Moline, A., Sanchez-Conde, M. A., Palomares-Ruiz, S., & Prada, F. (2017). Characterization of subhalo structural properties and implications for dark matter annihilation signals. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 466(4), 4974–4990.
Abstract: A prediction of the standard Lambda cold dark matter cosmology is that dark matter (DM) haloes are teeming with numerous self-bound substructure or subhaloes. The precise properties of these subhaloes represent important probes of the underlying cosmological model. We use data from Via Lactea II and Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations N-body simulations to learn about the structure of subhaloes with masses 10(6)-10(11) h(-1) M circle dot. Thanks to a superb subhalo statistics, we study subhalo properties as a function of distance to host halo centre and subhalo mass, and provide a set of fits that accurately describe the subhalo structure. We also investigate the role of subhaloes on the search for DM annihilation. Previous work has shown that subhaloes are expected to boost the DM signal of their host haloes significantly. Yet, these works traditionally assumed that subhaloes exhibit similar structural properties than those of field haloes, while it is known that subhaloes are more concentrated. Building upon our N-body data analysis, we refine the substructure boost model of Sanchez-Conde & Prada (2014), and find boosts that are a factor 2-3 higher. We further refine the model to include unavoidable tidal stripping effects on the subhalo population. For field haloes, this introduces a moderate (similar to 20-30 per cent) suppression. Yet, for subhaloes like those hosting dwarf galaxy satellites, tidal stripping plays a critical role, the boost being at the level of a few tens of percent at most. We provide a parametrization of the boost for field haloes that can be safely applied over a wide halo mass range.
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Chala, M., Delgado, A., Nardini, G., & Quiros, M. (2017). A light sneutrino rescues the light stop. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 097–22pp.
Abstract: Stop searches in supersymmetric frameworks with R-parity conservation usually assume the lightest neutralino to be the lightest supersymmetric particle. In this paper we consider an alternative scenario in which the left-handed tau sneutrino is lighter than neutralinos and stable at collider scales, but possibly unstable at cosmological scales. Moreover the (mostly right-handed) stop (t) over tilde is lighter than all electroweakinos, and heavier than the scalars of the third generation lepton doublet, whose charged component, (T) over tilde, is heavier than the neutral one, (v) over tilde. The remaining supersymmetric particles are decoupled from the stop phenomenology. In most of the parameter space, the relevant stop decays are only into t (T) over tildeT, t (v) over tildev and b (v) over tildeT via off-shell electroweakinos. We constrain the branching ratios of these decays by recasting the most sensitive stop searches. Due to the “double invisible” kinematics of the (t) over tilde -> t (v) over tildev process, and the low efficiency in tagging the t (T) over tildeT decay products, light stops are generically allowed. In the minimal supersymmetric standard model with similar to 100 GeV sneutrinos, stops with masses as small as similar to 350 GeV turn out to be allowed at 95% CL.
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Garani, R., & Palomares-Ruiz, S. (2017). Dark matter in the Sun: scattering off electrons vs nucleons. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 007–41pp.
Abstract: The annihilation of dark matter (DM) particles accumulated in the Sun could produce a flux of neutrinos, which is potentially detectable with neutrino detectors/telescopes and the DM elastic scattering cross section can be constrained. Although the process of DM capture in astrophysical objects like the Sun is commonly assumed to be due to interactions only with nucleons, there are scenarios in which tree-level DM couplings to quarks are absent, and even if loop-induced interactions with nucleons are allowed, scatterings off electrons could be the dominant capture mechanism. We consider this possibility and study in detail all the ingredients necessary to compute the neutrino production rates from DM annihilationsin the Sun (capture, annihilation and evaporation rates) for velocity-independent and isotropic, velocity-dependent and isotropic and momentum-dependent scattering cross sections for DM interactions with electrons and compare them with the results obtained for the case of interactions with nucleons. Moreover, we improve the usual calculations in a number of ways and provide analytical expressions in three appendices. Interestingly, we find that the evaporation mass in the case of interactions with electrons could be below the GeV range, depending on the high-velocity tail of the DM distribution in the Sun, which would open a new mass window for searching for this type of scenarios.
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Gonzalez, P. (2017). A quark model study of strong decays of X(3915). J. Phys. G, 44(7), 075004–13pp.
Abstract: Strong decays of X(3915) are analyzed from two quark model descriptions of X(3915), a conventional one in terms of the Cornell potential and an unconventional one from a generalized screened potential. We conclude that the experimental suppression of the OZI allowed decay X(3915) -> D (D) over bar might be explained in both cases due to the momentum dependence of the decay amplitude. However, the experimental significance of the OZI forbidden decay X(3915) -> omega J/psi could favor an unconventional description.
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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). Measurement of jet fragmentation in Pb plus Pb and pp collisions at root s(NN)=2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 379–29pp.
