Abstract: We evaluate the contribution to N_eff of the extra sterile states in low-scale type I seesaw models (with three extra sterile states). We explore the full parameter space and find that at least two of the heavy states always reach thermalization in the early Universe, while the third one might not thermalize provided the lightest neutrino mass is below O(10(-3) eV). Constraints from cosmology therefore severely restrict the spectra of heavy states in the range 1 eV-100 MeV. The implications for neutrinoless double beta decay are also discussed.

Abstract: Here, we update our previous global fit of neutrino oscillations by including the recent results that have appeared since the Neutrino 2012 conference. These include the measurements of reactor antineutrino disappearance reported by Daya Bay and RENO, together with latest T2K and MINOS data including both disappearance and appearance channels. We also include the revised results from the third solar phase of Super-Kamiokande, SK-III, as well as new solar results from the fourth phase of Super-Kamiokande, SK-IV. We find that the preferred global determination of the atmospheric angle theta(23) is consistent with maximal mixing. We also determine the impact of the new data upon all the other neutrino oscillation parameters with an emphasis on the increasing sensitivity to the CP phase, thanks to the interplay between accelerator and reactor data. In the Appendix, we present the updated results obtained after the inclusion of new reactor data presented at the Neutrino 2014 conference. We discuss their impact on the global neutrino analysis.

Abstract: We revisit the cosmological viability of the Hu-Sawicki modified gravity scenario. The impact of such a modification on the different cosmological observables, including gravitational waves, is carefully described. The most recent cosmological data, as well as constraints on the relationship between the clustering parameter sigma(8) and the current matter mass-energy density Omega(m) from cluster number counts and weak lensing tomography, are considered in our numerical calculations. The strongest bound we find is vertical bar f(R0)vertical bar < 3.7 x 10(-6) at 95% C.L. Forthcoming cluster surveys covering 10 000 deg(2) in the sky, with galaxy surface densities of O(10) arcmin(-2) could improve the precision in the sigma(8)-Omega(m) relationship, tightening the above constraint.

Abstract: In the minimal left-right model the choice of left-right symmetry is twofold: either generalized parity P or charge conjugation C. In the minimal model with spontaneously broken strict P, a large tree-level contribution to strong CP violation can be computed in terms of the spontaneous phase alpha. Searches for the neutron electric dipole moments then constrain the size of alpha. Following the latest update on indirect CP violation in the kaon sector, a bound on W-R mass at 20 TeV is set. Possible ways out of this bound require a further hypothesis, either a relaxation mechanism or explicit breaking of P. To this end, the chiral loop of the neutron electric dipole moment at next-to-leading order is recomputed and provides an estimate of the weak contribution. Combining this constraint with other CP-violating observables in the kaon sector allows for M-WR greater than or similar to 3 TeV. On the other hand, C symmetry is free from such constraints, leaving the right-handed scale within the experimental reach.

Abstract: A search has been performed, using the full 20.3 fb(-1) data sample of 8 TeV proton-proton collisions collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, for photons originating from a displaced vertex due to the decay of a neutral long-lived particle into a photon and an invisible particle. The analysis investigates the diphoton plus missing transverse momentum final state, and is therefore most sensitive to pair production of long-lived particles. The analysis technique exploits the capabilities of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter to make precise measurements of the flight direction, as well as the time of flight, of photons. No excess is observed over the Standard Model predictions for background. Exclusion limits are set within the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models, with the lightest neutralino being the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decaying into a photon and gravitino with a lifetime in the range from 250 ps to about 100 ns.