Lopez-Honorez, L., Mena, O., & Villanueva-Domingo, P. (2019). Dark matter microphysics and 21 cm observations. Phys. Rev. D, 99(2), 023522–12pp.
Abstract: Dark matter interactions with massless or very light standard model particles, as photons or neutrinos, may lead to a suppression of the matter power spectrum at small scales and of the number of low mass haloes. Bounds on the dark matter scattering cross section with light degrees of freedom in such interacting dark matter (IDM) scenarios have been obtained from e.g., early time cosmic microwave background physics and large scale structure observations. Here we scrutinize dark matter microphysics in light of the claimed 21 cm EDGES 78 MHz absorption signal. IDM is expected to delay the 21 cm absorption features due to collisional damping effects. We identify the astrophysical conditions under which the existing constraints on the dark matter scattering cross section could be largely improved due to the IDM imprint on the 21 cm signal, providing also an explicit comparison to the WDM scenario.
|
Husek, T., Goudzovski, E., & Icampf, K. (2019). Precise Determination of the Branching Ratio of the Neutral-Pion Dalitz Decay. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(2), 022003–6pp.
Abstract: We provide a new value for the ratio R = Gamma(pi(0) -> e(+)e(-)gamma(gamma))/Gamma(pi(0) -> gamma gamma) = 11.978(6) x 10(-3), which is by 2 orders of magnitude more precise than the current Particle Data Group average. It is obtained using the complete set of the next-to-leading-order radiative corrections in the QED sector, and incorporates up-to-date values of the pi(0)-transition-form-factor slope. The ratio R translates into the branching ratios of the two main pi(0) decay modes: B(pi(0) -> gamma gamma) = 98.8131(6)% and B(pi(0) -> e(+)e(-)gamma(gamma)) = 1.1836(6)%.
|
ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2019). Search for pairs of highly collimated photon-jets in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 99(1), 012008–29pp.
Abstract: Results of a search for the pair production of photon-jets-collimated groupings of photons-in the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. Highly collimated photon-jets can arise from the decay of new, highly boosted particles that can decay to multiple photons collimated enough to be identified in the electromagnetic calorimeter as a single, photonlike energy cluster. Data from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.7 fb(-1), were collected in 2015 and 2016. Candidate photon-jet pair production events are selected from those containing two reconstructed photons using a set of identification criteria much less stringent than that typically used for the selection of photons, with additional criteria applied to provide improved sensitivity to photon-jets. Narrow excesses in the reconstructed diphoton mass spectra are searched for. The observed mass spectra are consistent with the Standard Model background expectation. The results are interpreted in the context of a model containing a new, high-mass scalar particle with narrow width, X, that decays into pairs of photon-jets via new, light particles, a. Upper limits are placed on the cross section times the product of branching ratios sigma x B(X -> aa) x B(a -> gamma gamma)(2) for 200 GeV < m(X) < 2 TeV and for ranges of m(a) from a lower mass of 100 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV, depending upon m(X). Upper limits are also placed on sigma x B(X -> aa) x B(a -> 3 pi(0))(2) for the same range of m(X) and for ranges of m(a) from a lower mass of 500 MeV up to between 2 and 10 GeV.
|
ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2019). Search for squarks and gluinos in final states with hadronically decaying tau-leptons, jets, and missing transverse momentum using pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 99(1), 012009–34pp.
Abstract: A search for supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets, and at least one hadronically decaying tau-lepton is presented. Two exclusive final states with either exactly one or at least two tau-leptons are considered. The analysis is based on proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1) delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded by the ATLAS detector in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess is observed over the Standard Model expectation. At 95% confidence level, model-independent upper limits on the cross section are set and exclusion limits are provided for two signal scenarios: a simplified model of gluino pair production with tau-rich cascade decays, and a model with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking (GMSB). In the simplified model, gluino masses up to 2000 GeV are excluded for low values of the mass of the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP), while LSP masses up to 1000 GeV are excluded for gluino masses around 1400 GeV. In the GMSB model, values of the supersymmetry-breaking scale are excluded below 110 TeV for all values of tan beta in the range 2 <= tan beta <= 60, and below 120 TeV for tan beta > 30.
|
Gariazzo, S., & Mena, O. (2019). Cosmology-marginalized approaches in Bayesian model comparison: The neutrino mass as a case study. Phys. Rev. D, 99(2), 021301–6pp.
Abstract: We propose here a novel method which singles out the a priori unavoidable dependence on the underlying cosmological model when extracting parameter constraints, providing robust limits which only depend on the considered dataset. Interestingly, when dealing with several possible cosmologies and interpreting the Bayesian preference in terms of the Gaussian statistical evidence, the preferred model is much less favored than when only two cases are compared. As a working example, we apply our approach to the cosmological neutrino mass bounds, which play a fundamental role not only in establishing the contribution of relic neutrinos to the dark matter of the Universe but also in the planning of future experimental searches of the neutrino character and of the neutrino mass ordering.
|
Guadilla, V. et al, Algora, A., Tain, J. L., Agramunt, J., Aysto, J., Jordan, D., et al. (2019). Large Impact of the Decay of Niobium Isomers on the Reactor (v)over-bar(e) Summation Calculations. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(4), 042502–6pp.
