Centelles Chulia, S., Rodejohann, W., & Saldana-Salazar, U. J. (2020). Two-Higgs-doublet models with a flavored Z(2) symmetry. Phys. Rev. D, 101(3), 035013–12pp.
Abstract: Two-Higgs-doublet models usually consider an ad-hoc Z(2) discrete symmetry to avoid flavor changing neutral currents. We consider a new class of two-Higgs-doublet models where Z(2) is enlarged to the symmetry group F(sic)Z(2), i.e., an inner semidirect product of a discrete symmetry group F and Z(2). In such a scenario, the symmetry constrains the Yukawa interactions but goes unnoticed by the scalar sector. In the most minimal scenario, Z(3)(sic)Z(2) = D-3, flavor changing neutral currents mediated by scalars are absent at tree and one-loop level, while at the same time predictions to quark and lepton mixing are obtained, namely a trivial Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix and a Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix (upon introduction of three heavy right-handed neutrinos) containing maximal atmospheric mixing. Small extensions allow to fully reproduce mixing parameters, including cobimaximal mixing in the lepton sector (maximal atmospheric mixing and a maximal charge-parity violating phase).
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2020). Transverse momentum and process dependent azimuthal anisotropies in root S-NN=8.16 TeV p plus Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(1), 73–31pp.
Abstract: The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles produced in sNN=8.16TeV p+Pb collisions is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 165 nb-1 that was collected in 2016. Azimuthal anisotropy coefficients, elliptic v2 and triangular v3\, extracted using two-particle correlations with a non-flow template fit procedure, are presented as a function of particle transverse momentum (pT) between 0.5 and 50 GeV. The v2 results are also reported as a function of centrality in three different particle pTintervals. The results are reported from minimum-bias events and jet-triggered events, where two jet pT thresholds are used. The anisotropies for particles with pT less than about 2 GeV are consistent with hydrodynamic flow expectations, while the significant non-zero anisotropies for pT in the range 9-50 GeV are not explained within current theoretical frameworks. In the pTrange 2-9 GeV, the anisotropies are larger in minimum-bias than in jet-triggered events. Possible origins of these effects, such as the changing admixture of particles from hard scattering and the underlying event, are discussed.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2020). Search for Rare or Forbidden Decays of the D-0 Meson. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(7), 071802–8pp.
Abstract: We present a search for nine lepton-number-violating and three lepton-flavor-violating neutral charm decays of the type D-0 -> h'(-) h(-) l'(+) l(+) and D-0 -> h'(-) h(+) l'(+/-) l(-/+), where h and h' represent a K or pi meson and l and l' an electron or muon. The analysis is based on 468 fb(-1) of e(+) e(-) annihilation data collected at or close to the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. No significant signal is observed for any of the twelve modes, and we establish 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in the range (1.0-30.6) x 10(-7). The limits are between 1 and 3 orders of magnitude more stringent than previous measurements.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Ageron, M. et al), Calvo, D., Coleiro, A., Colomer, M., Gozzini, S. R., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., et al. (2020). Dependence of atmospheric muon flux on seawater depth measured with the first KM3NeT detection units. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(2), 99–11pp.
Abstract: KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV-PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232-3386 m seawater depth is obtained.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2020). Search for electroweak production of charginos and sleptons decaying into final states with two leptons and missing transverse momentum in root s=13 TeV pp collisions using the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(2), 123–33pp.
Abstract: A search for the electroweak production of charginos and sleptons decaying into final states with two electrons or muons is presented. The analysis is based on 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at v s = 13 TeV. Three R-parity-conserving scenarios where the lightest neutralino is the lightest supersymmetric particle are considered: the production of chargino pairs with decays via eitherW bosons or sleptons, and the direct production of slepton pairs. The analysis is optimised for the first of these scenarios, but the results are also interpreted in the others. No significant deviations from the Standard Model expectations are observed and limits at 95% confidence level are set on the masses of relevant supersymmetric particles in each of the scenarios. For a massless lightest neutralino, masses up to 420 GeV are excluded for the production of the lightest-chargino pairs assuming W-boson-mediated decays and up to 1 TeV for slepton-mediated decays, whereas for slepton-pair production masses up to 700 GeV are excluded assuming three generations of mass-degenerate sleptons.
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Ikeno, N., Dai, L. R., & Oset, E. (2020). Meson exchange between initial and final state and the R-D ratio in the B-bar -> D nu-bar l (nu_tau-bar tau) reactions. Eur. Phys. J. A, 56(2), 73–12pp.
Abstract: We perform a calculation of the strong interaction effects between the B and D mesons in the B -> D nu l reaction, as a crossing process of reactions with BD in the final state, where the strong interaction between the mesons leads to a bound BD state. We find corrections to the tree level amplitude of the order of 15-25%. We further see the effect of the corrections studied in the R-D ratio for the rates of B -> D nu and B. D decays and find corrections of the order of 10%. Given the claims of 1.5% precision in this ratio from fits to data within the standardmodel, any theoretical model aiming at describing this ratio within the same precision must take into account the corrections described in the present work.
