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Di Valentino, E., Gariazzo, S., Gerbino, M., Giusarma, E., & Mena, O. (2016). Dark radiation and inflationary freedom after Planck 2015. Phys. Rev. D, 93(8), 083523–28pp.
Abstract: The simplest inflationary models predict a primordial power spectrum (PPS) of the curvature fluctuations that can be described by a power-law function that is nearly scale invariant. It has been shown, however, that the low-multipole spectrum of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies may hint at the presence of some features in the shape of the scalar PPS, which could deviate from its canonical power-law form. We study the possible degeneracies of this nonstandard PPS with the active neutrino masses, the effective number of relativistic species, and a sterile neutrino or a thermal axion mass. The limits on these additional parameters are less constraining in a model with a nonstandard PPS when including only the temperature autocorrelation spectrum measurements in the data analyses. The inclusion of the polarization spectra noticeably helps in reducing the degeneracies, leading to results that typically show no deviation from the Lambda CDM model with a standard power-law PPS. These findings are robust against changes in the function describing the noncanonical PPS. Albeit current cosmological measurements seem to prefer the simple power-law PPS description, the statistical significance to rule out other possible parametrizations is still very poor. Future cosmological measurements are crucial to improve the present PPS uncertainties.
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Giusarma, E., Gerbino, M., Mena, O., Vagnozzi, S., Ho, S., & Freese, K. (2016). Improvement of cosmological neutrino mass bounds. Phys. Rev. D, 94(8), 083522–8pp.
Abstract: The most recent measurements of the temperature and low-multipole polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background from the Planck satellite, when combined with galaxy clustering data from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey in the form of the full shape of the power spectrum, and with baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, provide a 95% confidence level (C.L.) upper bound on the sum of the three active neutrinos Sigma m(nu) < 0.183 eV, among the tightest neutrino mass bounds in the literature, to date, when the same data sets are taken into account. This very same data combination is able to set, at similar to 70% C.L., an upper limit on Sigma m(nu) of 0.0968 eV, a value that approximately corresponds to the minimal mass expected in the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy scenario. If high-multipole polarization data from Planck is also considered, the 95% C.L. upper bound is tightened to Sigma m(nu) < 0.176 eV. Further improvements are obtained by considering recent measurements of the Hubble parameter. These limits are obtained assuming a specific nondegenerate neutrino mass spectrum; they slightly worsen when considering other degenerate neutrino mass schemes. Low-redshift quantities, such as the Hubble constant or the reionization optical depth, play a very important role when setting the neutrino mass constraints. We also comment on the eventual shifts in the cosmological bounds on Sigma m(nu) when possible variations in the former two quantities are addressed.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2016). Evidence for Exotic Hadron Contributions to Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi p pi(-) Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 117(8), 082003–10pp.
Abstract: A full amplitude analysis of Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pi(-) decays is performed with a data sample acquired with the LHCb detector from 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). A significantly better description of the data is achieved when, in addition to the previously observed nucleon excitations N -> p pi(-), either the P-c(43800)(+) and P-c(4450)(+) -> J/psi p states, previously observed in Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-) decays, or the Z(c)(4200)(-) -> J/psi pi(-) state, previously reported in B-0 -> J/psi K+pi(-) decays, or all three, are included in the amplitude models. The data support a model containing all three exotic states, with a significance of more than three standard deviations. Within uncertainties, the data are consistent with the P-c(4380)(+) and P-c(4 450)(+) production rates expected from their previous observation taking account of Cabibbo suppression.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2016). Model-Independent Evidence for J/psi p Contributions to Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-) Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 117(8), 082002–9pp.
Abstract: The data sample of Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-) decays acquired with the LHCb detector from 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1), is inspected for the presence of J/psi p or J/psi K- contributions with minimal assumptions about K(-)p contributions. It is demonstrated at more than nine standard deviations that Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-) decays cannot be described with K- p contributions alone, and that J/psi K- contributions play a dominant role in this incompatibility. These model-independent results support the previously obtained model-dependent evidence for P-c(+)-> J/psi p charmonium-pentaquark states in the same data sample.
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Lami, A., Portoles, J., & Roig, P. (2016). Lepton flavor violation in hadronic decays of the tau lepton in the simplest little Higgs model. Phys. Rev. D, 93(7), 076008–14pp.
Abstract: We study lepton flavor violating hadron decays of the tau lepton within the simplest little Higgs model. Namely we consider tau -> mu(P, V, PP) where P and V are short for a pseudoscalar and a vector meson. We find that, in the most positive scenarios, branching ratios for these processes are predicted to be, at least, four orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental bounds.
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