Abstract: Several models of physics beyond the Standard Model predict the existence of dark photons, light neutral particles decaying into collimated leptons or light hadrons. This paper presents a search for long-lived dark photons produced from the decay of a Higgs boson or a heavy scalar boson and decaying into displaced collimated Standard Model fermions. The search uses data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb-1 collected in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV recorded in 2015-2016 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The observed number of events is consistent with the expected background, and limits on the production cross section times branching fraction as a function of the proper decay length of the dark photon are reported. A cross section times branching fraction above 4 pb is excluded for a Higgs boson decaying into two dark photons for dark-photon decay lengths between 1.5 mm and 307 mm.

Abstract: We study the scaling of kaon decay amplitudes with the number of colours, N-c, in a theory with four degenerate flavours, N-f = 4. In this scenario, two current-current operators, Q(+/-), mediate Delta S = 1 transitions, such as the two isospin amplitudes of non-leptonic kaon decays for K -> (pi pi)(I=0,2), A(0) and A(2.) In particular, we concentrate on the simpler K -> pi amplitudes, A(+/-), mediated by these two operators. A diagrammatic analysis of the large-N-c scaling of these observables is presented, which demonstrates the anticorrelation of the leading O(1/N-c) and O(N-f/N-c(2)) corrections in both amplitudes. Using our new N-f = 4 and previous quenched data, we confirm this expectation and show that these corrections are naturally large and may be at the origin of the Delta I = 1/2 rule. The evidence for the latter is indirect, based on the matching of the amplitudes to their prediction in Chiral Perturbation Theory, from which the LO low-energy couplings of the chiral weak Hamiltonian, g(+/-), can be determined. A NLO estimate of the K -> (pi pi)(I=0,2) isospin amplitudes can then be derived, which is in good agreement with the experimental value.

Abstract: We examine the impact of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in measuring the octant of theta(23) and CP phases in the context of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). We consider the CPT-violating LIV parameters involving e-mu(a(e mu)) and e-tau (a(e tau)) flavors, which induce an additional interference term in neutrino and antineutrino appearance probabilities. This newinterference term depends on both the standard CP phase delta and the new dynamical CP phase phi(e mu)/phi(e tau), giving rise to new degeneracies among (theta(23), delta, phi). Taking one LIV parameter at-a-time and considering a small value of vertical bar a(e mu)vertical bar = vertical bar a(e tau)vertical bar = 5 x 10(-24) GeV, we find that the octant discovery potential of DUNE gets substantially deteriorated for unfavorable combinations of delta and phi(e mu)/phi(e tau). The octant of theta(23) can only be resolved at 3 sigma if the true value of sin(2) theta(23) less than or similar to 0.42 or >= 0.62 for any choices of delta and phi. Interestingly, we also observe that when both the LIV parameters a(e mu) and a(e tau) are present together, they cancel out the impact of each other to a significant extent, allowing DUNE to largely regain its octant resolution capability. We also reconstruct the CP phases delta and phi(e mu)/phi(e tau). The typical 1 sigma uncertainty on delta is 10-15 degrees. and the same on phi(e mu)/phi(e tau) is 25-30 degrees depending on the choices of their true values.