Abstract: The y decay of the elusive narrow, near-threshold proton resonance in 11 B was investigated at Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (INFN) in a particle-y coincidence experiment, using the 6 Li( 6 Li,py) fusion-evaporation reaction and the GALILEO-GALTRACE setup. No clear signature was found for a possible E1 decay to the 1/2-1, – 1 , first-excited state of 11 B, predicted by the Shell Model Embedded in the Continuum (SMEC) with a branching of 0.98+167 +167 -69 x 10-3 -3 with respect to the dominant particle-decaying modes. The statistical analysis of the y-ray spectrum provided an average upper limit of 2.37 x 10-3 -3 for this y-ray branching, with a global significance of 5 sigma. On the other hand, by imposing a global confidence level of 3 sigma, a significant excess of counts was observed for Ey y = 9300(20) keV, corresponding to a resonance energy of 11429(20) keV (namely 200(20) keV above the proton separation energy of 11 B) and a y-ray branching of 1.12(35) x10-3. -3 . This result is compatible with the SMEC calculations, potentially supporting the existence of a near-threshold proton resonance in 11 B.

Abstract: We present a calculation for the masses of the first radially excited states of 40 mesons and diquarks made up of u , d , s , c , and b quarks, including states that contain one or both heavy quarks. To this end, we employ a combined analysis of the Bethe-Salpeter and Schwinger-Dyson equations within a self-consistent and symmetry-preserving vector-vector contact interaction. The same set of parameters describes ground and excited states of mesons and their diquark partners. The wave function of the first radial excitation contains a zero whose location is correlated with an additional parameter d F which is a function of dressed quark masses. Our results satisfy the equal spacing rules given by the Gell-Mann Okubo mass relations. Wherever possible, we make comparisons of our findings with known experimental observations as well as theoretical predictions of several other models and approaches including lattice quantum chromodynamics, finding a very good agreement. We report predictions for a multitude of radial excitations not yet observed in experiments.

Abstract: This Letter presents the first study of Higgs boson production in association with a vector boson (V = W or Z) in the fully hadronic qqbb final state using data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in ffiffiproton-proton collisions at root root s= 13 TeV and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137fb(-1). The vector bosons and Higgs bosons are each reconstructed as large-radius jets and tagged using jet substructure techniques. Dedicated tagging algorithms exploiting b-tagging properties are used to identify jets consistent with Higgs bosons decaying into b (b) over bar. Dominant backgrounds from multijet production are determined directly from the data, and a likelihood fit to the jet mass distribution of Higgs boson candidates is used to extract the number of signal events. The VH production cross section is measured inclusively and differentially in several ranges of Higgs boson transverse momentum: 250-450, 450-650, and greater than 650 GeV. The inclusive signal yield relative to the standard model expectation is observed to be μ= 1.4(-0.9)(+1.0) and the corresponding cross section is 3.1 +/- 1.3(stat)(-1.4)(+1.8) (syst) pb.

Abstract: Treatment planning systems at proton-therapy centres entirely use X-ray computed tomography (CT) as primary imaging technique to infer the proton treatment doses to tumour and healthy tissues. However, proton stopping powers in the body, as derived from X-ray images, suffer from important proton-range uncertainties. In order to reduce this uncertainty in range, one could use proton-CT images instead. The main goal of this work is to test the capabilities of a newly-developed proton-CT scanner, based on the use of a set of tracking detectors and a high energy resolution scintillator for the residual energy of the protons. Different custom-made phantoms were positioned at the field of view of the scanner and were irradiated with protons at the CCB proton-therapy center in Krakow. We measured with the phantoms at different angles and produced sinograms that were used to obtain reconstructed images by Filtered Back-Projection. The obtained images were used to determine the capabilities of our scanner in terms of spatial resolution and proton Relative Stopping Power (RSP) mapping and validate its use as proton-CT scanner. The results show that the scanner can produce medium-high quality images, with spatial resolution better than 2 mm in radiography, below 3 mm in tomography and resolving power in the RSP comparable to other state-of-the-art pCT scanners.

Abstract: An amplitude analysis of the B-0 -> K*(0) mu(+)mu(-) decay is presented using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb(-1) of pp collision data collected with the LHCb experiment. For the first time, the coefficients associated to short-distance physics effects, sensitive to processes beyond the standard model, are extracted directly from the data through a q(2)-unbinned amplitude analysis, where q(2) is the mu(+)mu(-) invariant mass squared. Long-distance contributions, which originate from nonfactorizable QCD processes, are systematically investigated, and the most accurate assessment to date of their impact on the physical observables is obtained. The pattern of measured corrections to the short-distance couplings is found to be consistent with previous analyses of b- to s-quark transitions, with the largest discrepancy from the standard model predictions found to be at the level of 1.8 standard deviations. The global significance of the observed differences in the decay is 1.4 standard deviations.