Abstract: We present first evidence that the cosine of the CP-violating weak phase 2 beta is positive, and hence exclude trigonometric multifold solutions of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) Unitarity Triangle using a time-dependent Dalitz plot analysis of B-0 -> D-(*) h(0) with D -> K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) decays, where h(0) is an element of {pi(0), eta, omega} denotes a light unflavored and neutral hadron. The measurement is performed combining the final data sets of the BABAR and Belle experiments collected at the (sic)(4S) resonance at the asymmetric-energy B factories PEP-II at SLAC and KEKB at KEK, respectively. The data samples contain (471 +/- 3) x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs recorded by the BABAR detector and (772 +/- 11) x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs recorded by the Belle detector. The results of the measurement are sin 2 beta = 0.80 +/- 0.14 (stat) +/- 0.06 (syst) +/- 0.03 (model) and cos 2 beta = 0.91 +/- 0.22(stat) +/- 0.09 (syst) +/- 0.07(model). The result for the direct measurement of the angle beta of the CKM Unitarity Triangle is beta = [22.5 +/- 4.4 (stat) +/- 1.2 (syst) +/- 0.6(model)]degrees. The measurement assumes no direct CP violation in B-0 -> D-(*) h(0) decays. The quoted model uncertainties are due to the composition of the D-0 -> K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) decay amplitude model, which is newly established by performing a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis using a high-statistics e(+)e(-) -> c (c) over bar data sample. CP violation is observed in B-0 -> D-(*) h(0) decays at the level of 5.1 standard deviations. The significance for cos 2 beta > 0 is 3.7 standard deviations. The trigonometric multifold solution pi/2 – beta = (68.1 +/- 0.7)degrees is excluded at the level of 7.3 standard deviations. The measurement resolves an ambiguity in the determination of the apex of the CKM Unitarity Triangle.

Abstract: Charged-lepton flavor-violating processes are unobservable in the standard model, but they are predicted to be enhanced in several extensions to the standard model, including supersymmetry and models with leptoquarks or compositeness. We present a search for such processes in a sample of 99 x 10(6)Gamma(2S) decays and 117 x 10(6)Gamma(3S) decays collected with the BABAR detector. We place upper limits on the branching fractions B(Gamma(nS) --> e(+/-)tau(-/+)) and B(Gamma(n(S) --> mu(+/-)tau(-/+)) (n = 2, 3) at the 10(-6) level and use these results to place lower limits of order 1 TeV on the mass scale of charged-lepton flavor-violating effective operators.

Abstract: The Ni-63(n, gamma) cross section has been measured for the first time at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN from thermal neutron energies up to 200 keV. In total, capture kernels of 12 (new) resonances were determined. Maxwellian averaged cross sections were calculated for thermal energies from kT = 5-100 keV with uncertainties around 20%. Stellar model calculations for a 25M(circle dot) star show that the new data have a significant effect on the s-process production of Cu-63, Ni-64, and Zn-64 in massive stars, allowing stronger constraints on the Cu yields from explosive nucleosynthesis in the subsequent supernova.

Abstract: A search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decay B+ -> K+nu(nu) over bar is performed at the Belle II experiment at the SuperKEKB asymmetric energy electron-positron collider. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 63 fb(-1) collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance and a sample of 9 fb(-1) collected at an energy 60 MeV below the resonance. Because the measurable decay signature involves only a single charged kaon, a novel measurement approach is used that exploits not only the properties of the B+ -> K+nu(nu) over bar decay, but also the inclusive properties of the other B meson in the Upsilon(4S) -> B (B) over bar event, to suppress the background from other B meson decays and light-quark pair production. This inclusive tagging approach offers a higher signal efficiency compared to previous searches. No significant signal is observed. An upper limit on the branching fraction of B+ -> K+nu(nu) over bar of 4.1 x 10(-5) is set at the 90% confidence level.

Abstract: An approach is presented to experimentally constrain previously unreachable (p,gamma) reaction rates on nuclei far from stability in the astrophysical rp process. Energies of all critical resonances in the Cu-57(p,gamma)Zn-58 reaction are deduced by populating states in Zn-58 with a (d, n) reaction in inverse kinematics at 75 MeV/u, and detecting.-ray-recoil coincidences with the state-of-the-art gamma-ray tracking array GRETINA and the S800 spectrograph at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. The results reduce the uncertainty in the Cu-57(p,gamma) reaction rate by several orders of magnitude. The effective lifetime of Ni-56, an important waiting point in the rp process in x-ray bursts, can now be determined entirely from experimentally constrained reaction rates.