Abstract: A measurement is presented of the (tt) over bar inclusive production cross section in pp collisions at a center-ofmass energy of pffisffiffi root s = 8 TeV using data collected by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement was performed in the lepton + jets final state using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). The cross section was obtained using a likelihood discriminant fit and b-jet identification was used to improve the signal-to-background ratio. The inclusive (tt) over bar production cross section was measured to be 260 +/- 1(stat)(-23)(+22)(stat) +/- 8(lumi) +/- 4(beam) pb assuming a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV, in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of 253(-15)(+13) pb. The (tt) over bar -> (e, mu) + jets production cross section in the fiducial region determined by the detector acceptance is also reported.

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.

Abstract: The Dalitz plot distribution of B-0 -> (D) over bar K-0(+)pi(-) decays is studied using a data sample corresponding to 3.0 fb(-1) of pp collision data recorded by the LHCb experiment during 2011 and 2012. The data are described by an amplitude model that contains contributions from intermediate K* (892)(0), K*(1410)(0), K-2*(1430)(0) and D-2(*)(2460)(-) resonances. The model also contains components to describe broad structures, including the K-0(*)(1430)(0) and D-0(*)(2400)(-) resonances, in the K pi S-wave and the D pi S-and P-waves. The masses and widths of the D-0*(2400)(-) and D-2(*)(2460)(-) resonances are measured, as are the complex amplitudes and fit fractions for all components included in the amplitude model. The model obtained will be an integral part of a future determination of the angle gamma of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark mixing matrix using B-0 -> DK+pi(-) decays.