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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2020). Search for the Rare Decays B-s(0) -> e(+) e(-) and B-0 -> e(+) e(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(21), 211802–11pp.
Abstract: A search for the decays B-s(0) -> e(+)e(-) and B-0 e(+)e(-) is performed using data collected with the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 1, 2, and 2 fb(-1), respectively. No signal is observed. Assuming no contribution from B-0 -> e(+)e(-) decays, an upper limit on the branching fraction B(B-s(0) -> e(+)e(-)) < 9.4(11.2) x 10(-9) is obtained at 90(95)% confidence level. If no B-s(0) -> e(+)e(-) contribution is assumed, a limit of B(B-0 -> e(+)e(-)) < 2.5(3.0) x 10(-9) is determined at 90(95)% confidence level. These upper limits are more than one order of magnitude lower than the previous values.
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del Rio, A., Sanchis-Gual, N., Mewes, V., Agullo, I., Font, J. A., & Navarro-Salas, J. (2020). Spontaneous Creation of Circularly Polarized Photons in Chiral Astrophysical Systems. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(21), 211301–6pp.
Abstract: This work establishes a relation between chiral anomalies in curved spacetimes and the radiative content of the gravitational field. In particular, we show that a flux of circularly polarized gravitational waves triggers the spontaneous creation of photons with net circular polarization from the quantum vacuum. Using waveform catalogs, we identify precessing binary black holes as astrophysical configurations that emit such gravitational radiation and then solve the fully nonlinear Einstein's equations with numerical relativity to evaluate the net effect. The quantum amplitude for a merger is comparable to the Hawking emission rate of the final black hole and small to be directly observed. However, the implications for the inspiral of binary neutron stars could be more prominent, as argued on symmetry grounds.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Fernandez, P., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2020). Search for Electron Antineutrino Appearance in a Long-Baseline Muon Antineutrino Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(16), 161802–8pp.
Abstract: Electron antineutrino appearance is measured by the T2K experiment in an accelerator-produced antineutrino beam, using additional neutrino beam operation to constrain parameters of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) mixing matrix. T2K observes 15 candidate electron antineutrino events with a background expectation of 9.3 events. Including information from the kinematic distribution of observed events, the hypothesis of no electron antineutrino appearance is disfavored with a significance of 2.40s and no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions is found. A complementary analysis that introduces an additional free parameter which allows non-PMNS values of electron neutrino and antineutrino appearance also finds no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2020). Measurements of the Absolute Branching Fractions of B-+/- -> K(+/-)Xc(c)over-bar. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(15), 152001–8pp.
Abstract: A study of the two-body decays B-+/- -> Xc (c) over barK +/-, where X-c (c) over bar refers to one charmonium state, is reported by the BABAR Collaboration using a data sample of 424 fb(-1). The absolute determination of branching fractions for these decays are significantly improved compared to previous BABAR measurements. Evidence is found for the decay B-+/- -> X(3872)K+ at the 3 sigma level. The absolute branching fraction B[B+ -> X(3872)K+] = [2.1 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.3(syst)] x 10(-4) is measured for the first time. It follows that B[X(3872) -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-)] = (4.1 +/- 1.3)%, supporting the hypothesis of a molecular component for this resonance.
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Euve, L. P., Robertson, S., James, N., Fabbri, A., & Rousseaux, G. (2020). Scattering of Co-Current Surface Waves on an Analogue Black Hole. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(14), 141101–6pp.
Abstract: We report on what is to our knowledge the first scattering experiment of surface waves on an accelerating transcritical flow, which in the analogue gravity context is described by an effective spacetime with a black-hole horizon. This spacetime has been probed by an incident co-current wave, which partially scatters into an outgoing countercurrent wave on each side of the horizon. The measured scattering amplitudes are compatible with the predictions of the hydrodynamical theory, where the kinematical description in terms of the effective metric is exact.
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