Abstract: General relativity yields an analytical prediction of a minimum required mass of roughly similar to 0.08-0.09 M-circle dot for a star to stably burn sufficient hydrogen to fully compensate photospheric losses and, therefore, to belong to the main sequence. Those objects below this threshold ( brown dwarfs) eventually cool down without any chance to stabilize their internal temperature. In this work we consider quadratic Palatini f(R) gravity and show that the corresponding Newtonian hydrostatic equilibrium equation contains a new term whose effect is to introduce a weakening/strengthening of the gravitational interaction inside astrophysical bodies. This fact modifies the general relativity prediction for this minimum main sequence mass. Through a crude analytical modeling we use this result in order to constraint a combination of the quadratic f(R) gravity parameter and the central density according to astrophysical observations.

Abstract: Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions starting from the T-z = +2 nucleus Zn-64 to the T-z = +1 nucleus Ga-64 were studied in a (p, n)-type (He-3,t) charge-exchange reaction at a beam energy of 140 MeV/nucleon and scattering angles close to 0 degrees. Here, T-z is the z component of the isospin T. The experiment was conducted at the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP) in Osaka, Japan. An energy resolution of approximate to 34 keV was achieved by applying beam matching techniques to the Grand Raiden magnetic spectrometer system. With our good resolution, we could observe GT strength fragmented in many states up to an excitation energy of approximate to 11 MeV. By performing angular distribution analysis, we could identify states in Ga-64 excited by GT transitions. The reduced GT transition strengths [B(GT)values] were calculated assuming the proportionality between the cross sections and the B(GT)values. Shell-model calculations using the GXPF1J interaction reproduced the B(GT)strength distribution throughout the spectrum. States with isospin T = 3 were identified by comparing the Zn-64(He-3,t)Ga-64 spectrum with a Zn-64(d, He-2)Cu-64 spectrum. Relative excitation energies of the corresponding structures are in good agreement, supporting the robustness of isospin symmetry in the mass number A = 64 nuclei.

Abstract: For the Phase-II Upgrade of the ATLAS detector at CERN, the current ATLAS Inner Detector will be replaced with the ATLAS Inner Tracker (ITk). The ITk will be an all-silicon detector, consisting of a pixel tracker and a strip tracker. Sensors for the ITk strip tracker are required to have a low leakage current up to bias voltages of 500V to maintain a low noise and power dissipation. In order to minimise sensor leakage currents, particularly in the high-radiation environment inside the ATLAS detector, sensors are foreseen to be operated at low temperatures and to be manufactured from wafers with a high bulk resistivity of several k Omega.cm. Simulations showed the electric field inside sensors with high bulk resistivity to extend towards the sensor edge, which could lead to increased surface currents for narrow dicing edges. In order to map the electric field inside biased silicon sensors with high bulk resistivity, three diodes from ATLAS silicon strip sensor prototype wafers were studied with a monochromatic, micro-focused X-ray beam at the Diamond Light Source (Didcot, U.K.). For all devices under investigation, the electric field inside the diode was mapped and its dependence on the applied bias voltage was studied.

Abstract: Even mass neutron-rich niobium isotopes are among the principal contributors to the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. They are also among the most challenging to measure due to the refractory nature of niobium, and because they exhibit isomeric states lying very close in energy. The beta-intensity distributions of Nb-100gs,Nb-100m and Nb-102gs,Nb-02m beta decays have been determined using the total absorption.-ray spectroscopy technique. The measurements were performed at the upgraded Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility at the University of Jyvaskyla. Here, the double Penning trap system JYFLTRAP was employed to disentangle the beta decay of the isomeric states. The new data obtained in this challenging measurement have a large impact in antineutrino summation calculations. For the first time the discrepancy between the summation model and the reactor antineutrino measurements in the region of the shape distortion has been reduced.

Abstract: Decays of B-s(0) and (B) over bar (0)(s) mesons into J/psi pi(+)pi(-) final states are studied in a data sample corresponding to 1.9 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector in 13 TeV pp collisions. A time-dependent amplitude analysis is used to determine the final-state resonance contributions, the CP-violating phase phi(s) = -0.057 +/- 0.060 +/- 0.011 rad, the decay-width difference between the heavier mass B-s(0) eigenstate and the B-0 meson of -0.050 +/- 0.004 +/- 0.004 ps(-1), and the CP-violating parameter vertical bar lambda vertical bar = 1.01(-0.06)(+0.08) +/- 0.03, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. These results are combined with previous LHCb measurements in the same decay channel using 7 TeV and 8 TeV pp collisions obtaining phi(s) = 0.002 +/- 0.044 +/- 0.012 rad, and vertical bar lambda vertical bar = 0.949 +/- 0.036 +/- 0.019.