Abstract: The production of Xi(++)(cc) baryons in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 Tev is measured in the transverse-momentum range 4 < p(T) < 15 GeV/c and the rapidity range 2.0 < y < 4.5. The data used in this measurement correspond to an integrated luminosity of 1.7 fb(-1), recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2016. The ratio of the Xi(++)(cc) production cross-section times the branching fraction of the Xi(++)(cc) -> Lambda K-+(c)-pi(+)pi(+) decay relative to the prompt Lambda(+)(c) production cross-section is found to be (2.22 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.29) x 10(-4), assuming the central value of the measured Xi(++)(cc) lifetime, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.

Abstract: The linear seesaw mechanism provides a simple way to generate neutrino masses. In addition to Standard Model particles, it includes quasi-Dirac leptons as neutrino mass mediators, and a leptophilic scalar doublet seeding small neutrino masses. Here we review its associated physics, including restrictions from theory and phenomenology. The model yields potentially detectable μ-> e gamma rates as well as distinctive signatures in the production and decay of heavy neutrinos ( N-i) and the charged Higgs boson (H-+/-) arising from the second scalar doublet. We have found that production processes such as e(+) e(-) -> NN, e- gamma -> NH- and e(+) e(-) -> H (+) H- followed by the decay chain H-+/--> l(+/-) (i) N, N -> l`(+/-) (j) W (-/+) leads to striking lepton number violation signatures at high energies which may probe the Majorana nature of neutrinos.

Abstract: Stringent constraints on the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model suggest that dark matter does not take part in gauge interactions. In this regard, the possibility of communicating between the visible and dark sectors via gauge singlets seems rather natural. We consider a framework where the dark matter talks to the Standard Model through its coupling to sterile neutrinos, which generate active neutrino masses. We focus on the case of Majorana dark matter, with its relic abundance set by thermal freeze-out through annihilations into sterile neutrinos. We use an effective field theory approach to study the possible sterile neutrino portals to dark matter. We find that both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating operators are possible, yielding an interesting connection with the Dirac/Majorana character of active neutrinos. In a second step, we open the different operators and outline the possible renormalisable models. We analyse the phenomenology of the most promising ones, including a particular case in which the Majorana mass of the sterile neutrinos is generated radiatively.