Abstract: Clustering is one of the most frequent problems in many domains, in particular, in particle physics where jet reconstruction is central in experimental analyses. Jet clustering at the CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is computationally expensive and the difficulty of this task will increase with the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). In this paper, we study the case in which quantum computing algorithms might improve jet clustering by considering two novel quantum algorithms which may speed up the classical jet clustering algorithms. The first one is a quantum subroutine to compute a Minkowski-based distance between two data points, whereas the second one consists of a quantum circuit to track the maximum into a list of unsorted data. The latter algorithm could be of value beyond particle physics, for instance in statistics. When one or both of these algorithms are implemented into the classical versions of well-known clustering algorithms (K-means, affinity propagation, and k(T) -jet) we obtain efficiencies comparable to those of their classical counterparts. Even more, exponential speed-up could be achieved, in the first two algorithms, in data dimensionality and data length when the distance algorithm or the maximum searching algorithm are applied.

Abstract: We evaluate theoretically the interaction of the open bottom and strange systems (B) over bar (K) over bar, (B) over bar * (K) over bar, (B) over bar (K) over bar * and (B) over bar* (K) over bar* to look for possible bound states which could correspond to exotic non-quark-antiquark mesons since they would contain at least one b and one s quarks. The s-wave scattering matrix is evaluated implementing unitarity by means of the Bethe-Salpeter equation, with the potential kernels obtained from contact and vector meson exchange mechanisms. The vertices needed are supplied from Lagrangians derived from suitable extensions of the hidden gauge symmetry approach to the bottom sector. We find poles below the respective thresholds for isospin 0 interaction and evaluate the widths of the different obtained states by including the main sources of imaginary part, which are the B *-> B gamma decay in the (B) over bar * (K) over bar channels, the K *-> K pi in the channels involving a K *, plus the box diagrams with (B) over bar (K) over bar and (B) over bar * (K) over bar intermediate states for the (B) over bar * (K) over bar * channels.

Abstract: Light sources emitting short pulses are needed in many particle physics experiments using optical sensors as they can replicate the light produced by the particles being detected and are also an important calibration and test element. This work presents NOPELED, a light source based on LEDs emitting short optical pulses with typical rise times of less than 3 ns and Full Width at Half Maximum lower than 7 ns. The emission wavelength depends on the model of LED used. Several LED models have been characterized in the range from 405 to 532 nm, although NOPELED can work with LED emitting wavelengths outside of that region. While the wavelength is fixed for a given LED model, the intensity and the frequency of the optical pulse can be controlled. NOPELED, which also has low cost and simple operation, can be operated remotely, making it appropriate for either different physics experiments needing in-place light sources such as astrophysical neutrino detectors using photo-multipliers or positron emission tomography devices using scintillation counters, or, beyond physics, applications needing short pulses of light such as protein fluorescence or chemodetection of heavy metals.