Abstract: A prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope has been installed at 3500m depth 80 km offshore the Italian coast. KM3NeT in its final configuration will contain several hundreds of detection units. Each detection unit is a mechanical structure anchored to the sea floor, held vertical by a submerged buoy and supporting optical modules for the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by charged secondary particles emerging from neutrino interactions. This prototype string implements three optical modules with 31 photomultiplier tubes each. These optical modules were developed by the KM3NeT Collaboration to enhance the detection capability of neutrino interactions. The prototype detection unit was operated since its deployment in May 2014 until its decommissioning in July 2015. Reconstruction of the particle trajectories from the data requires a nanosecond accuracy in the time calibration. A procedure for relative time calibration of the photomultiplier tubes contained in each optical module is described. This procedure is based on the measured coincidences produced in the sea by the K background light and can easily be expanded to a detector with several thousands of optical modules. The time offsets between the different optical modules are obtained using LED nanobeacons mounted inside them. A set of data corresponding to 600 h of livetime was analysed. The results show good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the expected optical background and the signal from atmospheric muons. An almost background-free sample of muons was selected by filtering the time correlated signals on all the three optical modules. The zenith angle of the selected muons was reconstructed with a precision of about 3 degrees.

Abstract: In contemporary nuclear physics, the European Advanced GAmma Tracking Array (AGATA) represents a crucial detection system for cutting-edge nuclear structure studies. AGATA consists of highly segmented high-purity germanium crystals and uses the pulse-shape analysis technique to determine both the position and the energy of the y-ray interaction points in the crystals. It is the tracking algorithms that deploy this information and enable insight into the sequence of interactions, providing information on the full or partial absorption of the 7 ray. A series of dedicated performance measurements for an AGATA set-up comprising 21 crystals is described. This set-up was used within the recent PreSPEC-AGATA experimental campaign at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung. Using the radioactive sources Co-56, Co-60 and Eu-152, absolute and normalized efficiencies and the peak-to-total of the array were measured. These quantities are discussed using different data analysis procedures. The quality of the pulse-shape analysis and the tracking algorithm are evaluated. The agreement between the experimental data and the Geant4 simulations is also investigated.

Abstract: Little Higgs models are promising constructs to solve the hierarchy problem affecting the Higgs boson mass for generic new physics. However, their preservation of lepton universality forbids them to account for the H -> tau μCMS hint and at the same time respect (as they do) the severe limits on H -> μe inherited from the nonobservation of μ-> e gamma We compute the predictions of the simplest little Higgs model for the H -> ll' decays and conclude that the measurement of any of these decays at LHC (even with a much smaller rate than currently hinted) would, under reasonable assumptions, disfavor this model. This result is consistent with our earlier observation of very suppressed lepton flavor violating semileptonic tau decays within this model.

Abstract: The Dalitz plot analysis technique is used to study the resonant substructures of B- -> D+pi(-)pi(-) decays in a data sample corresponding to 3.0 fb(-1) of pp collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. A model-independent analysis of the angular moments demonstrates the presence of resonances with spins 1, 2 and 3 at high D+pi(-) mass. The data are fitted with an amplitude model composed of a quasi-model-independent function to describe the D+pi(-) S wave together with virtual contributions from the D*(2007)(0) and B*(0) states, and components corresponding to the D-2*(2460)(0), D-1*(2680)(0), D-3*(2760)(0) and D-2*(3000)(0) resonances. The masses and widths of these resonances are determined together with the branching fractions for their production in B- -> D+pi(-)pi(-) decays. The D+pi(-) S wave has phase motion consistent with that expected due to the presence of the D-0*(2400)(0) state. These results constitute the first observations of the D-3*(2760)(0) and D-2*(3000)(0) resonances, with significances of 10 sigma and 6.6 sigma, respectively.

Abstract: A measurement of the cross-section for W -> e nu production in pp collisions is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV. The electrons are required to have more than 20 GeV of transverse momentum and to lie between 2.00 and 4.25 in pseudorapidity. The inclusive W production cross-sections, where the W decays to e nu, are measured to be W-sigma(+)-> e(+)nu(e)= 1124.4 +/- 2.1 +/- 21.5 +/- 11.2 +/- 13.0 pb, W-sigma(-)-> e(-)(nu) over bar (e) = 809.0 +/- 1.9 +/- 18.1 +/- 7.0 +/- 9.4 pb, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, the third are due to the knowledge of the LHC beam energy and the fourth are due to the luminosity determination. Differential cross-sections as a function of the electron pseudorapidity are measured. The W+/W- cross-section ratio and production charge asymmetry are also reported. Results are compared with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Finally, in a precise test of lepton universality, the ratio of W boson branching fractions is determined to be B(W -> e nu)/B(W -> μnu) = 1.020 +/- 0.002 +/- 0.019, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.