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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). Measurement of matter-antimatter differences in beauty baryon decays. Nat. Phys., 13(4), 391–396.
Abstract: Differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter have been observed in K and B meson decays, but not yet in any baryon decay. Such differences are associated with the non-invariance of fundamental interactions under the combined chargeconjugation and parity transformations, known as CP violation. Here, using data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, we search for CP-violating asymmetries in the decay angle distributions of A(b)(0) baryons decaying to p pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) and p pi-K+K- final states. These four-body hadronic decays are a promising place to search for sources of CP violation both within and beyond the standard model of particle physics. We find evidence for CP violation in A(b)(0) to p pi(-)pi(+)pi(-) decays with a statistical significance corresponding to 3.3 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. This represents the first evidence for CP violation in the baryon sector.
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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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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Search for the Decays B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) and B-0 -> tau(+) tau(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(25), 251802–10pp.
Abstract: A search for the rare decays B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) and B-0 -> tau(+) tau(-) is performed using proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1) collected in 2011 and 2012. The tau leptons are reconstructed through the decay tau(-) -> pi(-) pi(+)pi(-) nu(tau). Assuming no contribution from B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) decays, an upper limit is set on the branching fraction B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) < 6.8 x 10(-3) at the 95% confidence level. If instead no contribution from B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-) decays is assumed, the limit is B(B-s(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) < 2.1 x 10(-3) at the 95% confidence level. These results correspond to the first direct limit on B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-)) and the world's best limit on B(B-S(0) -> tau(+) tau(-))
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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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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Coleiro, A., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2017). An algorithm for the reconstruction of high-energy neutrino-induced particle showers and its application to the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 419–11pp.
Abstract: A novel algorithm to reconstruct neutrino-induced particle showers within the ANTARES neutrino telescope is presented. The method achieves a median angular resolution of 6. for shower energies below 100TeV. Applying this algorithm to 6 years of data taken with theANTARES detector, 8 events with reconstructed shower energies above 10TeV are observed. This is consistent with the expectation of about 5 events from atmospheric backgrounds, but also compatible with diffuse astrophysical flux measurements by the IceCube collaboration, from which 2-4 additional events are expected. A 90% C.L. upper limit on the diffuse astrophysical neutrino flux with a value per neutrino flavour of E-2.Phi(90%) = 4.9 . 10(-8) GeV.cm(-2).s(-1).sr(-1) is set, applicable to the energy range from 23TeV to 7.8PeV, assuming an unbroken E-2 spectrum and neutrino flavour equipartition at Earth.
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Botella, F. J., Branco, G. C., Nebot, M., Rebelo, M. N., & Silva-Marcos, J. I. (2017). Vector-like quarks at the origin of light quark masses and mixing. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 408–14pp.
Abstract: We show how a novel fine-tuning problem present in the Standard Model can be solved through the introduction of a Z(6) flavour symmetry, together with three Q = -1/3 quarks, three Q = 2/3 quarks, as well as a complex singlet scalar. The Z(6) symmetry is extended to the additional fields and it is an exact symmetry of the Lagrangian, only softly broken in the scalar potential, in order to avoid the domain-wall problem. Specific examples are given and a phenomenological analysis of the main features of the model is presented. It is shown that even for vector-like quarks with masses accessible at the LHC, one can have realistic quark masses and mixing, while respecting the strict constraints on processes arising from flavour changing neutral currents. The vector-like quark decay channels are also described.
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Celis, A., Fuentes-Martin, J., Vicente, A., & Virto, J. (2017). DsixTools: the standard model effective field theory toolkit. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 405–40pp.
Abstract: We present DsixTools, a Mathematica package for the handling of the dimension-six standard model effective field theory. Among other features, DsixTools allows the user to perform the full one-loop renormalization group evolution of the Wilson coefficients in the Warsaw basis. This is achieved thanks to the SMEFTrunner module, which implements the full one-loop anomalous dimension matrix previously derived in the literature. In addition, DsixTools also contains modules devoted to the matching to the Delta B = Delta S = 1, 2 and Delta B = Delta C = 1 operators of the Weak Effective Theory at the electroweak scale, and their QCD and QED Renormalization group evolution below the electroweak scale.
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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). Search for dark matter at root s=13 TeV in final states containing an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 393–30pp.
Abstract: Results of a search for physics beyond the Standard Model in events containing an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. As the number of events observed in data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, is in agreement with the Standard Model expectations, model-independent limits are set on the fiducial cross section for the production of events in this final state. Exclusion limits are also placed in models where dark-matter candidates are pair-produced. For dark-matter production via an axial-vector or a vector mediator in the s-channel, this search excludes mediator masses below 750-1200 GeV for dark-matter candidate masses below 230-480 GeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the couplings. In an effective theory of dark-matter production, the limits restrict the value of the suppression scale M-* to be above 790 GeV at 95% confidence level. A limit is also reported on the production of a high-mass scalar resonance by processes beyond the Standard Model, in which the resonance decays to Z gamma and the Z boson subsequently decays into neutrinos.
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