LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2024). Measurement of Ξc+ production in pPb collisions at √sNN=8.16 TeV at LHCb. Phys. Rev. C, 109(4), 044901–14pp.
Abstract: A study of prompt Xi(+)(c) production in proton-lead collisions is performed with the LHCb experiment at a centerof-mass energy per nucleon pair of 8.16 TeV in 2016 in pPb and Pbp collisions with an estimated integrated luminosity of approximately 12.5 and 17.4 nb(-1), respectively. The Xi(+)(c) roduction cross section, as well as the Xi(+)(c) to Lambda(+)(c) production cross-section ratio, are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and rapidity and compared to the latest theory predictions. The forward-backward asymmetry is also measured as a function of the Xi(+)(c) ransverse momentum. The results provide strong constraints on theoretical calculation and are a unique input for hadronization studies in different collision systems.
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Alkofer, R., Llanes-Estrada, F. J., & Salas-Bernardez, A. (2024). Spinning pairs: Supporting 3P0 quark-pair creation from Landau-gauge Green's functions. Phys. Rev. D, 109(7), 074015–21pp.
Abstract: Abundant phenomenology suggests that strong decays from relatively low-excitation hadrons into other hadrons proceed by the creation of a light quark-antiquark pair with zero total angular momentum, the so called 3P0 mechanism originating from a scalar bilinear. Yet the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) interaction is perturbatively mediated by gluons of spin one, and QCD presents a chirally symmetric Lagrangian. Such scalar decay term must be spontaneously generated upon breaking chiral symmetry. We attempt to reproduce this with the help of the quark-gluon vertex in Landau gauge, whose nonperturbative structure has been reasonably elucidated in the last years, and insertions of a uniform, constant chromoelectric field. This is akin to Schwinger pair production in quantum electrodynamics (QED), and we provide a comparison with its two field-insertions diagram. We find that, the symmetry being cylindrical, the adequate quantum numbers to discuss the production are rather 3E0, 3E1, and 3110 as in diatomic molecules, and we indeed find a sizeable contribution of the third decay mechanism, which may give a rationale for the 3P0 phenomenology, as long as the momentum of the produced pair is at or below the scale of the bare or dynamically generated fermion mass. On the other hand, ultrarelativistic fermions are rather ejected with 3E1 quantum numbers. In QED, our results suggest that 3E0 dominates, whereas the constraint of producing a color singlet in QCD leads to 3110 dominance at sub-GeV momenta.
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Super-Kamiokande Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), & Molina Sedgwick, S. (2024). Solar neutrino measurements using the full data period of Super-Kamiokande-IV. Phys. Rev. D, 109(9), 092001–44pp.
Abstract: An analysis of solar neutrino data from the fourth phase of Super-Kamiokande (SK-IV) from October 2008 to May 2018 is performed and the results are presented. The observation time of the dataset of SK- IV corresponds to 2970 days and the total live time for all four phases is 5805 days. For more precise solar neutrino measurements, several improvements are applied in this analysis: lowering the data acquisition threshold in May 2015, further reduction of the spallation background using neutron clustering events, precise energy reconstruction considering the time variation of the PMT gain. The observed number of solar neutrino events in 3.49-19.49 MeV electron kinetic energy region during SK-IV is 65, 443(-388)(+390) (stat.) +/- 925(syst.) events. Corresponding B-8 solar neutrino flux is (2.314 +/- 0.014(stat.) +/- 0.040(syst.)) x 106 cm(-2) s(-1), assuming a pure electron-neutrino flavor component without neutrino oscillations. The flux combined with all SK phases up to SK-IV is (2.336 +/- 0.011(stat.) +/- 0.043(syst.)) x 106 cm(-2) s(-1). Based on the neutrino oscillation analysis from all solar experiments, including the SK 5805 days dataset, the best-fit neutrino oscillation parameters are sin(2)theta(12,solar) = 0.306 +/- 0.013 and Delta m(21,solar)(2) = (6.10(-0.81)(+0.95)) x 10(-5) eV(2), with a deviation of about 1.5 sigma from the Delta m(21)(2) parameter obtained by KamLAND. The best-fit neutrino oscillation parameters obtained from all solar experiments and KamLAND are sin(2)theta(12, global) = 0.307 +/- 0.012 and Delta m(21,) (2)(global) = (7.50(-0.18)(+0.19)) x 10(-5) eV(2).
