Abstract: In pure-glue QCD, gluon-gluon scattering in the J(PC) = 0(-+) channel is described by a very simple equation, especially if one considers just the leading contribution to the scattering kernel. Of all components in this kernel, only the three-gluon vertex, V-mu nu rho, is poorly constrained by contemporary analyses; hence, calculations of 0(-+) glueball properties serve as a clear window onto the character and form of V-mu nu rho. This is important given that many modern calculations of V-mu nu rho predict the appearance of an infrared suppression in the scalar function which comes to modulate the bare vertex after the nonperturbative resummation of interactions. Such behaviour is a peculiar prediction; but we find that the suppression is essential if one is to achieve agreement with lattice-QCD predictions for the 0(-+) glueball mass. Hence, it is likely that this novel feature of V-mu nu rho is real and has observable implications for the spectrum, decays and interactions of all QCD bound-states.

Abstract: Neutrino experiments lie at the edge of the intensity frontier and therefore can be exploited to search for new light particles weakly coupled to the visible sector. In this work we derive new constraints on axion-like particles (ALPs) using data from the MicroBooNE experiment, from a search for e(+)e(-) pairs pointing in the direction of the NuMI absorber. In particular, we consider the addition of higher-dimensional effective operators coupling the ALP to the electroweak gauge bosons. These would induce K -> pi a from kaon decay at rest in the NuMI absorber, as well as ALP decays into pairs of leptons or photons. We discuss in detail and compare various results obtained for the decay width K -> pi a in previous literature. For the operator involving the Higgs, MicroBooNE already sets competitive bounds (comparable to those of NA62) for ALP masses between 100 and 200 MeV. We also compute the expected sensitivities from the full NuMI dataset recorded at MicroBooNE. Our results show that a search for a -> gamma gamma signal may be able to improve over current constraints from beam-dump experiments on the operator involving the ALP coupling to the W.

Abstract: The production of B +/- mesons is studied in pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 13 TeV, using B-+/- -> J/psi K-+/- decays and data samples corresponding to 1.0 fb(-1) and 0.3 fb(-1), respectively. The production cross-sections summed over both charges and integrated over the transverse momentum range 0 < pT < 40 GeV/c and the rapidity range 2.0 < y < 4.5 are measured to be sigma-(pp -> B-+/- X, root s = 7 TeV) = 43.0 +/- 0.2 +/- 2.5 +/- 1.7 μb, sigma(pp -> B-+/- X, root s = 13 TeV) = 86.6 +/- 0.5 +/- 5.4 +/- 3.4 μb, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, and the third are due to the limited knowledge of the B-+/- -> J/psi K-+/- branching fraction. The ratio of the cross-section at 13 TeV to that at 7 TeV is determined to be 2.02 +/- 0.02 (stat) +/- 0.12 (syst). Differential cross-sections are also reported as functions of pi, and y. All results are in agreement with theoretical calculations based on the state-of-art fixed next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics.

Abstract: We examine the cosmology of warm dark matter (WDM), both stable and decaying, from the point of view of structure formation. We compare the matter power spectrum associated to WDM masses of 1.5 keV and 0.158 keV, with that expected for the stable cold dark matter ACDM Xi SCDM paradigm, taken as our reference model. We scrutinize the effects associated to the warm nature of dark matter, as well as the fact that it decays. The decaying warm dark matter (DWDM) scenario is well-motivated, emerging in a broad class of particle physics theories where neutrino masses arise from the spontaneous breaking of a continuous global lepton number symmetry. The majoron arises as a Nambu-Goldstone boson, and picks up a mass from gravitational effects, that explicitly violate global symmetries. The majoron necessarily decays to neutrinos, with an amplitude proportional to their tiny mass, which typically gives it cosmologically long lifetimes. Using N-body simulations we show that our DWDM picture leads to a viable alternative to the ACDM scenario, with predictions that can differ substantially on small scales.

Abstract: The observation of space-time variations in fundamental constants would provide strong evidence for the existence of new light degrees of freedom in the theory of Nature. Robustly constraining such scenarios requires exploiting observations that span different scales and probe the state of the Universe at different epochs. In the context of cosmology, both the cosmic microwave background and the Lyman-a forest have proven to be powerful tools capable of constraining variations in electromagnetism, however at the moment there do not exist cosmological probes capable of bridging the gap between recombination and reionization. In the near future, radio telescopes will attempt to measure the 21 cm transition of neutral hydrogen during the epochs of reionization and the cosmic dawn (and potentially the tail end of the dark ages); being inherently sensitive to electromagnetic phenomena, these experiments will offer a unique perspective on space-time variations of the fine-structure constant and the electron mass. We show here that large variations in these fundamental constants would produce features on the 21 cm power spectrum that may be distinguishable from astrophysical uncertainties. Furthermore, we forecast the sensitivity for the Square Kilometer Array, and show that the 21 cm power spectrum may be able to constrain variations at the level of O(10(-3)).