|
ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2020). Search for long-lived, massive particles in events with a displaced vertex and a muon with large impact parameter in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 102(3), 032006–30pp.
Abstract: A search for long-lived particles decaying into hadrons and at least one muon is presented. The analysis selects events that pass a muon or missing-transverse-momentum trigger and contain a displaced muon track and a displaced vertex. The analyzed dataset of proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV was collected with the ATLAS detector and corresponds to 136 fb(-1). The search employs dedicated reconstruction techniques that significantly increase the sensitivity to long-lived particle decays that occur in the ATLAS inner detector. Background estimates for Standard Model processes and instrumental effects are extracted from data. The observed event yields are compatible with those expected from background processes. The results are presented as limits at 95% confidence level on model-independent cross sections for processes beyond the Standard Model, and interpreted as exclusion limits in scenarios with pair production of long-lived top squarks that decay via a small R-parity-violating coupling into a quark and a muon. Top squarks with masses up to 1.7 TeV are excluded for a lifetime of 0.1 ns, and masses below 1.3 TeV are excluded for lifetimes between 0.01 ns and 30 ns.
|
|
|
Fernandez-Tejero, J. et al, & Soldevila, U. (2020). Humidity sensitivity of large area silicon sensors: Study and implications. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 978, 164406–6pp.
Abstract: The production of large area sensors is one of the main challenges that the ATLAS collaboration faces for the new Inner-Tracker full-silicon detector. During the prototype fabrication phase for the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider upgrade, several ATLAS institutes observed indications of humidity sensitivity of large area sensors, even at relative humidities well below the dew point. Specifically, prototype Barrel and End-Cap silicon strip sensors fabricated in 6-inch wafers manifest a prompt decrease of the breakdown voltage when operating under high relative humidity, adversely affecting the performance of the sensors. In addition to the investigation of these prototype sensors, a specific fabrication batch with special passivation is also studied, allowing for a deeper understanding of the responsible mechanisms. This work presents an extensive study of this behaviour on large area sensors. The locations of the hotspots at the breakdown voltage at high humidity are revealed using different infrared thermography techniques. Several palliative treatments are attempted, proving the influence of sensor cleaning methods, as well as baking, on the device performance, but no improvement on the humidity sensitivity was achieved. Furthermore, a study of the incidence of the sensitivity in different batches is also presented, introducing a hypothesis of the origins of the humidity sensitivity associated to the sensor edge design, together with passivation thickness and conformity. Several actions to be taken during sensor production and assembly are extracted from this study, in order to minimize the impact of humidity sensitivity on the performance of large area silicon sensors for High Energy Physics experiments.
|
|
|
Helling, C. et al, Bernabeu, J., Lacasta, C., & Solaz, C. (2020). Strip sensor performance in prototype modules built for ATLAS ITk. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 978, 164402–6pp.
Abstract: ATLAS experiment is preparing an upgrade of its detector for High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) operation. The upgrade involves installation of the new all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk). In the context of the ITk preparations, more than 80 strip modules were built with prototype barrel sensors. They were tested with electrical readout on a per-channel basis. In general, an excellent performance was observed, consistent with previous ASIC-level and sensor-level tests. However, the lessons learned included two phenomena important for the future phases of the project. First was the need to store and test the modules in a dry environment due to humidity sensitivity of the sensors. The second was an observation of high noise regions for 2 modules. The high noise regions were tested further in several ways, including monitoring the performance as a function of time and bias voltage. Additionally, direct sensor-level tests were performed on the affected channels. The inter-strip resistance and bias resistance tests showed low values, indicating a temporary loss of the inter-strip isolation. A subsequent recovery of the noise performance was observed. We present the test details, an analysis of how the inter-strip isolation affects the module noise, and the relationship with sensor-level quality control tests.
|
|
|
Mandal, R., Murgui, C., Peñuelas, A., & Pich, A. (2020). The role of right-handed neutrinos in b -> c tau nubar anomalies. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 022–46pp.
