Gimenez-Alventosa, V., Antunes, P. C. G., Vijande, J., Ballester, F., Perez-Calatayud, J., & Andreo, P. (2017). Collision-kerma conversion between dose-to-tissue and dose-to-water by photon energy-fluence corrections in low-energy brachytherapy. Phys. Med. Biol., 62(1), 146–164.
Abstract: The AAPM TG-43 brachytherapy dosimetry formalism, introduced in 1995, has become a standard for brachytherapy dosimetry worldwide; it implicitly assumes that charged-particle equilibrium (CPE) exists for the determination of absorbed dose to water at different locations, except in the vicinity of the source capsule. Subsequent dosimetry developments, based on Monte Carlo calculations or analytical solutions of transport equations, do not rely on the CPE assumption and determine directly the dose to different tissues. At the time of relating dose to tissue and dose to water, or vice versa, it is usually assumed that the photon fluence in water and in tissues are practically identical, so that the absorbed dose in the two media can be related by their ratio of mass energy-absorption coefficients. In this work, an efficient way to correlate absorbed dose to water and absorbed dose to tissue in brachytherapy calculations at clinically relevant distances for low-energy photon emitting seeds is proposed. A correction is introduced that is based on the ratio of the water-to-tissue photon energy-fluences. State-of-the art Monte Carlo calculations are used to score photon fluence differential in energy in water and in various human tissues (muscle, adipose and bone), which in all cases include a realistic modelling of low-energy brachytherapy sources in order to benchmark the formalism proposed. The energy-fluence based corrections given in this work are able to correlate absorbed dose to tissue and absorbed dose to water with an accuracy better than 0.5% in the most critical cases (e.g. bone tissue).
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Muñoz, E., Barrio, J., Etxebeste, A., Ortega, P. G., Lacasta, C., Oliver, J. F., et al. (2017). Performance evaluation of MACACO: a multilayer Compton camera. Phys. Med. Biol., 62(18), 7321–7341.
Abstract: Compton imaging devices have been proposed and studied for a wide range of applications. We have developed a Compton camera prototype which can be operated with two or three detector layers based on monolithic lanthanum bromide (LaBr3) crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), to be used for proton range verification in hadron therapy. In this work, we present the results obtained with our prototype in laboratory tests with radioactive sources and in simulation studies. Images of a Na-22 and an Y-88 radioactive sources have been successfully reconstructed. The full width half maximum of the reconstructed images is below 4 mm for a Na-22 source at a distance of 5 cm.
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Cavallaro, M., De Napoli, M., Cappuzzello, F., Orrigo, S. E. A., Agodi, C., Bondi, M., et al. (2017). Investigation of the Li-10 shell inversion by neutron continuum transfer reaction. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(1), 012701–5pp.
Abstract: This Letter reports a study of the highly debated 10Li structure through the d(Li-9,p)Li-10 one-neutron transfer reaction at 100 MeV. The Li-10 energy spectrum is measured up to 4.6 MeV and angular distributions corresponding to different excitation energy regions are reported for the first time. The comparison between data and theoretical predictions, including pairing correlation effects, shows the existence of a p(1/2) resonance at 0.45 +/- 0.03 MeV excitation energy, while no evidence for a significant s-wave contribution close to the threshold energy is observed. Moreover, two high-lying structures are populated at 1.5 and 2.9 MeV. The corresponding angular distributions suggest a significant s(1/2) partial-wave contribution for the 1.5 MeV structure and a mixing of configurations at higher energy, with the d(5/2) partial-wave contributing the most to the cross section.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). First Experimental Study of Photon Polarization in Radiative B-s(0) Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(2), 021801–9pp.
Abstract: The polarization of photons produced in radiative B-s(0) decays is studied for the first time. The data are recorded by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1) at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. A time-dependent analysis of the B-s(0) ->phi gamma decay rate is conducted to determine the parameter A(Delta), which is related to the ratio of right-over left-handed photon polarization amplitudes in b -> s gamma transitions. A value of A(Delta) = -0.98(-0.52)(-0.20)(+0.46)(+0.23) is measured. This result is consistent with the standard model prediction within 2 standard deviations.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2017). Search for B+ -> K+tau(+)tau(-) at the BABAR Experiment. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(3), 031802–8pp.
