Abstract: We present the general derivation of the full nonperturbative equation that governs the momentum evolution of the dynamically generated gluon mass, in the Landau gauge. The entire construction hinges crucially on the inclusion of longitudinally coupled vertices containing massless poles of nonperturbative origin, which preserve the form of the fundamental Slavnov-Taylor identities of the theory. The mass equation is obtained from a previously unexplored version of the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the gluon propagator, particular to the pinch technique-background field method formalism, which involves a reduced number of two-loop dressed diagrams, thus simplifying the calculational task considerably. The two-loop contributions turn out to be of paramount importance, modifying the qualitative features of the full mass equation and enabling the emergence of physically meaningful solutions. Specifically, the resulting homogeneous integral equation is solved numerically, subject to certain approximations, for the entire range of physical momenta, yielding positive-definite and monotonically decreasing gluon masses.

Abstract: The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

Abstract: The existence of static, spherically symmetric, self-gravitating scalar field solutions in the context of Born-Infeld gravity is explored. Upon a combination of analytical approximations and numerical methods, the equations for a free scalar field (without a potential term) are solved, verifying that the solutions recover the predictions of General Relativity far from the center but finding important new effects in the central regions. We find two classes of objects depending on the ratio between the Schwarzschild radius and a length scale associated to the Born-Infeld theory: massive solutions have a wormhole structure, with their throat at r = 2 M, while for the lighter configurations the topology is Euclidean. The total energy density of these solutions exhibits a solitonic profile with a maximum peaked away from the center, and located at the throat whenever a wormhole exists. The geodesic structure and curvature invariants are analyzed for the various configurations considered.

Abstract: A test of lepton universality, performed by measuring the ratio of the branching fractions of the B-0 -> K*(0)mu(+) mu(-) and B-0 -> K*e(+)e(-) decays, R-K*0, is presented. The K*(0) meson is reconstructed in the final state K+pi(-), which is required to have an invariant mass within 100 MeV/c(2) of the known K*(892)(0) mass. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 3 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The ratio is measured in two regions of the dilepton invariant mass squared, q(2), to be R-K*0 – {0.66(-0.007)(+0.11)(stat) +/- 0.03(syst) for 0.045 < q(2) < GeV2/c(4), 0.69(-0.07)(+0.11)(stat) +/- 0.05(syst) for 1.1 < q(2) < 6.0 GeV2/c(4). The corresponding 95.4% confidence level intervals are [0.52, 0.89] and [0.53, 0.94]. The results, which represent the most precise measurements of R-K*0 to date, are compatible with the Standard Model expectations at the level of 2.1-2.3 and 2.4-2.5 standard deviations in the two q(2) regions, respectively.

Abstract: Sterile neutrinos could provide a link between the Standard Model particles and a dark sector, besides generating active neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism type I. We show that, if dark matter annihilation into sterile neutrinos determines its observed relic abundance, it is possible to explain the Galactic Center gamma-ray excess reported by the Fermi-LAT Collaboration as due to an astrophysical component plus dark matter annihilations. We observe that sterile neutrino portal to dark matter provides an impressively good fit, with a p-value of 0.78 in the best fit point, to the Galactic Center gamma-ray flux, for DM masses in the range (40-80) GeV and sterile neutrino masses 20 GeV less than or similar to M-N < M-DM. Such values are compatible with the limits from Fermi-LAT observations of the dwarfs spheroidal galaxies in the Milky Way halo, which rule out dark matter masses below similar to 50 GeV ( 90 GeV), for sterile neutrino masses M-N less than or similar to MDM ( M-N << M-DM). We also estimate the impact of AMS-02 anti-proton data on this scenario.