NEXT Collaboration(Serra, L. et al), Sorel, M., Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., et al. (2015). An improved measurement of electron-ion recombination in high-pressure xenon gas. J. Instrum., 10, P03025–21pp.
Abstract: We report on results obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype of the NEXT-100 high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber (TPC), filled with pure xenon gas at 10 bar pressure and exposed to an alpha decay calibration source. Compared to our previous measurements with alpha particles, an upgraded detector and improved analysis techniques have been used. We measure event-by-event correlated fluctuations between ionization and scintillation due to electronion recombination in the gas, with correlation coefficients between -0.80 and -0.56 depending on the drift field conditions. By combining the two signals, we obtain a 2.8% FWHM energy resolution for 5.49 MeV alpha particles and a measurement of the optical gain of the electroluminescent TPC. The improved energy resolution also allows us to measure the specific activity of the radon in the gas due to natural impurities. Finally, we measure the average ratio of excited to ionized atoms produced in the xenon gas by alpha particles to be 0.561 +/- 0.045, translating into an average energy to produce a primary scintillation photon of W-ex = (39.2 +/- 3.2) eV.
|
ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., Ferrer, A., et al. (2015). Search for a Heavy Neutral Particle Decaying to e mu, e tau, or μtau in pp Collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 115(3), 031801–18pp.
Abstract: This Letter presents a search for a heavy neutral particle decaying into an opposite-sign different-flavor dilepton pair, e(+/-) mu(-/+), e(+/-) tau(-/+), or mu(+/-) tau(-/+) using 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collision data at root s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The numbers of observed candidate events are compatible with the standard model expectations. Limits are set on the cross section of new phenomena in two scenarios: the production of (nu) over tilde (tau) in R-parity-violating supersymmetric models and the production of a lepton-flavor-violating Z' vector boson.
|
LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Measurement of CP Violation in B-0 -> J/psi K-S(0) Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 115(3), 031601–9pp.
Abstract: Measurements are presented of the CP violation observables S and C in the decays of B-0 and (B) over bar (0) mesons to the J/psi K-S(0) final state. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) collected with the LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, and contains a total of 41 560 selected B-0 and (B) over bar (0) decays. The analysis of the time evolution of these decays yields S = 0.731 +/- 0.035(stat) +/- 0.020(syst) and C = -0.038 +/- 0.032(stat) +/- 0.005(syst). In the standard model, S equals sin(2 beta) to a good level of precision. The values are consistent with the current world averages and with the standard model expectations.
|
Fonseca, R. M., & Hirsch, M. (2015). SU(5)-inspired double beta decay. Phys. Rev. D, 92(1), 015014–14pp.
Abstract: The short-range part of the neutrinoless double beta amplitude is generated via the exchange of exotic particles, such as charged scalars, leptoquarks and/or diquarks. In order to give a sizable contribution to the total decay rate, the masses of these exotics should be of the order of (at most) a few TeV. Here, we argue that these exotics could be the “light” (i.e., weak-scale) remnants of some B – L violating variants of SU(5). We show that unification of the standard model gauge couplings, consistent with proton decay limits, can be achieved in such a setup without the need to introduce supersymmetry. Since these nonminimal SU(5)-inspired models violate B – L, they generate Majorana neutrino masses and therefore make it possible to explain neutrino oscillation data. The light colored particles of these models can potentially be observed at the LHC, and it might be possible to probe the origin of the neutrino masses with Delta L = 2 violating signals. As particular realizations of this idea, we present two models, one for each of the two possible tree-level topologies of neutrinoless double beta decay.
|
Gonzalez, P. (2015). Charmonium description from a generalized screened potential model. Phys. Rev. D, 92(1), 014017–11pp.
Abstract: A generalized screened potential model (GSPM), recently developed to study the bottomonium spectrum, is applied to the calculation of charmonium masses and electromagnetic widths. The presence in the GSPM of more quark-antiquark bound states than in conventional nonscreened potential models, allows for the assignment of GSPM states to cataloged nonconventional J(++) charmonium resonances as well as for the prediction of new (noncataloged) J(++) states. The results obtained seem to indicate that a reasonable overall description of J(++) charmonium resonances is feasible.
|
