Abstract: The discoveries of a number of binary black hole mergers by LIGO and VIRGO have reinvigorated the interest that primordial black holes (PBHs) of tens of solar masses could contribute non-negligibly to the dark matter energy density. Should even a small population of PBHs with masses greater than or similar to O(M-circle dot) exist, they could profoundly impact the properties of the intergalactic medium and provide insight into novel processes at work in the early Universe. We demonstrate here that observations of the 21-cm transition in neutral hydrogen during the epochs of reionization and cosmic dawn will likely provide one of the most stringent tests of solar mass PBHs. In the context of 21-cm cosmology, PBHs give rise to three distinct observable effects: (i) the modification to the primordial power spectrum (and thus also the halo mass function) induced by Poisson noise, (ii) a uniform heating and ionization of the intergalactic medium via x-rays produced during accretion, and (iii) a local modification to the temperature and density of the ambient medium surrounding isolated PBHs. Using a four-parameter astrophysical model, we show that experiments like SKA and HERA could potentially improve upon existing constraints derived using observations of the cosmic microwave background by more than 1 order of magnitude.

Abstract: The production fractions of (B) over bar (0)(s) and Lambda(0)(b) hadrons, normalized to the sum of B- and (B) over bar (0) fractions, arc measured in 13 TeV pp collisions using data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.67 fb(-1). These ratios, averaged over the b hadron transverse momenta from 4 to 25 GeV and pseudorapidity from 2 to 5, are 0.122 +/- 0.006 for (B) over bar (0)(s) and 0.259 +/- 0.018 for Lambda(0)(b) where the uncertainties arise from both statistical and systematic sources. The Lambda(0)(b) ratio depends strongly on transverse momentum, while the (B) over bar (0)(s) ratio shows a mild dependence. Neither ratio shows variations with pseudorapidity. The measurements are made using semileptonic decays to minimize theoretical uncertainties. In addition, the ratio of D+ to D-0 mesons produced in the sum of (B) over bar (0) and B- semileptonic decays is determined as 0.359 +/- 0.006 +/- 0.009, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic.

Abstract: If neutrinos are Dirac particles and, as suggested by the so far null LHC results, any new physics lies at energies well above the electroweak scale, the Standard Model effective field theory has to be extended with operators involving the right-handed neutrinos. In this paper, we study this effective field theory and set constraints on the different dimension-six interactions. To that aim, we use LHC searches for associated production of light (and tau) leptons with missing energy, monojet searches, as well as pion and tau decays. Our bounds are generally above the TeV for order one couplings. One particular exception is given by operators involving top quarks. These provide new signals in top decays not yet studied at colliders. Thus, we also design an LHC analysis to explore these signatures in the tt production. Our results are also valid if the right-handed neutrinos are Majorana and long-lived.