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2023). First observation of the B+ → Ds+ Ds- K+ decay. Phys. Rev. D, 108(3), 034012–14pp.
Abstract: B+ -> D-s(+) D-s(-) K+ decay is observed for the first time using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb-1. Its branching fraction relative to that of the B+ -> D-s(+) D-s(-) K+ decay is measured to be B(B+ -> D-s(+) D-s(-) K+)/(KB+ -> D-s(+) D-s(-) K+) = 0.525 +/- 0.0333 +/- 0.027 +/- 0.034; where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second s D-s Kthornthorn systematic, and the third is due to the uncertainties on the branching fractions of the D-s(+/-) -> (KK +/-)-K--/+pi(+/-) and D-+/- -> K--/+pi(+/-)pi(+/-) decays. This measurement fills an experimental gap in the knowledge of the family of Cabibbo-favored (b) over bar -> (b) over barc (c) over bar transitions and opens the path for unique studies of spectroscopy in future.
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Gargalionis, J., Herrero-Garcia, J., & Schmidt, M. A. (2024). Model-independent estimates for loop-induced baryon-number-violating nucleon decays. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 182–52pp.
Abstract: Baryon number is an accidental symmetry of the Standard Model (SM) Lagrangian that so far has been measured to be exactly preserved, although it is expected to be violated at higher energies. In this work we compute order-of-magnitude estimates for the matching contributions of generic ultraviolet models to effective operators that generate nucleon decay processes. This is done in a systematic and automated way using operators constructed from SM fields up to dimension nine and working in a framework that has proved useful in the study of lepton-number violation. For each of the operators we derive estimates for the rates of different nucleon-decay channels. These allow us to establish model-independent lower bounds on the underlying new-physics scale and identify potential correlations between the various decay modes. The results are most relevant for families of models that generate the considered operator. This analysis is especially timely given the expected future sensitivities in numerous experiments such as Hyper-K, DUNE, JUNO and THEIA.
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Bas i Beneito, A., Gargalionis, J., Herrero-Garcia, J., Santamaria, A., & Schmidt, M. A. (2024). An EFT approach to baryon number violation: lower limits on the new physics scale and correlations between nucleon decay modes. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 004–37pp.
Abstract: Baryon number is an accidental symmetry of the Standard Model at the Lagrangian level. Its violation is arguably one of the most compelling phenomena predicted by physics beyond the Standard Model. Furthermore, there is a large experimental effort to search for it including the Hyper-K, DUNE, JUNO, and THEIA experiments. Therefore, an agnostic, model-independent, analysis of baryon number violation using the power of Effective Field Theory is very timely. In particular, in this work we study the contribution of dimension six and seven effective operators to |triangle(B – L)| = 0, 2 nucleon decays taking into account the effects of Renormalisation Group Evolution. We obtain lower limits on the energy scale of each operator and study the correlations between different decay modes. We find that for some operators the effect of running is very significant.
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Lessa, L. A., Maluf, R. V., Silva, J. E. G., & Almeida, C. A. S. (2024). Braneworlds in warped Einsteinian cubic gravity. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 123–25pp.
