Abstract: We demonstrate that the eight multipole parameters describing the spin state of the Z boson are able to disentangle known Z production mechanisms and signals from new physics at the LHC. They can be extracted from appropriate asymmetries in the angular distribution of lepton pairs from the Z boson decay. The power of this analysis is illustrated by (1) the production of Z boson plus jets; (2) Z boson plus missing transverse energy; (3) W and Z bosons originating from the two-body decay of a heavy resonance.

Abstract: In an increasing number of high-gradient linear accelerator applications, accelerating structures must operate with both high surface electric fields and low breakdown rates. Understanding the statistical properties of breakdown occurrence in such a regime is of practical importance for optimizing accelerator conditioning and operation algorithms, as well as of interest for efforts to understand the physical processes which underlie the breakdown phenomenon. Experimental data of breakdown has been collected in two distinct high-gradient experimental set-ups: A prototype linear accelerating structure operated in the Compact Linear Collider Xbox 12GHz test stands, and a parallel plate electrode system operated with pulsed DC in the kV range. Collected data is presented, analyzed and compared. The two systems show similar, distinctive, two-part distributions of number of pulses between breakdowns, with each part corresponding to a specific, constant event rate. The correlation between distance and number of pulses between breakdown indicates that the two parts of the distribution, and their corresponding event rates, represent independent primary and induced follow-up breakdowns. The similarity of results from pulsed DCto 12GHz rf indicates a similar vacuum arc triggering mechanism over the range of conditions covered by the experiments.

Abstract: A search for the rare decays B-s(0)->mu(+)mu(-) and B-0 -> mu(+)mu(-) is performed at the LHCb experiment using data collected in pp collisions corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb(-1). An excess of B-s(0) -> mu(+)mu- decays is observed with a significance of 7.8 standard deviations, representing the first observation of this decay in a single experiment. The branching fraction is measured to be B(B-s(0) -> mu(+)mu(-)) = (3.0 +/- 0.6(-0.2)(+)(0.3)) x 10(-9), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The first measurement of the B-s(0) -> mu(+)mu(-) effective lifetime, tau(B-s(0)-> mu(+) mu(-)) = 2.04 +/- 0.44 +/- 0.05 ps, is reported. No significant excess of B-0 -> mu(+)mu(-) decays is found, and a 95% confidence level upper limit, B(B-0 -> mu(+)mu(-) ) < 3.4 x 10(-10), is determined. All results are in agreement with the standard model expectations.

Abstract: This paper presents a measurement of the polarisation of W bosons from t (t) over bar t decays, reconstructed in events with one high-p(T) lepton and at least four jets. Data from pp collisions at the LHC were collected at root s = 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb(-1). The angle theta* between the b-quark from the top quark decay and a direct W boson decay product in the W boson rest frame is sensitive to the W boson polarisation. Two different W decay products are used as polarisation analysers: the charged lepton and the down-type quark for the leptonically and hadronically decaying W boson, respectively. The most precise measurement of the W boson polarisation via the distribution of cos theta* is obtained using the leptonic analyser and events in which at least two of the jets are tagged as b-quark jets. The fitted fractions of longitudinal, left-and right-handed polarisation states are F-0 = 0.709 +/- 0.019, F-L = 0.299 +/- 0.015 and F-R = – 0.008 +/- 0.014, and are the most precisely measured W boson polarisation fractions to date. Limits on anomalous couplings of the W tb vertex are set.

Abstract: The T2K off-axis near detector, ND280, is used to make the first differential cross section measurements of muon neutrino charged current single positive pion production on a water target at energies similar to 0.8 GeV. The differential measurements are presented as a function of the muon and pion kinematics, in the restricted phase space defined by p(pi+) > 200 MeV/c, p(mu) > 200 MeV/c, cos(theta(pi+)) > 0.3 and cos(theta(mu)) > 0.3. The total flux integrated nu(mu) charged current single positive pion production cross section on water in the restricted phase space is measured to be <sigma >(phi) = 4.25 +/- 0.48(stat) +/- 1.56(syst) x 10(-40) cm(2)/nucleon. The total cross section is consistent with the NEUT prediction (5.03 x 10(-40) cm(2)/nucleon) and 2 sigma lower than the GENIE prediction (7.68 x 10(-40) cm(2)/nucleon). The differential cross sections are in good agreement with the NEUT generator. The GENIE simulation reproduces well the shapes of the distributions, but overestimates the overall cross section normalization.