Abstract: The beta decay of the odd-odd nucleus Br-70 has been investigated with the BigRIPS and EURICA setups at the Radioactive Ion Beam Factory (RIBF) of the RIKEN Nishina Center. The T = 0(J(pi) = 9(+)) and T = 1(J(pi) = 0(+)) isomers have both been produced in in-flight fragmentation of Kr-78 with ratios of 41.6(8)% and 58.4(8)%, respectively. A half-life of t(1/2) = 2157(-49)(+53) ms has been measured for the J pi = 9(+) isomer from gamma-ray time decay analysis. Based on this result, we provide a new value of the half-life for the J pi = 0(+) ground state of Br-70, t(1/2) = 78.42 +/- 0.51 ms, which is slightly more precise, and in excellent agreement, with the best measurement reported hitherto in the literature. For this decay, we provide the first estimate of the total branching fraction decaying through the 2(1)(+) state in the daughter nucleus Se-70, R(2(1)(+)) = 1.3 +/- 1.1%. We also report four new low-intensity gamma-ray transitions at 661, 1103, 1561, and 1749 keV following the beta decay of the J pi = 9(+) isomer. Based on their coincidence relationships, we tentatively propose two new excited states at 3945 and 4752 keV in 70Se with most probable spins and parities of J(pi) = (6(+)) and (8(+)), respectively. The observed structure is interpreted with the help of shell-model calculations, which predict a complex interplay between oblate and prolate configurations at low excitation energies.

Abstract: Current measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) seem to indicate that the naive expectation for the slow-roll hierarchy within the most simple inflationary paradigm may not be respected in nature. We show that a primordial power spectrum with localized features could in principle give rise to the observed slow-roll anarchy when fitted to a featureless power spectrum. From a model comparison perspective, and assuming that nature has chosen a featureless primordial power spectrum, we find that, while with mock Planck data there is only weak evidence against a model with localized features, upcoming CMB missions may provide compelling evidence against such a nonstandard primordial power spectrum. This evidence could be reinforced if a featureless primordial power spectrum is independently confirmed from bispectrum and/or galaxy clustering measurements.

Abstract: The baryon electromagnetic form factors are expressed in terms of two-dimensional densities describing the distribution of charge and magnetization in transverse space at fixed light-front time. We calculate the transverse densities of the spin-1/2 flavor-octet baryons at peripheral distances b = O(M-pi(-1)) using methods of relativistic chiral effective field theory (chi EFT) and dispersion analysis. The densities are represented as dispersive integrals over the imaginary parts of the form factors in the timelike region (spectral functions). The isovector spectral functions on the two-pion cut t > 4 M-pi(2) are calculated using relativistic chi EFT including octet and decuplet baryons. The chi EFT calculations are extended into the rho meson mass region using an N / D method that incorporates the pion electromagnetic form factor data. The isoscalar spectral functions are modeled by vector meson poles. We compute the peripheral charge and magnetization densities in the octet baryon states, estimate the uncertainties, and determine the quark flavor decomposition. The approach can be extended to baryon form factors of other operators and the moments of generalized parton distributions.

Abstract: We present the results of an updated fit of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data in the framework of 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing. We first consider v(e) and (v) over bar (e) disappearance in the light of the Gallium and reactor anomalies. We discuss the implications of the recent measurement of the reactor (v) over bar (e) spectrum in the NEOS experiment, which shifts the allowed regions of the parameter space towards smaller values of |U-e1|(2). The beta-decay constraints of the Mainz and Troitsk experiments allow us to limit the oscillation length between about 2 cm and 7 m at 3 sigma for neutrinos with an energy of 1 MeV. The corresponding oscillations can be discovered in a model-independent way in ongoing reactor and source experiments by measuring v(e) and (v) over bar (e), disappearance as a function of distance. We then consider the global fit of the data on short-baseline v(mu)((-)) -> v(e)((-)) transitions in the light of the LSND anomaly, taking into account the constraints from v(e)(( )) and v(mu)((-)) disappearance experiments, including the recent data of the MINOS and IceCube experiments. The combination of the NEOS constraints on |U-e4|(2) and the MINOS and IceCube constraints on |U-mu 4|(2) lead to an unacceptable appearance-disappearance tension which becomes tolerable only in a pragmatic fit which neglects the MiniBooNE low-energy anomaly. The minimization of the global chi(2) in the space of the four mixing parameters Delta m(41)(2), |U-e4|(2), |U-mu 4|(2) and |U-4 tau|(2) leads to three allowed regions with narrow Delta m(41)(2) widths at Delta m(41)(2) approximate to 1.7 (best-fit), 1.3 (at 2 sigma), 2.4 (at 3 sigma) eV(2). The effective amplitude of short-baseline v(mu)((-)) -> v(e)((-)) oscillations is limited by 0.00048 less than or similar to sin(2) 2 nu(e mu) less than or similar to 0.0020 at 3 sigma The restrictions of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with respect to our previous global fits are mainly due to the NEOS constraints. We present a comparison of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with the sensitivities of ongoing experiments, which show that it is likely that these experiments will determine in a definitive way if the reactor, Gallium and LSND anomalies are due to active-sterile neutrino oscillations or not.

Abstract: Here we present the experimental activities carried out at ISOLDE with the total absorption spectrometer Lucrecia, a large 4 pi scintillator detector designed to absorb a full gamma cascade following beta decay. This spectrometer is designed to measure beta-feeding to excited states without the systematic error called Pandemonium. The set up allows the measurement of decays of very short half life. Experimental results from several campaigns, that focus on the determination of the shapes of beta-decaying nuclei by measuring their beta decay strength distributions as a function of excitation energy in the daughter nucleus, are presented.