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Moline, A., Sanchez-Conde, M. A., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Prada, F. (2017). Characterization of subhalo structural properties and implications for dark matter annihilation signals. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 466(4), 4974–4990.
Abstract: A prediction of the standard Lambda cold dark matter cosmology is that dark matter (DM) haloes are teeming with numerous self-bound substructure or subhaloes. The precise properties of these subhaloes represent important probes of the underlying cosmological model. We use data from Via Lactea II and Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations N-body simulations to learn about the structure of subhaloes with masses 10(6)-10(11) h(-1) M circle dot. Thanks to a superb subhalo statistics, we study subhalo properties as a function of distance to host halo centre and subhalo mass, and provide a set of fits that accurately describe the subhalo structure. We also investigate the role of subhaloes on the search for DM annihilation. Previous work has shown that subhaloes are expected to boost the DM signal of their host haloes significantly. Yet, these works traditionally assumed that subhaloes exhibit similar structural properties than those of field haloes, while it is known that subhaloes are more concentrated. Building upon our N-body data analysis, we refine the substructure boost model of Sanchez-Conde & Prada (2014), and find boosts that are a factor 2-3 higher. We further refine the model to include unavoidable tidal stripping effects on the subhalo population. For field haloes, this introduces a moderate (similar to 20-30 per cent) suppression. Yet, for subhaloes like those hosting dwarf galaxy satellites, tidal stripping plays a critical role, the boost being at the level of a few tens of percent at most. We provide a parametrization of the boost for field haloes that can be safely applied over a wide halo mass range.
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Chala, M., Delgado, A., Nardini, G., & Quiros, M. (2017). A light sneutrino rescues the light stop. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 097–22pp.
Abstract: Stop searches in supersymmetric frameworks with R-parity conservation usually assume the lightest neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we consider an alternative scenario in which the left-handed tau sneutrino is lighter than neutralinos and stable at collider scales, but possibly unstable at cosmological scales. Moreover the (mostly right-handed) stop (t) over tilde is lighter than all electroweakinos, and heavier than the scalars of the third generation lepton doublet, whose charged component, (T) over tilde, is heavier than the neutral one, (v) over tilde. The remaining supersymmetric particles are decoupled from the stop phenomenology. In most of the parameter space, the relevant stop decays are only into t (T) over tildeT, t (v) over tildev and b (v) over tildeT via off-shell electroweakinos. We constrain the branching ratios of these decays by recasting the most sensitive stop searches. Due to the “double invisible” kinematics of the (t) over tilde -> t (v) over tildev process, and the low efficiency in tagging the t (T) over tildeT decay products, light stops are generically allowed. In the minimal supersymmetric standard model with similar to 100 GeV sneutrinos, stops with masses as small as similar to 350 GeV turn out to be allowed at 95% CL.
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XENON Collaboration(Aprile, E. et al), & Orrigo, S. E. A. (2017). Online Rn-222 removal by cryogenic distillation in the XENON100 experiment. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 358–8pp.
Abstract: We describe the purification of xenon from traces of the radioactive noble gas radon using a cryogenic distillation column. The distillation column was integrated into the gas purification loop of the XENON100 detector for online radon removal. This enabled us to significantly reduce the constant Rn-222 background originating from radon emanation. After inserting an auxiliary 222Rn emanation source in the gas loop, we determined a radon reduction factor of R > 27 (95% C.L.) for the distillation column by monitoring the Rn-222 activity concentration inside the XENON100 detector.
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Ayala, C., Cvetic, G., & Kogerler, R. (2017). Lattice-motivated holomorphic nearly perturbative QCD. J. Phys. G, 44(7), 075001–30pp.
Abstract: Newer lattice results indicate that, in the Landau gauge at low spacelike momenta, the gluon propagator and the ghost dressing function are finite non-zero. This leads to a definition of the QCD running coupling, in a specific scheme, that goes to zero at low spacelike momenta. We construct a running coupling which fulfills these conditions, and at the same time reproduces to a high precision the perturbative behavior at high momenta. The coupling is constructed in such a way that it reflects qualitatively correctly the holomorphic (analytic) behavior of spacelike observables in the complex plane of the squared momenta, as dictated by the general principles of quantum field theories. Further, we require the coupling to reproduce correctly the nonstrange semihadronic decay rate of tau lepton which is the best measured low-momentum QCD observable with small higher-twist effects. Subsequent application of the Borel sum rules to the V + A spectral functions of tau lepton decays, as measured by OPAL Collaboration, determines the values of the gluon condensate and of the V + A six-dimensional condensate, and reproduces the data to a significantly higher precision than the usual (MS) over bar running coupling.
