ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2022). Search for heavy particles in the b-tagged dijet mass distribution with additional b-tagged jets in proton-proton collisions at p root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 105(1), 012001–22pp.
Abstract: A search optimized for new heavy particles decaying to two b-quarks and produced in association with additional b-quarks is reported. The sensitivity is improved by b-tagging at least one lower-pT jet in addition to the two highest-pT jets. The data used in this search correspond to an integrated luminosity of 103 fb-1 collected with a dedicated trijet trigger during the 2017 and 2018 pffisffi = 13 TeV proton-proton collision runs with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search looks for resonant peaks in the b-tagged dijet invariant mass spectrum over a smoothly falling background. The background is estimated with an innovative data-driven method based on orthonormal functions. The observed b-tagged dijet invariant mass spectrum is compatible with the background-only hypothesis. Upper limits at 95% confidence level on a heavy vector-boson production cross section times branching ratio to a pair of b-quarks are derived.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2024). Search for quantum black hole production in lepton plus jet final states using proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 109(3), 032010–28pp.
Abstract: A search for quantum black holes in electron + jet and muon + jet invariant mass spectra is performed with 140 fb(-1) of data collected by the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed invariant mass spectrum of lepton + jet pairs is consistent with Standard Model expectations. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on the production cross section times branching fractions for quantum black holes decaying into a lepton and a quark in a search region with invariant mass above 2.0 TeV. The resulting quantum black hole lower mass threshold limit is 9.2 TeV in the Arkani-Hamed-Dimopoulos-Dvali model, and 6.8 TeV in the Randall-Sundrum model.
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Pavao, R., Gubler, P., Fernandez-Soler, P., Nieves, J., Oka, M., & Takahashi, T. T. (2021). The negative-parity spin-1/2 A baryon spectrum from lattice QCD and effective theory. Phys. Lett. B, 820, 136473–8pp.
Abstract: The spectrum of the negative-parity spin-1/2 Lambda baryons is studied using lattice QCD and hadronic effective theory in a unitarized coupled-channel framework. A direct comparison between the two approaches is possible by considering the hadronic effective theory in a finite volume and with hadron masses and mesonic decay constants that correspond to the situation studied on the lattice. Comparing the energy level spectrum and SU(3) flavor decompositions of the individual states, it is found that the lowest two states extracted from lattice QCD can be associated with one of the two Lambda(1405)-poles and the Lambda(1670) resonance. The quark mass dependences of these two lattice QCD levels are in good agreement with their effective theory counterparts. However, as current lattice QCD studies still rely on three-quark operators to generate the physical states, clear signals corresponding to the meson-baryon scattering states, that appear in the finite volume effective theory calculation, are not yet seen.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2019). Search for long-lived particles in final states with displaced dimuon vertices in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 99(1), 012001–32pp.
Abstract: A search is performed for a long-lived particle decaying into a final state that includes a pair of muons of opposite-sign electric charge, using proton-proton collision data collected at root s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 32.9 fb(-1). No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits at 95% confidence level on the lifetime of the long-lived particle are presented in models of new phenomena including gauge-mediated supersymmetry or decay of the Higgs boson, H, to a pair of dark photons, Z(D). Lifetimes in the range c tau = 1-2400 cm are excluded, depending on the parameters of the model. In the supersymmetric model, the lightest neutralino is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, with a relatively long lifetime due to its weak coupling to the gravitino, the lightest supersymmetric particle. The lifetime limits are determined for very light gravitino mass and various assumptions for the neutralino mass in the range 300-1000 GeV. In the dark photon model, the lifetime limits are interpreted as exclusion contours in the plane of the coupling between the Z(D) and the Standard Model Z boson versus the Z(D) mass (in the range 20-60 GeV), for various assumptions for the H -> Z(D)Z(D) branching fraction.
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Chiang, C. W., Cottin, G., & Eberhardt, O. (2019). Global fits in the Georgi-Machacek model. Phys. Rev. D, 99(1), 015001–21pp.
Abstract: Off the beaten track of scalar singlet and doublet extensions of the Standard Model, triplets combine an interesting LHC phenomenology with an explanation for neutrino masses. The Georgi-Machacek model falls into this category, but it has never been fully explored in a global fit. We use the HEPfit package to combine recent experimental Higgs data with theoretical constraints and obtain strong limits on the mixing angles and mass differences between the heavy new scalars as well as their decay widths. We also find that the current signal strength measurements allow for a Higgs to vector boson coupling with an opposite sign to the Standard Model, but this possibility can be ruled out by the lack of direct evidence for heavy Higgs states. For these hypothetical particles, we identify the dominant decay channels and extract bounds on their branching ratios from the global fit, which can be used to single out the decay patterns relevant for the experimental searches.
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Donini, A., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Salvado, J. (2019). Neutrino tomography of Earth. Nat. Phys., 15(1), 37–40.
Abstract: Cosmic-ray interactions with the atmosphere produce a flux of neutrinos in all directions with energies extending above the TeV scale(1). The Earth is not a fully transparent medium for neutrinos with energies above a few TeV, as the neutrinonucleon cross-section is large enough to make the absorption probability non-negligible(2). Since absorption depends on energy and distance travelled, studying the distribution of the TeV atmospheric neutrinos passing through the Earth offers an opportunity to infer its density profiles(3-7). This has never been done, however, due to the lack of relevant data. Here we perform a neutrino-based tomography of the Earth using actual data-one-year of through-going muon atmospheric neutrino data collected by the IceCube telescope(8). Using only weak interactions, in a way that is completely independent of gravitational measurements, we are able to determine the mass of the Earth and its core, its moment of inertia, and to establish that the core is denser than the mantle. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of this approach to study the Earth's internal structure, which is complementary to traditional geophysics methods. Neutrino tomography could become more competitive as soon as more statistics is available, provided that the sources of systematic uncertainties are fully under control.
