ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Search for top quark decays t -> qH,with H -> gamma gamma, in root s=13 TeV pp collisions using the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 129–43pp.
Abstract: This article presents a search for flavour-changing neutral currents in the decay of a top quark into an up-type (q = c; u) quark and a Higgs boson, where the Higgs boson decays into two photons. The proton-proton collision data set analysed amounts to 36.1 fb(-1) at root s = 13TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Top quark pair events are searched for, where one top quark decays into qH and the other decays into bW. Both the hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the W boson are used. No significant excess is observed and an upper limit is set on the t -> cH branching ratio of 2 : 2 x 10(-3) at the 95% confidence level, while the expected limit in the absence of signal is 1 : 6 x 10(-3). The corresponding limit on the tcH coupling is 0.090 at the 95% confidence level. The observed upper limit on the t -> uH branching ratio is 2 : 4 x 10(-3).
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Alfonso, V. I., Bejarano, C., Beltran Jimenez, J., Olmo, G. J., & Orazi, E. (2017). The trivial role of torsion in projective invariant theories of gravity with non-minimally coupled matter fields. Class. Quantum Gravity, 34(23), 235003–20pp.
Abstract: We study a large family of metric-affine theories with a projective symmetry, including non-minimally coupled matter fields which respect this invariance. The symmetry is straightforwardly realised by imposing that the connection only enters through the symmetric part of the Ricci tensor, even in the matter sector. We leave the connection completely free (including torsion), and obtain its general solution as the Levi-Civita connection of an auxiliary metric, showing that the torsion only appears as a projective mode. This result justifies the widely used condition of setting vanishing torsion in these theories as a simple gauge choice. We apply our results to some particular cases considered in the literature, including the so-called Eddington-inspired-Born-Infeld theories among others. We finally discuss the possibility of imposing a gauge fixing where the connection is metric compatible, and comment on the genuine character of the non-metricity in theories where the two metrics are not conformally related.
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LIGO Sci, V., ANTARES and other Collaborations(Abbott, B.P. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Coleiro, A., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2017). Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger. Astrophys. J. Lett., 848(2), L12–59pp.
Abstract: On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of similar to 1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg(2) at a luminosity distance of 40(-8)(+8) Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M-circle dot. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at similar to 40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over similar to 10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position similar to 9 and similar to 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.
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Agullo, I., del Rio, A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2017). Gravity and handedness of photons. Int. J. Mod. Phys. D, 26(12), 1742001–5pp.
Abstract: Vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields are altered in the presence of a strong gravitational background, with important physical consequences. We argue that a nontrivial spacetime geometry can act as an optically active medium for quantum electromagnetic radiation, in such a way that the state of polarization of radiation changes in time, even in the absence of electromagnetic sources. This is a quantum effect, and is a consequence of an anomaly related to the classical invariance under electric-magnetic duality rotations in Maxwell theory.
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Garcia Canal, C. A., Tarutina, T., & Vento, V. (2017). Deuteron structure in the deep inelastic regime. Eur. Phys. J. A, 53(6), 118–5pp.
Abstract: We study nuclear effects in the deuteron in the deep inelastic regime using the newest available data. We put special emphasis on their Q(2) dependence. The study is carried out using a scheme which parameterizes, in a simple manner, these effects by changing the proton and neutron stucture functions in medium. The result of our analysis is compared with other recent proposals. We conclude that precise EMC ratios cannot be obtained without considering the nuclear effects in the deuteron.
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De Romeri, V., Fernandez-Martinez, E., Gehrlein, J., Machado, P. A. N., & Niro, V. (2017). Dark Matter and the elusive Z' in a dynamical Inverse Seesaw scenario. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 169–21pp.
