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Khachatryan, M. et al, Coloma, P. (2021). Electron-beam energy reconstruction for neutrino oscillation measurements. Nature, 599(7886), 565–570.
Abstract: Neutrinos exist in one of three types or 'flavours'-electron, muon and tau neutrinos-and oscillate from one flavour to another when propagating through space. This phenomena is one of the few that cannot be described using the standard model of particle physics (reviewed in ref. (1)), and so its experimental study can provide new insight into the nature of our Universe (reviewed in ref. (2)). Neutrinos oscillate as a function of their propagation distance (L) divided by their energy (E). Therefore, experiments extract oscillation parameters by measuring their energy distribution at different locations. As accelerator-based oscillation experiments cannot directly measure E, the interpretation of these experiments relies heavily on phenomenological models of neutrino-nucleus interactions to infer E. Here we exploit the similarity of electron-nucleus and neutrino-nucleus interactions, and use electron scattering data with known beam energies to test energy reconstruction methods and interaction models. We find that even in simple interactions where no pions are detected, only a small fraction of events reconstruct to the correct incident energy. More importantly, widely used interaction models reproduce the reconstructed energy distribution only qualitatively and the quality of the reproduction varies strongly with beam energy. This shows both the need and the pathway to improve current models to meet the requirements of next-generation, high-precision experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande (Japan)(3) and DUNE (USA)(4). Electron scattering measurements are shown to reproduce only qualitatively state-of-the-art lepton-nucleus energy reconstruction models, indicating that improvements to these particle-interaction models are required to ensure the accuracy of future high-precision neutrino oscillation experiments.
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Wilson, J. N. et al, & Algora, A. (2021). Angular momentum generation in nuclear fission. Nature, 590(7847), 566–570.
Abstract: When a heavy atomic nucleus splits (fission), the resulting fragments are observed to emerge spinning(1); this phenomenon has been a mystery in nuclear physics for over 40 years(2,3). The internal generation of typically six or seven units of angular momentum in each fragment is particularly puzzling for systems that start with zero, or almost zero, spin. There are currently no experimental observations that enable decisive discrimination between the many competing theories for the mechanism that generates the angular momentum(4-12). Nevertheless, the consensus is that excitation of collective vibrational modes generates the intrinsic spin before the nucleus splits (pre-scission). Here we show that there is no significant correlation between the spins of the fragment partners, which leads us to conclude that angular momentum in fission is actually generated after the nucleus splits (post-scission). We present comprehensive data showing that the average spin is strongly mass-dependent, varying in saw-tooth distributions. We observe no notable dependence of fragment spin on the mass or charge of the partner nucleus, confirming the uncorrelated post-scission nature of the spin mechanism. To explain these observations, we propose that the collective motion of nucleons in the ruptured neck of the fissioning system generates two independent torques, analogous to the snapping of an elastic band. A parameterization based on occupation of angular momentum states according to statistical theory describes the full range of experimental data well. This insight into the role of spin in nuclear fission is not only important for the fundamental understanding and theoretical description of fission, but also has consequences for the gamma-ray heating problem in nuclear reactors(13,14), for the study of the structure of neutron-rich isotopes(15,16), and for the synthesis and stability of super-heavy elements(17,18). gamma-ray spectroscopy experiments on the origin of spin in the products of nuclear fission of spin-zero nuclei suggest that the fission fragments acquire their spin after scission, rather than before.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Fernandez, P., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2020). Constraint on the matter-antimatter symmetry-violating phase in neutrino oscillations. Nature, 580(7803), 339–344.
