Hiller Blin, A. N., Fernandez-Ramirez, C., Jackura, A., Mathieu, V., Mokeev, V. I., Pilloni, A., et al. (2016). Studying the P-c(4450) resonance in J/psi photoproduction off protons. Phys. Rev. D, 94(3), 034002–8pp.
Abstract: A resonancelike structure, the P-c(4450), has recently been observed in the J/psi p spectrum by the LHCb Collaboration. We discuss the feasibility of detecting this structure in J/psi photoproduction in the CLAS12 experiment at JLab. We present a first estimate of the upper limit for the branching ratio of the P-c (4450) to J/psi p. Our estimates, which take into account the experimental resolution effects, predict that it will be possible to observe a sizable cross section close to the J/psi production threshold and shed light on the P-c(4450) resonance in the future photoproduction measurements.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Barbagallo, M. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Tain, J. L., & Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. (2016). Be-7(n,alpha)He-4 Reaction and the Cosmological Lithium Problem: Measurement of the Cross Section in a Wide Energy Range at n_TOF at CERN. Phys. Rev. Lett., 117(15), 152701–7pp.
Abstract: The energy-dependent cross section of the (7)Bed(n,alpha)He-4 reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from 10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of Be-7 and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at nTOF thanks to an unprecedented combination of the extremely high luminosity and good resolution of the neutron beam in the new experimental area (EAR2) of the nTOF facility at CERN, the availability of a sufficient amount of chemically pure Be-7, and a specifically designed experimental setup. Coincidences between the two alpha particles have been recorded in two Si-Be-7-Si arrays placed directly in the neutron beam. The present results are consistent, at thermal neutron energy, with the only previous measurement performed in the 1960s at a nuclear reactor. The energy dependence reported here clearly indicates the inadequacy of the cross section estimates currently used in BBN calculations. Although new measurements at higher neutron energy may still be needed, the n_TOF results hint at a minor role of this reaction in BBN, leaving the long-standing cosmological lithium problem unsolved.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Gunsing, F. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., Tain, J. L., & Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. (2016). Nuclear data activities at the n_TOF facility at CERN. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 131(10), 371–13pp.
Abstract: Nuclear data in general, and neutron-induced reaction cross sections in particular, are important for a wide variety of research fields. They play a key role in the safety and criticality assessment of nuclear technology, not only for existing power reactors but also for radiation dosimetry, medical applications, the transmutation of nuclear waste, accelerator-driven systems, fuel cycle investigations and future reactor systems as in Generation IV. Applications of nuclear data are also related to research fields as the study of nuclear level densities and stellar nucleosynthesis. Simulations and calculations of nuclear technology applications largely rely on evaluated nuclear data libraries. The evaluations in these libraries are based both on experimental data and theoretical models. Experimental nuclear reaction data are compiled on a worldwide basis by the international network of Nuclear Reaction Data Centres (NRDC) in the EXFOR database. The EXFOR database forms an important link between nuclear data measurements and the evaluated data libraries. CERN's neutron time-of-flight facility nTOF has produced a considerable amount of experimental data since it has become fully operational with the start of the scientific measurement programme in 2001. While for a long period a single measurement station (EAR1) located at 185 m from the neutron production target was available, the construction of a second beam line at 20 m (EAR2) in 2014 has substantially increased the measurement capabilities of the facility. An outline of the experimental nuclear data activities at CERN's neutron time-of-flight facility nTOF will be presented.
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Tostado, S. L., & Lopez Castro, G. (2016). Radiative corrections of O(alpha) to B- -> V(0)l(-)(nu)over-bar(l) decays. Eur. Phys. J. C, 76(9), 495–15pp.
Abstract: The O(alpha) electromagnetic radiative corrections to the B- -> V(0)l(-)(nu) over bar (l) (V is a vector meson and l a charged lepton) decay rates are evaluated using the cutoff method to regularize virtual corrections and incorporating intermediate resonance states in the real-photon amplitude to extend the region of validity of the soft-photon approximation. The electromagnetic and weak form factors of hadrons are assumed to vary smoothly over the energies of virtual and real photons under consideration. The cutoff dependence of radiative corrections upon the scale Lambda that separates the long-and short-distance regimes is found to be mild and is considered as an uncertainty of the calculation. Owing to partial cancellations of electromagnetic corrections evaluated over the three-and four-body regions of phase space, the photoninclusive corrected rates are found to be dominated by the short-distance contribution. These corrections will be relevant for a precise determination of the b quark mixing angles by testing isospin symmetrywhen measurements of semileptonic rates of charged and neutral B mesons at the fewpercent level become available. For completeness, we also provide numerical values of radiative corrections in the three-body region of the Dalitz plot distributions of these decays.
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Cañas, B. C., Garces, E. A., Miranda, O. G., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). The weak mixing angle from low energy neutrino measurements: A global update. Phys. Lett. B, 761, 450–455.
