Abstract: We present updated global fits of the constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (cMSSM), including the most recent constraints from the ATLAS and CMS detectors at the LHC, as well as the most recent results of the XENON100 experiment. Our robust analysis takes into account both astrophysical and hadronic uncertainties that enter in the calculation of the rate of WIMP-induced recoils in direct detection experiment. We study the consequences for neutralino Dark Matter, and show that current direct detection data already allow to robustly rule out the so-called Focus Point region, therefore demonstrating the importance of particle astrophysics experiments in constraining extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We also observe an increased compatibility between results obtained from a Bayesian and a Frequentist statistical perspective. We find that upcoming ton-scale direct detection experiments will probe essentially the entire currently favoured region (at the 99% level), almost independently of the statistical approach used. Prospects for indirect detection of the cMSSM are further reduced.

Abstract: The ratio of production cross sections of the W and Z bosons with exactly one associated jet is presented as a function of jet transverse momentum threshold. The measurement has been designed to maximise cancellation of experimental and theoretical uncertainties, and is reported both within a particle-level kinematic range corresponding to the detector acceptance and as a total cross-section ratio. Results are obtained with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV using an integrated luminosity of 33 pb(-1). The results are compared with perturbative leading-order, leading-log, and next-to-leading-order QCD predictions, and are found to agree within experimental and theoretical uncertainties. The ratio is measured for events with a single jet with p(T) > 30 GeV to be 8.73 +/- 0.30(stat) +/- 0.40(syst) in the electron channel, and 8.49 +/- 0.23(stat) +/- 0.33(syst) in the muon channel.

Abstract: We present new limits on early dark energy (EDE) from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) using data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite on large angular scales and South Pole Telescope on small angular scales. We find a strong upper limit on the EDE density of Omega(e) < 0.018 at 95% confidence, a factor of three improvement over WMAP data alone. We show that adding lower-redshift probes of the expansion rate to the CMB data improves constraints on the dark energy equation of state, but not the EDE density. We also explain how small-scale CMB temperature anisotropy constrains EDE.

Abstract: The n_TOF Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) is a 4 pi BaF2 segmented detector used at CERN for measuring neutron capture cross-sections of importance for the design of advanced nuclear reactors. This work presents the simulation code that has been developed in GEANT4 for the accurate determination of the detection efficiency of the TAC for neutron capture events. The code allows to calculate the efficiency of the TAC for every neutron capture state, as a function of energy, crystal multiplicity, and counting rate. The code includes all instrumental effects such as the single crystal detection threshold and energy resolution, finite size of the coincidence time window, and signal pile-up. The results from the simulation have been validated with experimental data for a large set of electromagnetic de-excitation patterns: beta-decay of well known calibration sources, neutron capture reactions in light nuclei with well known level schemes like Ti-nat, reference samples used in (n,gamma) measurements like Au-197 and experimental data from an actinide sample like Pu-240. The systematic uncertainty in the determination of the detection efficiency has been estimated for all the cases. As a representative example, the accuracy reached for the case of Au-197(n,gamma) ranges between 0.5% and 2%, depending on the experimental and analysis conditions. Such a value matches the high accuracy required for the nuclear cross-section data needed in advanced reactor design.

Abstract: We discuss the bounds on the cosmological lepton number from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), in light of recent evidences for a large value of the neutrino mixing angle theta(13), sin(2) theta(13) greater than or similar to 0.01 at 2 sigma. The largest asymmetries for electron and mu, tau neutrinos compatible with He-4 and H-2 primordial yields are computed versus the neutrino mass hierarchy and mixing angles. The flavour oscillation dynamics is traced till the beginning of BBN and neutrino distributions after decoupling are numerically computed. The latter contains in general, non-thermal distortion due to the onset of flavour oscillations driven by solar squared mass difference in the temperature range where neutrino scatterings become inefficient to enforce thermodynamical equilibrium. Depending on the value of theta(13), this translates into a larger value for the effective number of neutrinos, N-eff. Upper bounds on this parameter are discussed for both neutrino mass hierarchies. Values for N-eff which are large enough to be detectable by the Planck experiment are found only for the (presently disfavoured) range sin(2) theta(13) <= 0.01.