Abstract: We present here bounds on neutrino masses from the combination of recent Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and galaxy clustering information from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III. We use the full shape of either the photometric angular clustering (Data Release 8) or the 3D spectroscopic clustering (Data Release 9) power spectrum in different cosmological scenarios. In the Lambda CDM scenario, spectroscopic galaxy clustering measurements improve significantly the existing neutrino mass bounds from Planck data. We find Sigma m(v) < 0.39 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (wi lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. Therefore, robust neutrino mass constraints can be obtained without the addition of the prior on the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope. In extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy fluid or with nonflat geometries, galaxy clustering measurements are essential to pin down the neutrino mass bounds, providing in the majority of cases better results than those obtained from the associated measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale only. In the presence of a freely varying (constant) dark energy equation of state, we find Sigma m(v) < 0.49 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (with lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. This same data combination in nonflat geometries provides the neutrino mass bound Sigma m(v) < 0.35 eV at 95% confidence level.

Abstract: The pion mass dependence of the nucleon mass within the covariant SU(2) baryon chiral perturbation theory both without and with explicit Delta(1232) degrees of freedom up to order p(4) is investigated. By fitting to a comprehensive set of lattice QCD data in 2 and 2 + 1 flavors from several collaborations, for pion masses M-pi < 420 MeV, we obtain low energy constants of natural size that are compatible with pion-nucleon scattering data. Our results are consistent with the rather linear pion mass dependence showed by lattice QCD. In the 2 flavor case we have also performed simultaneous fits to nucleon mass and sigma(pi N) data. As a result of our analysis, which encompasses the study of finite volume corrections and discretization effects, we report a value of sigma(pi N) = 41(5)(4) MeV in the 2 flavor case and sigma(pi N) = 52(3)(8) MeV for 2 + 1 flavors, where the inclusion of the Delta(1232) resonance changes the results by around 9 MeV. In the 2 flavor case we are able to set independently the scale for lattice QCD data, given by a Sommer scale of r(0) = 0.493(23) fm.

Abstract: We search for a low-mass scalar CP-odd Higgs boson, A(0), produced in the radiative decay of the upsilon resonance and decaying into a tau(+)tau(-) pair: Y(1S) -> gamma A(0). The production of Y(1S) mesons is tagged by Y(2S) -> pi(+)pi(-) Y(1S) transitions, using a sample of (98.3 +/- 0.9) x 10(6) Y(2S) mesons collected by the BABAR detector. We find no evidence for a Higgs boson in the mass range 3: 5 <= m(A)0 <= 9: 2 GeV, and combine these results with our previous search for the tau decays of the light Higgs in radiative Y(3S) decays, setting limits on the coupling of A(0) to the b (b) over bar quarks in the range 0.09-1.9. Our measurements improve the constraints on the parameters of the next-to-minimal-supersymmetric Standard Model and similar theories with low-mass scalar degrees of freedom.

Abstract: We explore the possibility of experimentally detecting a predicted h(1) inverted right perpendicular I-G(J(PC)) = 0(-)(1(+-))inverted left perpendicular state of hidden charm made out from the D*(D) over bar* interaction. The method consists in measuring the decay of X(4660) into eta D*(D) over bar* and determining the binding energy with respect to the D*(D) over bar* threshold from the shape of the D*(D) over bar* invariant mass distribution. A complementary method consists in looking at the inclusive X(4660) -> eta X decay and searching for a peak in the X invariant mass distribution. We make calculations to determine the partial decay width of X(4660) -> eta h(1) from the measured X(4660) -> eta D*(D) over bar* distribution. This estimation should serve in an experiment to foresee the possibility of detecting the h(1) state on top of the background of inclusive events.

Abstract: We report a measurement of the branching fraction of the exclusive charmless semileptonic decay B+ -> omega l(+) nu, where l is either an electron or amuon. We use samples of B+ mesons tagged by a reconstructed charmed semileptonic decay of the other B meson in the event. The measurement is based on a data set of 426.1 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) storage rings. We measure a branching fraction of B(B+ -> omega l(+) nu) = (1.35 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.11) x 10(-4), where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. We also present measurements of the partial branching fractions in three bins of q(2), the invariant-mass squared of the lepton-neutrino system, and we compare them to theoretical predictions of the form factors.