Abstract: The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is about to enter its third run at unprecedented energies. The experiments at the LHC face computational challenges with enormous data volumes that need to be analysed by thousands of physics users. The ATLAS EventIndex project, currently running in production, builds a complete catalogue of particle collisions, or events, for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The distributed nature of the experiment data model is exploited by running jobs at over one hundred Grid data centers worldwide. Millions of files with petabytes of data are indexed, extracting a small quantity of metadata per event, that is conveyed with a data collection system in real time to a central Hadoop instance at CERN. After a successful first implementation based on a messaging system, some issues suggested performance bottlenecks for the challenging higher rates in next runs of the experiment. In this work we characterize the weaknesses of the previous messaging system, regarding complexity, scalability, performance and resource consumption. A new approach based on an object-based storage method was designed and implemented, taking into account the lessons learned and leveraging the ATLAS experience with this kind of systems. We present the experiment that we run during three months in the real production scenario worldwide, in order to evaluate the messaging and object store approaches. The results of the experiment show that the new object-based storage method can efficiently support large-scale data collection for big data environments like the next runs of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC.

Abstract: A certain class of neutrino mass models predicts long-lived particles whose electric charge is four or three times larger than that of protons. Such particles, if they are light enough, may be produced at the LHC and detected. We investigate the possibility of observing those long-lived multi-charged particles with the MoEDAL detector, which is sensitive to long-lived particles with low velocities (beta) and a large electric charge (Z) with Theta equivalent to beta /Z less than or similar to 0.15. We demonstrate that multi-charged scalar particles with a large Z give three-fold advantage for MoEDAL; reduction of Theta due to strong interactions with the detector, and enhancement of the photon-fusion process, which not only increases the production cross-section but also lowers the average production velocity, reducing Theta further. To demonstrate the performance of MoEDAL on multi-charged long-lived particles, two concrete neutrino mass models are studied. In the first model, the new physics sector is non-coloured and contains long-lived particles with electric charges 2, 3 and 4. A model-independent study finds MoEDAL can expect more than 1 signal event at the HL-LHC (L=300fb-1) if these particles are lighter than 600, 1100 and 1430 GeV, respectively. These compare with the current ATLAS limits 650, 780 and 920 GeV for L=36fb-1. The second model has a coloured new physics sector, which possesses long-lived particles with electric charges 4/3, 7/3 and 10/3. The corresponding MoEDAL's mass reaches at the HL-LHC are 1400, 1650 and 1800 GeV, respectively, which compare with the current CMS limits 1450, 1480 and 1510 GeV for L=36fb-1. In a model-specific study we explore the parameter space of neutrino mass generation models and identify the regions that can be probed with MoEDAL at the end of Run-3 and the High-Luminosity LHC.

Abstract: A structure is observed in the B +/- K -/+ mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, collected with the LHCb detector and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb-1. The structure is interpreted as the result of overlapping excited Bs0</mml:msubsup> states. With high significance, a two-peak hypothesis provides a better description of the data than a single resonance. Under this hypothesis the masses and widths of the two states, assuming they decay directly to B +/- K -/+, are determined to be m1 = 6063.5 +/- 1.2 (stat) +/- 0.8 (syst) MeV
Gamma 1 = 26 +/- 4 (stat) +/- 4 (syst) MeV
m2 = 6114 +/- 3 (stat) +/- 5 (syst) MeV
Gamma 2 = 66 +/- 18 (stat) +/- 21 (syst) MeV
Alternative values assuming a decay through B +/- K -/+, with a missing photon from the B +/- -> B +/- gamma decay, which are shifted by approximately 45 MeV, are also determined. The possibility of a single state decaying in both channels is also considered. The ratio of the total production cross-section times branching fraction of the new states relative to the previously observed Bs20 state is determined to be 0.87 +/- 0.15 (stat)+/- 0.19 (syst).