Abstract: In this work, we explore the flavor-changing decays H-i -> bs in a general supersymmetric scenario. In these models the flavor-changing decays arise at loop level, but-because they originate from a dimension-four operator-they do not decouple and may provide a first sign of new physics for heavy masses beyond the reach of colliders. In the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model, we find that the largest branching ratio of the lightest Higgs (H-1) is O(10(-6)) after imposing present experimental constraints, while heavy Higgs states may still present branching ratios O(10(-3)). In a more general supersymmetric scenario, where additional Higgs states may modify the Higgs mixings, the branching ratio BR(H-1 -> bs) can reach values O(10(-4)), while heavy Higgses still remain at O(10(-3)). Although these values are clearly out of reach for the LHC, a full study in a linear collider environment could be worth pursuing.

Abstract: The production of Z bosons with one or two isolated high-energy photons is studied using pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2012 LHC data taking. The Z gamma and Z gamma gamma production cross sections are measured with leptonic (e(+) e(-), mu(+) mu(-), nu(nu) over bar) decays of the Z boson, in extended fiducial regions defined in terms of the lepton and photon acceptance. They are then compared to cross-section predictions from the Standard Model, where the sources of the photons are radiation off initial-state quarks and radiative Z-boson decay to charged leptons, and from fragmentation of final-state quarks and gluons into photons. The yields of events with photon transverse energy E-T > 250 GeV from l(+) l(-) gamma events and with E-T > 400 GeV from nu(nu) over bar gamma events are used to search for anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings ZZ gamma and Z gamma gamma. The yields of events with diphoton invariant mass m(gamma gamma) > 200 GeV from l(+) l(-) gamma gamma events and with m(gamma gamma) > 300 GeV from nu(nu) over bar gamma gamma events are used to search for anomalous quartic gauge-boson couplings ZZ gamma gamma and Z gamma gamma gamma. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on parameters used to describe anomalous triple and quartic gauge-boson couplings.

Abstract: We show that in the Higgs triplet model, after the Higgs discovery, the mixing angle in the CP-even sector can be strongly constrained from unitarity. We also discuss how large quantum effects in h -> gamma gamma may arise in a Standard-Model-like scenario and a certain part of the parameter space can be ruled out from the diphoton signal strength. Using T-parameter and diphoton signal strength measurements, we update the bounds on the nonstandard scalar masses.

Abstract: The energy-dependent cross section of the (7)Bed(n,alpha)He-4 reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from 10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of Be-7 and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at nTOF thanks to an unprecedented combination of the extremely high luminosity and good resolution of the neutron beam in the new experimental area (EAR2) of the nTOF facility at CERN, the availability of a sufficient amount of chemically pure Be-7, and a specifically designed experimental setup. Coincidences between the two alpha particles have been recorded in two Si-Be-7-Si arrays placed directly in the neutron beam. The present results are consistent, at thermal neutron energy, with the only previous measurement performed in the 1960s at a nuclear reactor. The energy dependence reported here clearly indicates the inadequacy of the cross section estimates currently used in BBN calculations. Although new measurements at higher neutron energy may still be needed, the n_TOF results hint at a minor role of this reaction in BBN, leaving the long-standing cosmological lithium problem unsolved.

Abstract: The first full amplitude analysis of B+ -> J/psi phi K+ with J/psi -> mu(+)mu(-), phi -> K+K- decays is performed with a data sample of 3 fb(-1) of pp collision data collected at root s = 7 and 8 TeV with the LHCb detector. The data cannot be described by a model that contains only excited kaon states decaying into phi K+ , and four J/psi phi structures are observed, each with significance over 5 standard deviations. The quantum numbers of these structures are determined with significance of at least 4 standard deviations. The lightest has mass consistent with, but width much larger than, previous measurements of the claimed X(4140) state.