Abstract: Einstenian cubic gravity (ECG) is a modified theory of gravity constructed with cubic contractions of the curvature tensor. This theory has the remarkable feature of having the same two propagating degrees of freedom of Einstein gravity (EG), at the perturbative level on maximally symmetric spacetimes. The additional unstable modes steaming from the higher order derivative dynamics are suppressed provided that we consider the ECG as an effective field theory wherein the cubic terms are seen as perturbative corrections of the Einstein -Hilbert term. Extensions of ECG have been proposed in cosmology and compact objects in order to probe if this property holds in more general configurations. In this work, we construct a modified ECG gravity in a five dimensional warped braneworld scenario. By assuming a specific combination of the cubic parameters, we obtained modified gravity equations of motion with terms up to second -order. For a thin 3-brane, the cubic -gravity corrections yield an effective positive bulk cosmological constant. Thus, in order to keep the 5D bulk warped compact, an upper bound of the cubic parameter with respect to the bulk curvature was imposed. For a thick brane, the cubic -gravity terms modify the scalar field potential and its corresponding vacuum. Nonetheless, the domain -wall structure with a localized source is preserved. At the perturbative level, the Kaluza-Klein (KK) tensor gravitational modes are stable and possess a localized massless mode provided the cubic corrections are small compared to the EG braneworld.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aikot, A., Amos, K. R., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2024). Measurement of vector boson production cross sections and their ratios using pp collisions at √s=13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 854, 138725–27pp.
Abstract: Fiducial and total W+ and Z boson cross sections, their ratios and the ratio of top-antitop-quark pair and.. -boson fiducial cross sections are measured in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13.6 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 29 fb(-1) of data collected in 2022 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The measured fiducial cross-section values for W+ -> l(+) v, W- -> l(-) v- <overline>, and Z -> l(+)l(-) (l =e or mu) boson productions are 4250 +/- 150 pb, 3310 +/- 120 pb, and 744 +/- 20 pb, respectively, where the uncertainty is the total uncertainty, including that arising from the luminosity of about 2.2%. The measurements are in agreement with Standard-Model predictions calculated at next-to-next-to-leading-order in alpha(s) ,next-to-nextto-leading logarithmic accuracy and next-to-leading-order electroweak accuracy.
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Gorkavenko, V., Jashal, B. K., Kholoimov, V., Kyselov, Y., Mendoza, D., Ovchynnikov, M., et al. (2024). LHCb potential to discover long-lived new physics particles with lifetimes above 100 ps. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(6), 608–15pp.
Abstract: For years, it has been believed that the main LHC detectors can play only a limited role of a lifetime frontier experiment exploring the parameter space of long-lived particles (LLPs)-hypothetical particles with tiny couplings to the Standard Model. This paper demonstrates that the LHCb experiment may become a powerful lifetime frontier experiment if it uses the new Downstream algorithm reconstructing tracks that do not allow hits in the LHCb vertex tracker. In particular, for many LLP scenarios, LHCb may be as sensitive as the proposed experiments beyond the main LHC detectors for various LLP models, including heavy neutral leptons, dark scalars, dark photons, and axion-like particles.
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Agius, D., Essig, R., Gaggero, D., Scarcella, F., Suczewski, G., & Valli, M. (2024). Feedback in the dark: a critical examination of CMB bounds on primordial black holes. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 003–36pp.
Abstract: If present in the early universe, primordial black holes (PBHs) would have accreted matter and emitted high-energy photons, altering the statistical properties of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). This mechanism has been used to constrain the fraction of dark matter that is in the form of PBHs to be much smaller than unity for PBH masses well above one solar mass. Moreover, the presence of dense dark matter mini -halos around the PBHs has been used to set even more stringent constraints, as these would boost the accretion rates. In this work, we critically revisit CMB constraints on PBHs taking into account the role of the local ionization of the gas around them. We discuss how the local increase in temperature around PBHs can prevent the dark matter mini -halos from strongly enhancing the accretion process, in some cases significantly weakening previously derived CMB constraints. We explore in detail the key ingredients of the CMB bound and derive a conservative limit on the cosmological abundance of massive PBHs.
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