Abstract: The low-lying energy levels of proton-rich Cu-56 have been extracted using in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy with the state-of-the-art gamma-ray tracking array GRETINA in conjunction with the S800 spectrograph at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. Excited states in Cu-56 serve as resonances in the Ni-55(p,gamma)Cu-56 reaction, which is a part of the rp process in type-I x-ray bursts. To resolve existing ambiguities in the reaction Q value, a more localized isobaric multiplet mass equation (IMME) fit is used, resulting in Q = 639 +/- 82 keV. We derive the first experimentally constrained thermonuclear reaction rate for Ni-55(p,.) Cu-56. We find that, with this newrate, the rp processmay bypass the (56)Niwaiting point via the Ni-55(p,gamma) reaction for typical x-ray burst conditions with a branching of up to similar to 40%. We also identify additional nuclear physics uncertainties that need to be addressed before drawing final conclusions about the rp-process reaction flow in the Ni-56 region.

Abstract: Using decays to f-meson pairs, the inclusive production of charmonium states in b-hadron decays is studied with pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. Denoting by B-C = B(b -> CX) x B(C -> phi phi) the inclusive branching fraction of a b hadron to a charmonium state C that decays into a pair of phi mesons, ratios R-C2(C1) = B-C1/B-C2 are determined as R-eta c(1S)(chi c0) = 0.147 +/- 0.023 +/- 0.011, R-eta c(1S)(chi c1) = 0.073 +/- 0.016 +/- 0.006, R-eta c(1S)(chi c2) = 0.081 +/- 0.013 +/- 0.005, R-chi c0(chi c1) = 0.50 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.01, R-chi c0(chi c2) = 0.56 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.01 and R-eta c(1S)(eta c(2S)) = 0.040 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.004. Here and below the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. Upper limits at 90% confidence level for the inclusive production of X(3872), X(3915) and.c2(2P) states are obtained as R-chi c1(X(3872)) < 0.34, R-chi c0(X(3915)) < 0.12 and R-chi c2(chi c2(2P)) < 0.16. Differential cross-sections as a function of transverse momentum are measured for the eta(c)(1S) and chi(c) states. The branching fraction of the decay B-s(0). phi phi phi is measured for the first time, B(B-s(0) -> phi phi phi) = (2.15 +/- 0.54 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.21 B) x10(-6). Here the third uncertainty is due to the branching fraction of the decay B-s(0) -> phi phi, which is used for normalization. No evidence for intermediate resonances is seen. A preferentially transverse phi polarization is observed. Themeasurements allow the determination of the ratio of the branching fractions for the eta(c)(1S) decays to ff and p (p) over bar as B(eta(c)(1S) -> phi phi)/B(eta(c)(1S) -> p (p) over bar) = 1.79 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.32.

Abstract: Flavor symmetries a la Froggatt-Nielsen provide a compelling way to explain the hierarchies of fermionic masses and mixing angles in the Yukawa sector. In supersymmetric (SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model where the mediation of SUSY breaking occurs at scales larger than the breaking of flavor, this symmetry must be respected not only by the Yukawas of the superpotential but also by the soft-breaking masses and trilinear terms. In this work we show that contrary to naive expectations, even starting with completely flavor blind soft breaking in the full theory at high scales, the low-energy sfermion mass matrices and trilinear terms of the effective theory, obtained upon integrating out the heavy mediator fields, are strongly nonuniversal. We explore the phenomenology of these SUSY flavor models after the latest LHC searches for new physics.

Abstract: This article presents measurements of t (t) over bar differential cross-sections in a fiducial phase-space region, using an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1) of proton-proton data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015. Differential crosssections are measured as a function of the transverse momentum and absolute rapidity of the top quark, and of the transverse momentum, absolute rapidity and invariant mass of the t (t) over bar system. The t (t) over bar events are selected by requiring one electron and onemuonof opposite electric charge, and at least two jets, one of which must be tagged as containing a b-hadron. The measured differential cross-sections are compared to predictions of next-to-leading order generators matched to parton showers and the measurements are found to be consistent with all models within the experimental uncertainties with the exception of the Powheg-Box + Herwig++ predictions, which differ significantly from the data in both the transverse momentum of the top quark and the mass of the t (t) over bar system.

Abstract: We study a left right (LR) extension of the Standard Model (SM) where the Dark Matter(DM) candidate is composed of a set of fermionic Majorana triplets. The DM is stabilized by a remnant Z(2) symmetry from the breaking of the LR group to the SM. Two simple scenarios where the DM particles plus a certain set of extra fields lead to gauge coupling unification with a low LR scale are explored. The constraints from relic density and predictions for direct detection are discussed for both scenarios. The first scenario with a SUd(2)(R) vectorlike fermion triplet contains a DM candidate which is almost unconstrained by current direct detection experiments. The second scenario, with an additional SU(2)R triplet, opens up a scalar portal leading to direct detection constraints which are similar to collider limits for right gauge bosons. The DM parameter space consistent with phenomenological requirements can also lead to successful gauge coupling unification in a SO(10) setup.