Abstract: The beta-delayed gamma-ray spectroscopy of neutron-rich Ag-123,Ag-325 isotopes is investigated at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory of RIKEN, and the long-predicted 1/2(-) beta-emitting isomers in Ag-123,Ag-325 are identified for the first time. With the new experimental results, the systematic trend of energy spacing between the lowest 9/2(+) and 1/2(-) levels is extended in Ag isotopes up to N = 78, providing a clear signal for the reduction of the Z = 40 subshell gap in Ag towards N = 82. Shell-model calculations with the state-of-the-art V-MU plus M3Y spin-orbit interaction give a satisfactory description of the low-lying states in Ag-123,Ag-325. The tensor force is found to play a crucial role in the evolution of the size of the Z = 40 subshell gap. The observed inversion of the single-particle levels around Ag-123 can be well interpreted in terms of the monopole shift of the pi 1g(9/2) orbitals mainly caused by the increasing occupation of nu 1h(11/2) orbitals.

Abstract: A search for flavour-changing neutral current decays of a top quark into an up-type quark (q = u, c) and the Standard Model Higgs boson, t Hq, is presented. The search is based on a dataset of pp collisions at = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1). Two complementary analyses are performed to search for top-quark pair events in which one top quark decays into Wb and the other top quark decays into Hq, and target the Hbb and H (+-) decay modes, respectively. The high multiplicity of b-quark jets, or the presence of hadronically decaying -leptons, is exploited in the two analyses respectively. Multivariate techniques are used to separate the signal from the background, which is dominated by top-quark pair production. No significant excess of events above the background expectation is found, and 95% CL upper limits on the t Hq branching ratios are derived. The combination of these searches with ATLAS searches in diphoton and multilepton final states yields observed (expected) 95% CL upper limits on the t Hc and t Hu branching ratios of 1.1 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)) and 1.2 x 10(-3) (8.3 x 10(-4)), respectively. The corresponding combined observed (expected) upper limits on the |(tcH)| and |(tuH)| couplings are 0.064 (0.055) and 0.066 (0.055), respectively.

Abstract: Proton decay is usually discussed in the context of grand unified theories. However, as is well known, in the standard model effective theory proton decay appears in the form of higher-dimensional non-renormalizable operators. Here, we study systematically the one-loop decomposition of the d = 6 B + L violating operators. We exhaustively list the possible one-loop ultraviolet completions of these operators and discuss that, in general, two distinct classes of models appear. Models in the first class need an additional symmetry in order to avoid tree-level proton decay. These models necessarily contain a neutral particle, which could act as a dark matter candidate. For models in the second class the loop contribution dominates automatically over the tree-level proton decay, without the need for additional symmetries. We also discuss possible phenomenology of two example models, one from each class, and their possible connections to neutrino masses, LHC searches and dark matter.

Abstract: We present the calculation of the full next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections to Higgs boson pair production via gluon fusion at the LHC, including the exact top-mass dependence in the two-loop virtual and one-loop real corrections. This is the first independent cross-check of the NLO QCD corrections presented in the literature before. Our calculation relies on numerical integrations of Feynman integrals, stabilised with integration-by-parts and a Richardson extrapolation to the narrow width approximation. We present results for the total cross section as well as for the invariant Higgs-pair-mass distribution at the LHC, including for the first time a study of the uncertainty due to the scheme and scale choice for the top mass in the loops.

Abstract: A search for singly produced vector-like quarks Q, where Q can be either a T quark with charge +2/3 or a Y quark with charge -4/3, is performed in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb(-1), recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. The analysis targets Q -> Wb decays where the W boson decays leptonically. No significant deviation from the expected Standard Model background is observed. Upper limits are set on the QWb coupling strength and the mixing between the Standard Model sector and a singlet T quark or a Y quark from a (B, Y) doublet or a (T, B, Y) triplet, taking into account the interference effects with the Standard Model background. The upper limits set on the mixing angle are as small as vertical bar sin theta(L)vertical bar = 0.18 for a singlet T quark of mass 800 GeV, vertical bar sin theta(R)vertical bar = 0.17 for a Y quark of mass 800 GeV in a (B, Y) doublet model and vertical bar sin theta(L)vertical bar = 0: 16 for a Y quark of mass 800 GeV in a (T, B, Y) triplet model. Within a (B, Y) doublet model, the limits set on the mixing parameter vertical bar sin theta(R)vertical bar are comparable with the exclusion limits from electroweak precision observables in the mass range between about 900 GeV and 1250 GeV.