Abstract: A search is presented for the production of new heavy quarks that decay to a Z boson and a third-generation Standard Model quark. In the case of a new charge +2/3 quark (T), the decay targeted is T -> Zt, while the decay targeted for a new charge -1/3 quark (B) is B -> Zb. The search is performed with a dataset corresponding to 20.3 fb(-1) of p p collisions at root s = 8TeV recorded in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Selected events contain a high transverse momentum Z boson candidate reconstructed from a pair of oppositely charged same-flavor leptons (electrons or muons), and are analyzed in two channels defined by the absence or presence of a third lepton. Hadronic jets, in particular those with properties consistent with the decay of a b-hadron, are also required to be present in selected events. Different requirements are made on the jet activity in the event in order to enhance the sensitivity to either heavy quark pair production mediated by the strong interaction, or single production mediated by the electroweak interaction. No significant excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed, and lower limits are derived on the mass of vector-like T and B quarks under various branching ratio hypotheses, as well as upper limits on the magnitude of electroweak coupling parameters.

Abstract: Decays of the form B-s(0) -> J/psi K(s)(0)h(+)h((1)-) (h((1)) = K, pi) are searched for in proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) recorded with the LHCb detector. The first observation of the B-s(0) -> J/psi (KsK +/-)-K-0 pi(-/+) decay is reported, with significance in excess of 10 standard deviations. The B-0 -> J/psi (KsK+K-)-K-0 decay is also observed for the first time. The branching fraction of B-s(0) -> J/psi K(s)(0)h(+)h((1)-) is determined, to significantly better precision than previous measurements, using B-0 -> J/psi K(s)(0)h(+)h((1)-) as a normalisation channel. Branching fractions and upper limits of the other B-(s)(0) -> J/psi K-s(0)pi(+)pi(-) (s modes are determined relative to that of the B-0 -> J/psi K-s(0)pi(+)pi(-) decay.

Abstract: We present a Bayesian analysis of the NUGHM, a supersymmetric scenario with non-universal gaugino masses and Higgs masses, including all the relevant experimental observables and dark matter constraints. The main merit of the NUGHM is that it essentially includes all the possibilities for dark matter (DM) candidates within the MSSM, since the neutralino and chargino spectrum -and composition- are as free as they can be in the general MSSM. We identify the most probable regions in the NUHGM parameter space, and study the associated phenomenology at the LHC and the prospects for DM direct detection. Requiring that the neutralino makes all of the DM in the Universe, we identify two preferred regions around m(chi 10) = 1 TeV, 3 TeV, which correspond to the (almost) pure Higgsino and wino case. There exist other marginal regions (e.g. Higgs-funnel), but with much less statistical weight. The prospects for detection at the LHC in this case are quite pessimistic, but future direct detection experiments like LUX and XENON1T, will be able to probe this scenario. In contrast, when allowing other DM components, the prospects for detection at the LHC become more encouraging – the most promising signals being, beside the production of gluinos and squarks, the production of the heavier chargino and neutralino states, which lead to WZ and same-sign WW final states – and direct detection remains a complementary, and even more powerful, way to probe the scenario.