Abstract: The charge-conjugation and parity-reversal (CP) symmetry of fundamental particles is a symmetry between matter and antimatter. Violation of this CP symmetry was first observed in 1964(1), and CP violation in the weak interactions of quarks was soon established(2). Sakharov proposed(3) that CP violation is necessary to explain the observed imbalance of matter and antimatter abundance in the Universe. However, CP violation in quarks is too small to support this explanation. So far, CP violation has not been observed in non-quark elementary particle systems. It has been shown that CP violation in leptons could generate the matter-antimatter disparity through a process called leptogenesis(4). Leptonic mixing, which appears in the standard model's charged current interactions(5,6), provides a potential source of CP violation through a complex phase dCP, which is required by some theoretical models of leptogenesis(7-9). This CP violation can be measured in muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillations and the corresponding antineutrino oscillations, which are experimentally accessible using accelerator-produced beams as established by the Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) and NOvA experiments(10,11). Until now, the value of dCP has not been substantially constrained by neutrino oscillation experiments. Here we report a measurement using long-baseline neutrino and antineutrino oscillations observed by the T2K experiment that shows a large increase in the neutrino oscillation probability, excluding values of dCP that result in a large increase in the observed antineutrino oscillation probability at three standard deviations (3 sigma). The 3 sigma confidence interval for delta(CP), which is cyclic and repeats every 2p, is [-3.41, -0.03] for the so-called normal mass ordering and [-2.54, -0.32] for the inverted mass ordering. Our results indicate CP violation in leptons and our method enables sensitive searches for matter-antimatter asymmetry in neutrino oscillations using accelerator-produced neutrino beams. Future measurements with larger datasets will test whether leptonic CP violation is larger than the CP violation in quarks.
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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). Observation of the Decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(7), 071801–11pp.
Abstract: Decays of the Xi(-)(b) and Omega(-)(b) baryons to the charmless final states ph(-)h'(-), where h((')) denotes a kaon or pion, are searched for with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energies root s = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) is observed with a significance of 8.7 standard deviations, and evidence at the level of 3.4 standard deviations is found for the Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) decay. Results are reported, relative to the B- -> K+K-K- normalization channel, for the products of branching fractions and b-hadron production fractions. The branching fractions of Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) and Xi(-)(b) -> p pi(-)pi(-) relative to Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) decays are also measured.
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Ortega, P. G., Segovia, J., Entem, D. R., & Fernandez, F. (2016). Molecular components in P-wave charmed-strange mesons. Phys. Rev. D, 94(7), 074037–11pp.
Abstract: Results obtained by various experiments show that the D-s0(*)(2317) and D-s1(2460) mesons are very narrow states located below the DK and D*K thresholds, respectively. This is markedly in contrast with the expectations of naive quark models and heavy quark symmetry. Motivated by a recent lattice study which addresses the mass shifts of the c _ s ground states with quantum numbers J(P) = 1+ [D-s1 (2317)] and JP = 1(+) [D-s1(2460)] due to their coupling with S-wave D-(*) K thresholds, we perform a similar analysis within a nonrelativistic constituent quark model in which quark-antiquark and meson-meson degrees of freedom are incorporated. The quark model has been applied to a wide range of hadronic observables, and thus the model parameters are completely constrained. The coupling between quark- antiquark and mesonmeson Fock components is done using a P-3(0) model in which its only free parameter gamma has been elucidated, performing a global fit to the decay widths of mesons that belong to different quark sectors, from light to heavy. We observe that the coupling of the 0(+)(1(+)) meson sector to the DK (D*K) threshold is the key feature to simultaneously lower the masses of the corresponding D-s0(*)(2317) and D-s1(2460) states predicted by the naive quark model and describe the D-s1(2536) meson as the 1(+)state of the j(q)(p) =3/2(+) doublet predicted by heavy quark symmetry, reproducing its strong decay properties. Our calculation allows us to introduce the coupling with the D- wave D*K channel and the computation of the probabilities associated with the different Fock components of the physical state.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Measurement of the t(t)over-bar production cross section in the tau plus jets final state in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV using the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 95(7), 072003–26pp.
Abstract: A measurement of the inclusive pp -> t (t) over bar + X production cross section in the tau + jets final state using only the hadronic decays of the tau lepton is presented. The measurement is performed using 20.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The cross section is measured via a counting experiment by imposing a set of selection criteria on the identification and kinematic variables of the reconstructed particles and jets, and on event kinematic variables and characteristics. The production cross section is measured to be sigma(t (t) over bar) = 239 +/- 29 pb, which is in agreement with the measurements in other final states and the theoretical predictions at this center-of-mass energy.
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Fileviez Perez, P., & Murgui, C. (2017). Lepton flavor violation in left-right theory. Phys. Rev. D, 95(7), 075010–12pp.