Abstract: Taking into account recent theoretical and experimental inputs on reactor fluxes we reconsider the determination of the weak mixing angle from low energy experiments. We perform a global analysis to all available neutrino-electron scattering data from reactor antineutrino experiments, obtaining sin(2) theta(W) = 0.252 +/- 0.030. We discuss the impact of the new theoretical prediction for the neutrino spectrum, the new measurement of the reactor antineutrino spectrum by the Daya Bay collaboration, as well as the effect of radiative corrections. We also reanalyze the measurements of the nu(e) – e cross section at accelerator experiments including radiative corrections. By combining reactor and accelerator data we obtain an improved determination for the weak mixing angle, sin(2) theta(W) = 0.254 +/- 0.024.
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AGATA Collaboration(Klintefjord, M. et al), Gadea, A., & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2017). Measurement of lifetimes in Fe-62,Fe-64, Co-61,Co-63, and Mn-59. Phys. Rev. C, 95(2), 024312–11pp.
Abstract: Lifetimes of the 4(1)(+) states in Fe-62,Fe-64 and the 11/2(1)(-) states in Co-61,Co-63 and Mn-59 were measured at the Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL) facility by using the Advanced Gamma Tracking Array (AGATA) and the large-acceptance variable mode spectrometer (VAMOS++). The states were populated through multinucleon transfer reactions with a U-238 beam impinging on a Ni-64 target, and lifetimes in the picosecond range were measured by using the recoil distance Doppler shift method. The data show an increase of collectivity in the iron isotopes approaching N = 40. The reduction of the subshell gap between the nu 2p(1/2) and nu 1g(9/2) orbitals leads to an increased population of the quasi-SU(3) pair (nu 1g(9/2), nu 2d(5/2)), which causes an increase in quadrupole collectivity. This is not observed for the cobalt isotopes withN < 40 for which the neutron subshell gap is larger due to the repulsive monopole component of the tensor nucleon-nucleon interaction. The extracted experimental B(E2) values are compared with large-scale shell-model calculations and with beyond-mean-field calculations with the Gogny D1S interaction. A good agreement between calculations and experimental values is found, and the results demonstrate in particular the spectroscopic quality of the Lenzi, Nowacki, Poves, and Sieja (LNPS) shell-model interaction.
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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). Observation of B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0 Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(11), 111803–9pp.
Abstract: Using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), recorded by the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, the B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0 decay is observed with a statistical significance of 5.1 standard deviations. By normalizing to B-c(+) -> (D) over bar (0)pi(+) decays, a measurement of the branching fraction multiplied by the production rates for B-c(+) relative to B+ mesons in the LHCb acceptance is obtained, R-D0K = (f(c)/f(u)) x B(B-c(+) -> (DK+)-K-0) = (9.3(-2.5)(+2.8) +/- 0.6) x 10(-7), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This decay is expected to proceed predominantly through weak annihilation and penguin amplitudes, and is the first B-c(+) decay of this nature to be observed.
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Agullo, I., del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2017). Electromagnetic Duality Anomaly in Curved Spacetimes. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(11), 111301–5pp.
Abstract: The source-free Maxwell action is invariant under electric-magnetic duality rotations in arbitrary spacetimes. This leads to a conserved classical Noether charge. We show that this conservation law is broken at the quantum level in the presence of a background classical gravitational field with a nontrivial Chern-Pontryagin invariant, in parallel with the chiral anomaly for massless Dirac fermions. Among the physical consequences, the net polarization of the quantum electromagnetic field is not conserved.
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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). Observation of the Annihilation Decay Mode B-0 -> K+K-. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(8), 081801–9pp.
Abstract: A search for the B-0 -> K+K- decay is performed using pp-collision data collected by LHCb. The data set corresponds to integrated luminosities of 1.0 and 2.0 fb(-1) at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, respectively. This decay is observed for the first time, with a significance of more than 5 standard deviations. The analysis also results in an improved measurement of the branching fraction for the B-s(0) -> pi(+)pi(-) decay. The measured branching fractions are B(B-0 -> K+K-) = (7.80 +/- 1.27 +/- 0.81 +/- 0.21) x 10(-8) and B(B-s(0) -> pi(+)p(-)) = (6.91 +/- 0.54 +/- 0.63 +/- 0.19 +/- 0.40) x 10(-7). The first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, the third is due to the uncertainty on the B-0 -> K+pi(-) branching fraction used as a normalization. For the B-s(0) mode, the fourth accounts for the uncertainty on the ratio of the probabilities for b quarks to hadronize into B-s(0) and B-0 mesons.
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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). Observation of the Decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(7), 071801–11pp.
Abstract: Decays of the Xi(-)(b) and Omega(-)(b) baryons to the charmless final states ph(-)h'(-), where h((')) denotes a kaon or pion, are searched for with the LHCb detector. The analysis is based on a sample of proton-proton collision data collected at center-of-mass energies root s = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The decay Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) is observed with a significance of 8.7 standard deviations, and evidence at the level of 3.4 standard deviations is found for the Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) decay. Results are reported, relative to the B- -> K+K-K- normalization channel, for the products of branching fractions and b-hadron production fractions. The branching fractions of Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)pi(-) and Xi(-)(b) -> p pi(-)pi(-) relative to Xi(-)(b) -> pK(-)K(-) decays are also measured.
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