Abstract: We report the observation of a new structure in the Lambda(0)(b)pi(+)pi(- )spectrum using the full LHCb data set of pp collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb(-1), collected at root s = 7, 8, and 13 TeV. A study of the structure suggests its interpretation as a superposition of two almost degenerate narrow states. The masses and widths of these states are measured to be m(Lambda b(6146)0) = 6146.17 +/- 0.33 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.16 MeV, m(Lambda b(6152)0) = 6152.51 +/- 0.26 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.16 MeV, Gamma(Lambda b(6146)0) = 2.9 +/- 1.3 +/- 0.3 MeV, Gamma(Lambda b(6152)0) = 2.1 +/- 0.8 +/- 0.3 MeV,with a mass splitting of Delta m = 6.34 +/- 0.32 +/- 0.02 MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic. The third uncertainty for the mass measurements derives from the knowledge of the mass of the Lambda(0)(b) baryon. The measured masses and widths of these new excited states suggest their possible interpretation as a doublet of Lambda(b)(1D)(0) states.

Abstract: Neutron capture data on intermediate mass nuclei are of key importance to nucleosynthesis in the weak component of the slow neutron capture processes, which occurs in massive stars. The (n,gamma) cross section on Ge-70, which is mainly produced in the s process, was measured at the neutron time-of-flight facility n_TOF at CERN. Resonance capture kernels were determined up to 40 keV neutron energy and average cross sections up to 300 keV. Stellar cross sections were calculated from kT = 5 keV to kT = 100 keV and are in very good agreement with a previous measurement by Walter and Beer (1985) and recent evaluations. Average cross sections are in agreement with Walter and Beer (1985) over most of the neutron energy range covered, while they are systematically smaller for neutron energies above 150 keV. We have calculated isotopic abundances produced in s-process environments in a 25 solar mass star for two initial metallicities (below solar and close to solar). While the low metallicity model reproduces best the solar system germanium isotopic abundances, the close to solar model shows a good global match to solar system abundances in the range of mass numbers A = 60-80.

Abstract: A search for excited electrons produced in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV via a contact interaction q (q) over bar -> ee* is presented. The search uses 36.1 fb(-1) of data collected in 2015 and 2016 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Decays of the excited electron into an electron and a pair of quarks (eq (q) over bar) are targeted in final states with two electrons and two hadronic jets, and decays via a gauge interaction into a neutrino and a W boson (nu W) are probed in final states with an electron, missing transverse momentum, and a large-radius jet consistent with a hadronically decaying W boson. No significant excess is observed over the expected backgrounds. Upper limits are calculated for the pp -> ee* -> eeq (q) over bar and pp -> ee* -> e nu W production cross sections as a function of the excited electron mass m(e)* at 95% confidence level. The limits are translated into lower bounds on the compositeness scale parameter Lambda of the model as a function of m(e)*. For m(e)* < 0.5 TeV, the lower bound for Lambda is 11 TeV. In the special case of m(e)* = Lambda, the values of m(e)* < 4.8 TeV are excluded. The presented limits on Lambda are more stringent than those obtained in previous searches.

Abstract: Particles are spontaneously created from the vacuum by time-varying gravitational or electromagnetic backgrounds. It has been proven that the particle number operator in an expanding universe is an adiabatic invariant. In this paper we show that, in some special cases, the expected adiabatic invariance of the particle number fails in presence of electromagnetic backgrounds. In order to do this, we consider as a prototype a Sauter-type electric pulse. Furthermore, we also show a close relation between the breaking of the adiabatic invariance and the emergence of the axial anomaly.

Abstract: We perform an ab initio calculation of the Nc scaling of the low-energy couplings of the chiral Lagrangian of low-energy strong interactions, extracted from the mass dependence of meson masses and decay constants. We compute these observables on the lattice with four degenerate fermions, Nf=4, and varying number of colours, Nc=3-6, at a lattice spacing of a similar or equal to 0.075 fm. We find good agreement with the expected Nc scaling and measure the coefficients of the leading and subleading terms in the large Nc expansion. From the subleading Nc corrections, we can also infer the Nf dependence, that we use to extract the value of the low-energy couplings for different values of Nf. We find agreement with previous determinations at Nc=3 and Nf=2,3 and also, our results support a strong paramagnetic suppression of the chiral condensate in moving from Nf=2 to Nf=3.