Abstract: In light of the improved sensitivities of cosmological observations, we examine the status of quasi-degenerate neutrino mass scenarios. Within the simplest extension of the standard cosmological model with massive neutrinos, we find that quasi-degenerate neutrinos are severely constrained by present cosmological data and neutrino oscillation experiments. We find that Planck 2018 observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies disfavour quasi-degenerate neutrino masses at 2.4 Gaussian sigma 's, while adding baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data brings the rejection to 5.9 sigma 's. The highest statistical significance with which one would be able to rule out quasi-degeneracy would arise if the sum of neutrino masses is Sigma m(v) = 60 meV (the minimum allowed by neutrino oscillation experiments); indeed a sensitivity of 15 meV, as expected from a combination of future cosmological probes, would further improve the rejection level up to 17 sigma. We discuss the robustness of these projections with respect to assumptions on the underlying cosmological model, and also compare them with bounds from beta decay endpoint and neutrinoless double beta decay studies.

Abstract: We discuss the possibility to predict the QCD axion mass in the context of grand unified theories. We investigate the implementation of the DFSZ mechanism in the context of renormalizable SU(5) theories. In the simplest theory, the axion mass can be predicted with good precision in the range m(a) = (2-16) neV, and there is a strong correlation between the predictions for the axion mass and proton decay rates. In this context, we predict an upper bound for the proton decay channels with antineutrinos, tau(p -> K+(nu) over bar) less than or similar to 4 x 10(37) yr and tau(p -> pi(+)(nu) over bar) less than or similar to 2 x 10(36) yr. This theory can be considered as the minimal realistic grand unified theory with the DFSZ mechanism and it can be fully tested by proton decay and axion experiments.

Abstract: Lifetimes of negative-parity states have been determined in the neutron deficient semi-magic (N = 50) nucleus Rh-95. The fusion-evaporation reaction Ni-58(Ca-40, 3p) was used to populate high-spin states in Rh-95 at the Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL) accelerator facility. The results were obtained using the Doppler Shift Attenuation Method (DSAM) based on the Doppler broadened line shapes produced during the slowing down process of the residual nuclei in a thick 6 mg/cm(2) metallic target. B(M1) and B(E2) reduced transition strengths are compared with predictions from large-scale shell-model calculations. state-of-the-art theory. Remarkably, the structural features up to moderate angular momentum of nuclei immediately below the N = Z = 50 shell closures can be described with high accuracy in a very simple way by shell-model calculations including only the g(9/2) and p(1/2) subshells. Of special interest is the neutron-proton pair coupling scheme which is expected to appear in the heaviest N=Z nuclei [1,2] and the seniority structure of the N = 50 isotones [3-7]. However, multiple core-excited states have been observed in the semi-magic nuclei of the Sn-100 region [8-10]. The theoretical study of those states is a challenging task, which requires a significantly larger model space for their interpretation. Transition probabilities between nuclear states provide important constraints for theoretical modelling of the structure of the nuclei of interest. Our previous lifetime study of the semimagic (N = 50) nucleus Ru-94 [ 11,12] provided information on the electromagnetic decay properties of neutron-core excited states. We now address lifetime measurements in its closest, more neutron deficient, isotone Rh-95 using the same DSAM technique. The experimental results have been interpreted within the framework of large-scale shell-model (LSSM) calculations.

Abstract: Recent lattice data on pi pi -scattering phase shifts in the vector-isovector channel, pseudoscalar meson masses and decay constants for strange-quark masses smaller or equal to the physical value allow us to study the strangeness dependence of these observables for the first time. We perform a global analysis on two kind of lattice trajectories depending on whether the sum of quark masses or the strange-quark mass is kept fixed to the physical point. The quark mass dependence of these observables is extracted from unitarized coupled-channel one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory. This analysis guides new predictions on the rho (770) meson properties over trajectories where the strange-quark mass is lighter than the physical mass, as well as on the SU(3) symmetric line. As a result, the light- and strange-quark mass dependence of the rho (770) meson parameters are discussed and precise values of the Low Energy Constants present in unitarized one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory are given. Finally, the current discrepancy between two- and three-flavor lattice results for the rho (770) meson is studied.

Abstract: Neutrino oscillations are precision probes of new physics. Apart from neutrino masses and mixings, they are also sensitive to possible deviations of low-energy interactions between quarks and leptons from the Standard Model predictions. In this paper we develop a systematic description of such non-standard interactions (NSI) in oscillation experiments within the quantum field theory framework. We calculate the event rate and oscillation probability in the presence of general NSI, starting from the effective field theory (EFT) in which new physics modifies the flavor or Lorentz structure of charged-current interactions between leptons and quarks. We also provide the matching between the EFT Wilson coefficients and the widely used simplified quantum-mechanical approach, where new physics is encoded in a set of production and detection NSI parameters. Finally, we discuss the consistency conditions for the standard NSI approach to correctly reproduce the quantum field theory result.