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Heisenberg, L., Ramirez, H., & Tsujikawa, S. (2019). Inflation with mixed helicities and its observational imprint on CMB. Phys. Rev. D, 99(2), 023505–14pp.
Abstract: In the framework of effective field theories with prominent helicity-0 and helicity-1 fields coupled to each other via a dimension-3 operator, we study the dynamics of inflation driven by the helicity-0 mode, with a given potential energy, as well as the evolution of cosmological perturbations, influenced by the presence of a mixing term between both helicities. In this scenario, the temporal component of the helicity-1 mode is an auxiliary field and can be integrated out in terms of the time derivative of the helicity-0 mode, so that the background dynamics effectively reduces to that in single-field inflation modulated by a parameter beta associated to the coupling between helicity-0 and helicity-1 modes. We discuss the evolution of a longitudinal scalar perturbation psi and an inflaton fluctuation delta phi, and we explicitly show that a particular combination of these two, which corresponds to an isocurvature mode, is subject to exponential suppression by the vector mass comparable to the Hubble expansion rate during inflation. Furthermore, we find that the effective single-field description corrected by beta also holds for the power spectrum of curvature perturbations generated during inflation. We compute the standard inflationary observables such as the scalar spectral index n(s), and the tensorto-scalar ratio r and confront several inflaton potentials with the recent observational data provided by Planck 2018. Our results show that the coupling between helicity-0 and helicity-1 modes can lead to a smaller value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio especially for small-field inflationary models, so our scenario exhibits even better compatibility with the current observational data.
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Debastiani, V. R., & Navarra, F. S. (2019). A non-relativistic model for the [cc][(c)over-bar(c)over-bar] tetraquark. Chin. Phys. C, 43(1), 013105–20pp.
Abstract: We use a non-relativistic model to study the spectroscopy of a tetraquark composed of [cc][(c) over bar(c) over bar] in a diquark-antidiquark configuration. By numerically solving the Schrodinger equation with a Cornell-inspired potential, we separate the four-body problem into three two-body problems. Spin-dependent terms (spin-spin, spin-orbit and tensor) are used to describe the splitting structure of the c (c) over bar spectrum and are also extended to the interaction between diquarks. Recent experimental data on charmonium states are used to fix the parameters of the model and a satisfactory description of the spectrum is obtained. We find that the spin-dependent interaction is sizable in the diquark-antidiquark system, despite the heavy diquark mass, and also that the diquark has a finite size if treated in the same way as the c (c) over bar systems. We find that the lowest S-wave T-4c tetraquarks might be below their thresholds of spontaneous dissociation into low-lying charmonium pairs, while orbital and radial excitations would be mostly above the corresponding charmonium pair thresholds. Finally, we repeat the calculations without the confining part of the potential and obtain bound diquarks and bound tetraquarks. This might be relevant to the study of exotic charmonium in the quark-gluon plasma. The T4c states could be investigated in the forthcoming experiments at the LHC and Belle II.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2018). Study of the reactions e(+)e(-) -> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0)pi(0)pi(0) and pi(+)pi(-) pi(0)pi(0)eta at center-of-mass energies from threshold to 4.35 GeV using initial-state radiation. Phys. Rev. D, 98(11), 112015–23pp.
Abstract: We study the processes e(+)e--> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0)pi(0)pi(0)gamma and pi(+)pi(-)pi(0)pi(0)eta gamma in which an energetic photon is radiated from the initial state. The data are collected with the BABAR detector at SLAC. About 14 000 and 4700 events, respectively, are selected from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 469 fb(-1). The invariant mass of the hadronic final state defines the effective e(+)e(-) center-of-mass energy. From the mass spectra, the first precise measurement of the e(+)e--> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0)pi(0)pi(0) cross section and the first measurement ever of the e(+)e--> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0)pi(0)pi(0)eta cross section are performed. The center-of-mass energies range from threshold to 4.35 GeV. The systematic uncertainty is typically between 10% and 13%. The contributions from omega pi(0)pi(0), eta pi(+)pi(-) and other intermediate states are presented. We observe the J/psi and psi(2S) in most of these final states and measure the corresponding branching fractions, many of them for the first time.
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Agullo, I., del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2018). On the Electric-Magnetic Duality Symmetry: Quantum Anomaly, Optical Helicity, and Particle Creation. Symmetry-Basel, 10(12), 763–14pp.
Abstract: It is well known that not every symmetry of a classical field theory is also a symmetry of its quantum version. When this occurs, we speak of quantum anomalies. The existence of anomalies imply that some classical Noether charges are no longer conserved in the quantum theory. In this paper, we discuss a new example for quantum electromagnetic fields propagating in the presence of gravity. We argue that the symmetry under electric-magnetic duality rotations of the source-free Maxwell action is anomalous in curved spacetimes. The classical Noether charge associated with these transformations accounts for the net circular polarization or the optical helicity of the electromagnetic field. Therefore, our results describe the way the spacetime curvature changes the helicity of photons and opens the possibility of extracting information from strong gravitational fields through the observation of the polarization of photons. We also argue that the physical consequences of this anomaly can be understood in terms of the asymmetric quantum creation of photons by the gravitational field.
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