BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2017). Search for Invisible Decays of a Dark Photon Produced in e(+)e(-) Collisions at BABAR. Phys. Rev. Lett., 119(13), 131804–7pp.
Abstract: We search for single-photon events in 53 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) collision data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-Factory. We look for events with a single high-energy photon and a large missing momentum and energy, consistent with production of a spin-1 particle A' through the process e(+)e(-) -> gamma A'; A' -> invisible. Such particles, referred to as “dark photons,” are motivated by theories applying a U(1) gauge symmetry to dark matter. We find no evidence for such processes and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the coupling strength of A' to e(+)e(-) in the mass range m(A') <= 8 GeV. In particular, our limits exclude the values of the A' coupling suggested by the dark-photon interpretation of the muon (g – 2)(mu) anomaly, as well as a broad range of parameters for the dark-sector models.
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Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., Miralles, V., Ramirez, H., & Boubekeur, L. (2017). Running of featureful primordial power spectra. Phys. Rev. D, 95(12), 123534–7pp.
Abstract: Current measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) seem to indicate that the naive expectation for the slow-roll hierarchy within the most simple inflationary paradigm may not be respected in nature. We show that a primordial power spectrum with localized features could in principle give rise to the observed slow-roll anarchy when fitted to a featureless power spectrum. From a model comparison perspective, and assuming that nature has chosen a featureless primordial power spectrum, we find that, while with mock Planck data there is only weak evidence against a model with localized features, upcoming CMB missions may provide compelling evidence against such a nonstandard primordial power spectrum. This evidence could be reinforced if a featureless primordial power spectrum is independently confirmed from bispectrum and/or galaxy clustering measurements.
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Agullo, I., del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2017). Gravity and handedness of photons. Int. J. Mod. Phys. D, 26(12), 1742001–5pp.
Abstract: Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in the presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a nontrivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum electromagnetic radiation, in such a way that the state of polarization of radiation changes in time, even in the absence of electromagnetic sources. This is a quantum effect, and is a consequence of an anomaly related to the classical invariance under electric-magnetic duality rotations in Maxwell theory.
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Bagli, E., Bandiera, L., Cavoto, G., Guidi, V., Henry, L., Marangotto, D., et al. (2017). Electromagnetic dipole moments of charged baryons with bent crystals at the LHC. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(12), 828–19pp.
Abstract: We propose a unique program of measurements of electric and magnetic dipole moments of charm, beauty and strange charged baryons at the LHC, based on the phenomenon of spin precession of channeled particles in bent crystals. Studies of crystal channeling and spin precession of positively- and negatively-charged particles are presented, along with feasibility studies and expected sensitivities for the proposed experiment using a layout based on the LHCb detector.
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GAMBIT Collaboration(Athron, P. et al), & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2017). Global fits of GUT-scale SUSY models with GAMBIT. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(12), 824–44pp.
Abstract: We present the most comprehensive global fits to date of three supersymmetric models motivated by grand unification: the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM), and its Non-Universal Higgs Mass generalisations NUHM1 and NUHM2. We include likelihoods from a number of direct and indirect dark matter searches, a large collection of electroweak precision and flavour observables, direct searches for supersymmetry at LEP and Runs I and II of the LHC, and constraints from Higgs observables. Our analysis improves on existing results not only in terms of the number of included observables, but also in the level of detail with which we treat them, our sampling techniques for scanning the parameter space, and our treatment of nuisance parameters. We show that stau co-annihilation is now ruled out in the CMSSM at more than 95% confidence. Stop co-annihilation turns out to be one of the most promising mechanisms for achieving an appropriate relic density of darkmatter in all threemodels, whilst avoiding all other constraints. We find high-likelihood regions of parameter space featuring light stops and charginos, making them potentially detectable in the near future at the LHC. We also show that tonne-scale direct detection will play a largely complementary role, probing large parts of the remaining viable parameter space, including essentially all models with multi-TeV neutralinos.
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Albaladejo, M., Guo, F. K., Hanhart, C., Meissner, U. G., Nieves, J., Nogga, A., et al. (2017). Note on X(3872) production at hadron colliders and its molecular structure. Chin. Phys. C, 41(12), 121001–3pp.
Abstract: The production of the X (3872) as a hadronic molecule in hadron colliders is clarified. We show that the conclusion of Bignamini et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 (2009) 162001, that the production of the X(3872) at high pT implies a non-molecular structure, does not hold. In particular, using the well understood properties of the deuteron wave function as an example, we identify the relevant scales in the production process.
