ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., et al. (2012). Search for tb Resonances in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(8), 081801–19pp.
Abstract: This Letter presents a search for tb resonances in 1.04 fb(-1) of LHC proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. Events with a lepton, missing transverse momentum, and two jets are selected and the invariant mass of the corresponding final state is reconstructed. The search exploits the shape of the tb invariant mass distribution compared to the expected standard model backgrounds. The model of a right-handed W'(R) with standard model-like couplings is chosen as the benchmark model for this search. No statistically significant excess of events is observed in the data, and upper limits on the cross section times the branching ratio of W'(R) resonances at 95% C.L. lie in the range of 6.1-1.0 pb for W'(R) masses ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 TeV. These limits are translated into a lower bound on the allowed right-handed W'(R) mass, giving mW'(R) > 1.13 TeV at 95% C.L.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Ferrer, A., et al. (2012). Search for Pair Production of a New b ' Quark that Decays into a Z Boson and a Bottom Quark with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(7), 071801–19pp.
Abstract: A search is reported for the pair production of a new quark b' with at least one b' decaying to a Z boson and a bottom quark. The data, corresponding to 2.0 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, were collected from pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Using events with a b-tagged jet and a Z boson reconstructed from opposite-charge electrons, the mass distribution of large transverse momentum b' candidates is tested for an enhancement. No evidence for a b' signal is detected in the observed mass distribution, resulting in the exclusion at a 95% confidence level of b' quarks with masses m(b)' < 400 GeV that decay entirely via b' -> Z + b. In the case of a vectorlike singlet b' mixing solely with the third standard model generation, masses m(b)' < 358 GeV are excluded.
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Pierre Auger Collaboration(Abreu, P. et al), & Pastor, S. (2012). Measurement of the Proton-Air Cross Section at root s=57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(6), 062002–9pp.
Abstract: We report a measurement of the proton-air cross section for particle production at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 57 TeV. This is derived from the distribution of the depths of shower maxima observed with the Pierre Auger Observatory: systematic uncertainties are studied in detail. Analyzing the tail of the distribution of the shower maxima, a proton-air cross section of [505 +/- 22(stat)(-36)(+28)(syst)] mb is found.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2012). Evidence for an Excess of (B)over-bar -> D-(*()) tau(-)(nu)over-bar(tau) Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(10), 101802–8pp.
Abstract: Based on the full BABAR data sample, we report improved measurements of the ratios R(D-(*())) = B((B) over bar -> D-(*()) tau(-)(nu) over bar (tau))/B((B) over bar -> D-(*()) l(l)(-)(nu) over bar (l), where l is either e or mu. These ratios are sensitive to new physics contributions in the form of a charged Higgs boson. We measure R(D) = 0.440 +/- 0.058 +/- 0.042 and R(D*) = 0.332 +/- 0.024 +/- 0.018, which exceed the standard model expectations by 2.0 sigma and 2.7 sigma, respectively. Taken together, our results disagree with these expectations at the 3.4 sigma level. This excess cannot be explained by a charged Higgs boson in the type II two-Higgs-doublet model.
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Herrero-Garcia, J., Schwetz, T., & Zupan, J. (2012). Astrophysics independent bounds on the annual modulation of dark matter signals. Phys. Rev. Lett., 109(14), 141301–5pp.
Abstract: We show how constraints on the time integrated event rate from a given dark matter (DM) direct detection experiment can be used to bound the amplitude of the annual modulation signal in another experiment. The method requires only mild assumptions about the properties of the local DM distribution: that it is temporally stable on the scale of months and spatially homogeneous on the ecliptic. We apply the method to the annual modulation signal in DAMA/LIBRA, which we compare to the bounds derived from XENON10, XENON100, cryogenic DM search, and SIMPLE data. Assuming a DM mass of 10 GeV, we show that under the above assumptions about the DM halo, a DM interpretation of the DAMA/LIBRA signal is excluded for several classes of models: at 6.3 sigma (4.6 sigma) for elastic isospin conserving (violating) spin-independent interactions, and at 4.9 sigma for elastic spin-dependent interactions on protons.
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