Abstract: The measured branching fractions of B-mesons into leptonic final states derived by the LHCb, Belle and BaBar collaborations hint towards the breakdown of lepton flavour universality. In this work we take at face value the so-called R-D(()*()) observables that are defined as the ratios of neutral B-meson charged-current decays into a D-(*())-meson, a charged lepton and a neutrino final state in the tau and light lepton channels. A well-studied and simple solution to this charged current anomaly is to introduce a scalar leptoquark S-1 that couples to the second and third generation of fermions. We investigate how S-1 can also serve as a mediator between the Standard Model and a dark sector. We study this scenario in detail and estimate the constraints arising from collider searches for leptoquarks, collider searches for missing energy signals, direct detection experiments and the dark matter relic abundance. We stress that the production of a pair of leptoquarks that decays into different final states (i.e. the commonly called “mixed” channels) provides critical information for identifying the underlying dynamics, and we exemplify this by studying the t tau b nu and the resonant S-1 plus missing energy channels. We find that direct detection data provides non-negligible constraints on the leptoquark coupling to the dark sector, which in turn affects the relic abundance. We also show that the correct relic abundance can not only arise via standard freeze-out, but also through conversion-driven freeze-out. We illustrate the rich phenomenology of the model with a few selected benchmark points, providing a broad stroke of the interesting connection between lepton flavour universality violation and dark matter.

Abstract: The main aim of the ESSSB proposal is the discovery of the leptonic CP phase (CP) with a high significance (5 sigma for 50% values of (CP)) by utilizing the physics at the second oscillation maxima of the P-e channel. It can achieve 3 sigma sensitivity to hierarchy for all values of (CP). In this work, we concentrate on the hierarchy and octant sensitivity of the ESSSB experiment. We show that combining the ESSSB experiment with the atmospheric neutrino data from the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) experiment can result in an increased sensitivity to mass hierarchy. In addition, we also combine the results from the ongoing experiments T2K and NOa assuming their full run-time and present the combined sensitivity of ESSSB + ICAL@INO + T2K + NOA. We show that while by itself ESSSB can have up to 3 sigma hierarchy sensitivity, the combination of all the experiments can give up to 5 sigma sensitivity depending on the true hierarchy-octant combination. The octant sensitivity of ESSSB is low by itself. However the combined sensitivity of all the above experiments can give up to 3 sigma sensitivity depending on the choice of true hierarchy and octant. We discuss the various degeneracies and the synergies that lead to the enhanced sensitivity when combining different experimental data.

Abstract: The LHC is the perfect environment for the study of new physics in the top quark sector. We study the possibility of detecting signals of heavy color-octet vector resonances, through the charge asymmetry, in t (t) over bar + jet events. Besides contributions with the t (t) over bar pair in a color-singlet state, the asymmetry gets also contributions which are proportional to the color factor f(abc)(2). This process is particularly interesting for extra-dimensional models, where the inclusive charge asymmetry generated by Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gluon vanishes at the tree level. We find that the statistical significance for the measurement of such an asymmetry is sizable for different values of the coupling constants and already at low energies.

Abstract: The known isospin-breaking contributions to the K -> pi pi amplitudes are reanalyzed, taking into account our current understanding of the quark masses and the relevant non-perturbative inputs. We present a complete numerical reappraisal of the direct CP-violating ratio is an element of(')/is an element of, where these corrections play a quite significant role. We obtain the Standard Model prediction Re (is an element of(')/is an element of) = (14 +/- 5) <bold> </bold>10(-4), which is in very good agreement with the measured ratio. The uncertainty, which has been estimated conservatively, is dominated by our current ignorance about 1/N-C-suppressed contributions to some relevant chiral-perturbation-theory low-energy constants.

Abstract: The Υ(1 S) invariant-mass distribution is investigated for a possible exotic meson state composed of two b quarks and two b quarks, X bbbb. The analysis is based on a data sample of pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.3 fb. No signi fi cant excess is found, and upper limits are set on the product of the production cross-section and the branching fraction as functions of the mass of the X bbbb state. The limits are set in the fi ducial volume where all muons have pseudorapidity in the range [2 : 0; 5 : 0], and the X bbbb state has rapidity in the range [2 : 0; 4 : 5] and transverse momentum less than 15 GeV/c.