Abstract: Motivated by the persistent anomalies reported in the b -> c tau v<overbar></mml:mover> data, we perform a general model-independent analysis of these transitions, in the presence of light right-handed neutrinos. We adopt an effective field theory approach and write a low-energy effective Hamiltonian, including all possible dimension-six operators. The corresponding Wilson coefficients are determined through a numerical fit to all available experimental data. In order to work with a manageable set of free parameters, we define eleven well- motivated scenarios, characterized by the different types of new physics that could mediate these transitions, and analyse which options seem to be preferred by the current measurements. The data exhibit a clear preference for new-physics contributions, and good fits to the data are obtained in several cases. However, the current measurement of the longitudinal D<SUP></SUP> polarization in B -> D tau v<overbar></mml:mover> cannot be easily accommodated within its experimental 1 sigma range. A general analysis of the three-body B -> D tau v<overbar></mml:mover> and four-body B -> D<mml:mo><mml:mfenced close=“)” open=“(”><mml:mo>-> D pi</mml:mfenced>tau <mml:mover accent=“true”>v<mml:mo stretchy=“true”><overbar></mml:mover> angular distributions is also presented. The accessible angular observables are studied in order to assess their sensitivity to the different new physics scenarios. Experimental information on these distributions would help to disentangle the dynamical origin of the current anomalies.
|
|
|
Alves, J. M., Botella, F. J., Branco, G. C., & Nebot, M. (2020). Extending trinity to the scalar sector through discrete flavoured symmetries. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(8), 710–14pp.
Abstract: We conjecture the existence of a relation between elementary scalars and fermions, making it plausible the existence of three Higgs doublets. We introduce a Trinity Principle (TP) which, given the fact that there are no massless quarks, requires the existence of a minimum of three Higgs doublets. The TP states that each row of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge should receive the contribution from one and only one scalar doublet and furthermore a given scalar doublet should contribute to one and only one row of the mass matrix of a quark of a given charge. This principle is analogous to the Natural Flavour Conservation (NFC) of Glashow and Weinberg with the key distinction that NFC required the introduction of a flavour blind symmetry, while the TP requires a flavoured symmetry, to be implemented in a natural way. We provide two examples which satisfy the Trinity Principle based on Z(3) and Z(2) x Z(2)' flavoured symmetries, and show that they are the minimal multi-Higgs extensions of the Standard Model where CP can be imposed as a symmetry of the full Lagrangian and broken by the vacuum, without requiring soft-breaking terms. We show that the vacuum phases are sufficient to generate a complex CKM matrix, in agreement with experiment. The above mentioned flavoured symmetries lead to a strong reduction in the number of parameters in the Yukawa interactions, enabling a control of the Scalar Flavour Changing Neutral Couplings (SFCNC). We analyse some of the other physical implications of the two models, including an estimate of the enhancement of the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe provided by the new sources of CP violation, and a discussion of the strength of their tree-level SFCNC.
|
|
|
Coloma, P., Esteban, I., Gonzalez-Garcia, M. C., & Menendez, J. (2020). Determining the nuclear neutron distribution from Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering: current results and future prospects. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 030–22pp.
Abstract: Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE nu NS), a process recently measured for the first time at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source, is directly sensitive to the weak form factor of the nucleus. The European Spallation Source (ESS), presently under construction, will generate the most intense pulsed neutrino flux suitable for the detection of CE nu NS. In this paper we quantify its potential to determine the root mean square radius of the point-neutron distribution, for a variety of target nuclei and a suite of detectors. To put our results in context we also derive, for the first time, a constraint on this parameter from the analysis of the energy and timing data of the CsI detector at the COHERENT experiment.
|
|
|
de Gouvea, A., De Romeri, V., & Ternes, C. A. (2020). Probing neutrino quantum decoherence at reactor experiments. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 049–17pp.
Abstract: We explore how well reactor antineutrino experiments can constrain or measure the loss of quantum coherence in neutrino oscillations. We assume that decoherence effects are encoded in the size of the neutrino wave-packet, sigma. We find that the current experiments Daya Bay and the Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) already constrain sigma >1.0x10(-4) nm and estimate that future data from the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) would be sensitive to sigma <2.1x10(-3) nm. If the effects of loss of coherence are within the sensitivity of JUNO, we expect sigma to be measured with good precision. The discovery of nontrivial decoherence effects in JUNO would indicate that our understanding of the coherence of neutrino sources is, at least, incomplete.
|
|
|
Delhom, A. (2020). Minimal coupling in presence of non-metricity and torsion. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(8), 728–17pp.
