Abstract: The hints for a new resonance at 750 GeV from ATLAS and CMS have triggered a significant amount of attention. Since the simplest extensions of the standard model cannot accommodate the observation, many alternatives have been considered to explain the excess. Here we focus on several proposed renormalisable weakly-coupled models and revisit results given in the literature. We point out that physically important subtleties are often missed or neglected. To facilitate the study of the excess we have created a collection of 40 model files, selected from recent literature, for the Mathematica package SARAH. With SARAH one can generate files to perform numerical studies using the tailor-made spectrum generators FlexibleSUSY and SPheno. These have been extended to automatically include crucial higher order corrections to the diphoton and digluon decay rates for both CP-even and CP-odd scalars. Additionally, we have extended the UFO and CalcHep interfaces of SARAH, to pass the precise information about the effective vertices from the spectrum generator to a Monte-Carlo tool. Finally, as an example to demonstrate the power of the entire setup, we present a new supersymmetric model that accommodates the diphoton excess, explicitly demonstrating how a large width can be obtained. We explicitly show several steps in detail to elucidate the use of these public tools in the precision study of this model.

Abstract: In order to exploit the advantages of ion-beam therapy in a clinical setting, delivery verification techniques are necessary to detect deviations from the planned treatment. Efforts are currently oriented towards the development of devices for real-time range monitoring. Among the different detector concepts proposed, Compton cameras are employed to detect prompt gammas and represent a valid candidate for real-time range verification. We present the first on-beam test of MACACO, a Compton telescope (multi-layer Compton camera) based on lanthanum bromide crystals and silicon photo-multipliers. The Compton telescope was first characterized through measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. The detector linearity was measured employing Na-22 and Am-Be sources, obtaining about 10% deviation from linearity at 3.44 MeV. A spectral image reconstruction algorithm was tested on synthetic data. Point-like sources emitting gamma rays with energy between 2 and 7 MeV were reconstructed with 3-5 mm resolution. The two-layer Compton telescope was employed to measure radiation emitted from a beam of 150 MeV protons impinging on a cylindrical PMMA target. Bragg-peak shifts were achieved via adjustment of the PMMA target location and the resulting measurements used during image reconstruction. Reconstructed Bragg peak profiles proved sufficient to observe peak-location differences within 10 mm demonstrating the potential of the MACACO Compton Telescope as a monitoring device for ion-beam therapy.

Abstract: Simulation results for future measurements of electromagnetic proton form factors at PANDA (FAIR) within the PandaRoot software framework are reported. The statistical precision with which the proton form factors can be determined is estimated. The signal channel (p) over barp -> e(+)e(-) is studied on the basis of two different but consistent procedures. The suppression of the main background channel, i.e. (p) over barp -> pi(+)pi(-), is studied. Furthermore, the background versus signal efficiency, statistical and systematical uncertainties on the extracted proton form factors are evaluated using two different procedures. The results are consistent with those of a previous simulation study using an older, simplified framework. However, a slightly better precision is achieved in the PandaRoot study in a large range of momentum transfer, assuming the nominal beam conditions and detector performance.

Abstract: We critically examine recent claims of a high solar metallicity by von Steiger & Zurbuchen (2016, vSZ16) based onin situ measurements of the solar wind, rather than the standard spectroscopically inferred abundances (Asplund et al. 2009, hereafter AGSS09). We test the claim by Vagnozzi et al. (2016) that a composition based on the solar wind enables one to construct a standard solar model in agreement with helioseismological observations and thus solve the decades-old solar modelling problem. We show that, although some helioseismological observables are improved compared to models computed with spectroscopic abundances, most are in fact worse. The high abundance of refractory elements leads to an overproduction of neutrinos, with a predicted B-8 flux that is nearly twice its observed value, and Be-7 and CNO fluxes that are experimentally ruled out at high confidence. A combined likelihood analysis shows that models using the vSZ16 abundances are worse than AGSS09 despite a higher metallicity. We also present astrophysical and spectroscopic arguments showing the vSZ16 composition to be an implausible representation of the solar interior, identifying the first ionization potential effect in the outer solar atmosphere and wind as the likely culprit.

Abstract: We extend the four-dimensional unsubtraction method, which is based on the loop-tree duality (LTD), to deal with processes involving heavy particles. The method allows to perform the summation over degenerate IR configurations directly at integrand level in such a way that NLO corrections can be implemented directly in four space-time dimensions. We define a general momentum mapping between the real and virtual kinematics that accounts properly for the quasi-collinear configurations, and leads to an smooth massless limit. We illustrate the method first with a scalar toy example, and then analyse the case of the decay of a scalar or vector boson into a pair of massive quarks. The results presented in this paper are suitable for the application of the method to any multipartonic process.