ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amoros, G., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Escobar, C., et al. (2011). Search for a Standard Model Higgs Boson in the H -> ZZ -> l(+)l(-)v(v)over-bar Decay Channel with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 107(22), 221802–18pp.
Abstract: A search for a heavy standard model Higgs boson decaying via H -> ZZ -> l(+)l(-)v (v) over bar, where l = e, mu, is presented. It is based on proton-proton collision data at root s = 7 TeV, collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011 and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.04 fb(-1). The data are compared to the expected standard model backgrounds. The data and the background expectations are found to be in agreement and upper limits are placed on the Higgs boson production cross section over the entire mass window considered; in particular, the production of a standard model Higgs boson is excluded in the region 340 < m(H) < 450 GeV at the 95% confidence level.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2011). Evidence for the h(b)(1P) meson in the decay Y(3S) -> pi(0)h(b)(1P). Phys. Rev. D, 84(9), 091101–8pp.
Abstract: Using a sample of 122 x 10(6) Y(3S) events recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider at SLAC, we search for the h(b)(1P) spin-singlet partner of the P-wave X(bJ)(1P) states in the sequential decay Y(3S) -> pi(0)h(b) (1P), hb(1P) -> gamma eta(b)(1S). We observe an excess of events above background in the distribution of the recoil mass against the pi(0) at mass 9902 +/- 4(stat) +/- 2(syst) MeV/c(2). The width of the observed signal is consistent with experimental resolution, and its significance is 3.1 sigma, including systematic uncertainties. We obtain the value (4.3 +/- 1.1(stat) +/- 0.9(syst) x 10(-4) for the product branching fraction B(Y(3S) -> pi(0)h(b)) XB (h(b) -> gamma eta(b))
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2011). Study of Y(3S, 2S) -> eta Y(1S) and Y(3S, 2S) -> pi(+) pi(-) Y(1S) hadronic transitions. Phys. Rev. D, 84(9), 092003–8pp.
Abstract: We study the Y(3S, 2S) -> eta Y(1S) and Y (3S,2S) -> pi(+)pi(-) transitions with 122 x 10(6) x Y(3S) and 100 x 10(6) Y (2S) mesons collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider. We measure B[Y(2S) -> eta Y(1S)] = (2.39 +/- 0.31 (stat) +/- 0.14(syst)) x 10(-4) and Gamma[Y(2S) -> eta Y(1S)]/Gamma[Y(2S) ->pi(+)pi(-)(1S)] – (2.39 +/- 0.31(stat) +/- 0.14(syst)) x 10(-3). We find no evidence for Y(3S) -> eta Y (1S) and obtain B[Y(3S) -> eta Y(1S)] < 1.0 x 10(-4) and Gamma[Y (3S) -> eta Y(1S)/Gamma[Y(3S) -> pi(+)pi(-) Y(1S)] < 2.3 x 10(-3) as upper limits at the 90% confidence level. We also provide improved measurements of the Y(S) – Y(1S) and Y(3S) – Y (1S) mass differences, 562.170 +/- 0.007(stat) +/- 0.088(syst). MeV/c(2) and 893.813 +/- 0: 015(stat) +/- 0.107(syst.) MeV/c(2), respectively.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Sarmento, R. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Measurement of the (236)U(n, f) cross section from 170 meV to 2 MeV at the CERN n_TOF facility. Phys. Rev. C, 84(4), 044618–10pp.
Abstract: The neutron-induced fission cross section of (236)U was measured at the neutron Time-of-Flight (nTOF) facility at CERN relative to the standard (235)U(n, f) cross section for neutron energies ranging from above thermal to several MeV. The measurement, covering the full range simultaneously, was performed with a fast ionization chamber, taking advantage of the high resolution of the nTOF spectrometer. The n_TOF results confirm that the first resonance at 5.45 eV is largely overestimated in some nuclear data libraries. The resonance triplet around 1.2 keV was measured with high resolution and resonance parameters were determined with good accuracy. Resonances at high energy have also been observed and characterized and different values for the cross section are provided for the region between 10 keV and the fission threshold. The present work indicates various shortcomings of the current nuclear data libraries in the subthreshold region and provides the basis for an accurate re-evaluation of the (236)U(n, f) cross section, which is of great relevance for the development of emerging or innovative nuclear reactor technologies.
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Forero, D. V., Morisi, S., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2011). Lepton flavor violation and non-unitary lepton mixing in low-scale type-I seesaw. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 142–18pp.