Abstract: Even mass neutron-rich niobium isotopes are among the principal contributors to the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum. They are also among the most challenging to measure due to the refractory nature of niobium, and because they exhibit isomeric states lying very close in energy. The beta-intensity distributions of Nb-100gs,Nb-100m and Nb-102gs,Nb-02m beta decays have been determined using the total absorption.-ray spectroscopy technique. The measurements were performed at the upgraded Ion Guide Isotope Separator On-Line facility at the University of Jyvaskyla. Here, the double Penning trap system JYFLTRAP was employed to disentangle the beta decay of the isomeric states. The new data obtained in this challenging measurement have a large impact in antineutrino summation calculations. For the first time the discrepancy between the summation model and the reactor antineutrino measurements in the region of the shape distortion has been reduced.
|
Dai, L. R., Yu, Q. X., & Oset, E. (2019). Triangle singularity in tau(-) -> nu(tau)pi(-) f(0)(980) (a(0)(980)) decays. Phys. Rev. D, 99(1), 016021–13pp.
Abstract: We study the triangle mechanism for the decay tau(-) -> nu(tau)pi(-) f(0)(980) with the f(0)(980) decaying into pi(+) pi(-). The mechanism for this process is initiated by tau(-) -> nu K-tau*(0) K- followed by the K*(0) decay into pi K--(+), then the K- K+ produce the f(0)(980) through a triangle loop containing K* K+ K- which develops a singularity around 1420 MeV in the pi f(0)(980) invariant mass. We find a narrow peak in the pi(+) pi(-) invariant mass distribution, which originates from the f(0)(980) amplitude. Similarly, we also study the triangle mechanism for the decay tau -> nu pi(-) a(0)(980), with the a(0)(980) decaying into pi(0)eta.The formalism leads to final branching ratios for pi(-) f(0)(980) and pi(-) a(0)(980) of the order of 4 x 10(-4) and 7 x 10(-5), respectively, which are within present measurable range. Experimental verification of these predictions will shed light on the nature of the scalar mesons and on the origin of the “a(1)(1420)” peak observed in other reactions.
|
Karan, A., Sinha, R., & Mandal, R. (2019). Testing WW gamma vertex in radiative muon decay. Phys. Rev. D, 99(3), 033006–9pp.
Abstract: Large numbers of muons will be produced at facilities developed to probe the lepton-flavor-violating process μ-> e gamma. We show that by constructing a suitable asymmetry, radiative muon decay μ-> e gamma nu(mu)(nu) over bar (e) can also be used to test the WW gamma vertex at such facilities. The process has two missing neutrinos in the final state, and upon integrating their momenta the partial differential decay rate shows no radiation-amplitude zero. However, we establish that an easily separable part of the normalized differential decay rate that is odd under the exchange of photon and electron energies does have a zero in the case of the standard model (SM). This new type of zero has hitherto not been studied in the literature. A suitably constructed asymmetry using this fact enables a sensitive probe for the WW gamma vertex beyond the SM. With a simplistic analysis, we find that the C- and P-conserving dimension-four WW gamma vertex can be probed at O(10(-2)) with a satisfactory significance level.
|
Fileviez Perez, P., Golias, E., Li, R. H., & Murgui, C. (2019). Leptophobic dark matter and the baryon number violation scale. Phys. Rev. D, 99(3), 035009–16pp.
Abstract: We discuss the possible connection between the scale for baryon number violation and the cosmological bound on the dark matter relic density. A simple gauge theory for baryon number which predicts the existence of a leptophobic cold dark matter particle candidate is investigated. In this context, the dark matter candidate is a Dirac fermion with mass defined by the new symmetry breaking scale. Using the cosmological bounds on the dark matter relic density we find the upper bound on the symmetry breaking scale around 200 TeV. The properties of the leptophobic dark matter candidate are investigated in great detail and we show the prospects to test this theory at current and future experiments. We discuss the main implications for the mechanisms to explain the matter and antimatter asymmetry in the Universe.
|
Timar, J. et al, & Algora, A. (2019). Experimental Evidence for Transverse Wobbling in Pd-105. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(6), 062501–6pp.
Abstract: New rotational bands built on the nu(h(11/2)) configuration have been identified in Pd-105. Two bands built on this configuration show the characteristics of transverse wobbling: the Delta I = 1 transitions between them have a predominant E2 component and the wobbling energy decreases with increasing spin. The properties of the observed wobbling bands are in good agreement with theoretical results obtained using constrained triaxial covariant density functional theory and quantum particle rotor model calculations. This provides the first experimental evidence for transverse wobbling bands based on a one-neutron configuration, and also represents the first observation of wobbling motion in the A similar to 100 mass region.
|