Abstract: We investigate the predictions for lepton flavor number violating processes in the context of a simple left-right symmetric theory. In this context neutrinos are Majorana fermions and their masses are generated at the quantum level through the Zee mechanism using the simplest Higgs sector. We show that the right-handed neutrinos are generically light and can give rise to large lepton flavor violating contributions to rare processes. We discuss the correlation between the collider constraints and the predictions for lepton flavor violating processes. We find that using the predictions for μ-> e gamma and μ-> e conversion together with the collider signatures one could test this theory in the near future.
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Abbas, G., Zahiri-Abyaneh, M., & Srivastava, R. (2017). Precise predictions for Dirac neutrino mixing. Phys. Rev. D, 95(7), 075005–7pp.
Abstract: The neutrino mixing parameters are thoroughly studied using renormalization- group evolution of Dirac neutrinos with recently proposed parametrization of the neutrino mixing angles referred to as “high-scale mixing relations.” The correlations among all neutrino mixing and CP violating observables are investigated. The predictions for the neutrino mixing angle. 23 are precise, and could be easily tested by ongoing and future experiments. We observe that the high-scale mixing unification hypothesis is incompatible with Dirac neutrinos due to updated experimental data.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2017). Measurement of the inclusive electron spectrum from B meson decays and determination of vertical bar V-ub vertical bar. Phys. Rev. D, 95(7), 072001–23pp.
Abstract: Based on the full BABAR data sample of 466.5 million B (B) over bar pairs, we present measurements of the electron spectrum from semileptonic B meson decays. We fit the inclusive electron spectrum to distinguish Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) suppressed B -> X(u)ev decays from the CKM-favored B -> X(u)ev decays, and from various other backgrounds, and determine the total semileptonic branching fraction B(B -> X(u)ev) = (10.34 +/- 0.04(stat) +/- 0.26(syst))%, averaged over B-+/- and B-0 mesons. We determine the spectrum and branching fraction for charmless B -> X(u)ev decays and extract the CKM element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar, by relying on four different QCD calculations based on the heavy quark expansion. While experimentally, the electron momentum region above 2.1 GeV/c is favored, because the background is relatively low, the uncertainties for the theoretical predictions are largest in the region near the kinematic endpoint. Detailed studies to assess the impact of these four predictions on the measurements of the electron spectrum, the branching fraction, and the extraction of the CKM matrix element vertical bar V-ub vertical bar are presented, with the lower limit on the electron momentum varied from 0.8 GeV/c to the kinematic endpoint. We determine V-ub vertical bar using each of these different calculations and find, vertical bar V-ub vertical bar = (3.794 +/- 0.107(exp) (+0.292)(-0.219) (SF) (+0.078)(-0.068)theory) x 10(-3) (De Fazio and Neubert), (4.563 +/- 0.126(exp) (+0.230)(+0.162)(-0.208)(-0.163)theory) x 10(-3) (Bosch, Lange, Neubert, and Paz), (3.959 +/- 0.104(exp -0.154)(SF-0.079)(+0.164)(+0.042) theory )x 10(-3) (Gambino, Giordano, Ossola, and Uraltsev), (3.848 +/- 0.108(exp -0.070)(theory)(+0.084)) x 10(-3) (dressed gluon exponentiation), where the stated uncertainties refer to the experimental uncertainties of the partial branching fraction measurement, the shape function parameters, and the theoretical calculations.
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Rout, J., Masud, M., & Mehta, P. (2017). Can we probe intrinsic CP and T violations and nonunitarity at long baseline accelerator experiments? Phys. Rev. D, 95(7), 075035–23pp.
Abstract: One of the fundamental parameters entering the neutrino oscillation framework is the leptonic CP phase delta(13), and its measurement is an important goal of the planned long baseline experiments. It should be noted that ordinary matter effects complicate the determination of this parameter, and there are studies in the literature that deal with separation of intrinsic vs extrinsic CP violation. It is important to investigate the consequences of new physics effects that can not only hamper the measurement of delta(13) but also impact the consequences of discrete symmetries such as CP, T, and unitarity in different oscillation channels. In the present work, we explore these discrete symmetries and implications on unitarity in the presence of two new physics scenarios (nonstandard interaction in propagation and the presence of sterile neutrinos) that serve as good examples of going beyond the standard scenario in different directions. We uncover the impact of new physics scenarios on disentangling intrinsic and extrinsic CP violation.
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