Abstract: Within low-scale seesaw mechanisms, such as the inverse and linear seesaw, one expects (i) potentially large lepton flavor violation (LFV) and (ii) sizeable non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI). We consider the interplay between the magnitude of non-unitarity effects in the lepton mixing matrix, and the constraints that follow from LFV searches in the laboratory. We find that NSI parameters can be sizeable, up to percent level in some cases, while LFV rates, such as that for μ-> e gamma, lie within current limits, including the recent one set by the MEG collaboration. As a result the upcoming long baseline neutrino experiments offer a window of opportunity for complementary LFV and weak universality tests.
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Olmo, G. J. (2011). Palatini actions and quantum gravity phenomenology. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 10(10), 018–15pp.
Abstract: We show that an invariant an universal length scale can be consistently introduced in a generally covariant theory through the gravitational sector using the Palatini approach. The resulting theory is able to capture different aspects of quantum gravity phenomenology in a single framework. In particular, it is found that in this theory field excitations propagating with different energy-densities perceive different background metrics, which is a fundamental characteristic of the DSR and Rainbow Gravity approaches. We illustrate these properties with a particular gravitational model and explicitly show how the soccer ball problem is avoided in this framework. The isotropic and anisotropic cosmologies of this model also avoid the big bang singularity by means of a big bounce.
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Montanari, D. et al, & Gadea, A. (2011). Elastic, inelastic, and one-nucleon transfer processes in (48)Ca+(64)Ni. Phys. Rev. C, 84(5), 9pp.
Abstract: Elastic, inelastic, and one-nucleon transfer channels in the (48)Ca+(64)Ni reaction have been measured at approximate to 6 MeV/nucleon with the PRISMA-CLARA setup, at Legnaro National Laboratory, consisting of the coupling of a large solid angle magnetic spectrometer with a germanium array. By trajectory reconstruction the reaction products have been fully identified in mass, nuclear charge, and kinetic energy, while coincident gamma spectra of binary partners have been constructed after Doppler correction. Absolute differential cross sections have been extracted for the inelastic excitation and one-nucleon transfer, also for specific excited states. The data are in good agreement with semiclassical calculations and distorted wave Born approximation predictions. The work outlines an experimental method which can become valuable to extract structural information from heavy-ion reaction studies.
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Aguilar, A. C., Binosi, D., & Papavassiliou, J. (2011). Dynamical equation of the effective gluon mass. Phys. Rev. D, 84(8), 085026–19pp.
Abstract: In this article, we derive the integral equation that controls the momentum dependence of the effective gluon mass in the Landau gauge. This is accomplished by means of a well-defined separation of the corresponding “one-loop dressed” Schwinger-Dyson equation into two distinct contributions, one associated with the mass and one with the standard kinetic part of the gluon. The entire construction relies on the existence of a longitudinally coupled vertex of nonperturbative origin, which enforces gauge invariance in the presence of a dynamical mass. The specific structure of the resulting mass equation, supplemented by the additional requirement of a positive-definite gluon mass, imposes a rather stringent constraint on the derivative of the gluonic dressing function, which is comfortably satisfied by the large-volume lattice data for the gluon propagator, both for SU(2) and SU(3). The numerical treatment of the mass equation, under some simplifying assumptions, is presented for the aforementioned gauge groups, giving rise to a gluon mass that is a nonmonotonic function of the momentum. Various theoretical improvements and possible future directions are briefly discussed.
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Achilli, A., Srivastava, Y., Godbole, R., Grau, A., Pancheri, G., & Shekhovtsova, O. (2011). Total and inelastic cross sections at LHC at root s=7 TeV and beyond. Phys. Rev. D, 84(9), 094009–14pp.
Abstract: We discuss expectations for the total and inelastic cross sections at LHC CM energies root s = 7 TeV and 14 TeV obtained in an eikonal minijet model augmented by soft gluon k(t)-resummation, which we describe in some detail. We present a band of predictions which encompass recent LHC data and suggest that the inelastic cross section described by two-channel eikonal models include only uncorrelated processes. We show that this interpretation of the model is supported by the LHC data.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Tagliente, G. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). (96)Zr(n,gamma) measurement at the n_TOF facility at CERN. Phys. Rev. C, 84(5), 055802–8pp.
Abstract: The (n,gamma) cross section of (96)Zr has been investigated at the CERN n_TOF spallation neutron source. High-resolution time-of-flight measurements using an enriched ZrO(2) sample allowed us to analyze 15 resonances below 40 keV with improved accuracy. On average, the capture widths were found to be 25% smaller than reported in earlier experiments. If complemented with the contribution by direct radiative capture, the derived Maxwellian averaged cross sections are consistent with activation data at kT = 25 keV. The present results confirm the astrophysical implications for the s-process branching at (95)Zr.
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