Abstract: We search for the rare flavor-changing neutral current process B+ -> K+tau(+)tau(-) using data from the BABAR experiment. The data sample, collected at the center-of-mass energy of the Upsilon(4S) resonance, corresponds to a total integrated luminosity of 424 fb(-1) and to 471 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs. We reconstruct one B meson, produced in the Upsilon(4S) -> B+B- decay, in one of many hadronic decay modes and search for activity compatible with a B+ -> K+tau(+)tau(-) decay in the rest of the event. Each tau lepton is required to decay leptonically into an electron or muon and neutrinos. Comparing the expected number of background events with the data sample after applying the selection criteria, we do not find evidence for a signal. The resulting upper limit, at the 90% confidence level, is B(B+ -> K+tau(+)tau(-)) < 2.25 x 10(-3).
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2017). Observation of J/psi phi Structures Consistent with Exotic States from Amplitude Analysis of B+ -> J/psi phi K+ Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(2), 022003–10pp.
Abstract: The first full amplitude analysis of B+ -> J/psi phi K+ with J/psi -> mu(+)mu(-), phi -> K+K- decays is performed with a data sample of 3 fb(-1) of pp collision data collected at root s = 7 and 8 TeV with the LHCb detector. The data cannot be described by a model that contains only excited kaon states decaying into phi K+ , and four J/psi phi structures are observed, each with significance over 5 standard deviations. The quantum numbers of these structures are determined with significance of at least 4 standard deviations. The lightest has mass consistent with, but width much larger than, previous measurements of the claimed X(4140) state.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Observation of B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0 Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(11), 111803–9pp.
Abstract: Using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), recorded by the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, the B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0 decay is observed with a statistical significance of 5.1 standard deviations. By normalizing to B-c(+) -> (D) over bar (0)pi(+) decays, a measurement of the branching fraction multiplied by the production rates for B-c(+) relative to B+ mesons in the LHCb acceptance is obtained, R-D0K = (f(c)/f(u)) x B(B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0) = (9.3(-2.5)(+2.8) +/- 0.6) x 10(-7), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This decay is expected to proceed predominantly through weak annihilation and penguin amplitudes, and is the first B-c(+) decay of this nature to be observed.
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Agullo, I., del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2017). Electromagnetic Duality Anomaly in Curved Spacetimes. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(11), 111301–5pp.
Abstract: The source-free Maxwell action is invariant under electric-magnetic duality rotations in arbitrary spacetimes. This leads to a conserved classical Noether charge. We show that this conservation law is broken at the quantum level in the presence of a background classical gravitational field with a nontrivial Chern-Pontryagin invariant, in parallel with the chiral anomaly for massless Dirac fermions. Among the physical consequences, the net polarization of the quantum electromagnetic field is not conserved.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Observation of the Annihilation Decay Mode B-0 -> K+K-. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(8), 081801–9pp.
Abstract: A search for the B-0 -> K+K- decay is performed using pp-collision data collected by LHCb. The data set corresponds to integrated luminosities of 1.0 and 2.0 fb(-1) at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. This decay is observed for the first time, with a significance of more than 5 standard deviations. The analysis also results in an improved measurement of the branching fraction for the B-s(0) -> pi(+)pi(-) decay. The measured branching fractions are B(B-0 -> K+K-) = (7.80 +/- 1.27 +/- 0.81 +/- 0.21) x 10(-8) and B(B-s(0) -> pi(+)p(-)) = (6.91 +/- 0.54 +/- 0.63 +/- 0.19 +/- 0.40) x 10(-7). The first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the B-0 -> K+pi(-) branching fraction used as a normalization. For the B-s(0) mode, the fourth accounts for the uncertainty on the ratio of the probabilities for b quarks to hadronize into B-s(0) and B-0 mesons.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Observation of the Decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(7), 071801–11pp.
Abstract: Decays of the Xi(-)(b) and Omega(-)(b) baryons to the charmless final states ph(-)h'(-), where h((')) denotes a kaon or pion, are searched for with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energies root s = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) is observed with a significance of 8.7 standard deviations, and evidence at the level of 3.4 standard deviations is found for the Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) decay. Results are reported, relative to the B- -> K+K-K- normalization channel, for the products of branching fractions and b-hadron production fractions. The branching fractions of Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) and Xi(-)(b) -> p pi(-)pi(-) relative to Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) decays are also measured.
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