Abstract: First observations and measurements of the branching fractions of the (B) over bar (0)(s) -> D+D-, (B) over bar (0)(s) -> Ds+D- and (B) over bar (0)(s) -> D-0(D) over bar (0) decays are presented using 1.0 fb(-1) of data collected by the LHCb experiment. These branching fractions are normalized to those of (B) over bar (0) -> D+D-, B-0 -> D-Ds+ and B- -> (DDs-)-D-0, respectively. An excess of events consistent with the decay (B) over bar (0) -> D-0(D) over bar (0) is also seen, and its branching fraction is measured relative to that of B- -> D0Ds-. Improved measurements of the branching fractions B((B) over bar (0)(s) -> Ds+Ds-) and B(B- -> (DDs-)-D-0) are reported, each relative to B(B-0 -> D-Ds+). The ratios of branching fractions are B((B) over bar (0)(s) -> D+D-)/B((B) over bar (0) -> D+D-) = 1.08 +/- 0.20 +/- 0.10, B((B) over bar (0)(s) -> Ds+D-)/B(B-0 -> D-Ds+) = 0.050 +/- 0.008 +/- 0.004, B((B) over bar (0)(s) -> D-0(D) over bar (0))/B((B) over bar (-) -> (DDs-)-D-0) = 0.019 +/- 0.003 +/- 0.003, B((B) over bar (0) -> D-0(D) over bar (0))/B(B- -> (DDs-)-D-0) < 0.0024 at 90% CL, B(<(B)over bar>(0)(s) -> D-s(+)(D) over bar (-)(s))/B(B-0 -> D-Ds+) = 0.56 +/- 0.03 +/- 0.04, B(B -> (DDs)-D-0)/B(B-0 -> D-Ds+) = 1.22 +/- 0.02 +/- 0.07, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.

Abstract: Generally, the dynamics of test particles around galaxies, as well as the corresponding mass deficit, is explained by postulating the existence of a hypothetical dark matter. In fact, the behavior of the rotation curves shows the existence of a constant velocity region, near the baryonic matter distribution, followed by a quick decay at large distances. In this work, we consider the possibility that the behavior of the rotational velocities of test particles gravitating around galaxies can be explained within the framework of the recently proposed hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational theory. The latter is constructed by modifying the metric Einstein-Hilbert action with an f(R) term in the Palatini formalism. It was shown that the theory unifies local constraints and the late-time cosmic acceleration, even if the scalar field is very light. In the intermediate galactic scale, we show explicitly that in the hybrid metric-Palatini model the tangential velocity can be explicitly obtained as a function of the scalar field of the equivalent scalar-tensor description. The model predictions are compared model with a small sample of rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies, respectively, and a good agreement between the theoretical rotation Curves and the observational data is found. The possibility of constraining the form of the scalar field and the parameters of the model by using the stellar velocity dispersions is also analyzed. Furthermore, the Doppler velocity shifts are also obtained in terms of the scalar field. All the physical and geometrical quantities and the numerical parameters in the hybrid metric-Palatini model can be expressed in terms of observable/measurable parameters, such as the tangential velocity, the baryonic mass of the galaxy, the Doppler frequency shifts, and the stellar dispersion velocity, respectively. Therefore, the obtained results open the possibility of testing the hybrid metric-Palatini gravitational models at the galactic or extra-galactic scale by using direct astronomical and astrophysical observations.

Abstract: Hadron therapy exploits the properties of ion beams to treat tumors by maximizing the dose released to the target and sparing healthy tissue. With hadron beams, the dose distribution shows a relatively low entrance dose which rises sharply at the end of the range, providing the characteristic Bragg peak that drops quickly thereafter. It is of critical importance in order not to damage surrounding healthy tissues and/or avoid targeting underdosage to know where the delivered dose profile ends-the location of the Bragg peak. During hadron therapy, short-lived beta(+)-emitters are produced along the beam path, their distribution being correlated with the delivered dose. Following positron annihilation, two photons are emitted, which can be detected using a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner. The low yield of emitters, their short half-life, and the wash out from the target region make the use of PET, even only a few minutes after hadron irradiation, a challenging application. In-beam PET represents a potential candidate to estimate the distribution of beta(+)-emitters during or immediately after irradiation, at the cost of truncation effects and degraded image quality due to the partial rings required of the PET scanner. Time-of-flight (ToF) information can potentially be used to compensate for truncation effects and to enhance image contrast. However, the highly demanding timing performance required in ToF-PET makes this option costly. Alternatively, the use of maximum-a-posteriori-expectation-maximization (MAP-EM), including total variation (TV) in the cost function, produces images with low noise, while preserving spatial resolution. In this paper, we compare data reconstructed with maximum-likelihood-expectation-maximization (ML-EM) and MAP-EM using TV as prior, and the impact of including ToF information, from data acquired with a complete and a partial-ring PET scanner, of simulated hadron beams interacting with a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) target. The results show that MAP-EM, in the absence of ToF information, produces lower noise images and more similar data compared to the simulated beta(+) distributions than ML-EM with ToF information in the order of 200-600 ps. The investigation is extended to the combination of MAP-EM and ToF information to study the limit of performance using both approaches.