Abstract: Nuclear matrix elements (NME) are a crucial input for the interpretation of neutrinoless double beta decay data. We consider a representative set of recent NME calculations from different methods and investigate the impact on the present bound on the effective Majorana mass m(& beta;& beta;) by performing a combined analysis of the available data as well as on the sensitivity reach of future projects. A crucial role is played by the recently discovered short-range contribution to the NME, induced by light Majorana neutrino masses. Depending on the NME model and the relative sign of the long- and short-range contributions, the current 3 & sigma; bound can change between m(& beta;& beta;)< 40 meV and 600 meV. The sign-uncertainty may either boost the sensitivity of next-generation experiments beyond the region for m(& beta;& beta;) predicted for inverted mass ordering or prevent even advanced setups to reach this region. Furthermore, we study the possibility to distinguish between different NME calculations by assuming a positive signal and by combining measurements from different isotopes. Such a discrimination will be impossible if the relative sign of the long- and short-range contribution remains unknown, but can become feasible if m(& beta;& beta;) & GSIM; 40 meV and if the relative sign is known to be positive. Sensitivities will be dominated by the advanced Ge-76 and Xe-136 setups assumed here, but NME model-discrimination improves if data from a third isotope is added, e.g., from Te-130 or Mo-100.

Abstract: We present a one-loop calculation of the oblique S parameter within Higgsless models of electroweak symmetry breaking and analyze the phenomenological implications of the available electroweak precision data. We use the most general effective Lagrangian with at most two derivatives, implementing the chiral symmetry breaking SU(2)(L) circle times SU(2)(R) -> SU(2)(L+R) with Goldstones, gauge bosons and one multiplet of vector and axial-vector massive resonance states. Using the dispersive representation of Peskin and Takeuchi and imposing the short-distance constraints dictated by the operator product expansion, we obtain S at the NLO in terms of a few resonance parameters. In asymptotically-free gauge theories, the final result only depends on the vector-resonance mass and requires M-V > 1.8TeV (3.8TeV) to satisfy the experimental limits at the 3 sigma (1 sigma) level; the axial state is always heavier, we obtain M-A > 2.5TeV (6.6TeV) at 3 sigma (1 sigma). In strongly-coupled models, such as walking or conformal technicolour, where the second Weinberg sum rule does not apply, the vector and axial couplings are not determined by the short-distance constraints; but one can still derive a lower bound on S, provided the hierarchy M-V < M-A remains valid. Even in this less constrained situation, we find that in order to satisfy the experimental limits at 3 sigma one needs M-V,M-A > 1.8TeV.

Abstract: The couplings of the electroweak effective theory contain information on the heavy-mass scales which are no-longer present in the low-energy Lagrangian. We build a general effective Lagrangian, implementing the electroweak chiral symmetry breaking SU(2)(L) circle times SU(2)(R) -> SU(2)(L+R), which couples the known particle fields to heavier states with bosonic quantum numbers J(P) = 0(+/-) and 1(+/-). We consider colour-singlet heavy fields that are in singlet or triplet representations of the electroweak group. Integrating out these heavy scales, we analyze the pattern of low-energy couplings among the light fields which are generated by the massive states. We adopt a generic non-linear realization of the electroweak symmetry breaking with a singlet Higgs, without making any assumption about its possible doublet structure. Special attention is given to the different possible descriptions of massive spin-1 fields and the differences arising from naive implementations of these formalisms, showing their full equivalence once a proper short-distance behaviour is required.

Abstract: Using the spectral functions measured in tau decays, we investigate the actual numerical impact of duality violations on the extraction of the strong coupling. These effects are tiny in the standard alpha(s)(m(tau)(2)) determinations from integrated distributions of the hadronic spectrum with pinched weights, or from the total tau hadronic width. The pinched-weight factors suppress very efficiently the violations of duality, making their numerical effects negligible in comparison with the larger perturbative uncertainties. However, combined fits of alpha(s) and duality-violation parameters, performed with non-protected weights, are subject to large systematic errors associated with the assumed modelling of duality-violation effects. These uncertainties have not been taken into account in the published analyses, based on specific models of quark-hadron duality.

Abstract: Searches for dark matter produced via scalar resonances in final states consisting of Standard Model (SM) particles and missing transverse momentum are of high relevance at the LHC. Motivated by dark-matter portal models, most existing searches are optimized for unbalanced decay topologies for which the missing momentum recoils against the visible SM particles. In this work, we show that existing searches are also sensitive to a wider class of models, which we characterize by a recently presented simplified model framework. We point out that searches for models with a balanced decay topology can be further improved with more dedicated analysis strategies. For this study, we investigate the feasibility of a new search for bottom-quark associated neutral Higgs production with a b (b) over barZ + p(T)(miss) final state and perform a detailed collider analysis. Our projected results in the different simplified model topologies investigated here can be easily reinterpreted in a wide range of models of physics beyond the SM, which we explicitly demonstrate for the example of the Two-Higgs-Doublet model with an additional pseudoscalar Higgs boson.