Abstract: The low-background, VUV-sensitive 3-inch diameter photomultiplier tube R11410 has been developed by Hamamatsu for dark matter direct detection experiments using liquid xenon as the target material. We present the results from the joint effort between the XENON collaboration and the Hamamatsu company to produce a highly radio-pure photosensor (version R11410-21) for the XENON1T dark matter experiment. After introducing the photosensor and its components, we show the methods and results of the radioactive contamination measurements of the individual materials employed in the photomultiplier production. We then discuss the adopted strategies to reduce the radioactivity of the various PMT versions. Finally, we detail the results from screening 286 tubes with ultra-low background germanium detectors, as well as their implications for the expected electronic and nuclear recoil background of the XENON1T experiment.

Abstract: In a previous work we presented a theoretical analysis of the Lambda(b) -> J/psi K- p reaction based on which a recent experiment by the LHCb collaboration at CERN claimed the existence of two hidden charm pentaquarks, P-c(4380)(+) and P-c(4450)(+). In that work we focused only on the Lambda(1405) and P-c(4450)(+) signals and discussed the possible explanation of this pentaquark state within the picture of a dynamical meson-baryon molecule made up mostly from (D) over bar*Sigma(c) and (D) over bar*Sigma(c)* components. In the present work we improve upon the previous one by considering the total K- p and J/psi p data including all the relevant resonances contributing to the spectra, and discuss the possible nature of both P-c(4380)(+) and P-c(4450)(+). We also discuss several important topics, like the effect of the contact term in the reaction, the viability of reproducing the data without the P-c(4380)(+) and the possible quantum number assignment to these pentaquarks.

Abstract: A search for neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) and for a heavneutral Z' boson is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) from proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to a tau(+)tau(-) pair with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-1.2 TeV for the MSSM neutral Higgs bosons and 0.5-2.5 TeV for the heavy neutral Z' boson. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in MSSMand Z' benchmark scenarios. The most stringent constraints on the MSSM m(A)-tan beta space exclude at 95% confidence level (CL) tan beta > 7.6 for m(A) = 200 GeV in the m(h)(mod+) MSSM scenario. For the Sequential Standard Model, a Z(SSM)' mass up to 1.90 TeV is excluded at 95% CL and masses up to 1.82-2.17 TeV are excluded for a Z(SFM)' of the strong flavour model.