Ni at 600 MeV/nucleon on a Au target was measured using the RISING setup at the fragment separator of GSI. The 68Ni beam was produced by a fragmentation reaction of 86Kr at 900 MeV/nucleon on a 9Be target and selected by the fragment separator. The gamma rays produced at the Au target were measured with HPGe detectors at forward angles and with BaF2 scintillators at backward angles. The measured spectra show a peak centered at approximately 11 MeV, whose intensity can be explained in terms of an enhanced strength of the dipole response function (pygmy resonance). Such pygmy structure has been predicted in this unstable neutron-rich nucleus by theory.

The proposed Mitchell Institute Neutrino Experiment at Reactor (MINER) experiment at the Nuclear Science Center at Texas A&M University will search for coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering within close proximity (about 2 meters) of a 1 MW TRIGA nuclear reactor core using low threshold, cryogenic germanium and silicon detectors. Given the Standard Model cross section of the scattering process and the proposed experimental proximity to the reactor, as many as 5 to 20 events/kg/day are expected. We discuss the status of preliminary measurements to characterize the main backgrounds for the proposed experiment. Both in situ measurements at the experimental site and simulations using the MCNP and GEANT4 codes are described. A strategy for monitoring backgrounds during data taking is briefly discussed.

The F-lipped SU (5)×U (1)X Grand Unified Theory (GUT) supplemented by TeV-scale vector-like particles from F-theory, together dubbed F-SU (5), offers a natural multi-phase unification process which suggests an elegant implementation of the No-Scale Supergravity boundary conditions at the unification scale MF ≃ 7 × 10 17 GeV. Enforcing the No-Scale boundary conditions, including Bµ(MF ) = 0 on the Higgs bilinear soft term, with the precision 7-year WMAP value on the dark matter relic density isolates a highly constrained "Golden Point" located near M 1/2 = 455 GeV and tan β = 15 in the tan β − M 1/2 plane, which simultaneously satisfies all known experiments, and moreover corresponds to an imminently observable proton decay rate. Because the universal gaugino mass is actually determined from established low energy data via Renormalization Group Equation (RGE) running, there are no surviving arbitrary scale parameters in the present model. Introduction -The driving aim of theoretical physics is to achieve maximal efficiency in the correlation of observations. This entails the unification of apparently distinct forces under a master symmetry group, and the successful reinterpretation of experimentally constrained parameters and finely tuned scales as dynamically evolved consequences of the underlying equations of motion.We propose in this paper a variation of the No-Scale Supergravity [1] scenario which successfully eliminates all extraneously adjustable degrees of freedom while dynamically addressing all fundamental scales and maintaining consistency with all low energy phenomenology constraints, including the precision electroweak scale data [2], the 7-year WMAP constraint on dark matter relic density [3], the experimental limits on the Flavor Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) process b → sγ [4,5], the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon [6], the process B

We present the distinctive collider signatures of No-Scale F-SU (5), a highly efficient and phenomenologically favored model built on the tripodal foundations of the F-lipped SU (5) × U (1)X Grand Unified Theory, extra F-theory derived TeV scale vector-like particle multiplets, and the dynamic high scale boundary conditions of No-Scale Supergravity. The identifying features of the supersymmetric spectrum are a light stop and gluino, with both sparticles much lighter than all the additional squarks. This unique mass hierarchy leads to the enhanced production of events with an ultra-high multiplicity of hadronic jets which should be clearly visible to the √ s = 7 TeV LHC at only 1 fb −1 of integrated luminosity. We suggest a modest alternative event cutting procedure based around a reduced minimal transverse momentum per jet (pT > 20 GeV), and an increased minimal multiplicity (≥ 9) of distinct jets per subscribed event. These criteria optimize the F-SU (5) signal to background ratio, while readily suppressing the contribution of all Standard Model processes, allowing moreover a clear differentiation from competing models of new physics, most notably minimal supergravity. The characteristic No-Scale signature is quite stable across the viable parameter space, modulo an overall rescaling of the mass spectrum; detection by the LHC of the ultra-high jet signal would constitute a suggestive evocation of the intimately linked stringy origins of F-SU (5), and could possibly provide a glimpse into the underlying structure of the fundamental string moduli.