Abstract: The MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nuclear-track detectors with surface area similar to 18 m(2), sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb(-1). No magnetic charge exceeding 0.5g(D) (where g(D) is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV <= m <= 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 6g(D), and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 4g(D). Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for vertical bar g vertical bar = 2g(D) and vertical bar g vertical bar = 3g(D) for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.

Abstract: We perform a search for near-threshold I (b) (0) resonances decaying to I (b) (-) pi (+) in a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment. We observe one resonant state, with the following properties: m(Xi b*0) – m (Xi b-) – m (pi+) = 15.727 +/- 0.068 (stat) +/- 0.023 (syst) MeV/c2, Gamma(Xi b*0) = 0.90 +/- 0.16 (stat) +/- 0.08 (syst) MeV. This confirms the previous observation by the CMS collaboration. The state is consistent with the J (P) = 3/2(+)aEuro integral I (b) (au 0) resonance expected in the quark model. This is the most precise determination of the mass and the first measurement of the natural width of this state. We have also measured the ratio sigma(pp -> Xi b*0 X)B(Xi b*0 -> Xi b-pi+)/sigma(pp -> Xi b- X) = 0.28 +/- 0.03 (stat.) +/- 0.01 (syst).

Abstract: A binned Dalitz plot analysis of the decays B (0) -> DK*(0), with D -> K (S) (0) pi(+)pi(-) and D -> K (S) (0) K+K-, is performed to measure the observables x(+/-) and y(+/-), which are related to the CKM angle gamma and the hadronic parameters of the decays. The D decay strong phase variation over the Dalitz plot is taken from measurements performed at the CLEO-c experiment, making the analysis independent of the D decay model. With a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment, the values of the CP violation parameters are found to be x(+) = 0.05 +/- 0.35 +/- 0.02, x(-) = -0.31 +/- 0.20 +/- 0.04, y(+) = -0.81 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.06 and y(-) = 0.31 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.05, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. These observables correspond to values gamma = (71 +/- 20)degrees, gamma(B0) = 0.56 +/- 0.17 and delta(B0) = (204(-20)(+21))degrees. The parameters gamma(B0) and delta(B0) are the magnitude ratio and strong phase difference between the suppressed and favoured B-0 decay amplitudes, and have been measured in a region of +/- 50 MeV/c(2) around the K*(892)(0) mass and with the magnitude of the cosine of the K*(892)(0) helicity angle larger than 0.4.