Abstract: To date, the four-gluon vertex is the least explored component of the QCD Lagrangian, mainly due to the vast proliferation of Lorentz and color structures required for its description. In this work we present a nonperturbative study of this vertex, based on the one-loop dressed Schwinger-Dyson equation obtained from the 4PI effective action. A vast simplification is brought about by resorting to “collinear” kinematics, where all momenta are parallel to each other, and by appealing to the charge conjugation symmetry in order to eliminate certain color structures. Out of the fifteen form factors that comprise the transversely-projected version of this vertex, two are singled out and studied in detail; the one associated with the classical tensorial structure is moderately suppressed in the infrared regime, while the other diverges logarithmically at the origin. Quite interestingly, both form factors display the property known as “planar degeneracy” at a rather high level of accuracy. With these results we construct an effective charge that quantifies the strength of the four-gluon interaction, and compare it with other vertex-derived charges from the gauge sector of QCD.

Abstract: The first observation of the decays Lambda(b)(0) -> chi(c1)pK(-) and Lambda(0)(b) -> chi(c2)pK(-) is reported using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: B(Lambda(0)(b) -> chi(c1)pK(-))/B(Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-)) = 0.242 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.013 +/- 0.009, B(Lambda(0)(b) -> chi(c2)pK(-))/B(Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi pK(-)) = 0.248 +/- 0.020 +/- 0.014 +/- 0.009, B(Lambda(0)(b) -> chi(c2)pK(-))/B(Lambda(0)(b) -> chi(c1)pK(-)) = 1.02 +/- 0.010 +/- 0.02 +/- 0.05, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third due to the uncertainty on the branching fractions of the x(c1) -> J/psi gamma and chi(c2) -> J/psi gamma decays. Using both decay modes, the mass of the Ab baryon is also measured to be m(Lambda b0) = 5619.44 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.26 MeV/c(2), where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.

Abstract: The flux of very high-energy neutrinos produced in our Galaxy by the interaction of accelerated cosmic rays with the interstellar medium is not yet determined. The characterization of this flux will shed light on Galactic accelerator features, gas distribution morphology and Galactic cosmic ray transport. The central Galactic plane can be the site of an enhanced neutrino production, thus leading to anisotropies in the extraterrestrial neutrino signal as measured by the IceCube Collaboration. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, offers a favorable view of this part of the sky, thereby allowing for a contribution to the determination of this flux. The expected diffuse Galactic neutrino emission can be obtained, linking a model of generation and propagation of cosmic rays with the morphology of the gas distribution in the Milky Way. In this paper, the so-called “gamma model” introduced recently to explain the high-energy gamma-ray diffuse Galactic emission is assumed as reference. The neutrino flux predicted by the “gamma model” depends on the assumed primary cosmic ray spectrum cutoff. Considering a radially dependent diffusion coefficient, this proposed scenario is able to account for the local cosmic ray measurements, as well as for the Galactic gamma-ray observations. Nine years of ANTARES data are used in this work to search for a possible Galactic contribution according to this scenario. All flavor neutrino interactions are considered. No excess of events is observed, and an upper limit is set on the neutrino flux of 1.1 (1.2) times the prediction of the “gamma model,” assuming the primary cosmic ray spectrum cutoff at 5 (50) PeV. This limit excludes the diffuse Galactic neutrino emission as the major cause of the “spectral anomaly” between the two hemispheres measured by IceCube.

Abstract: We study nuclear effects in the deuteron in the deep inelastic regime using the newest available data. We put special emphasis on their Q(2) dependence. The study is carried out using a scheme which parameterizes, in a simple manner, these effects by changing the proton and neutron stucture functions in medium. The result of our analysis is compared with other recent proposals. We conclude that precise EMC ratios cannot be obtained without considering the nuclear effects in the deuteron.

Abstract: High-precision measurements by the ATLAS Collaboration are presented of inclusive W+ -> l(+) nu, W- -> l(-) (nu) over bar and Z/gamma* -> ll (l = e, mu) Drell-Yan production cross sections at the LHC. The data were collected in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1). Differential W+ and W- cross sections are measured in a lepton pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta(l)vertical bar < 2.5. Differential Z/gamma* cross sections are measured as a function of the absolute dilepton rapidity, for vertical bar y(ll)vertical bar < 3.6, for three intervals of dilepton mass, m(ll), extending from 46 to 150 GeV. The integrated and differential electron- and muon-channel cross sections are combined and compared to theoretical predictions using recent sets of parton distribution functions. The data, together with the final inclusive e(+/-) p scattering cross-section data from H1 and ZEUS, are interpreted in a next-to-next-to-leading-order QCD analysis, and a new set of parton distribution functions, ATLAS-epWZ16, is obtained. The ratio of strange-to-light sea-quark densities in the proton is determined more accurately than in previous determinations based on collider data only, and is established to be close to unity in the sensitivity range of the data. A new measurement of the CKM matrix element vertical bar V-cs vertical bar is also provided.