Abstract: Detailed predictions for the scaled pion-photon transition form factor are given, derived with the method of light-cone sum rules and using pion distribution amplitudes with two and three Gegenbauer coefficients obtained from QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates. These predictions agree well with all experimental data that are compatible with QCD scaling (and collinear factorization), but disagree with the high-Q(2) data of the BaBar Collaboration that grow with the momentum. A good agreement of our predictions with results obtained from AdS/QCD models and Dyson-Schwinger computations is found.

Abstract: We measure the total branching fraction of the flavor-changing neutral-current process B -> X(s)l(+)l(-), along with partial branching fractions in bins of dilepton and hadronic system (X-s) mass, using a sample of 471 x 10(6)Upsilon(4S) -> B (B) over bar events recorded with the BABAR detector. The admixture of charged and neutral B mesons produced at PEP-II2 are reconstructed by combining a dilepton pair with 10 different X-s final states. Extrapolating from a sum over these exclusive modes, we measure a lepton-flavor-averaged inclusive branching fraction B(B -> X(s)l(+)l(-)) = [6.73(-0.64)(+0.70)(stat)(-0.25)(+0.34)(exp syst) +/- 0.50(model syst)] x 10(-6) for m(l+l-)(2) > 0.1 GeV2/c(4). Restricting our analysis exclusively to final states from which a decaying B meson's flavor can be inferred, we additionally report measurements of the direct CP asymmetry A(CP) in bins of dilepton mass; over the full dilepton mass range, we find A(CP) = 0.04 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.01 for a leptonflavor-averaged sample.

Abstract: Measurements of four-lepton (4l, l = e,mu) production cross sections at the Z resonance in pp collisions at the LHC with the ATLAS detector are presented. For dilepton and four-lepton invariant mass regions m (l+l)- > 5 GeV and 80 < m(4l) < 100 GeV, the measured cross sections are 76 +/- 18(stat) +/- 4(syst) +/- 1.4(lumi) fb and 107 +/- 9(stat) +/- 4(syst) +/- 3.0(lumi) fb at root s=7 and 8 TeV, respectively. By subtracting the nonresonant 4l production contributions and normalizing with Z -> mu(+)mu(-) events, the branching fraction for the Z boson decay to 4l is determined to be (3.20 +/- 0.25(stat) +/- 0.13(syst)) x10(-6), consistent with the standard model prediction.

Abstract: The next generation neutrino observatory proposed by the LBNO collaboration will address fundamental questions in particle and astroparticle physics. The experiment consists of a far detector, in its first stage a 20 kt LAr double phase TPC and a magnetised iron calorimeter, situated at 2300 km from CERN and a near detector based on a highpressure argon gas TPC. The long baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the L/E behaviour, and distinguishing effects arising from delta(CP) and matter. In this paper we have reevaluated the physics potential of this setup for determining the mass hierarchy (MH) and discovering CP-violation (CPV), using a conventional neutrino beam from the CERN SPS with a power of 750 kW. We use conservative assumptions on the knowledge of oscillation parameter priors and systematic uncertainties. The impact of each systematic error and the precision of oscillation prior is shown. We demonstrate that the first stage of LBNO can determine unambiguously the MH to > 5 sigma C.L. over the whole phase space. We show that the statistical treatment of the experiment is of very high importance, resulting in the conclusion that LBNO has similar to 100% probability to determine the MH in at most 4-5 years of running. Since the knowledge of MH is indispensable to extract delta(CP) from the data, the first LBNO phase can convincingly give evidence for CPV on the 3 sigma C.L. using today's knowledge on oscillation parameters and realistic assumptions on the systematic uncertainties.

Abstract: It has recently been suggested that Einstein-Rosen (ER) bridges can be interpreted as maximally entangled states of two black holes that form a complex Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pair. This relationship has been dubbed as the correlation. In this work, we consider the latter conjecture in the context of quadratic Palatini theory. An important result, which stems from the underlying assumptions as regards the geometry on which the theory is constructed, is the fact that all the charged solutions of the quadratic Palatini theory possess a wormhole structure. Our results show that spacetime may have a foam-like microstructure with wormholes generated by fluctuations of the quantum vacuum. This involves the spontaneous creation/annihilation of entangled particle-antiparticle pairs, existing in a maximally entangled state connected by a non-traversable wormhole. Since the particles are produced from the vacuum and therefore exist in a singlet state, they are necessarily entangled with one another. This gives further support to the claim.