Abstract: We propose a simple model for Dirac neutrinos where the smallness of neutrino mass follows from a parameter kappa whose absence enhances the symmetry of the theory. Symmetry breaking is performed in a two-doublet Higgs sector supplemented by a gauge singlet scalar, realizing an accidental global U(1) symmetry. Its spontaneous breaking at the few TeV scale leads to a physical Nambu -Goldstone – boson the Diracon, denoted D – which is restricted by astrophysics and induces invisible Higgs decays such as h -> DD. The scheme provides a rich, yet very simple scenario for symmetry breaking studies at colliders such as the LHC.

Abstract: A search for W' bosons in events with one lepton (electron or muon) and missing transverse momentum is presented. The search uses 3.2 fb(-1) of pp collision data collected at root s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. The transverse mass distribution is examined and no significant excess of events above the level expected from Standard Model processes is observed. Upper limits on the W' boson cross-section times branching ratio to leptons are set as a function of the W' mass. Within the Sequential Standard Model W' masses below 4.07 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. This extends the limit set using LHC data at root s = 8 TeV by around 800 GeV.

Abstract: Two-particle angular correlations are studied in proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-ofmass energy of root sNN= 5 TeV, collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The analysis is based on data recorded in two beam configurations, in which either the direction of the proton or that of the lead ion is analysed. The correlations are measured in the laboratory system as a function of relative pseudorapidity, Delta eta, and relative azimuthal angle, Delta phi, for events in different classes of event activity and for different bins of particle transverse momentum. In high-activity events a long-range correlation on the near side, Delta phi approximate to 0, is observed in the pseudorapidity range 2.0 < eta < 4.9. This measurement of long-range correlations on the near side in proton-lead collisions extends previous observations into the forward region up to eta= 4.9. The correlation increases with growing event activity and is found to be more pronounced in the direction of the lead beam. However, the correlation in the direction of the lead and proton beams are found to be compatible when comparing events with similar absolute activity in the direction analysed.

Abstract: Results obtained by various experiments show that the D-s0(*)(2317) and D-s1(2460) mesons are very narrow states located below the DK and D*K thresholds, respectively. This is markedly in contrast with the expectations of naive quark models and heavy quark symmetry. Motivated by a recent lattice study which addresses the mass shifts of the c _ s ground states with quantum numbers J(P) = 1+ [D-s1 (2317)] and JP = 1(+) [D-s1(2460)] due to their coupling with S-wave D-(*) K thresholds, we perform a similar analysis within a nonrelativistic constituent quark model in which quark-antiquark and meson-meson degrees of freedom are incorporated. The quark model has been applied to a wide range of hadronic observables, and thus the model parameters are completely constrained. The coupling between quark- antiquark and mesonmeson Fock components is done using a P-3(0) model in which its only free parameter gamma has been elucidated, performing a global fit to the decay widths of mesons that belong to different quark sectors, from light to heavy. We observe that the coupling of the 0(+)(1(+)) meson sector to the DK (D*K) threshold is the key feature to simultaneously lower the masses of the corresponding D-s0(*)(2317) and D-s1(2460) states predicted by the naive quark model and describe the D-s1(2536) meson as the 1(+)state of the j(q)(p) =3/2(+) doublet predicted by heavy quark symmetry, reproducing its strong decay properties. Our calculation allows us to introduce the coupling with the D- wave D*K channel and the computation of the probabilities associated with the different Fock components of the physical state.

Abstract: In this work we explore the applicability of a special gluon mass generating mechanism in the context of the linear covariant gauges. In particular, the implementation of the Schwinger mechanism in pure Yang-Mills theories hinges crucially on the inclusion of massless bound-state excitations in the fundamental nonperturbative vertices of the theory. The dynamical formation of such excitations is controlled by a homogeneous linear Bethe-Salpeter equation, whose nontrivial solutions have been studied only in the Landau gauge. Here, the form of this integral equation is derived for general values of the gauge-fixing parameter, under a number of simplifying assumptions that reduce the degree of technical complexity. The kernel of this equation consists of fully dressed gluon propagators, for which recent lattice data are used as input, and of three-gluon vertices dressed by a single form factor, which is modeled by means of certain physically motivated Ansatze. The gauge-dependent terms contributing to this kernel impose considerable restrictions on the infrared behavior of the vertex form factor; specifically, only infrared finite Ansatze are compatible with the existence of nontrivial solutions. When such Ansatze are employed, the numerical study of the integral equation reveals a continuity in the type of solutions as one varies the gauge-fixing parameter, indicating a smooth departure from the Landau gauge. Instead, the logarithmically divergent form factor displaying the characteristic “zero crossing,” while perfectly consistent in the Landau gauge, has to undergo a dramatic qualitative transformation away from it, in order to yield acceptable solutions. The possible implications of these results are briefly discussed.