Abstract: The high-spin structure of the Z = 77 nucleus Ir-187 has been studied using the fusion-evaporation reaction W-186(Li-7, (6)n) at a beam energy of 59 MeV. The excitation scheme of this nucleus has been extended by more than 110 new states, including extensions of all previously established rotational bands. The band crossing region of the h(9/2) negative-parity yrast band has been revised and new intrinsic high-K states have been identified. In particular, a 29/2(-) isomeric state [T-1/2 = 1.8(5)mu s] at an excitation energy of 2487 keV has been observed for the first time, and on top of it, a rich level scheme reaching up to spin (59/2(-)) and excitation energies around 7 MeV has been established.

Abstract: We present a calculation of the gamma d -> K(+)K(-)np reaction with the aim of seeing whether the experimental peak observed in the K(+)n invariant mass around 1526 MeV, from where evidence for the existence of the Theta(+) has been claimed, can be obtained without this resonance as a consequence of the particular dynamics of the process and the cuts applied in the experimental setup. We find that a combination of facts leads indeed to a peak around 1530 MeV for the invariant mass of K(+)n without the need to invoke any new resonance around this energy. This, together with statistical fluctuations that we prove to be large with the statistics of the experiment, is likely to produce the narrower peak observed there.

Abstract: In this work we use the Schwinger-Dyson equations to study the possibility that an enhanced gravitational attraction triggers the formation of a right-handed neutrino condensate, inducing dynamical symmetry breaking and generating a Majorana mass for the right-handed neutrino at a scale appropriate for the seesaw mechanism. The composite field formed by the condensate phase could drive an early epoch of inflation. We find that to the lowest order, the theory does not allow dynamical symmetry breaking. Nevertheless, thanks to the large number of matter fields in the model, the suppression by additional powers in G of higher order terms can be compensated, boosting them up to their lowest order counterparts. This way chiral symmetry can be broken dynamically and the infrared mass generated turns out to be in the expected range for a successful seesaw scenario.

Abstract: I consider the interaction of a small quantum system (a qubit) with a structured environment consisting of many levels. The qubit will experience a decoherence process, which implies that part of its initial information will be encoded into correlations between system and environment. I investigate how this information is distributed on a given subset of levels as a function of its size, using the mutual information between both entities, in the spirit of the partial-information plots studied by Zurek and co-workers. In this case we can observe some differences, which arise from the fact that I am partitioning just one quantum system and not a collection of them. However, some similar features, like redundancy (in the sense that a given amount of information is shared by many subsets), which increases with the size of the environment, are also found here.

Abstract: We perform a Dalitz plot analysis of about 100 000 D-s(+) decays to K+ K- pi(+) and measure the complex amplitudes of the intermediate resonances which contribute to this decay mode. We also measure the relative branching fractions of D-s(+) -> K+ K+ pi(-) and D-s(+) -> K+ K+ K-. For this analysis we use a 384 fb(-1) data sample, recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider running at center-of-mass energies near 10.58 GeV.