Abstract: We investigate the potential of using deep learning techniques to reject background events in searches for neutrinoless double beta decay with high pressure xenon time projection chambers capable of detailed track reconstruction. The differences in the topological signatures of background and signal events can be learned by deep neural networks via training over many thousands of events. These networks can then be used to classify further events as signal or background, providing an additional background rejection factor at an acceptable loss of efficiency. The networks trained in this study performed better than previous methods developed based on the use of the same topological signatures by a factor of 1.2 to 1.6, and there is potential for further improvement.

Abstract: We investigate the possibility that right-handed (RH) sneutrinos and gravitinos can coexist and explain the dark matter (DM) problem. We compare extensions of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and the next-to-MSSM (NMSSM) adding RH neutrinos superfields, with special emphasis on the latter. If the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and the RH sneutrino the next-to-LSP (NLSP), the heavier particle decays to the former plus left-handed (LH) neutrinos through the mixing between the scalar partners of the LH and RH neutrinos. However, the interaction is suppressed by the Planck mass, and if the LH-RH sneutrino mixing parameter is small, << O(10-2), a long-lived RH sneutrino NLSP is possible even surpassing the age of the Universe. As a byproduct, the NLSP to LSP decay produces monochromatic neutrinos in the ballpark of current and planned neutrino telescopes like Super-Kamiokande, IceCube and Antares that we use to set constraints and show prospects of detection. In the NMSSM+RHN, assuming a gluino mass parameter M3 = 3 TeV we found the following lower limits for the gravitino mass m3/2 >= 1-600 GeV and the reheating temperature TR >= 105-3 x 107 GeV, for m nu similar to R similar to 10-800 GeV. If we take M3 = 10 TeV, then the limits on TR are relaxed by one order of magnitude.

Abstract: We investigate the possibility of probing the hot and dense nuclear matter-created in relativistic heavyion collisions (HICs)-with strange vector mesons (K*, (K) over bar*). Our analysis is based on the nonequilibrium parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD) transport approach which incorporates partonic and hadronic degrees of freedom and describes the full dynamics of HIC on a microscopic level-starting from the primary nucleon-nucleon collisions to the formation of the strongly interacting quark gluon plasma (QGP), followed by dynamical hadronization of (anti)quarks as well as final hadronic elastic and inelastic interactions. This allows us to study the K* and (K) over bar* meson formation from the QGP as well as the in-medium effects related to the modification of their spectral properties during the propagation through the dense and hot hadronic environment in the expansion phase. We employ relativistic Breit-Wigner spectral functions for the K*, (K) over bar* mesons with self-energies obtained from a self-consistent coupled-channel G-matrix approach to study the role of in-medium effects on the K* and (K) over bar* meson dynamics in heavy-ion collisions from FAIR/NICA to LHC energies. According to our analysis most of the final K* /(K) over bar*'s, that can be observed experimentally by reconstruction of the invariant mass of pi + K((K) over bar) pairs, are produced during the late hadronic phase and originate dominantly from the K((K) over bar) + pi -> K*( (K) over bar*) formation channel. The amount of K*/ (K) over bar*'s, originating from the QGP channel is comparatively small even at LHC energies and those K* /(K) over bar*'s can hardly be reconstructed experimentally due to the rescattering of final pions and (anti)kaons. This mirrors the results from our previous study on the strange vector-meson production in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC energies. We demonstrate that K* /(K) over bar* in-medium effects should be visible at FAIR/NICA and BES RHIC energies, where the production of K* /(K) over bar*'s occurs at larger net-baryon densities. Finally, we present the experimental procedures to extract the information on the resonance masses and widths by fitting the final mass spectra at LHC energies.

Abstract: We investigate the J/psi phi invariant mass distribution in the e(+)e(-) -> gamma J/psi phi reaction at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 4.6 GeV measured by the BESIII collaboration, which concluded that no significant signals were observed for e(+)e(-) -> gamma J/psi phi because of the low statistics. We show, however, that the J/psi phi invariant mass distribution is compatible with the existence of the X(4140) state, appearing as a peak, and a strong cusp structure at the D-s*(D) over bar (s)* threshold, resulting from the molecular nature of the X(4160) state, which provides a substantial contribution to the reaction. This is consistent with our previous analysis of the B+ -> J psi phi K+ decay measured by the LHCb collaboration. We strongly suggest further measurements of this process with more statistics to clarify the nature of the X(4140) and X(4160) resonances.

Abstract: We investigate the constraints on the leptoquark Yukawa couplings and the Higgs-leptoquark quartic couplings for scalar doublet leptoquark (R) over tilde (2), scalar triplet leptoquark S-3 and their combination with both three generations and one generation with respect to perturbative unitarity and vacuum stability. The perturbative unitarity of all the dimensionless couplings is studied via one- and two-loop beta functions. New SU(2)(L) multiplets in terms of these leptoquarks are introduced to fabricate Landau poles at the two-loop level in the gauge coupling g(2) at 10(19.7) GeV and 10(14.4) GeV, respectively, for the S-3 and (R) over tilde (2) + S-3 models with three generations. However, such Landau poles cease to exist for (R) over tilde (2) and any of these extensions with both one and two generations up to Planck scale. The Higgs-leptoquark quartic couplings acquire severe constraints to protect Planck scale perturbativity, whereas leptoquark Yukawa couplings acquire some upper bound in order to respect Planck scale stability of Higgs vacuum. The Higgs quartic coupling at the two-loop level constrains the leptoquark Yukawa couplings for (R) over tilde (2), S-3, (R) over tilde (2) + S-3 with values less than or similar to 1.30, 3.90, 1.00 with three generations. In the effective potential approach, the presence of any of these leptoquarks with any number of generations pushes the metastable vacuum of the Standard Model to the stable region.