Abstract: Excited states of neutron-rich iodine isotopes I130-134 above the high-spin isomers have been identified using prompt-delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy. The iodine isotopes were produced as fission fragments of fusion-fission and transfer induced fission of 9Be(U-238, f) at a beam energy of 6.2 MeV/u. The complete (A, Z) identification was obtained using the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer VAMOS++. The AGATA gamma-ray tracking array was used to detect the prompt gamma rays while the delayed gamma rays (in the time range of 100 ns to 200 μs) from the isomeric states were identified by the EXOGAM segmented clover detectors, placed behind the focal plane of the VAMOS++ spectrometer. The high-spin states above the (8(-)) isomers in I-130,I-132 were populated for the first time, and a new isomer in I-132 was identified. A new gamma-ray transition was also assigned to the level structure of I-134. Prompt transitions above the 19/2- isomer were identified in I-131,I-133, for the first time. The level structures are interpreted in terms of the systematics of odd-Z nuclei above the Z = 50 shell closure and large-scale shell model calculations.

Abstract: The Fourier transform of the density-density correlation function in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) analog black hole is a useful tool to investigate correlations between the Hawking particles and their partners. It can be expressed in terms of <(out)(a) over cap (ext)(up) (out)(a) over cap (int)(up)> where (out)(a) over cap (ext)(up) is the annihilation operator for the Hawking particle and (out)(a) over cap (int)(up) is the corresponding one for the partner. This basic quantity is calculated for three different models for the BEC flow. It is shown that in each model the inclusion of the effective potential in the mode equations makes a significant difference. Furthermore, particle production induced by this effective potential in the interior of the black hole is studied for each model and shown to be nonthermal. An interesting peak that is related to the particle production and is present in some models is discussed.

Abstract: The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order 10(12) GeV. For a smaller decay constant, the QCD axion, with Peccei-Quinn symmetry broken during inflation, makes up only a fraction of dark matter unless the axion field starts oscillating very close to the top of its potential, in a scenario called “large-misalignment”. In this scenario, QCD axion dark matter with a small axion decay constant is partially comprised of very dense structures. We present a simple dynamical model realising the large-misalignment mechanism. During inflation, the axion classically rolls down its potential approaching its minimum. After inflation, the Universe reheats to a high temperature and a modulus (real scalar field) changes the sign of its minimum dynamically, which changes the sign of the mass of a vector-like fermion charged under QCD. As a result, the minimum of the axion potential during inflation becomes the maximum of the potential after the Universe has cooled through the QCD phase transition and the axion starts oscillating. In this model, we can produce QCD axion dark matter with a decay constant as low as 6 x 10(9) GeV and an axion mass up to 1 meV. We also summarise the phenomenological implications of this mechanism for dark matter experiments and colliders.

Abstract: The sensitivity of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to neutrino oscillation is determined, based on a full simulation, reconstruction, and event selection of the far detector and a full simulation and parameterized analysis of the near detector. Detailed uncertainties due to the flux prediction, neutrino interaction model, and detector effects are included. DUNE will resolve the neutrino mass ordering to a precision of 5 sigma, for all delta CP values, after 2 years of running with the nominal detector design and beam configuration. It has the potential to observe charge-parity violation in the neutrino sector to a precision of 3 sigma (5 sigma) after an exposure of 5 (10) years, for 50% of all delta CP values. It will also make precise measurements of other parameters governing long-baseline neutrino oscillation, and after an exposure of 15 years will achieve a similar sensitivity to sin22 theta 13 to current reactor experiments.

Abstract: We study the structure and stability of traversable wormholes built as (spherically symmetric) thin shells in the context of Palatini f(R) gravity. Using a suitable junction formalism for these theories we find that the effective number of degrees of freedom on the shell is reduced to a single one, which fixes the equation of state to be that of massless stress-energy fields, contrary to the general relativistic and metric f(R) cases. Another major difference is that the surface energy density threading the thin shell, needed in order to sustain the wormhole, can take any sign and may even vanish, depending on the desired features of the corresponding solutions. We illustrate our results by constructing thin-shell wormholes by surgically grafting Schwarzschild space-times and show that these configurations are always linearly unstable. However, surgically joined Reissner-Nordstrom space-times allow for linearly stable, traversable thin-shell wormholes supported by a positive energy density provided that the (squared) mass-to-charge ratio, given by y = Q(2)/M-2, satisfies the constraint 1 < y < 9/8 (corresponding to overcharged Reissner-Nordstrom configurations having a photon sphere) and lies in a region bounded by specific curves defined in terms of the (dimensionless) radius of the shell x(0) = R/M.