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Bonilla, C., Centelles Chulia, S., Cepedello, R., Peinado, E., & Srivastava, R. (2020). Dark matter stability and Dirac neutrinos using only standard model symmetries. Phys. Rev. D, 101(3), 033011–5pp.
Abstract: We provide a generic framework to obtain stable dark matter along with naturally small Dirac neutrino masses generated at the loop level. This is achieved through the spontaneous breaking of the global U(1)(B-L) symmetry already present in the standard model. The U(1)(B-L) symmetry is broken down to a residual even Z(n) (n >= 4) subgroup. The residual Z(n) symmetry simultaneously guarantees dark matter stability and protects the Dirac nature of neutrinos. The U(1)(B-L) symmetry in our setup is anomaly free and can also be gauged in a straightforward way. Finally, we present an explicit example using our framework to show the idea in action.
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Di Valentino, E., Melchiorri, A., Mena, O., & Vagnozzi, S. (2020). Nonminimal dark sector physics and cosmological tensions. Phys. Rev. D, 101(6), 063502–20pp.
Abstract: We explore whether nonstandard dark sector physics might be required to solve the existing cosmological tensions. The properties we consider in combination are (a) an interaction between the dark matter and dark energy components and (b) a dark energy equation of state w different from that of the canonical cosmological constant w = -1. In principle, these two parameters are independent. In practice, to avoid early-time, superhorizon instabilities, their allowed parameter spaces are correlated. Moreover, a clear degeneracy exists between these two parameters in the case of cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. We analyze three classes of extended interacting dark energy models in light of the 2019 Planck CMB results and Cepheid-calibrated local distance ladder H-0 measurements of Riess et al. (R19), as well as recent baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) and type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) distance data. We find that in quintessence coupled dark energy models, where w > -1, the evidence for a nonzero coupling between the two dark sectors can surpass the 5 sigma significance. Moreover, for both Planck + BAO or Planck + SNeIa, we find a preference for w > -1 at about three standard deviations. Quintessence models are, therefore, in excellent agreement with current data when an interaction is considered. On the other hand, in phantom coupled dark energy models, there is no such preference for a nonzero dark sector coupling. All the models we consider significantly raise the value of the Hubble constant, easing the H-0 tension. In the interacting scenario, the disagreement between Planck thorn BAO and R19 is considerably reduced from 4.3 sigma in the case of the Lambda cold dark matter (Lambda CDM) model to about 2.5 sigma. The addition of low-redshift BAO and SNeIa measurements leaves, therefore, some residual tension with R19 but at a level that could be justified by a statistical fluctuation. Bayesian evidence considerations mildly disfavor both the coupled quintessence and phantom models, while mildly favoring a coupled vacuum scenario, even when late-time datasets are considered. We conclude that nonminimal dark energy cosmologies, such as coupled quintessence, phantom, or vacuum models, are still an interesting route toward softening existing cosmological tensions, even when low-redshift datasets and Bayesian evidence considerations are taken into account.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2020). Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 101(3), 032009–30pp.
Abstract: A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners of tau-leptons (staus) in final states with two hadronically decaying tau-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1), recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with each stau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and one tau-lepton in simplified models where the two stau mass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a massless lightest neutralino.
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Ciemala, M. et al, Domingo-Pardo, C., & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2020). Testing ab initio nuclear structure in neutron-rich nuclei: Lifetime measurements of second 2(+) state in C-16 and O-20. Phys. Rev. C, 101(2), 021303–7pp.
Abstract: To test the predictive power of ab initio nuclear structure theory, the lifetime of the second 2(+) state in neutron-rich O-20, tau(2(2)(+)) = 150(-30)(+80) fs, and an estimate for the lifetime of the second 2(+) state in C-16 have been obtained for the first time. The results were achieved via a novel Monte Carlo technique that allowed us to measure nuclear state lifetimes in the tens-to-hundreds of femtoseconds range by analyzing the Doppler-shifted gamma-transition line shapes of products of low-energy transfer and deep-inelastic processes in the reaction O-18 (7.0 MeV/u) + Ta-181. The requested sensitivity could only be reached owing to the excellent performances of the Advanced gamma-Tracking Array AGATA, coupled to the PARIS scintillator array and to the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer. The experimental lifetimes agree with predictions of ab initio calculations using two- and three-nucleon interactions, obtained with the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group for O-20 and with the no-core shell model for C-16. The present measurement shows the power of electromagnetic observables, determined with high-precision gamma spectroscopy, to assess the quality of first-principles nuclear structure calculations, complementing common benchmarks based on nuclear energies. The proposed experimental approach will be essential for short lifetime measurements in unexplored regions of the nuclear chart, including r-process nuclei, when intense beams, produced by Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) techniques, become available.
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