Abstract: Using a proton-proton collision data sample collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb(-1), the observation of a new excited Xi(0)(b) resonance decaying to the Xi(-)(b)pi(+) final state is presented. The state, referred to as Xi(b) (6227)(0), has a measured mass and natural width of m(Xi(b)(6227)(0)) = 6227.1(-1.5)(+1.4) +/- 0.5 MeV and Gamma(Xi(b)(6227)(0)) = 18.6(-4.1)(+5.0) +/- 1.4 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic. The production rate of the Xi(b)(6227)(0) state relative to that of the Xi(-)(b) baryon in the kinematic region 2 < eta < 5 and p(T) < 30 GeV is measured to be f(Xi b(6227)0)/f(Xi b)(-) B(Xi(b)(6227)(0) -> Xi(-)(b)pi(+)) = 0.045 +/- 0.008 +/- 0.004, where B(Xi(b)(6227)(0) -> Xi(-)(b)pi(+)) is the branching fraction of the decay, and f(Xi b(6227)0) and f(Xi b-) represent fragmentation fractions. Improved measurements of the mass and natural width of the previously observedf Xi(b)(6227)(-) state, along with the mass of the Xi(-)(b) baryon, are also reported. Both measurements are significantly more precise than, and consistent with, previously reported values.

Abstract: We report measurements by the T2K experiment of the parameters theta(23) and Delta m(32)(2), which govern the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos in the three-flavor PMNS neutrino oscillation model at T2K's neutrino energy and propagation distance. Utilizing the ability of the experiment to run with either a mainly neutrino or a mainly antineutrino beam, muon-like events from each beam mode are used to measure these parameters separately for neutrino and antineutrino oscillations. Data taken from 1.49 x 10(21) protons on target (POT) in neutrino mode and 1.64 x 10(21) POT in antineutrino mode are used. The best-fit values obtained by T2K were sin(2)(theta(23)) = 0.51(-0.07)(+0.06) (0.43(-0.05)(+0.21)) and Delta m(32)(2) = 2.47(-0.09)(+0.08) (2.50(-0.13)(+0.18)) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4) for neutrinos (antineutrinos). No significant differences between the values of the parameters describing the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos were observed. An analysis using an effective two-flavor neutrino oscillation model where the sine of the mixing angle is allowed to take nonphysical values larger than 1 is also performed to check the consistency of our data with the three-flavor model. Our data were found to be consistent with a physical value for the mixing angle.

Abstract: In Quantum Chromodynamics, the Schwinger mechanism endows the gluons with an effective mass through the dynamical formation of massless bound-state poles that are longitudinally coupled. The presence of these poles affects profoundly the infrared properties of the interaction vertices, inducing crucial modifications to their fundamental Ward identities. Within this general framework, we present a detailed derivation of the non-Abelian Ward identity obeyed by the pole-free part of the three-gluon vertex in the softgluon limit, and determine the smoking-gun displacement that the onset of the Schwinger mechanism produces to the standard result. Quite importantly, the quantity that describes this distinctive feature coincides formally with the bound-state wave function that controls the massless pole formation. Consequently, this signal may be computed in two independent ways: by solving an approximate version of the pertinent BetheSalpeter integral equation, or by appropriately combining the elements that enter in the aforementioned Ward identity. For the implementation of both methods we employ two- and three-point correlation functions obtained from recent lattice simulations, and a partial derivative of the ghost-gluon kernel, which is computed from the corresponding Schwinger-Dyson equation. Our analysis reveals an excellent coincidence between the results obtained through either method, providing a highly nontrivial self-consistency check for the entire approach. When compared to the null hypothesis, where the Schwinger mechanism is assumed to be inactive, the statistical significance of the resulting signal is estimated to be 3 standard deviations.

Abstract: A coupled-channel approach is applied to the charged tetraquark state T-cc(+). recently discovered by the LHCb Collaboration. The parameters of the interaction are fixed by a fit to the observed line shape in the three-body (DD0)-D-0 pi(+) channel. Special attention is paid to the three-body dynamics in the T-cc(+) due to the finite life time of the D*. An approach to the T-cc(+) is argued to be self-consistent only if both manifestations of the three-body dynamics, the pion exchange between the D and D* mesons and the finite D* width, are taken into account simultaneously to ensure that three-body unitarity is preserved. This is especially important to precisely extract the pole position in the complex energy plane whose imaginary part is very sensitive to the details of the coupled-channel scheme employed. The (DD0)-D-0 and (DD+)-D-0 invariant mass distributions, predicted based on this analysis, are in good agreement with the LHCb data. The low-energy expansion of the D* D scattering amplitude is performed and the low-energy constants (the scattering length and effective range) are extracted. The compositeness parameter of the T-cc(+) is found to be close to unity, which implies that the T-cc(+) is a hadronic molecule generated by the interactions in the D*D-+(0) and D*D-0(+) channels. Employing heavy-quark spin symmetry, an isoscalar D* D* molecular partner of the T-cc(+) with J(P) = 1(+ )is predicted under the assumption that the DD* -D* D* coupled-channel effects can be neglected.

Abstract: This paper presents a search for decays of the Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV into a pair of new pseudoscalar particles, H -> aa, where one a-boson decays into a b-quark pair and the other into a muon pair. The search uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. A narrow dimuon resonance is searched for in the invariant mass spectrum between 16 GeV and 62 GeV. The largest excess of events above the Standard Model backgrounds is observed at a dimuon invariant mass of 52 GeV and corresponds to a local (global) significance of 3.3 sigma (1.7 sigma). Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to the bb μμfinal state, beta(H -> aa -> bb μmu), and are in the range 0.2-4.0 x 10(-4), depending on the signal mass hypothesis.