Abstract: Investigations of the existence of pentaquark states containing a single b (anti) quark decaying weakly into four specific final states J/psi K+pi(-)p, J/psi K-pi(-)p, J/psi K-pi(+)p, and J/psi phi(1020)p are reported. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) in 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions acquired with the LHCb detector. Signals are not observed and upper limits are set on the product of the production cross section times branching fraction with respect to that of the A(b)(0).

Abstract: A search is presented for the direct pair production of the stop, the supersymmetric partner of the top quark, that decays through an R-parity-violating coupling to a final state with two leptons and two jets, at least one of which is identified as a b-jet. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. No significant excess is observed over the Standard Model background, and exclusion limits are set on stop pair production at a 95% confidence level. Lower limits on the stop mass are set between 600 GeV and 1.5 TeV for branching ratios above 10% for decays to an electron or muon and a b-quark.

Abstract: In this paper we perform an amplitude analysis of eta ' -> pi(+)pi(-)gamma and confront it with the latest BESIII data. Based on the final-state interaction theorem, we represent the amplitude in terms of an Omnes function multiplied by a form factor that corresponds to the contributions from left-hand cuts and right-hand cuts in the inelastic channels. We also take into account the isospin violation effect induced by rho-omega mixing. Our results show that the anomaly contribution is mandatory in order to explain the data. Its contribution to the decay width of Gamma(eta ' -> pi pi gamma) is larger than that induced by isospin violation. Finally we extract the pole positions of the rho and omega as well as their corresponding residues.

Abstract: We report measurements of charm-mixing parameters based on the decay-time-dependent ratio of D-0 -> K+pi(-) to D-0 -> K-pi(+) rates. The analysis uses a data sample of proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb(-1) recorded by the LHCb experiment from 2011 through 2016. Assuming charge-parity (CP) symmetry, the mixing parameters are determined to be x'(2) = (3.9 +/- 2.7) x 10(-5), y' = (5.28 +/- 0.52) x 10(-3), and R-D = (3.454 +/- 0.031) x 10(-3). Without this assumption, the measurement is performed separately for D-0 and (D) over bar (0) mesons, yielding a direct CP-violating asymmetry A(D) = (-0.1 +/- 9.1) x 10(-3), and magnitude of the ratio of mixing parameters 1.00 < vertical bar q/p vertical bar < 1.35 at the 68.3% confidence level. All results include statistical and systematic uncertainties and improve significantly upon previous single-measurement determinations. No evidence for CP violation in charm mixing is observed.

Abstract: We study the impact of assumptions about neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from cosmological data, with a specific focus on the allowed contours in the n(s)/r plane, where n(s) is the scalar spectral index and r is the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We study the following neutrino properties: (i) the total neutrino mass M-i = Sigma(i)m(i) (where the index i = 1, 2, 3 runs over the three neutrino mass eigenstates); (ii) the number of relativistic degrees of freedom N-eff at the time of recombination; and (iii) the neutrino hierarchy. Whereas previous literature assumed three degenerate neutrino masses or two massless neutrino species (approximations that clearly do not match neutrino oscillation data), we study the cases of normal and inverted hierarchy. Our basic result is that these three neutrino properties induce < 1 sigma shift of the probability contours in the n(s)/r plane with both current or upcoming data. We find that the choice of neutrino hierarchy (normal, inverted, or degenerate) has a negligible impact. However, the minimal cutoff on the total neutrino mass M-v,M-min = 0 that accompanies previous works using the degenerate hierarchy does introduce biases in the n(s)/r plane and should be replaced by M-v,M-min = 0.059 eV as required by oscillation data. Using current cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck and Bicep/Keck, marginalizing over the total neutrino mass M-v and over r can lead to a shift in the mean value of ns of similar to 0.3 sigma toward lower values. However, once baryon acoustic oscillation measurements are included, the standard contours in the n(s)/r plane are basically reproduced. Larger shifts of the contours in the n(s)/r plane (up to 0.8 sigma) arise for nonstandard values of N-eff. We also provide forecasts for the future CMB experiments Cosmic Origins Explorer (COrE, satellite) and Stage-IV (ground-based) and show that the incomplete knowledge of neutrino properties, taken into account by a marginalization over M-v, could induce a shift of similar to 0.4 sigma toward lower values in the determination of ns (or a similar to 0.8 sigma shift if one marginalizes over N-eff). Comparison to specific inflationary models is shown. Imperfect knowledge of neutrino properties must be taken into account properly, given the desired precision in determining whether or not inflationary models match the future data.