Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2014). Semiclassical geons at particle accelerators. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 02(2), 010–25pp.
Abstract: We point out that in certain four-dimensional extensions of general relativity constructed within the Palatini formalism stable self-gravitating objects with a discrete mass and charge spectrum may exist. The incorporation of nonlinearities in the electromagnetic field may effectively reduce their mass spectrum by many orders of magnitude. As a consequence, these objects could be within (or near) the reach of current particle accelerators. We provide an exactly solvable model to support this idea.
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Lobo, F. S. N., Martinez-Asencio, J., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2014). Planck scale physics and topology change through an exactly solvable model. Phys. Lett. B, 731, 163–167.
Abstract: We consider the collapse of a charged radiation fluid in a Planck-suppressed quadratic extension of General Relativity (GR) formulated A la Palatini. We obtain exact analytical solutions that extend the charged Vaidya-type solution of GR, which allows to explore in detail new physics at the Planck scale. Starting from Minkowski space, we find that the collapsing fluid generates wormholes supported by the electric field. We discuss the relevance of our findings in relation to the quantum foam structure of space-time and the meaning of curvature divergences in this theory.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., Heisenberg, L., & Olmo, G. J. (2014). Infrared lessons for ultraviolet gravity: the case of massive gravity and Born-lnfeld. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 004–26pp.
Abstract: We generalize the ultraviolet sector of gravitation via a Born-Infeld action using lessons from massive gravity. The theory contains all of the elementary symmetric polynomials and is treated in the Palatini formalism. We show how the connection can be solved algebraically to be the Levi-Civita connection of an effective metric. The non-linearity of the algebraic equations yields several branches, one of which always reduces to General Relativity at low curvatures. We explore in detail a minimal version of the theory, for which we study solutions in the presence of a perfect fluid with special attention to the cosmological evolution. In vacuum we recover Ricci-flat solutions, but also an additional physical solution corresponding to an Einstein space. The existence of two physical branches remains for non-vacuum solutions and, in addition, the branch that connects to the Einstein space in vacuum is not very sensitive to the specific value of the energy density. For the branch that connects to the General Relativity limit we generically find three behaviours for the Hubble function depending on the equation of state of the fluid, namely: either there is a maximum value for the energy density that connects continuously with vacuum, or the energy density can be arbitrarily large but the Hubble function saturates and remains constant at high energy densities, or the energy density is unbounded and the Hubble function grows faster than in General Relativity. The second case is particularly interesting because it could offer an interesting inflationary epoch even in the presence of a dust component. Finally, we discuss the possibility of avoiding certain types of singularities within the minimal model.
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AGATA Collaboration(Pellegri, L. et al), & Gadea, A. (2014). Pygmy dipole resonance in Sn-124 populated by inelastic scattering of O-17. Phys. Lett. B, 738, 519–523.
Abstract: The gamma decay from the high-lying states of Sn-124 was measured using the inelastic scattering of O-17 at 340 MeV. The emitted gamma rays were detected with high resolution with the AGATA demonstrator array and the scattered ions were detected in two segmented Delta E-E silicon telescopes. The angular distribution was measured both for the gamma rays and the scattered O-17 ions. An accumulation of E1 strength below the particle threshold was found and compared with previous data obtained with (gamma,gamma') and (alpha,alpha'gamma) reactions. The present results of elastic scattering, and excitation of E2 and E1 states were analysed using the DWBA approach. From this comprehensive description the isoscalar component of the 1-excited states was extracted. The obtained values are based on the comparison of the data with DWBA calculations including a form factor deduced using a microscopic transition density.
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Stuhl, L., Krasznahorkay, A., Csatlos, M., Algora, A., Gulyas, J., Kalinka, G., et al. (2014). A neutron spectrometer for studying giant resonances with (p,n) reactions in inverse kinematics. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 736, 1–9.
Abstract: A neutron spectrometer, the European Low-Energy Neutron Spectrometer (ELENS), has been constructed to study exotic nuclei in inverse-kinematics experiments. The spectrometer, which consists of plastic scintillator bars, can be operated in the neutron energy range of 100 keV-10 MeV. The neutron energy is determined using the time-of-flight technique, while the position of the neutron detection is deduced from the time-difference information from photomultipliers attached to both ends of each bar. A novel wrapping method has been developed for the plastic scintillators. The array has a larger than 25% detection efficiency for neutrons of approximately 500 keV in kinetic energy and an angular resolution of less than 1 degrees. Details of the design, construction and experimental tests of the spectrometer will be presented.
