Abstract: A measurement of mixing and CP violation in neutral charm mesons is performed using data reconstructed in proton-proton collisions collected by the LHCb experiment from 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb(-1). A total of 30.6 million D0 -> K-s(0)pi(+)pi(-) decays are analyzed using a method optimized for the measurement of the mass difference between neutral charmmeson eigenstates. Allowing for CP violation in mixing and in the interference between mixing and decay, the mass and decay-width differences are measured to be x(CP) = [3.97 +/- 0.46(stat) +/- 0.29(syst)] x 10(-3) and y(CP) = [4.59 +/- 1.20(stat) +/- 0.85(syst)] x 10(-3), respectively. The CP-violating parameters are measured as Delta x= [-0.27 +/- 0.18(stat)+/- 0.01(syst)] x 10 (-3) and Delta y = [0.20 +/- 0.36(stat) +/- 0.13(syst)] x 10(-3). This is the first observation of a nonzero mass difference in the D-0 meson system, with a significance exceeding seven standard deviations. The data are consistent with CP symmetry and improve existing constraints on the associated parameters.

Abstract: Long-lived particles have become a new frontier in the exploration of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we present the implementation of four types of long-lived particle searches, viz. displaced leptons, disappearing track, displaced vertex with either muons or with missing transverse energy, and heavy charged tracks. These four categories cover the signatures of a large range of physics models. We illustrate their potential for exclusion and discuss their mutual overlaps in mass-lifetime space for two simple phenomenological models involving either a U(1)-charged or a coloured scalar.

Abstract: We argue that high-quality data on the reaction e(+)e(-) -> pi(+) pi(-) eta will allow one to determine the doubly-virtual form factor eta -> gamma*gamma* in a model-independent way with controlled accuracy. This is an important step towards a reliable evaluation of the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of themuon. When analyzing the existing data for e(+) e(-) -> pi(+) pi(-) eta for total energies squared k(2) > 1GeV(2), we demonstrate that the effect of the a(2) meson provides a natural breaking mechanism for the commonly employed factorization ansatz in the doubly-virtual form factor F-eta gamma*gamma* (q(2), k(2)). However, better data are needed to draw firm conclusions.

Abstract: The plethora of increasingly precise experiments which hunt for axion-like particles (ALPs), as well as their widely different energy reach, call for the theoretical understanding of ALP couplings at loop-level. We derive the one-loop contributions to ALP-SM effective couplings, including finite corrections. The complete leading-order – dimension five – effective linear Lagrangian is considered. The ALP is left off-shell, which is of particular impact on LHC and accelerator searches of ALP couplings to gamma gamma, ZZ, WW, Z gamma gluons and fermions. All results are obtained in the covariant Rg gauge. A few phenomenological consequences are also explored as illustration, with flavour diagonal channels in the case of fermions: in particular, we explore constraints on the coupling of the ALP to top quarks, that can be extracted from LHC data, from astrophysical sources and from Dark Matter direct detection experiments such as PandaX, LUX and XENONIT. Furthermore, we clarify the relation between alternative ALP bases, the role of gauge anomalous couplings and their interface with chirality-conserving and chirality-flip fermion interactions, and we briefly discuss renormalization group aspects.

Abstract: We study the case of a pseudo-scalar dark matter candidate which emerges from a complex scalar singlet, charged under a global U(1) symmetry, which is broken both explicitly and spontaneously. The pseudo-scalar is naturally stabilized by the presence of a remnant discrete symmetry: dark CP. We study and compare the phenomenology of several simplified models with only one explicit symmetry breaking term. We find that several regions of the parameter space are able to reproduce the observed dark matter abundance while respecting direct detection and invisible Higgs decay limits: in the resonances of the two scalars, featuring the known as forbidden or secluded dark matter, and through non-resonant Higgs-mediated annihilations. In some cases, combining different measurements would allow one to distinguish the breaking pattern of the symmetry. Moreover, this setup admits a light DM candidate at the sub-GeV scale. We also discuss the situation where more than one symmetry breaking term is present. In that case, the dark CP symmetry may be spontaneously broken, thus spoiling the stability of the dark matter candidate. Requiring that this does not happen imposes a constraint on the allowed parameter space. Finally, we consider an effective field theory approach valid in the pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson limit and when the U(1) breaking scale is much larger than the electroweak scale.