de Rham, C., & Motohashi, H. (2017). Caustics for spherical waves. Phys. Rev. D, 95(6), 064008–13pp.
Abstract: We study the development of caustics in shift-symmetric scalar field theories by focusing on simple waves with an SO(p)-symmetry in an arbitrary number of space dimensions. We show that the pure Galileon, the DBI-Galileon, and the extreme-relativistic Galileon naturally emerge as the unique set of caustic-free theories, highlighting a link between the caustic-free condition for simple SO(p)-waves and the existence of either a global Galilean symmetry or a global (extreme-) relativistic Galilean symmetry.
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Bejarano, C., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2017). What is a singular black hole beyond general relativity? Phys. Rev. D, 95(6), 064043–18pp.
Abstract: Exploring the characterization of singular black hole spacetimes, we study the relation between energy density, curvature invariants, and geodesic completeness using a quadratic f(R) gravity theory coupled to an anisotropic fluid. Working in a metric-affine approach, our models and solutions represent minimal extensions of general relativity (GR) in the sense that they rapidly recover the usual Reissner-Nordstrm solution from near the inner horizon outwards. The anisotropic fluid helps modify only the innermost geometry. Depending on the values and signs of two parameters on the gravitational and matter sectors, a breakdown of the correlations between the finiteness/ divergence of the energy density, the behavior of curvature invariants, and the (in) completeness of geodesics is obtained. We find a variety of configurations with and without wormholes, a case with a de Sitter interior, solutions that mimic nonlinear models of electrodynamics coupled to GR, and configurations with up to four horizons. Our results raise questions regarding what infinities, if any, a quantum version of these theories should regularize.
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Pakarinen, J. et al, & Algora, A. (2017). Collectivity in Pb-196, Pb-198 isotopes probed in Coulomb-excitation experiments at REX-ISOLDE. J. Phys. G, 44(6), 064009–10pp.
Abstract: The neutron-deficient Pb-196,Pb-198 isotopes have been studied in Coulomb-excitation experiments employing the Miniball gamma-ray spectrometer and radioactive ion beams from the REX-ISOLDE post-accelerator at CERN. The reduced transition probabilities of the first excited 2(+) states in Pb-196 and Pb-198 nuclei have been measured for the first time. Values of B (E2) = 18.2(-4.1)(+4.8) W. u. and B (E2) = 13.1(-3.5)(+4.9) W. u., were obtained, respectively. The experiment sheds light on the development of collectivity when moving from the regime governed by the generalised seniority scheme to a region, where intruding structures, associated with different deformed shapes, start to come down in energy and approach the spherical ground state.
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XENON Collaboration(Aprile, E. et al), & Orrigo, S. E. A. (2017). Online Rn-222 removal by cryogenic distillation in the XENON100 experiment. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 358–8pp.
Abstract: We describe the purification of xenon from traces of the radioactive noble gas radon using a cryogenic distillation column. The distillation column was integrated into the gas purification loop of the XENON100 detector for online radon removal. This enabled us to significantly reduce the constant Rn-222 background originating from radon emanation. After inserting an auxiliary 222Rn emanation source in the gas loop, we determined a radon reduction factor of R > 27 (95% C.L.) for the distillation column by monitoring the Rn-222 activity concentration inside the XENON100 detector.
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Escudero, M., Rius, N., & Sanz, V. (2017). Sterile neutrino portal to Dark Matter II: exact dark symmetry. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 397–11pp.
Abstract: We analyze a simple extension of the standard model (SM) with a dark sector composed of a scalar and a fermion, both singlets under the SM gauge group but charged under a dark sector symmetry group. Sterile neutrinos, which are singlets under both groups, mediate the interactions between the dark sector and the SM particles, and generate masses for the active neutrinos via the seesaw mechanism. We explore the parameter space region where the observed Dark Matter relic abundance is determined by the annihilation into sterile neutrinos, both for fermion and scalar Dark Matter particles. The scalar Dark Matter case provides an interesting alternative to the usual Higgs portal scenario. We also study the constraints from direct Dark Matter searches and the prospects for indirect detection via sterile neutrino decays to leptons, which may be able to rule out Dark Matter masses below and around 100 GeV.
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Chala, M., Durieux, G., Grojean, C., de Lima, L., & Matsedonskyi, O. (2017). Minimally extended SILH. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 088–32pp.
Abstract: Higgs boson compositeness is a phenomenologically viable scenario addressing the hierarchy problem. In minimal models, the Higgs boson is the only degree of freedom of the strong sector below the strong interaction scale. We present here the simplest extension of such a framework with an additional composite spin-zero singlet. To this end, we adopt an effective field theory approach and develop a set of rules to estimate the size of the various operator coefficients, relating them to the parameters of the strong sector and its structural features. As a result, we obtain the patterns of new interactions affecting both the new singlet and the Higgs boson's physics. We identify the characteristics of the singlet field which cause its effects on Higgs physics to dominate over the ones inherited from the composite nature of the Higgs boson. Our effective field theory construction is supported by comparisons with explicit UV models.
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Diamanti, R., Ando, S., Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., & Weniger, C. (2017). Cold dark matter plus not-so-clumpy dark relics. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 008–17pp.
