Abstract: We study Generalized Parton Distribution functions (GPDs) usually measured in hard exclusive processes and encoding information on the three dimensional partonic structure of hadrons and their spin decomposition, for non-zeroskewness within the AdS/QCD formalism. To this aim the canonical scheme to calculate GPDs at zero skewness has been properly generalized. Furthermore, we show that the latter quantities, in this non-forwardregime, are sensitive to non-trivialdetails of the hadronic light front wave function, such as a kind of parton correlations usually not accessible in studies of form factors and GPDs at zero skewness.

Abstract: When neutrino masses arise from the exchange of neutral heavy leptons, as in most seesaw schemes, the effective lepton mixing matrix N describing neutrino propagation is non-unitary, hence neutrinos are not exactly orthonormal. New CP violation phases appear in N that could be confused with the standard phase delta(CP) characterizing the three neutrino paradigm. We study the potential of the long-baseline neutrino experiment DUNE in probing CP violation induced by the standard CP phase in the presence of non-unitarity. In order to accomplish this we develop our previous formalism, so as to take into account the neutrino interactions with the medium, important in long baseline experiments such as DUNE. We find that the expected CP sensitivity of DUNE is somewhat degraded with respect to that characterizing the standard unitary case. However the effect is weaker than might have been expected thanks mainly to the wide neutrino beam. We also investigate the sensitivity of DUNE to the parameters characterizing non-unitarity. In this case we find that there is no improvement expected with respect to the current situation, unless the near detector setup is revamped.

Abstract: We extend an alternative, phenomenological approach to inflation by means of an equation of state and a sound speed, both of them functions of the number of e-folds and four phenomenological parameters. This approach captures a number of possible inflationary models, including those with non-canonical kinetic terms or scale-dependent non-gaussianities. We perform Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses using the latest cosmological publicly available measurements, which include Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data from the Planck satellite. Within this parameterization, we discard scale invariance with a significance of about 10 sigma, and the running of the spectral index is constrained as alpha(s) = -0.60(-0.10)(+0.08) x 10(-3) (68% CL errors). The limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r < 0.005 at 95% CL from CMB data alone. We find no significant evidence for this alternative parameterization with present cosmological observations. The maximum amplitude of the equilateral non-gaussianity that we obtain, vertical bar f(NL)(equil)vertical bar < 1, is much smaller than the current Planck mission errors, strengthening the case for future high-redshift, all-sky surveys, which could reach the required accuracy on equilateral non-gaussianities.

Abstract: The observation of the decay Xi(-)(b)-> J/psi Lambda K- is reported, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb detector in pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The production rate of Xi(-)(b) baryons detected in the decay Xi(-)(b) -> J/psi Lambda K- is measured relative to that of Lambda(0)(b) baryons using the decay Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi Lambda. Integrated over the b-baryon transverse momentum p(T) < 25 GeV/c and rapidity 2.0 < y < 4.5, the measured ratio is f Xi(-)(b/) f Lambda(0)(b) B(Xi(-)(b)-> J/psi Lambda K-) / B(Lambda(0)(b)-> J/psi Lambda) = (4.19 +/- 0.29 (stat) +/- 0.15 (syst)) x 10(-2), where f(Xi)(b)(-) band f(Lambda)(b)(0)are the fragmentation fractions of b ->Xi(-)(b)and b ->Lambda(0)(b)transitions, and ss represents the branching fraction of the corresponding b- baryon decay. The mass difference between Xi(-)(b) and Lambda(0)(b) baryons is measured to be M(Xi(-)(b))-M(Lambda(0)(b)) = 177.08 +/- 0.47 (stat) +/- 0.16 (syst) MeV/c(2).

Abstract: We discuss a non-supersymmetric scenario which addresses the origin of the matter-parity symmetry, P-M = (-1)(3(B-L)+2s), leading to a viable Dirac fermion dark matter candidate. Implications to electroweak precision, muon anomalous magnetic moment, flavor changing interactions, lepton flavor violation, dark matter and collider physics are discussed in detail. We show that this non-supersymmetric model is capable of generating the matter-parity symmetry in agreement with existing data with gripping implications to particle physics and cosmology.