Abstract: We deal with the question of what it means to define a minimal coupling prescription in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity, carefully explaining while the naive substitution partial derivative -> del introduces extra couplings between the matter fields and the connection that can be regarded as non-minimal in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity. We will also investigate whether minimal coupling prescriptions at the level of the action (MCPL) or at the level of field equations (MCPF) lead to different dynamics. To that end, we will first write the Euler-Lagrange equations for matter fields in terms of the covariant derivatives of a general non-Riemannian space, and derivate the form of the associated Noether currents and charges. Then we will see that if the minimal coupling prescriptions is applied as we discuss, for spin 0 and 1 fields the results of MCPL and MCPF are equivalent, while for spin 1/2 fields there is a difference if one applies the MCPF or the MCPL, since the former leads to charge violation.

Abstract: Axion helioscopes search for solar axions and axionlike particles via inverse Primakoff conversion in strong laboratory magnets pointed at the Sun. Anticipating the detection of solar axions, we determine the potential for the planned next-generation helioscope, the International Axion Observatory (IAXO), to measure or constrain the solar magnetic field. To do this we consider a previously neglected component of the solar axion flux at sub-keV energies arising from the conversion of longitudinal plasmons. This flux is sensitively dependent to the magnetic field profile of the Sun, with lower energies corresponding to axions converting into photons at larger solar radii. If the detector technology eventually installed in IAXO has an energy resolution better than 200 eV, then solar axions could become an even more powerful messenger than neutrinos of the magnetic field in the core of the Sun. For energy resolutions better than 10 eV, IAXO could access the inner 70% of the Sun and begin to constrain the field at the tachocline: the boundary between the radiative and convective zones. The longitudinal plasmon flux from a toroidal magnetic field also has an additional 2% geometric modulation effect which could be used to measure the angular dependence of the magnetic field.

Abstract: A measurement of observables sensitive to spin correlations in tt<overbar></mml:mover> production is presented, using 36.1 fb-1 of pp collision data at <mml:msqrt>s</mml:msqrt>=13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Differential cross-sections are measured in events with exactly one electron and one muon with opposite-sign electric charge as a function of the azimuthal opening angle and the absolute difference in pseudorapidity between the electron and muon candidates in the laboratory frame. The azimuthal opening angle is also measured as a function of the invariant mass of the t<mml:mover accent=“true”>t<mml:mo stretchy=“false”><overbar></mml:mover> system. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions by several NLO Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order calculations. The observed degree of spin correlation is somewhat higher than predicted by the generators used. The data are consistent with the prediction of one of the fixed-order calculations at NLO, but agree less well with higher-order predictions. Using these leptonic observables, a search is performed for pair production of supersymmetric top squarks decaying into Standard Model top quarks and light neutralinos. Top squark masses between 170 and 230 GeV are largely excluded at the 95% confidence level for kinematically allowed values of the neutralino mass.

Abstract: This paper describes precision measurements of the transverse momentum p(T)(ll) (l = e, mu) and of the angular variable phi(eta)*. distributions of Drell-Yan lepton pairs in a mass range of 66-116 GeV. The analysis uses data from 36.1 fb(-1) ovf proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. Measurements in electron-pair and muon-pair final states are performed in the same fiducial volumes, corrected for detector effects, and combined. Compared to previous measurements in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 and 8 TeV, these new measurements probe perturbative QCD at a higher centre-of-mass energy with a different composition of initial states. They reach a precision of 0.2% for the normalized spectra at low values of p(T)(ll). The data are compared with different QCD predictions, where it is found that predictions based on resummation approaches can describe the full spectrum within uncertainties.

Abstract: The first observation of the decay B-0 -> D-0(D) over bar K-0(+)pi(-) is reported using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment in 2011, 2012 and 2016. The measurement is performed in the full kinematically allowed range of the decay outside of the D*(-) region. The ratio of the branching fraction relative to that of the control channel B-0 -> D-0<(DK+)-K-0 pi(-)+ is measured to be R = (14.2 +/- 1.1 +/- 1.0)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The absolute branching fraction of B-0 -> D-0(D) over bar K-0(+)pi(- )decays is thus determined to be B(B-0 -> D-0(D) over bar K-0(+)pi(-)) = (3.50 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.26 +/- 0.30) x 10(-4), where the third uncertainty is due to the branching fraction of the control channel. This decay mode is expected to provide insights to spectroscopy and the charm-loop contributions in rare semileptonic decays.