Abstract: Heavy vectorlike quarks with electric charge Q = 2/3 (also called heavy tops) appear naturally in many extensions of the Standard Model. Although these typically predict the existence of further particles below the TeV scale, direct searches for heavy tops have been performed assuming that they decay only into SM particles. The aim of this paper is to overcome this situation. We consider the most constraining experimental LHC searches for vectorlike quarks, including analyses of the 36 fb(-1) of data collected in the latest run at 13 TeV of center of mass energy, as well as searches sensitive to heavy tops decaying into a new scalar, S. Combining all these, we derive bounds for arbitrary values of the heavy top branching ratios. A simple code that automatizes this process is also provided. At the physics level, we demonstrate that bounds on heavy tops are not inevitably weaker in the presence of new light scalars. We find that heavy tops with masses below similar to 900 GeV are excluded by direct searches, independently of whether they decay into Zt, Ht, Wb or St (with S giving either missing energy of bottom quarks) or into any combination of them.

Abstract: The B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+) decay potentially provides an excellent way to investigate charm meson spectroscopy. The decay is searched for in a sample of proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). A clear signal is observed, and the ratio of its branching fraction to that of the B+ -> D*(-)pi(+)pi(+) normalization channel is measured to be beta(B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+))/beta(B+ -> D*(-)pi(+)pi(+)) = (6.39 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.48) x 10(-2); where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This is the first observation of the B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+) decay.

Abstract: The Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) is an option for a future e(+) e(-) collider operating at centre-of-mass energies up to 3 TeV, providing sensitivity to a wide range of new physics phenomena and precision physics measurements at the energy frontier. This paper is the first comprehensive presentation of the Higgs physics reach of CLIC operating at three energy stages: root s = 350 GeV, 1.4 and 3 TeV. The initial stage of operation allows the study of Higgs boson production in Higgsstrahlung (e(+) e(-) -> ZH) and WW-fusion (e(+) e(-) -> H nu(e) (nu) over bar (e)), resulting in precise measurements of the production cross sections, the Higgs total decay width Gamma(H), and model-independent determinations of the Higgs couplings. Operation at root s > 1 TeV provides high-statistics samples of Higgs bosons produced through WW-fusion, enabling tight constraints on the Higgs boson couplings. Studies of the rarer processes e(+) e(-) -> t (t) over barH and e(+) e(-) -> HH nu(e) (nu) over bar (e) allow measurements of the top Yukawa coupling and the Higgs boson self-coupling. This paper presents detailed studies of the precision achievable with Higgs measurements at CLIC and describes the interpretation of these measurements in a global fit.

Abstract: We have studied the scaling properties of the electromagnetic response functions of He-4 and C-12 nuclei computed by the Green's function Monte Carlo approach, retaining only the one-body current contribution. Longitudinal and transverse scaling functions have been obtained in the relativistic and nonrelativistic cases and compared to experiment for various kinematics. The characteristic asymmetric shape of the scaling function exhibited by data emerges in the calculations in spite of the nonrelativistic nature of the model. The results are mostly consistent with scaling of zeroth, first, and second kinds. Our analysis reveals a direct correspondence between the scaling and the nucleon-density response functions. The scaling function obtained from the proton-density response displays scaling of the first kind, even more evidently than the longitudinal and transverse scaling functions.

Abstract: This paper describes the implementation and performance of a particle flow algorithm applied to 20.2 fb(-1) of ATLAS data from 8 TeV proton-proton collisions in Run 1 of the LHC. The algorithm removes calorimeter energy deposits due to charged hadrons from consideration during jet reconstruction, instead using measurements of their momenta from the inner tracker. This improves the accuracy of the charged-hadron measurement, while retaining the calorimeter measurements of neutral-particle energies. The paper places emphasis on how this is achieved, while minimising double-counting of charged-hadron signals between the inner tracker and calorimeter. The performance of particle flow jets, formed from the ensemble of signals from the calorimeter and the inner tracker, is compared to that of jets reconstructed from calorimeter energy deposits alone, demonstrating improvements in resolution and pile-up stability.