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Bonilla, C., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Naturally light neutrinos in Diracon model. Phys. Lett. B, 762, 162–165.
Abstract: We propose a simple model for Dirac neutrinos where the smallness of neutrino mass follows from a parameter kappa whose absence enhances the symmetry of the theory. Symmetry breaking is performed in a two-doublet Higgs sector supplemented by a gauge singlet scalar, realizing an accidental global U(1) symmetry. Its spontaneous breaking at the few TeV scale leads to a physical Nambu -Goldstone – boson the Diracon, denoted D – which is restricted by astrophysics and induces invisible Higgs decays such as h -> DD. The scheme provides a rich, yet very simple scenario for symmetry breaking studies at colliders such as the LHC.
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Double Chooz collaboration(Abe, Y. et al), & Novella, P. (2016). Measurement of theta(13) in Double Chooz using neutron captures on hydrogen with novel background rejection techniques. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 163–29pp.
Abstract: The Double Chooz collaboration presents a measurement of the neutrino mixing angle theta(13) using reactor (nu) over bar (e) observed via the inverse beta decay reaction in which the neutron is captured on hydrogen. This measurement is based on 462.72 live days data, approximately twice as much data as in the previous such analysis, collected with a detector positioned at an average distance of 1050m from two reactor cores. Several novel techniques have been developed to achieve significant reductions of the backgrounds and systematic uncertainties. Accidental coincidences, the dominant background in this analysis, are suppressed by more than an order of magnitude with respect to our previous publication by a multi-variate analysis. These improvements demonstrate the capability of precise measurement of reactor (nu) over bar (e) without gadolinium loading. Spectral distortions from the (nu) over bar (e) reactor flux predictions previously reported with the neutron capture on gadolinium events are confirmed in the independent data sample presented here. A value of sin(2) 2 theta(13) = 0.095(0.039)(+0.039)(stat+syst) is obtained from a fit to the observed event rate as a function of the reactor power, a method insensitive to the energy spectrum shape. A simultaneous fit of the hydrogen capture events and of the gadolinium capture events yields a measurement of sin(2) 2 theta(13) = 0.088 +/- 0.033(stat+syst).
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Orce, J. N. et al, & Rubio, B. (2016). Search for two-phonon octupole excitations in Gd-146. Eur. Phys. J. A, 52(6), 166–7pp.
Abstract: The low-spin structure of the nearly spherical nucleus Gd-146 was studied using the Sm-144(He-4, 2n) fusion-evaporation reaction. High-statistics gamma-gamma coincidence measurements were performed at iThemba LABS with 7x10(9) gamma-gamma coincidence events recorded. Gated gamma-ray energy spectra show evidence for the 6(2)(+) -> 3(1)(-) -> 0(1)(+) cascade of E3 transitions in agreement with recent findings by Caballero and co-workers, but with a smaller branching ratio of I-gamma = 4.7(10) for the 6(2)(+) -> 3(1)(-) 1905.1 keV gamma ray. Although these findings may support octupole vibrations in spherical nuclei, sophisticated beyond mean-field calculations including angular-momentum projection are required to interpret in an appropriate way the available data due to the failure of the rotational model assumptions in this nucleus.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2016). Search for the lepton-flavour violating decay D-0 -> e(+/-)mu(-/+). Phys. Lett. B, 754, 167–175.
Abstract: A search for the lepton-flavour violating decay D-0 -> e(+/-)mu(-/+) is made with a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. Candidate D-0 mesons are selected using the decay D*(+) -> D-0 pi(+) and the D-0 -> e(+/-)mu(+) branching fraction is measured using the decay mode D-0 -> K-pi(+) as a normalization channel. No significant excess of D-0 -> e(+/-)mu(-/+) candidates over the expected background is seen, and a limit is set on the branching fraction, B(D-0 -> e(+/-)mu(-/+)) < 1.3 x10(-8), at 90% confidence level. This is an order of magnitude lower than the previous limit and it further constrains the parameter space in some leptoquark models and in supersymmetric models with R-parity violation.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., et al. (2016). Search for invisible decays of a Higgs boson using vector-boson fusion in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 172–44pp.
Abstract: A search for a Higgs boson produced via vector-boson fusion and decaying into invisible particles is presented, using 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 8TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. For a Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV, assuming the Standard Model production cross section, an upper bound of 0.28 is set on the branching fraction of H -> invisible at 95% confidence level, where the expected upper limit is 0.31. The results are interpreted in models of Higgs-portal dark matter where the branching fraction limit is converted into upper bounds on the dark-matter-nucleon scattering cross section as a function of the dark-matter particle mass, and compared to results from the direct dark-matter detection experiments.
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