Abstract: The distributions of transverse momentum and longitudinal momentum fraction of charged particles in jets are measured in Pb+Pb and pp collisions with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The distributions are measured as a function of jet transverse momentum and rapidity. The analysis utilises an integrated luminosity of 0.14 nb(-1) of Pb+Pb data and 4.0 pb(-1) of pp data collected in 2011 and 2013, respectively, at the same centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per colliding nucleon pair. The distributions measured in pp collisions are used as a reference for those measured in Pb+Pb collisions in order to evaluate the impact on the internal structure of jets from the jet energy loss of fast partons propagating through the hot, dense medium created in heavy-ion collisions. Modest but significant centrality-dependent modifications of fragmentation functions in Pb+Pb collisions with respect to those in pp collisions are seen. No significant dependence of modifications on jet p(T) and rapidity selections is observed except for the fragments with the highest transverse momenta for which some reduction of yields is observed for more forward jets.
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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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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., Ruiz Valls, P., et al. (2017). Measurement of the J/psi pair production cross-section in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 047–38pp.
Abstract: The production cross-section of J/psi pairs is measured using a data sample of pp collisions collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 279 +/- 11 pb(-1). The measurement is performed for J/psi mesons with a transverse momentum of less than 10 GeV/c in the rapidity range 2.0 < y < 4.5. The production cross-section is measured to be 15.2 +/- 1.0 +/- 0.9 nb. The first uncertainty is statistical, and the second is systematic. The differential cross-sections as functions of several kinematic variables of the J/psi pair are measured and compared to theoretical predictions.
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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 dark matter at root s=13 TeV in final states containing an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(6), 393–30pp.
Abstract: Results of a search for physics beyond the Standard Model in events containing an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. As the number of events observed in data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, is in agreement with the Standard Model expectations, model-independent limits are set on the fiducial cross section for the production of events in this final state. Exclusion limits are also placed in models where dark-matter candidates are pair-produced. For dark-matter production via an axial-vector or a vector mediator in the s-channel, this search excludes mediator masses below 750-1200 GeV for dark-matter candidate masses below 230-480 GeV at 95% confidence level, depending on the couplings. In an effective theory of dark-matter production, the limits restrict the value of the suppression scale M-* to be above 790 GeV at 95% confidence level. A limit is also reported on the production of a high-mass scalar resonance by processes beyond the Standard Model, in which the resonance decays to Z gamma and the Z boson subsequently decays into neutrinos.
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Chala, M., Durieux, G., Grojean, C., de Lima, L., & Matsedonskyi, O. (2017). Minimally extended SILH. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 088–32pp.
Abstract: Higgs boson compositeness is a phenomenologically viable scenario addressing the hierarchy problem. In minimal models, the Higgs boson is the only degree of freedom of the strong sector below the strong interaction scale. We present here the simplest extension of such a framework with an additional composite spin-zero singlet. To this end, we adopt an effective field theory approach and develop a set of rules to estimate the size of the various operator coefficients, relating them to the parameters of the strong sector and its structural features. As a result, we obtain the patterns of new interactions affecting both the new singlet and the Higgs boson's physics. We identify the characteristics of the singlet field which cause its effects on Higgs physics to dominate over the ones inherited from the composite nature of the Higgs boson. Our effective field theory construction is supported by comparisons with explicit UV models.
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Diamanti, R., Ando, S., Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., & Weniger, C. (2017). Cold dark matter plus not-so-clumpy dark relics. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 06(6), 008–17pp.
Abstract: Various particle physics models suggest that, besides the (nearly) cold dark matter that accounts for current observations, additional but sub-dominant dark relics might exist. These could be warm, hot, or even contribute as dark radiation. We present here a comprehensive study of two-component dark matter scenarios, where the first component is assumed to be cold, and the second is a non-cold thermal relic. Considering the cases where the non-cold dark matter species could be either a fermion or a boson, we derive consistent upper limits on the non-cold dark relic energy density for a very large range of velocity dispersions, covering the entire range from dark radiation to cold dark matter. To this end, we employ the latest Planck Cosmic Microwave Background data, the recent BOSS DR11 and other Baryon Acoustic Oscillation measurements, and also constraints on the number of Milky Way satellites, the latter of which provides a measure of the suppression of the matter power spectrum at the smallest scales due to the free-streaming of the non-cold dark matter component. We present the results on the fraction f(ncdm) of non-cold dark matter with respect to the total dark matter for different ranges of the non-cold dark matter masses. We find that the 2 sigma limits for non-cold dark matter particles with masses in the range 1-10 keV are f(ncdm) <= 0.29 (0.23) for fermions (bosons), and for masses in the 10-100 keV range they are f(ncdm) <= 0.43 (0.45), respectively.
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