Abstract: A new isomer with a half-life of 23.0(8) ms has been identified at 2406 keV in Pd-126 and is proposed to have a spin and parity of 10(+) with a maximally aligned configuration comprising two neutron holes in the 1h(11/2) orbit. In addition to an internal-decay branch through a hindered electric octupole transition, beta decay from the long-lived isomer was observed to populate excited states at high spins in Ag-126. The smaller energy difference between the 10(+) and 7(-) isomers in Pd-126 than in the heavier N = 80 isotones can be interpreted as being ascribed to the monopole shift of the 1h(11/2) neutron orbit. The effects of the monopole interaction on the evolution of single-neutron energies below Sn-132 are discussed in terms of the central and tensor forces.

Abstract: A novel realization of the Starobinsky inflationary model within a moderate extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is presented. The proposed superpotential is uniquely determined by applying a continuous R and a Z2 discrete symmetry, whereas the Kahler potential is associated with a no-scale-type SU(54, 1)/ SU(54) x U(1) R X Z2 Kahler manifold. The inflaton is identified with a Higgs-like modulus whose the vacuum expectation value controls the gravitational strength. Thanks to a strong enough coupling (with a parameter CT involved) between the inflaton and the Ricci scalar curvature, inflation can be attained even for subplanckian values of the inflaton with CT >= 76 and the corresponding effective theory being valid up to the Planck scale. The inflationary observables turn out to be in agreement with the current data and the inflaton mass is predicted to be 3 10(3) GeV. At the cost of a relatively small superpotential coupling constant, the model offers also a resolution of the f,t problem of MSSM for CT <= 4500 and gravitino heavier than about 10(4) GeV. Supplementing MSSM by three right-handed neutrinos we show that spontaneously arising couplings between the inflaton and the particle content of MSSM not only ensure a sufficiently low reheating temperature but also support a scenario of non-thermal leptogenesis consistently with the neutrino oscillation parameters.

Abstract: Measurements of two-particle correlation functions and the first five azimuthal harmonics, v(1) to v(5), are presented, using 28 nb(-1) of p + Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Significant long-range “ridgelike” correlations are observed for pairs with small relative azimuthal angle (|Delta phi| < pi/3) and back-to-back pairs (|Delta phi| > 2 pi/3) over the transverse momentum range 0.4 < p(T) < 12 GeV and in different intervals of event activity. The event activity is defined by either the number of reconstructed tracks or the total transverse energy on the Pb-fragmentation side. The azimuthal structure of such long-range correlations is Fourier decomposed to obtain the harmonics v(n) as a function of p(T) and event activity. The extracted v(n) values for n = 2 to 5 decrease with n. The v(2) and v(3) values are found to be positive in the measured p(T) range. The v(1) is also measured as a function of p(T) and is observed to change sign around p(T) approximate to 1.5-2.0 GeV and then increase to about 0.1 for pT > 4 GeV. The v(2)(p(T)), v(3)(p(T)), and v(4)(p(T)) are compared to the v(n) coefficients in Pb + Pb collisions at root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV with similar event multiplicities. Reasonable agreement is observed after accounting for the difference in the average p(T) of particles produced in the two collision systems.