Abstract: An analysis of the angular distribution of the decay Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda mu(+)mu(-) is presented, using data collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2016 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 fb(-1). Angular observables are determined using a moment analysis of the angular distribution at low hadronic recoil, corresponding to the dimuon invariant mass squared range 15 < q(2) < 20 GeV2/c(4). The full basis of observables is measured for the first time. The lepton-side, hadron-side and combined forward-backward asymmetries of the decay are determined to be A(FB)(l) = -0.39 +/- 0.04 (stat) +/- 0.01 (syst), AFB(h) = -0.30 +/- 0.05 (stat) +/- 0.02 (syst), A(FB)(lh) = +0.25 +/- 0.04 (stat) +/- 0.01 (syst). The measurements are consistent with Standard Model predictions.

Abstract: TORCH is a novel time-of-flight detector that has been developed to provide charged-particle identification between 2 and 10 GeV/c momentum. TORCH combines arrival times from multiple Cherenkov photons produced within a 10 mm-thick quartz radiator plate, to achieve a 15 ps time-of-flight resolution per incident particle. A customised Micro-Channel Plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) and associated readout system utilises an innovative charge-sharing technique between adjacent pixels to obtain the necessary 70 ps time resolution of each Cherenkov photon. A five-year R&D programme has been undertaken, culminating in the construction of a small-scale prototype TORCH module. In testbeams at CERN, this prototype operated successfully with customised electronics and readout system. A full analysis chain has been developed to reconstruct the data and to calibrate the detector. Results are compared to those using a commercial Planacon MCP-PMT, and single photon resolutions approaching 80 ps have been achieved. The photon counting efficiency was found to be in reasonable agreement with a GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation of the detector. The small-scale demonstrator is a precursor to a full-scale TORCH module (with a radiator plate of 660 x 1250 x 10 mm(3)), which is currently under construction.

Abstract: Properties of the Higgs boson are measured in the two-photon final state using 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 13 TeV by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Cross-section measurements for the production of a Higgs boson through gluon-gluon fusion, vector-boson fusion, and in association with a vector boson or a top-quark pair are reported. The signal strength, defined as the ratio of the observed to the expected signal yield, is measured for each of these production processes as well as inclusively. The global signal strength measurement of 0.99 +/- 0.14 improves on the precision of the ATLAS measurement at root s = 7 and 8 TeV by a factor of two. Measurements of gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion productions yield signal strengths compatible with the Standard Model prediction. Measurements of simplified template cross sections, designed to quantify the different Higgs boson production processes in specific regions of phase space, are reported. The cross section for the production of the Higgs boson decaying to two isolated photons in a fiducial region closely matching the experimental selection of the photons is measured to be 55 +/- 10 fb, which is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 64 +/- 2 fb. Furthermore, cross sections in fiducial regions enriched in Higgs boson production in vector-boson fusion or in association with large missing transverse momentum, leptons or top-quark pairs are reported. Differential and double-differential measurements are performed for several variables related to the diphoton kinematics as well as the kinematics and multiplicity of the jets produced in association with a Higgs boson. These differential cross sections are sensitive to higher order QCD corrections and properties of the Higgs boson, such as its spin and CP quantum numbers. No significant deviations from a wide array of Standard Model predictions are observed. Finally, the strength and tensor structure of the Higgs boson interactions are investigated using an effective Lagrangian, which introduces additional CP-even and CP-odd interactions. No significant new physics contributions are observed.

Abstract: We consider the supersymmetric inverse seesaw mechanism for neutrino mass generation within the context of a low-energy effective theory where supersymmetry is broken geometrically in an extra dimensional theory. It is shown that the effective scale characterizing the resulting compact supersymmetric spectrum can be as low as 500-600 GeV for moderate values of tan beta. The potentially large neutrino Yukawa couplings, naturally present in inverse seesaw schemes, enhance the Higgs mass and allow the superpartners to be lighter than in compact supersymmetry without neutrino masses. The inverse seesaw structure also implies a novel spectrum profile and couplings, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle can be an admixture of isodoublet and isosinglet sneutrinos. Dedicated collider as well as dark matter studies should take into account such specific features.

Abstract: The Υ(1 S) invariant-mass distribution is investigated for a possible exotic meson state composed of two b quarks and two b quarks, X bbbb. The analysis is based on a data sample of pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies s = 7, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.3 fb. No signi fi cant excess is found, and upper limits are set on the product of the production cross-section and the branching fraction as functions of the mass of the X bbbb state. The limits are set in the fi ducial volume where all muons have pseudorapidity in the range [2 : 0; 5 : 0], and the X bbbb state has rapidity in the range [2 : 0; 4 : 5] and transverse momentum less than 15 GeV/c.