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n_TOF Collaboration(Lerendegui-Marco, J. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., Tain, J. L., & Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. (2018). Radiative neutron capture on Pu-242 in the resonance region at the CERN n_TOF-EAR1 facility. Phys. Rev. C, 97(2), 024605–21pp.
Abstract: The spent fuel of current nuclear reactors contains fissile plutonium isotopes that can be combined with uranium to make mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. In this way the Pu from spent fuel is used in a new reactor cycle, contributing to the long-term sustainability of nuclear energy. However, an extensive use of MOX fuels, in particular in fast reactors, requires more accurate capture and fission cross sections for some Pu isotopes. In the case of Pu-242 there are sizable discrepancies among the existing capture cross-section measurements included in the evaluations (all from the 1970s) resulting in an uncertainty as high as 35% in the fast energy region. Moreover, postirradiation experiments evaluated with JEFF-3.1 indicate an overestimation of 14% in the capture cross section in the fast neutron energy region. In this context, the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) requested an accuracy of 8% in this cross section in the energy region between 500 meV and 500 keV. This paper presents a new time-of-flight capture measurement on Pu-242 carried out at nTOF-EAR1 (CERN), focusing on the analysis and statistical properties of the resonance region, below 4 keV. The Pu-242(n, gamma) reaction on a sample containing 95(4) mg enriched to 99.959% was measured with an array of four C6D6 detectors and applying the total energy detection technique. The high neutron energy resolution of nTOF-EAR1 and the good statistics accumulated have allowed us to extend the resonance analysis up to 4 keV, obtaining new individual and average resonance parameters from a capture cross section featuring a systematic uncertainty of 5%, fulfilling the request of the NEA.
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Bernabeu, J., & Segarra, A. (2018). Stimulated transitions in resonant atom Majorana mixing. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 017–16pp.
Abstract: Massive neutrinos demand to ask whether they are Dirac or Majorana particles. Majorana neutrinos are an irrefutable proof of physics beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinoless double electron capture is not a process but a virtual Delta L = 2 mixing between a parent (A)Z atom and a daughter (A)(Z – 2) excited atom with two electron holes. As a mixing between two neutral atoms and the observable signal in terms of emitted two-hole X-rays, the strategy, experimental signature and background are different from neutrinoless double beta decay. The mixing is resonantly enhanced for almost degeneracy and, under these conditions, there is no irreducible background from the standard two-neutrino channel. We reconstruct the natural time history of a nominally stable parent atom since its production either by nature or in the laboratory. After the time periods of atom oscillations and the decay of the short-lived daughter atom, at observable times the relevant 'stationary" states are the mixed metastable long-lived state and the non-orthogonal short-lived excited state, as well as the ground state of the daughter atom. We find that they have a natural population inversion which is most appropriate for exploiting the bosonic nature of the observed atomic transitions radiation. Among different observables of the atom Majorana mixing, we include the enhanced rate of stimulated X-ray emission from the long-lived metastable state by a high-intensity X-ray beam: a gain factor of 100 can be envisaged at current XFEL facilities. On the other hand, the historical population of the daughter atom ground state can be probed by exciting it with a current pulsed optical laser, showing the characteristic absorption lines: the whole population can be excited in a shorter time than typical pulse duration.
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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. (2018). Measurement of CP observables in B-+/- -> D(*)K-+/- and B-+/- -> D(*)pi(+/-) decays. Phys. Lett. B, 777, 16–30.
Abstract: Measurements of CP observables in B-+/- -> D(*)K-+/- and B-+/- -> D(*)pi(+/-) decays are presented, where D(*) indicates a neutral Dor D* meson that is an admixture of D(*)(0) and (D) over bar(*)(0) states. Decays of the D* meson to the D pi(0)and D gamma final states are partially reconstructed without inclusion of the neutral pion or photon, resulting in distinctive shapes in the Bcandidate invariant mass distribution. Decays of the D meson are fully reconstructed in the K-+/-pi(-/+), K+K- and pi(+)pi(-) final states. The analysis uses a sample of charged Bmesons produced in ppcollisions collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.0, 1.0 and 2.0fb- 1taken at centre- of- mass energies of root s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, respectively. The study of B-perpendicular to -> D*K-perpendicular to and B-perpendicular to -> D*pi(perpendicular to) decays using a partial reconstruction method is the first of its kind, while the measurement of B-+/- -> DK +/- and B-+/- -> D pi(+/-) decays is an update of previous LHCb measurements. The B-+/- -> DK +/- results are the most precise to date.
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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. (2018). Search for diboson resonances with boson-tagged jets in pp collisions at root S=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 777, 91–113.
Abstract: Narrow resonances decaying into WW, WZ or ZZ boson pairs are searched for in 36.7 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. The diboson system is reconstructed using pairs of large-radius jets with high transverse momentum and tagged as compatible with the hadronic decay of high-momentum Wor Zbosons, using jet mass and substructure properties. The search is sensitive to diboson resonances with masses in the range 1.2-5.0 TeV. No significant excess is observed in any signal region. Exclusion limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the production cross section times branching ratio to dibosons for a range of theories beyond the Standard Model. Model-dependent lower limits on the mass of new gauge bosons are set, with the highest limit set at 3.5 TeV in the context of mass-degenerate resonances that couple predominantly to bosons.
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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. (2018). Measurement of the exclusive gamma gamma -> mu(+)mu(-) process in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 777, 303–323.
Abstract: The production of exclusive gamma gamma -> mu(+)mu(-) events in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). The measurement is performed for a dimuon invariant mass of 12 GeV < m(mu+mu-) < 70 GeV. The integrated cross-section is determined within a fiducial acceptance region of the ATLAS detector and differential cross-sections are measured as a function of the dimuon invariant mass. The results are compared to theoretical predictions both with and without corrections for absorptive effects.
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