Abstract: We deal with the question of what it means to define a minimal coupling prescription in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity, carefully explaining while the naive substitution partial derivative -> del introduces extra couplings between the matter fields and the connection that can be regarded as non-minimal in presence of torsion and/or non-metricity. We will also investigate whether minimal coupling prescriptions at the level of the action (MCPL) or at the level of field equations (MCPF) lead to different dynamics. To that end, we will first write the Euler-Lagrange equations for matter fields in terms of the covariant derivatives of a general non-Riemannian space, and derivate the form of the associated Noether currents and charges. Then we will see that if the minimal coupling prescriptions is applied as we discuss, for spin 0 and 1 fields the results of MCPL and MCPF are equivalent, while for spin 1/2 fields there is a difference if one applies the MCPF or the MCPL, since the former leads to charge violation.
|
|
|
Botella, F. J., Cornet-Gomez, F., & Nebot, M. (2020). Electron and muon g-2 anomalies in general flavor conserving two-Higgs-doublet models. Phys. Rev. D, 102(3), 035023–19pp.
Abstract: In general two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDMs) without scalar flavor changing neutral couplings (SFCNC) in the lepton sector, the electron, muon, and tau interactions can be decoupled in a robust framework, stable under renormalization group evolution. In this framework, the breaking of lepton flavor universality (LFU) goes beyond the mass proportionality, opening the possibility to accommodate in a simple manner a different behavior among charged leptons. We analyze simultaneously the electron and muon (g – 2) anomalies in the context of these general flavor conserving models in the leptonic sector (gtlFC). We consider two different models, I-gtlFC and II-gelFC, in which the quark Yukawa couplings coincide, respectively, with the ones in type I and in type II 2HDMs. We find two types of solutions that fully reproduce both (g – 2) anomalies, and which are compatible with experimental constraints from LEP and LHC, from LFU, from flavor and electroweak physics, and with theoretical constraints in the scalar sector. In the first type of solution, all the new scalars have masses in the 1-2.5 TeV range, the vacuum expectation values (vevs) of both doublets are quite similar in magnitude, and both anomalies are dominated by two loop Barr-Zee contributions. This solution appears in both models. There is a second type of solution, where one loop contributions are dominant in the muon anomaly, all new scalars have masses below 1 TeV, and the ratio of vevs is in the range 10-100. The second neutral scalar H is the lighter among the new scalars, with a mass in the 210-390 GeV range while the pseudoscalar A is the heavier, with a mass in the range 400-900 GeV. The new charged scalar H-+/- is almost degenerate either with the scalar or with the pseudoscalar. This second type of solution only appears in the I-gelFC model. Both solutions require the soft breaking of the Z(2) symmetry of the Higgs potential.
|
|
|
IDS Collaboration(Stryjczyk, M. et al), & Nacher, E. (2020). Decay studies of the long-lived states in Tl-186. Phys. Rev. C, 102(2), 024322–9pp.
Abstract: Decay spectroscopy of the long-lived states in Tl-186 has been performed at the ISOLDE Decay Station at ISOLDE, CERN. The a decay from the low-spin (2(-)) state in Tl-186 was observed for the first time and a half-life of 3.4(-0.)(4)(+0.5) s was determined. Based on the alpha-decay energy, the relative positions of the long-lived states were fixed, with the (2(-)) state as the ground state, the 7((+)) state at 77(56) keV, and the 10((-)) state at 451(56) keV. The level scheme of the internal decay of the Tl-186(10((-))) state [T-1/2 = 3.40(9) s], which was known to decay solely through emission of 374-keV gamma-ray transition, was extended and a lower limit for the beta-decay branching b(beta) > 5.9(3)% was determined. The extracted retardation factors for the gamma decay of the 10((-) )state were compared to the available data in neighboring odd-odd thallium isotopes indicating the importance of the pi d(3/2) shell in the isomeric decay and significant structure differences between Tl-184 and Tl-186.
|
|