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Vagnozzi, S., Giusarma, E., Mena, O., Freese, K., Gerbino, M., Ho, S., et al. (2017). Unveiling nu secrets with cosmological data: Neutrino masses and mass hierarchy. Phys. Rev. D, 96(12), 123503–26pp.
Abstract: Using some of the latest cosmological data sets publicly available, we derive the strongest bounds in the literature on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, M-nu, within the assumption of a background flat Lambda CDM cosmology. In the most conservative scheme, combining Planck cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, as well as the up-to-date constraint on the optical depth to reionization (tau), the tightest 95% confidence level upper bound we find is M-nu < 0.151 eV. The addition of Planck high-l polarization data, which, however, might still be contaminated by systematics, further tightens the bound to M-nu < 0.118 eV. A proper model comparison treatment shows that the two aforementioned combinations disfavor the inverted hierarchy at similar to 64% C.L. and similar to 71% C.L., respectively. In addition, we compare the constraining power of measurements of the full- shape galaxy power spectrum versus the BAO signature, from the BOSS survey. Even though the latest BOSS full-shape measurements cover a larger volume and benefit from smaller error bars compared to previous similar measurements, the analysis method commonly adopted results in their constraining power still being less powerful than that of the extracted BAO signal. Our work uses only cosmological data; imposing the constraint M-nu > 0.06 eV from oscillations data would raise the quoted upper bounds by O(0.1 sigma) and would not affect our conclusions.
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Geng, L. S., Molina, R., & Oset, E. (2017). On the chiral covariant approach to rho rho scattering. Chin. Phys. C, 41(12), 124101–9pp.
Abstract: We examine in detail a recent work (D. Gulmez, U. G. Meibner and J. A. Oller, Eur. Phys. J. C, 77: 460 (2017)), where improvements to make rho rho scattering relativistically covariant are made. The paper has the remarkable conclusion that the J=2 state disappears with a potential which is much more attractive than for J=0, where a bound state is found. We trace this abnormal conclusion to the fact that an “on-shell” factorization of the potential is done in a region where this potential is singular and develops a large discontinuous and unphysical imaginary part. A method is developed, evaluating the loops with full rho propagators, and we show that they do not develop singularities and do not have an imaginary part below threshold. With this result for the loops we define an effective potential, which when used with the Bethe-Salpeter equation provides a state with J=2 around the energy of the f(2)(1270). In addition, the coupling of the state to is evaluated and we find that this coupling and the T matrix around the energy of the bound state are remarkably similar to those obtained with a drastic approximation used previously, in which the q(2) terms of the propagators of the exchanged rho mesons are dropped, once the cut-off in the rho rho loop function is tuned to reproduce the bound state at the same energy.
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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). Updated search for long-lived particles decaying to jet pairs. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(12), 812–14pp.
Abstract: A search is presented for long-lived particles with a mass between 25 and 50 GeV/c(2) and a lifetime between 2 and 500 ps, using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The particles are assumed to be pair-produced in the decay of a 125 GeV/c(2) Standard-Model-like Higgs boson. The experimental signature is a single long-lived particle, identified by a displaced vertex with two associated jets. No excess above background is observed and limits are set on the production cross-section as a function of the mass and lifetime of the long-lived particle.
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Bernabeu, J., Botella, F. J., Mavromatos, N. E., & Nebot, M. (2017). The signal of ill-defined CPT weakening entanglement in the B-d system. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(12), 865–10pp.
Abstract: In the presence of quantum-gravity fluctuations (space-time foam), the CPT operator may be ill-defined. Its perturbative treatment leads to a modification of the Einstein-Podolsky- Rosen correlation of the neutral meson system by adding an entanglement-weakening term of the wrong exchange symmetry, the omega-effect. In the current paper we identify how to probe the complex omega in the entangled B-d system using the flavour (f)-CP(g) eigenstate decay channels: the connection between the intensities for the two timeordered decays (f, g) and (g, f) is lost. Appropriate observables are constructed allowing independent experimental determinations of Re(omega) and Im(omega), disentangled from CPT violation in the evolution Hamiltonian Re(theta) and Im(theta). 2 sigma tensions for both Re(theta) and Im(omega) are shown to be uncorrelated.
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