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Goasduff, A., Valiente-Dobon, J. J., Lunardi, S., Haas, F., Gadea, A., de Angelis, G., et al. (2014). Counting rate measurements for lifetime experiments using the RDDS method with the new generation gamma-ray array AGATA. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 758, 1–3.
Abstract: The differential Recoil Distance Doppler Shift (RDDS) method after multinucleon transfer (MNT) reactions to measure lifetimes of excited states in neutron-rich nuclei requires the use of a thick energy degrader for the recoiling ejectiles that are then detected in a spectrometer. This type of measurements greatly benefits from the use of the new generation segmented gamma-ray detectors, such as the AGATA demonstrator which offers unprecedented energy and angular resolutions. In order to make an optimized choice of the material and the thickness of the degrader for lifetime measurements using the RODS method after MNT, an experiment has been performed with the AGATA demonstrator. Counting rate measurements for different degraders are presented.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fassi, F., Ferrer, A., et al. (2014). Measurement of the cross section of high transverse momentum Z -> b(b)over-bar production in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 738, 25–43.
Abstract: This Letter reports the observation of a high transverse momentum Z -> b (b) over bar signal in proton-proton collisions at root s = 8TeVand the measurement of its production cross section. The data analysed were collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 fb(-1). The Z -> b (b) over bar decay is reconstructed from a pair of b-tagged jets, clustered with the anti- k(t) jet algorithm with R = 0.4, that have low angular separation and form a dijet with p(T) > 200 GeV. The signal yield is extracted from a fit to the dijet invariant mass distribution, with the dominant, multi-jet background mass shape estimated by employing a fully data-driven technique that reduces the dependence of the analysis on simulation. The fiducial cross section is determined to be sigma(fid)(Z -> b (b) over bar) = 2.02 +/- 0.20 (stat.) +/- 0.25 (syst.) +/- 0.06 (lumi.) pb = 2.02 +/- 0.33 pb, in good agreement with next-to-leading-order theoretical predictions.
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Aristizabal Sierra, D., Tortola, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vicente, A. (2014). Leptogenesis with a dynamical seesaw scale. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 052–20pp.
Abstract: In the simplest type-I seesaw leptogenesis scenario right-handed neutrino annihilation processes are absent. However, in the presence of new interactions these processes are possible and can affect the resulting B – L asymmetry in an important way. A prominent example is provided by models with spontaneous lepton number violation, where the existence of new dynamical degrees of freedom can play a crucial role. In this context, we provide a model-independent discussion of the effects of right-handed neutrino annihilations. We show that in the weak washout regime, as long as the scattering processes remain slow compared with the Hubble expansion rate throughout the relevant temperature range, the efficiency can be largely enhanced, reaching in some cases maximal values. Moreover, the B – L asymmetry yield turns out to be independent upon initial conditions, in contrast to the “standard” case. On the other hand, when the annihilation processes are fast, the right-handed neutrino distribution tends to a thermal one down to low temperatures, implying a drastic suppression of the efficiency which in some cases can render the B – L generation mechanism inoperative.
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Racker, J. (2014). Mass bounds for baryogenesis from particle decays and the inert doublet model. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 025–23pp.
Abstract: In models for thermal baryogenesis from particle decays, the mass of the decaying particle is typically many orders of magnitude above the TeV scale. We will discuss different ways to lower the energy scale of baryogenesis and present the corresponding lower bounds on the particle's mass. This is done specifically for the inert doublet model with heavy Majorana neutrinos and then we indicate how to extrapolate the results to other scenarios. We also revisit the question of whether or not dark matter, neutrino masses, and the cosmic baryon asymmetry can be explained simultaneously at low energies in the inert doublet model.
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Bernardoni, F., Blossier, B., Bulava, J., Della Morte, M., Fritzsch, P., Garron, N., et al. (2014). Decay constants of B-mesons from non-perturbative HQET with two light dynamical quarks. Phys. Lett. B, 735, 349–356.
Abstract: We present a computation of B-meson decay constants from lattice QCD simulations within the framework of Heavy Quark Effective Theory for the b-quark. The next-to-leading order corrections in the HQET expansion are included non-perturbatively. Based on N-f = 2 gauge field ensembles, covering three lattice spacings a approximate to (0.08-0.05) fm and pion masses down to 190 MeV, a variational method for extracting hadronic matrix elements is used to keep systematic errors under control. In addition we perform a careful autocorrelation analysis in the extrapolation to the continuum and to the physical pion mass limits. Our final results read f(B) = 186(13) MeV, f(Bs) = 224(14) MeV and f(Bs)/f(B) = 1.203(65). A comparison with other results in the literature does not reveal a dependence on the number of dynamical quarks, and effects from truncating HQET appear to be negligible.
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