Abstract: Lifetime measurements of excited states of the light N = 52 isotones Kr-88, Se-86, and Ge-84 have been performed, using the recoil distance Doppler shift method and VAMOS and AGATA spectrometers for particle identification and gamma spectroscopy, respectively. The reduced electric quadrupole transition probabilities B(E2; 2(+)-> 0(+)) and B(E2; 4(+)-> 2(+)) were obtained for the first time for the hard-to-reach 84Ge. While the B(E2; 2(+)-> 0(+) ) values of Kr-88, Se-86 saturate the maximum quadrupole collectivity offered by the natural valence (3s, 2d, 1g(7/2), 1h(11/2)) space of an inert Ni-78 core, the value obtained for Ge-84 largely exceeds it, suggesting that shape coexistence phenomena, previously reported at N less than or similar to 49, extend beyond N = 50. The onset of collectivity at Z = 32 is understood as due to a pseudo-SU(3) organization of the proton single-particle sequence reflecting a clear manifestation of pseudospin symmetry. It is realized that the latter provides actually reliable guidance for understanding the observed proton and neutron single particle structure in the whole medium-mass region, from Ni to Sn, pointing towards the important role of the isovector-vector rho field in shell-structure evolution.

Abstract: A search for heavy pseudoscalar (A) and scalar (H) Higgs bosons decaying into a top quark pair (t (t) over bar) has been performed with 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. Interference effects between the signal process and standard model t (t) over bar production, which are expected to distort the signal shape from a single peak to a peak-dip structure, are taken into account. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed in the t (t) over bar invariant mass spectrum in final states with an electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and at least four jets. The results are interpreted within the context of a type-II two-Higgs-doublet model. Exclusion limits on the signal strength are derived as a function of the mass m(A/H) and the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs fields, tan beta, for m(A/H) > 500 GeV.

Abstract: The first observation of the semileptonic b-baryon decay Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c) tau(-)(nu) over bar (tau) with a significance of 6.1 sigma, is reported using a data sample corresponding to 3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, collected by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC. The tau(-) lepton is reconstructed in the hadronic decay to three charged pions. The ratio K = B(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c) tau(-)(nu) over bar (tau))/B(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-)) is measured to be 2.46 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.40, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The branching fraction B(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c) tau(-)(nu) over bar (tau)) (1.50 +/- 0.16 +/- 0.25 +/- 0.23)% is obtained, where the third uncertainty is from the external branching fraction of the normalization channel Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c)pi(-)pi(+)pi(-). The ratio of semileptonic branching fractions R(Lambda(+)(c)) B(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c) tau(-)(nu) over bar (tau))/B(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c)mu(-)(nu) over bar (tau)) is derived to be 0.242 +/- 0.026 +/- 0.040 +/- 0.059, where the external branching fraction uncertainty from the channel Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c)mu(-)(nu) over bar (tau) contributes to the last term. This result is in agreement with the standard model prediction.