Abstract: The inclusive D-s(+/-) production asymmetry is measured in pp collisions collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of root s = 7 and 8 TeV. Promptly produced D-s(+/-) mesons are used, which decay as D-s(+/-) -> phi pi(+/-), with phi -> K+ K-. The measurement is performed in bins of transverse momentum, pT, and rapidity, y, covering the range 2.5 < pT < 25 : 0 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. No kinematic dependence is observed. Evidence of nonzero D-s(+/-) production asymmetry is found with a significance of 3.3 standard deviations.

Abstract: The MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nuclear-track detectors with surface area similar to 18 m(2), sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb(-1). No magnetic charge exceeding 0.5g(D) (where g(D) is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV <= m <= 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 6g(D), and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 4g(D). Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for vertical bar g vertical bar = 2g(D) and vertical bar g vertical bar = 3g(D) for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.

Abstract: The problems of neutrino masses, matter-antimatter asymmetry, and dark matter could be successfully addressed by postulating right-handed neutrinos with Majorana masses below the electroweak scale. In this work, leptonic decays of W bosons extracted from 32.9 fb(-1) to 36.1 fb(-1) of 13 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC are used to search for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) that are produced through mixing with muon or electron neutrinos. The search is conducted using the ATLAS detector in both prompt and displaced leptonic decay signatures. The prompt signature requires three leptons produced at the interaction point (either μμe or ee mu) with a veto on same-flavour opposite-charge topologies. The displaced signature comprises a prompt muon from the W boson decay and the requirement of a dilepton vertex (either μμor μe) displaced in the transverse plane by 4-300 mm from the interaction point. The search sets constraints on the HNL mixing to muon and electron neutrinos for HNL masses in the range 4.5-50 GeV.

Abstract: The production cross-sections of J/psi mesons in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 5TeV are measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.13 +/- 0.18 pb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment. The cross-sections are measured differentially as a function of transverse momentum, p(T), and rapidity, y, and separately for J/psi mesons produced promptly and from beauty hadron decays (nonprompt). With the assumption of unpolarised J/psi mesons, the production cross-sections integrated over the kinematic range 0 < p(T) < 20 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5 are sigma(prompt) J/psi = 8.154 +/- 0.010 +/- 0.283 μb, sigma(nonprompt) J/psi = 0.820 +/- 0.003 +/- 0.034 μb, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. These cross-sections are compared with those at root s = 8TeV and 13TeV, and are used to update the measurement of the nuclear modification factor in proton-lead collisions for J/psi mesons at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of root s(NN) = 5TeV. The results are compared with theoretical predictions.

Abstract: The production of a prompt photon in association with a Z boson is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy s = 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC from 2015 to 2018. The production cross-section for the process pp -> l(+)l(-)gamma + X (l = e, mu) is measured within a fiducial phase-space region defined by kinematic requirements on the photon and the leptons, and by isolation requirements on the photon. An experimental precision of 2.9% is achieved for the fiducial cross-section. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables characterising the l(+)l(-)gamma system. The data are compared with theoretical predictions based on next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. The impact of next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections is also considered.