Abstract: Various particle physics models suggest that, besides the (nearly) cold dark matter that accounts for current observations, additional but sub-dominant dark relics might exist. These could be warm, hot, or even contribute as dark radiation. We present here a comprehensive study of two-component dark matter scenarios, where the first component is assumed to be cold, and the second is a non-cold thermal relic. Considering the cases where the non-cold dark matter species could be either a fermion or a boson, we derive consistent upper limits on the non-cold dark relic energy density for a very large range of velocity dispersions, covering the entire range from dark radiation to cold dark matter. To this end, we employ the latest Planck Cosmic Microwave Background data, the recent BOSS DR11 and other Baryon Acoustic Oscillation measurements, and also constraints on the number of Milky Way satellites, the latter of which provides a measure of the suppression of the matter power spectrum at the smallest scales due to the free-streaming of the non-cold dark matter component. We present the results on the fraction f(ncdm) of non-cold dark matter with respect to the total dark matter for different ranges of the non-cold dark matter masses. We find that the 2 sigma limits for non-cold dark matter particles with masses in the range 1-10 keV are f(ncdm) <= 0.29 (0.23) for fermions (bosons), and for masses in the 10-100 keV range they are f(ncdm) <= 0.43 (0.45), respectively.
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Caballero-Folch, R. et al, Domingo-Pardo, C., Agramunt, J., Algora, A., Rubio, B., & Tain, J. L. (2017). beta-decay half-lives and beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities for several isotopes of Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi, beyond N=126. Phys. Rev. C, 95(6), 064322–16pp.
Abstract: Background: There have been measurements on roughly 230 nuclei that are beta-delayed neutron emitters. They range from He-8 up to La-150. Apart from 210Tl, with a branching ratio of only 0.007%, no other neutron emitter has been measured beyond A = 150. Therefore, new data are needed, particularly in the region of heavy nuclei around N = 126, in order to guide theoretical models and help understand the formation of the third r-process peak at A similar to 195. Purpose: To measure both beta-decay half-lives and neutron branching ratios of several neutron-rich Au, Hg, Tl, Pb, and Bi isotopes beyond N = 126. Method: Ions of interest were produced by fragmentation of a U-238 beam, selected and identified via the GSI-FRS fragment separator. A stack of segmented silicon detectors (SIMBA) was used to measure ion implants and beta decays. An array of 30 He-3 tubes embedded in a polyethylene matrix (BELEN) was used to detect neutrons with high efficiency and selectivity. A self-triggered digital system is employed to acquire data and to enable time correlations. The latter were analyzed with an analytical model and results for the half-lives and neutron-branching ratios were derived by using the binned maximum-likelihood method. Results: Twenty new beta-decay half-lives are reported for Au204-206, Hg208-211, Tl211-216, Pb215-218, and Bi218-220, nine of them for the first time. Neutron emission probabilities are reported for Hg-210,Hg-211 and Tl211-216. Conclusions: The new beta-decay half-lives are in good agreement with previous measurements on nuclei in this region. The measured neutron emission probabilities are comparable to or smaller than values predicted by global models such as relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov plus the relativistic quasi-particle random phase approximation (RHB + RQRPA).
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Roca, L., & Oset, E. (2017). Role of a triangle singularity in the pi Delta decay of N(1700)(3/2(-)). Phys. Rev. C, 95(6), 065211–8pp.
Abstract: We show the important role played by the pi Delta(1232) channel in the build up of the N(1700)(3/2(-)) resonance due to the nontrivial enhancement produced by a singularity of a triangular loop. The N(1700) is one of the dynamically generated resonances produced by the coupled-channel vector-baryon interaction. The pi Delta channel was neglected in previous works but we show that it has to be incorporated into the coupled-channel formalism due to an enhancement produced by a singularity in the triangular loop with., nucleon, and p as internal loop lines and pi and Delta as external ones. The enhancement is of nonresonant origin but it contributes to the dynamical generation of the N(1700) resonance due to the nonlinear dynamics involved in the coupled-channel mechanisms. We obtain an important increase of the total width of the N(1700) resonance when the pi Delta channel is included and provide predictions for the partial widths of the N(1700) decays into VB and pi Delta.
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AGATA Collaboration(John, P. R. et al), & Gadea, A. (2017). In-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy of the neutron-rich platinum isotope Pt-200 toward the N=126 shell gap. Phys. Rev. C, 95(6), 064321–8pp.
Abstract: The neutron-rich nucleus Pt-200 is investigated via in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy to study the shape evolution in the neutron-rich platinum isotopes towards the N = 126 shell closure. The two-neutron transfer reaction Pt-198(Se-82, Se-80)Pt-200 is used to populate excited states of Pt-200. The Advanced Gamma Ray Tracking Array (AGATA) demonstrator coupled with the PRISMA spectrometer detects gamma rays coincident with the Se-80 recoils, the binary partner of Pt-200. The binary partner method is applied to extract the gamma-ray transitions and build the level scheme of Pt-200. The level at 1884 keV reported by Yates et al. [S. W. Yates, E. M. Baum, E. A. Henry, L. G. Mann, N. Roy, A. Aprahamian, R. A. Meyer, and R. Estep, Phys. Rev. C 37, 1889 (1988)] was confirmed to be at 1882.1 keV and assigned as the (6(1)(+)) state. An additional gamma ray was found and it presumably deexcites the (8(1)(+)) state. The results are compared with state-of-the-art beyond mean-field calculations, performed for the even-even Pt190-204 isotopes, revealing that Pt-200 marks the transition from the gamma-unstable behavior of lighter Pt nuclei towards a more spherical one when approaching the N = 126 shell closure.
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