Abstract: The Inverse Seesaw naturally explains the smallness of neutrino masses via an approximate B-L symmetry broken only by a correspondingly small parameter. In this work the possible dynamical generation of the Inverse Seesaw neutrino mass mechanism from the spontaneous breaking of a gauged U(1) B-L symmetry is investigated. Interestingly, the Inverse Seesaw pattern requires a chiral content such that anomaly cancellation predicts the existence of extra fermions belonging to a dark sector with large, non-trivial, charges under the U(1) B-L. We investigate the phenomenology associated to these new states and find that one of them is a viable dark matter candidate with mass around the TeV scale, whose interaction with the Standard Model is mediated by the Z' boson associated to the gauged U(1) B-L symmetry. Given the large charges required for anomaly cancellation in the dark sector, the B-L Z' interacts preferentially with this dark sector rather than with the Standard Model. This suppresses the rate at direct detection searches and thus alleviates the constraints on Z'-mediated dark matter relic abundance. The collider phenomenology of this elusive Z' is also discussed.
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NEXT Collaboration(Simon, A. et al), Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., et al. (2017). Application and performance of an ML-EM algorithm in NEXT. J. Instrum., 12, P08009–22pp.
Abstract: The goal of the NEXT experiment is the observation of neutrinoless double beta decay in Xe-136 using a gaseous xenon TPC with electroluminescent amplification and specialized photodetector arrays for calorimetry and tracking. The NEXT Collaboration is exploring a number of reconstruction algorithms to exploit the full potential of the detector. This paper describes one of them: the Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization (ML-EM) method, a generic iterative algorithm to find maximum-likelihood estimates of parameters that has been applied to solve many different types of complex inverse problems. In particular, we discuss a bi-dimensional version of the method in which the photosensor signals integrated over time are used to reconstruct a transverse projection of the event. First results show that, when applied to detector simulation data, the algorithm achieves nearly optimal energy resolution (better than 0.5% FWHM at the Q value of 136Xe) for events distributed over the full active volume of the TPC.
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Dias, J. M., Debastiani, V. R., Roca, L., Sakai, S., & Oset, E. (2017). Binding of the BD(D)over-bar and BDD systems. Phys. Rev. D, 96(9), 094007–6pp.
Abstract: We study theoretically the BD (D) over bar and BDD systems to see if they allow for possible bound or resonant states. The three-body interaction is evaluated implementing the fixed center approximation to the Faddeev equations which considers the interaction of a D or (D) over bar particle with the components of a BD cluster, previously proved to form a bound state. We find an I(J(P)) = 1/2(0(-)) bound state for the BD (D) over bar system at an energy around 8925-8985 MeV within uncertainties, which would correspond to a bottom hidden-charm meson. In contrast, for the BDD system, which would be bottom double-charm and hence manifestly exotic, we have found hints of a bound state in the energy region 8935-8985 MeV, but the results are not stable under the uncertainties of the model, and we cannot assure, nor rule out, the possibility of a BDD three-body state.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Search for Heavy Higgs Bosons A/H Decaying to a Top Quark Pair in pp Collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 119(19), 191803–20pp.
Abstract: A search for heavy pseudoscalar (A) and scalar (H) Higgs bosons decaying into a top quark pair (t (t) over bar) has been performed with 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV. Interference effects between the signal process and standard model t (t) over bar production, which are expected to distort the signal shape from a single peak to a peak-dip structure, are taken into account. No significant deviation from the standard model prediction is observed in the t (t) over bar invariant mass spectrum in final states with an electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and at least four jets. The results are interpreted within the context of a type-II two-Higgs-doublet model. Exclusion limits on the signal strength are derived as a function of the mass m(A/H) and the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs fields, tan beta, for m(A/H) > 500 GeV.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Search for Baryon-Number Violating Xi(0)(b) Oscillations. Phys. Rev. Lett., 119(18), 181807–9pp.
Abstract: A search for baryon-number violating Xi(0)(b) oscillations is performed with a sample of pp collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The baryon number at the moment of production is identified by requiring that the Xi(0)(b) come from the decay of a resonance Xi(b)*(-) -> Xi(0)(b)pi(-) or Xi(b)'(-) -> Xi(0)(b)pi(-) and the baryon number at the moment of decay is identified from the final state using the decays Xi(0)(b) -> Xi(0)(c)pi(-) , Xi(+-)(c) -> pK(-)pi(+). No evidence of baryon-number violation is found, and an upper limit at the 95% confidence level is set on the oscillation rate of omega < 0.08 ps(-1), where. is the associated angular frequency.
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