Abstract: A descriptive summary is given of the results to-date from the framed standard model (FSM) which: Assigns geometric meaning to the Higgs field and to fermion generations, hence offering an explanation for the observed mass and mixing patterns of quarks and leptons, reproducing near-quantitatively 17 of SM parameters with only 7. Predicts a new vector boson G which mixes with gamma and Z, leading to deviations from the SM mixing scheme. For m(G) > 1 TeV, these deviations are within present experimental errors but should soon be detectable at LHC when experimental accuracy is further improved. Suggests the existence of a hidden sector of particles as yet unknown to experiment which interact but little with the known particles. The lowest members of the hidden sector of mass around 17 MeV, being electrically neutral and stable, may figure as dark matter constituents. The idea is to retrace the steps leading to the above results unencumbered by details already worked out and reported elsewhere. This has helped to clarify the logic, tighten some arguments and dispense with one major assumption previously thought necessary, thus strengthening earlier results in opening up possibly a new and exciting vista for further exploration.

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)%.

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.

Abstract: A search for doubly charged scalar bosons decaying into W boson pairs is presented. It uses a data sample from proton-proton collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1fb-1 collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV in 2015 and 2016. This search is guided by a model that includes an extension of the Higgs sector through a scalar triplet, leading to a rich phenomenology that includes doubly charged scalar bosons H +/-+/-. Those bosons are produced in pairs in proton-proton collisions and decay predominantly into electroweak gauge bosons H +/-+/- W +/- W +/-. Experimental signatures with several leptons, missing transverse energy and jets are explored. No significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are found. The parameter space of the benchmark model is excluded at 95% confidence level for H +/-+/- bosons with masses between 200 and 220 GeV.

Abstract: Neutron capture cross section measurements on Gd-155 and Gd-157 were performed using the time-of-flight technique at the nTOF facility at CERN on isotopically enriched samples. The measurements were carried out in the nTOF experimental area EAR1, at 185 m from the neutron source, with an array of 4 C6D6 liquid scintillation detectors. At a neutron kinetic energy of 0.0253 eV, capture cross sections of 62.2(2.2) and 239.8(8.4) kilobarn have been derived for Gd-155 and Gd-157, respectively, with up to 6% deviation relative to values presently reported in nuclear data libraries, but consistent with those values within 1.6 standard deviations. A resonance shape analysis has been performed in the resolved resonance region up to 181 eV and 307 eV, respectively for Gd-155 and Gd-157, where on average, resonance parameters have been found in good agreement with evaluations. Above these energies and up to 1 keV, the observed resonance-like structure of the cross section has been analysed and characterised. From a statistical analysis of the observed neutron resonances we deduced: neutron strength function of 2.01(28)x10-4 and 2.17(41)x10-4; average total radiative width of 106.8(14) meV and 101.1(20) meV and s-wave resonance spacing 1.6(2) eV and 4.8(5) eV for n + Gd-155 and n + Gd-157 systems, respectively.