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Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2017). Three-family left-right symmetry with low-scale seesaw mechanism. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 100–10pp.
Abstract: We suggest a new left-right symmetric model implementing a low-scale see-saw mechanism in which quantum consistency requires three families of fermions. The symmetry breaking route to the Standard Model determines the profile of the “next” expected new physics, characterized either by the simplest left-right gauge symmetry or by the 3-3-1 scenario. The resulting Z' gauge bosons can be probed at the LHC and provide a production portal for the right-handed neutrinos. On the other hand, its flavor changing interactions would affect the K, D and B neutral meson systems.
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NA48/2 Collaboration(Batley, J. R. et al), & Fiorini, L. (2017). Searches for lepton number violation and resonances in K-+/- -> pi μμdecays. Phys. Lett. B, 769, 67–76.
Abstract: The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays to final states with multiple charged particles in 2003-2004. A new upper limit on the rate of the lepton number violating decay K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-) is reported: B( K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-)) < 8.6 x 10(-11) at 90% CL. Searches for two-body resonances X in K-+/- -> pi μμdecays (such as heavy neutral leptons N-4 and inflatons chi) are also presented. In the absence of signals, upper limits are set on the products of branching fractions B(K-+/- -> μN-+/-(4))B(N-4 -> pi mu) and B(K-+/- ->pi X-+/-)B(X -> mu(+),mu(-)) for ranges of assumed resonance masses and lifetimes. The limits are in the (10(-11),10(-9)) range for resonance lifetimes below 100 ps.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Measurement of matter-antimatter differences in beauty baryon decays. Nat. Phys., 13(4), 391–396.
Abstract: Differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter have been observed in K and B meson decays, but not yet in any baryon decay. Such differences are associated with the non-invariance of fundamental interactions under the combined chargeconjugation and parity transformations, known as CP violation. Here, using data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, we search for CP-violating asymmetries in the decay angle distributions of A(b)(0) baryons decaying to p pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) and p pi-K+K- final states. These four-body hadronic decays are a promising place to search for sources of CP violation both within and beyond the standard model of particle physics. We find evidence for CP violation in A(b)(0) to p pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) decays with a statistical significance corresponding to 3.3 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. This represents the first evidence for CP violation in the baryon sector.
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Escudero, M., Rius, N., & Sanz, V. (2017). Sterile neutrino portal to Dark Matter II: exact dark symmetry. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 397–11pp.
Abstract: We analyze a simple extension of the standard model (SM) with a dark sector composed of a scalar and a fermion, both singlets under the SM gauge group but charged under a dark sector symmetry group. Sterile neutrinos, which are singlets under both groups, mediate the interactions between the dark sector and the SM particles, and generate masses for the active neutrinos via the seesaw mechanism. We explore the parameter space region where the observed Dark Matter relic abundance is determined by the annihilation into sterile neutrinos, both for fermion and scalar Dark Matter particles. The scalar Dark Matter case provides an interesting alternative to the usual Higgs portal scenario. We also study the constraints from direct Dark Matter searches and the prospects for indirect detection via sterile neutrino decays to leptons, which may be able to rule out Dark Matter masses below and around 100 GeV.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Search for the Decays B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) and B-0 -> tau(+) tau(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(25), 251802–10pp.
Abstract: A search for the rare decays B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) and B-0 -> tau(+) tau(-) is performed using proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1) collected in 2011 and 2012. The tau leptons are reconstructed through the decay tau(-) -> pi(-) pi(+)pi(-) nu(tau). Assuming no contribution from B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) decays, an upper limit is set on the branching fraction B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) < 6.8 x 10(-3) at the 95% confidence level. If instead no contribution from B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) decays is assumed, the limit is B(B-s(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) < 2.1 x 10(-3) at the 95% confidence level. These results correspond to the first direct limit on B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) and the world's best limit on B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-))
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Chala, M., Durieux, G., Grojean, C., de Lima, L., & Matsedonskyi, O. (2017). Minimally extended SILH. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 088–32pp.
Abstract: Higgs boson compositeness is a phenomenologically viable scenario addressing the hierarchy problem. In minimal models, the Higgs boson is the only degree of freedom of the strong sector below the strong interaction scale. We present here the simplest extension of such a framework with an additional composite spin-zero singlet. To this end, we adopt an effective field theory approach and develop a set of rules to estimate the size of the various operator coefficients, relating them to the parameters of the strong sector and its structural features. As a result, we obtain the patterns of new interactions affecting both the new singlet and the Higgs boson's physics. We identify the characteristics of the singlet field which cause its effects on Higgs physics to dominate over the ones inherited from the composite nature of the Higgs boson. Our effective field theory construction is supported by comparisons with explicit UV models.
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