Abstract: A prototype detection unit of the KM3NeT deep-sea neutrino telescope has been installed at 3500m depth 80 km offshore the Italian coast. KM3NeT in its final configuration will contain several hundreds of detection units. Each detection unit is a mechanical structure anchored to the sea floor, held vertical by a submerged buoy and supporting optical modules for the detection of Cherenkov light emitted by charged secondary particles emerging from neutrino interactions. This prototype string implements three optical modules with 31 photomultiplier tubes each. These optical modules were developed by the KM3NeT Collaboration to enhance the detection capability of neutrino interactions. The prototype detection unit was operated since its deployment in May 2014 until its decommissioning in July 2015. Reconstruction of the particle trajectories from the data requires a nanosecond accuracy in the time calibration. A procedure for relative time calibration of the photomultiplier tubes contained in each optical module is described. This procedure is based on the measured coincidences produced in the sea by the K background light and can easily be expanded to a detector with several thousands of optical modules. The time offsets between the different optical modules are obtained using LED nanobeacons mounted inside them. A set of data corresponding to 600 h of livetime was analysed. The results show good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the expected optical background and the signal from atmospheric muons. An almost background-free sample of muons was selected by filtering the time correlated signals on all the three optical modules. The zenith angle of the selected muons was reconstructed with a precision of about 3 degrees.

Abstract: The production of a prompt photon in association with a Z boson is studied in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy s = 13 TeV. The analysis uses a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC from 2015 to 2018. The production cross-section for the process pp -> l(+)l(-)gamma + X (l = e, mu) is measured within a fiducial phase-space region defined by kinematic requirements on the photon and the leptons, and by isolation requirements on the photon. An experimental precision of 2.9% is achieved for the fiducial cross-section. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of each of six kinematic variables characterising the l(+)l(-)gamma system. The data are compared with theoretical predictions based on next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations. The impact of next-to-leading-order electroweak corrections is also considered.

Abstract: Mesons comprising a beauty quark and strange quark can oscillate between particle (B-s(0)) and antiparticle (B-s(-0)) flavour eigenstates, with a frequency given by the mass difference between heavy and light mass eigenstates, Delta m(s). Here we present a measurement of Delta m(s) using B-s(0) -> D-s(-)pi(+) decays produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The oscillation frequency is found to be Delta m(s) = 17.7683 +/- 0.0051 +/- 0.0032 ps(-1), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This measurement improves on the current Delta m(s) precision by a factor of two. We combine this result with previous LHCb measurements to determine Delta m(s) = 17.7656 +/- 0.0057 ps(-1), which is the legacy measurement of the original LHCb detector.

Abstract: A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons and Z' bosons is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) from proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to tau(+)tau(-) with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-2.25 TeV for Higgs bosons and 0.2-4.0 TeV for Z' bosons. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in benchmark scenarios. In the context of the hMSSM scenario, the data exclude tan beta > 1.0 for m(A) = 0.25 TeV and tan beta > 42 for m(A) = 1.5 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the Sequential Standard Model, Z'(SSM) with m(Z') < 2.42 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, while Z'(NU) with m(Z') < 2.25 TeV is excluded for the non-universal G(221) model that exhibits enhanced couplings to third-generation fermions.

Abstract: We reconsider the discovery limit of multi-ton direct detection dark matter experiments in the light of recent measurements of the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering process. Assuming the cross section to be a parameter entirely determined by data, rather than using its Standard Model prediction, we use the COHERENT CsI and LAr data sets to determine WIMP discovery limits. Being based on a data-driven approach, the results are thus free from theoretical assumptions and fall within the WIMP mass regions where XENONnT and DARWIN have best expected sensitivities. We further determine the impact of subleading nuclear form factor and weak mixing angle uncertainties effects on WIMP discovery limits. We point out that these effects, albeit small, should be taken into account. Moreover, to quantify the impact of new physics effects in the neutrino background, we revisit WIMP discovery limits assuming light vector and scalar mediators as well as neutrino magnetic moments/transitions. We stress that the presence of new interactions in the neutrino sector, in general, tend to worsen the WIMP discovery limit.