Abstract: The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.

Abstract: Anew search signature for excited leptons is explored. Excited muons are sought in the channel pp -> μmu* -> μμjet jet, assuming both the production and decay occur via a contact interaction. The analysis is based on 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV taken with the ATLAS detector at the large hadron collider. No evidence of excited muons is found, and limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-muon mass m(mu)*. For m(mu)* between 1.3 and 3.0 TeV, the upper limit on sigma B(mu* -> μq (q) over bar) is between 0.6 and 1 fb. Limits on sB are converted to lower bounds on the compositeness scale Lambda. In the limiting case Lambda = m(mu)*, excited muons with a mass below 2.8 TeV are excluded. With the same model assumptions, these limits at larger mu* masses improve upon previous limits from traditional searches based on the gauge-mediated decay mu* -> μgamma.

Abstract: Measurements of the top-antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-p(T) leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the tt system arc performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: A(c)(ll) based on the selected leptons and A(c)(tt) based on the reconstructed tt final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be A(c)(ll)= 0.008 +/- 0.006 and A(c)(tt)= 0.021 +/- 0.016, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of A(c)(ll)= 0.0064 +/- 0.0003 and A(c)(tt)= 0.0111 +/- 0.0004.

Abstract: This paper describes a measurement of fiducial and differential cross sections of gluon-fusion Higgs boson production in the H -> W W (au)-> e nu μnu channel, using 20.3 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data. The data were produced at a centre-of-mass energy of TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2012. Cross sections are measured from the observed H -> W W (au)-> e nu μnu signal yield in categories distinguished by the number of associated jets. The total cross section is measured in a fiducial region defined by the kinematic properties of the charged leptons and neutrinos. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of the number of jets, the Higgs boson transverse momentum, the dilepton rapidity, and the transverse momentum of the leading jet. The jet-veto efficiency, or fraction of events with no jets above a given transverse momentum threshold, is also reported. All measurements are compared to QCD predictions from Monte Carlo generators and fixed-order calculations, and are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.

Abstract: There exists a vast literature examining the electroweak (EW) fine-tuning problem in supersymmetric scenarios, but little concerned with the dark matter (DM) one, which should be combined with the former. In this paper, we study this problem in an, as much as possible, exhaustive and rigorous way. We have considered the MSSM framework, assuming that the LSP is the lightest neutralino, chi(0)(1), and exploring the various possibilities for the mass and composition of chi(0)(1), as well as different mechanisms for annihilation of the DM particles in the early Universe (well-tempered neutralinos, funnels and co-annihilation scenarios). We also present a discussion about the statistical meaning of the fine-tuning and how it should be computed for the DM abundance, and combined with the EW fine-tuning. The results are very robust and model-independent and favour some scenarios (like the h-funnel when M-chi 10 is not too close to m(h)/2) with respect to others (such as the pure wino case). These features should be taken into account when one explores “natural SUSY” scenarios and their possible signatures at the LHC and in DM detection experiments.