Abstract: A Standard Model extension with two Majorana neutrinos can explain the measured neutrino masses and mixings, and also account for the matter-antimatter asymmetry in a region of parameter space that could be testable in future experiments. The testability of the model relies to some extent on its minimality. In this paper we address the possibility that the model might be extended by extra generic new physics which we parametrize in terms of a low-energy effective theory. We consider the effects of the operators of the lowest dimensionality, d = 5, and evaluate the upper bounds on the coefficients so that the predictions of the minimal model are robust. One of the operators gives a new production mechanism for the heavy neutrinos at LHC via higgs decays. The higgs can decay to a pair of such neutrinos that, being long-lived, leave a powerful signal of two displaced vertices. We estimate the LHC reach to this process.

Abstract: The measurement of the internal Rn-222 activity in the NEXT-White detector during the so-called Run-II period with Xe-136-depleted xenon is discussed in detail, together with its implications for double beta decay searches in NEXT. The activity is measured through the alpha production rate induced in the fiducial volume by Rn-222 and its alpha-emitting progeny. The specific activity is measured to be (38.1 +/- 2.2 (stat.) +/- 5.9 (syst.)) mBq/m(3). Radon-induced electrons have also been characterized from the decay of the Bi-214 daughter ions plating out on the cathode of the time projection chamber. From our studies, we conclude that radon-induced backgrounds are sufficiently low to enable a successful NEXT-100 physics program, as the projected rate contribution should not exceed 0.1 counts/yr in the neutrinoless double beta decay sample.

Abstract: The computation of multi-loop multi-leg scattering amplitudes plays a key role to improve the precision of theoretical predictions for particle physics at high-energy colliders. In this work, we focus on the mathematical properties of the novel integrand-level representation of Feynman integrals, which is based on the Loop-Tree Duality (LTD). We explore the behaviour of the multi-loop iterated residues and explicitly show, by developing a general compact and elegant proof, that contributions associated to displaced poles are cancelled out. The remaining residues, called nested residues as originally introduced in ref. [1], encode the relevant physical information and are naturally mapped onto physical configurations associated to nondisjoint on-shell states. By going further on the mathematical structure of the nested residues, we prove that unphysical singularities vanish, and show how the final expressions can be written by using only causal denominators. In this way, we provide a mathematical proof for the all-loop formulae presented in ref. [2].

Abstract: The production of psi(2S) mesons in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of root s(NN) = 8.16TeV is studied with the LHCb detector using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 nb(-1). The prompt and nonprompt psi(2S) production cross-sections and the ratio of the psi(2S) to J/psi cross-section are measured as a function of the meson transverse momentum and rapidity in the nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass frame, together with forward-to-backward ratios and nuclear modification factors. The production of prompt psi(2S) is observed to be more suppressed compared to pp collisions than the prompt J/psi production, while the nonprompt productions have similar suppression factors.

Abstract: Inclusive four-jet events produced in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of mass energy of root s = 7 TeV are analysed for the presence of hard double-parton scattering using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 37.3 pb(-1), collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The contribution of hard double-parton scattering to the production of four -jet events is extracted using an artificial neural network, assuming that hard double-parton scattering can be approximated by an uncorrelated overlaying of dijet events. For events containing at least four jets with transverse momentum PT >= 20 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 4.4, and at least one having pT >= 42.5 GeV, the contribution of hard double-parton scattering is estimated to be fDps = 0.092(-0.011)(+0.0005) (stat.) (+0.03337)(-0.011) (syst.). After combining this measurement with those of the inclusive dijet and four -jet cross -sections in the appropriate phase space regions, the effective cross-section, sigma(eff,) was determined to be sigma(eff) = 14.9(-1.0)(+1.2) (stat.) (+5.1)(-3.8) (syst.) mb. This result is consistent within the quoted uncertainties with previous measurements of sigma(eff), performed at centre-of-mass energies between 63 GeV and 8 TeV using various final states, and it corresponds to 21(-6%)(+7) of the total inelastic cross-section measured at root s = 7 TeV. The distributions of the observables sensitive to the contribution of hard double-parton scattering, corrected for detector effects, are also provided.