Abstract: The flux of very high-energy neutrinos produced in our Galaxy by the interaction of accelerated cosmic rays with the interstellar medium is not yet determined. The characterization of this flux will shed light on Galactic accelerator features, gas distribution morphology and Galactic cosmic ray transport. The central Galactic plane can be the site of an enhanced neutrino production, thus leading to anisotropies in the extraterrestrial neutrino signal as measured by the IceCube Collaboration. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, offers a favorable view of this part of the sky, thereby allowing for a contribution to the determination of this flux. The expected diffuse Galactic neutrino emission can be obtained, linking a model of generation and propagation of cosmic rays with the morphology of the gas distribution in the Milky Way. In this paper, the so-called “gamma model” introduced recently to explain the high-energy gamma-ray diffuse Galactic emission is assumed as reference. The neutrino flux predicted by the “gamma model” depends on the assumed primary cosmic ray spectrum cutoff. Considering a radially dependent diffusion coefficient, this proposed scenario is able to account for the local cosmic ray measurements, as well as for the Galactic gamma-ray observations. Nine years of ANTARES data are used in this work to search for a possible Galactic contribution according to this scenario. All flavor neutrino interactions are considered. No excess of events is observed, and an upper limit is set on the neutrino flux of 1.1 (1.2) times the prediction of the “gamma model,” assuming the primary cosmic ray spectrum cutoff at 5 (50) PeV. This limit excludes the diffuse Galactic neutrino emission as the major cause of the “spectral anomaly” between the two hemispheres measured by IceCube.

Abstract: Decays of B-0 and B-s(0) mesons to the charmless baryonic final states p (p) over barh(+)h'(-), where h and h' each denote a kaon or a pion, are searched for using the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). Four-body charmless baryonic B-s(0) decays are observed for the first time. The decays B-s(0) -> p (p) over barK(+) K-, B-s(0) -> p (p) over barK(+/-) pi(inverted perpendicular), B-0 -> p (p) over barK(+) pi(inverted perpendicular) and B-0 -> p (p) over bar pi(+) pi(-) are observed with a significance greater than 5 standard deviations; evidence at 4.1 standard deviations is found for the B-0 -> p (p) over barK(+) K- decay and an upper limit is set on the branching fraction for B-s(0) -> p (p) over bar pi(+) pi(-). Branching fractions in the kinematic region m(p (p) over bar) < 2850 MeV/c(2) are measured relative to the B-0 -> J/psi(-> p<(p)over bar>) K* (892)(0) channel.

Abstract: We unify two widely different approaches to understanding the infrared behavior of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), one essentially phenomenological, based on data, and the other computational, realized via quantum field equations in the continuum theory. Using the latter, we explain and calculate a process-independent running coupling for QCD, a new type of effective charge that is an analogue of the Gell-Mann-Low effective coupling in quantum electrodynamics. The result is almost identical to the process-dependent effective charge defined via the Bjorken sum rule, which provides one of the most basic constraints on our knowledge of nucleon spin structure. This reveals the Bjorken sum to be a near direct means by which to gain empirical insight into QCD's Gell-Mann-Low effective charge.