Abstract: Recent Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) results from the Planck satellite, combined with previous CMB data and Hubble constant measurements from the Hubble Space Telescope, provide a constraint on the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom 3.62(-0.48)(+0.50) at 95% CL. New Planck data provide a unique opportunity to place limits on models containing relativistic species at the decoupling epoch. We present here the bounds on sterile neutrino models combining Planck data with galaxy clustering information. Assuming N-eff active plus sterile massive neutrino species, in the case of a Planck+WP+HighL+HST analysis we find m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.36 eV and 3.14 < N-eff < 4.15 at 95% CL, while using Planck+WP+HighL data in combination with the full shape of the galaxy power spectrum from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey BOSS Data Relase 9 measurements, we find that 3.30 < N-eff < 4.43 and m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.33 eV both at 95% CL with the three active neutrinos having the minimum mass allowed in the normal hierarchy scheme, i.e. Sigma m(nu) similar to 0.06 eV. These values compromise the viability of the (3 + 2) massive sterile neutrino models for the parameter region indicated by global fits of neutrino oscillation data. Within the (3 + 1) massive sterile neutrino scenario, we find m(nu,sterile)(eff) < 0.34 eV at 95% CL. While the existence of one extra sterile massive neutrino state is compatible with current oscillation data, the values for the sterile neutrino mass preferred by oscillation analyses are significantly higher than the current cosmological bound. We review as well the bounds on extended dark sectors with additional light species based on the latest Planck CMB observations.

Abstract: We study in detail the impact of the current uncertainty in nucleon matrix elements on the sensitivity of direct and indirect experimental techniques for dark matter detection. We perform two scans in the framework of the cMSSM: one using recent values of the pion-sigma term obtained from Lattice QCD, and the other using values derived from experimental measurements. The two choices correspond to extreme values quoted in the literature and reflect the current tension between different ways of obtaining information about the structure of the nucleon. All other inputs in the scans, astrophysical and from particle physics, are kept unchanged. We use two experiments, XENON100 and IceCube, as benchmark cases to illustrate our case. We find that the interpretation of dark matter search results from direct detection experiments is more sensitive to the choice of the central values of the hadronic inputs than the results of indirect search experiments. The allowed regions of cMSSM parameter space after including XENON100 constrains strongly differ depending on the assumptions on the hadronic matrix elements used. On the other hand, the constraining potential of IceCube is almost independent of the choice of these values.

Abstract: This paper summarises the mechanical construction and installation of the Tile Calorimeter for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, Switzerland. The Tile Calorimeter is a sampling calorimeter using scintillator as the sensitive detector and steel as the absorber and covers the central region of the ATLAS experiment up to pseudorapidities +/- 1.7. The mechanical construction of the Tile Calorimeter occurred over a period of about 10 years beginning in 1995 with the completion of the Technical Design Report and ending in 2006 with the installation of the final module in the ATLAS cavern. During this period approximately 2600 metric tons of steel were transformed into a laminated structure to form the absorber of the sampling calorimeter. Following instrumentation and testing, which is described elsewhere, the modules were installed in the ATLAS cavern with a remarkable accuracy for a structure of this size and weight.