n_TOF Collaboration(Moreno-Soto, J. et al), Babiano-Suarez, V., Caballero-Ontanaya, L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Ladarescu, I., & Tain, J. L. (2022). Constraints on the dipole photon strength for the odd uranium isotopes. Phys. Rev. C, 105(2), 024618–14pp.
Abstract: Background: The photon strength functions (PSFs) and nuclear level density (NLD) are key ingredients for calculation of the photon interaction with nuclei, in particular the reaction cross sections. These cross sections are important especially in nuclear astrophysics and in the development of advanced nuclear technologies. Purpose: The role of the scissors mode in the M1 PSF of (well-deformed) actinides was investigated by several experimental techniques. The analyses of different experiments result in significant differences, especially on the strength of the mode. The shape of the low-energy tail of the giant electric dipole resonance is uncertain as well. In particular, some works proposed a presence of the E1 pygmy resonance just above 7 MeV. Because of these inconsistencies additional information on PSFs in this region is of great interest. Methods: The gamma-ray spectra from neutron-capture reactions on the U-234, U-236, and U-238 nuclei have been measured with the total absorption calorimeter of the n_TOF facility at CERN. The background-corrected sum-energy and multi-step-cascade spectra were extracted for several isolated s-wave resonances up to about 140 eV. Results: The experimental spectra were compared to statistical model predictions coming from a large selection of models of photon strength functions and nuclear level density. No combination of PSF and NLD models from literature is able to globally describe our spectra. After extensive search we were able to find model combinations with modified generalized Lorentzian (MGLO) E1 PSF, which match the experimental spectra as well as the total radiative widths. Conclusions: The constant temperature energy dependence is favored for a NLD. The tail of giant electric dipole resonance is well described by the MGLO model of the E1 PSF with no hint of pygmy resonance. The M1 PSF must contain a very strong, relatively wide, and likely double-resonance scissors mode. The mode is responsible for about a half of the total radiative width of neutron resonances and significantly affects the radiative cross section.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Constraints on the Higgs boson self-coupling from single- and double-Higgs production with the ATLAS detector using pp collisions at & RADIC;s=13 TeV. Phys. Lett. B, 843, 137745–20pp.
Abstract: Constraints on the Higgs boson self-coupling are set by combining double-Higgs boson analyses in the bb over bar bb over bar , bb over bar & tau;+& tau;- and bb over bar & gamma; & gamma; decay channels with single-Higgs boson analyses targeting the & gamma;& gamma;, Z Z*, W W *, & tau;+& tau;- and bb over bar decay channels. The data used in these analyses were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at & RADIC;s = 13 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 126-139 fb-1. The combination of the double-Higgs analyses sets an upper limit of & mu;HH < 2.4 at 95% confidence level on the double-Higgs production cross-section normalised to its Standard Model prediction. Combining the single-Higgs and double-Higgs analyses, with the assumption that new physics affects only the Higgs boson self-coupling (& lambda;HHH), values outside the interval -0.4 < & kappa;& lambda; = (& lambda;HHH/& lambda;SM H H H ) < 6.3 are excluded at 95% confidence level. The combined single-Higgs and double-Higgs analyses provide results with fewer assumptions, by adding in the fit more coupling modifiers introduced to account for the Higgs boson interactions with the other Standard Model particles. In this relaxed scenario, the constraint becomes -1.4 < & kappa;& lambda; < 6.1 at 95% CL.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2020). Constraints on the K-S(0) -> mu(+) mu(-) Branching Fraction. Phys. Rev. Lett., 125(23), 231801–10pp.
Abstract: A search for the decay K-S(0) -> mu(+) mu(-) is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.6 fb(-1) and collected with the LHCb experiment during 2016, 2017, and 2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The observed signal yield is consistent with zero, yielding an upper limit of B(K-S(0) -> mu(+) mu(-)) < 2.2 x 10(-10) at 90% C.L.. The limit reduces to B(K-S(0) -> mu(+) mu(-)) < 2.1 x 10(-10) at 90% C.L. once combined with the result from data taken in 2011 and 2012.
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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Sanchez-Losa, A., Tönnis, C., Zornoza, J. D., et al. (2016). Constraints on the neutrino emission from the Galactic Ridge with the ANTARES telescope. Phys. Lett. B, 760, 143–148.
Abstract: A highly significant excess of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos has been reported by the IceCube Collaboration. Some features of the energy and declination distributions of IceCube events hint at a North/South asymmetry of the neutrino flux. This could be due to the presence of the bulk of our Galaxy in the Southern hemisphere. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, has been taking data since 2007. It offers the best sensitivity to muon neutrinos produced by galactic cosmic ray interactions in this region of the sky. In this letter a search for an extended neutrino flux from the Galactic Ridge region is presented. Different models of neutrino production by cosmic ray propagation are tested. No excess of events is observed and upper limits for different neutrino flux spectral indices Gamma are set. For Gamma = 2.4 the 90% confidence level flux upper limit at 100 TeV for one neutrino flavour corresponds to phi(1f)(0) (100TeV) = 2.0 . 10(-17) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). Under this assumption, at most two events of the IceCube cosmic candidates can originate from the Galactic Ridge. A simple power-law extrapolation of the Fermi-LAT flux to account for IceCube High Energy Starting Events is excluded at 90% confidence level.
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Vagnozzi, S., Dhawan, S., Gerbino, M., Freese, K., Goobar, A., & Mena, O. (2018). Constraints on the sum of the neutrino masses in dynamical dark energy models with w(z) >=-1 are tighter than those obtained in Lambda CDM. Phys. Rev. D, 98(8), 083501–20pp.
Abstract: We explore cosmological constraints on the sum of the three active neutrino masses M-v in the context of dynamical dark energy (DDE) models with equation of state (EoS) parametrized as a function of redshift z by w(z) = w(0) + w(a)z/ (1 + z), and satisfying w(z) >= -1 for all z. We make use of cosmic microwave background data from the Planck satellite, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements, and supernovae la luminosity distance measurements, and perform a Bayesian analysis. We show that, within these models, the bounds on M-v do not degrade with respect to those obtained in the Lambda CDM case; in fact, the bounds arc slightly tighter, despite the enlarged parameter space. We explain our results based on the observation that, for fixed choices of w(0), w(a) such that w(z) >= -1 (but not w = -1 for all z), the upper limit on M-v is tighter than the Lambda CDM limit because of the well-known degeneracy between w and M-v. The Bayesian analysis we have carried out then integrates over the possible values of w(0)-w(a) such that w(z) >= -1, all of which correspond to tighter limits on M-v than the Lambda CDM limit. We find a 95% credible interval (C.I.) upper bound of M-v < 0.13 eV. This bound can be compared with the 95% C.I. upper bounds of M-v < 0.16 eV, obtained within the Lambda CDM model, and M-v < 0.41 eV, obtained in a DDE model with arbitrary EoS (which allows values of w < -1). Contrary to the results derived for DDE models with arbitrary EoS, we find that a dark energy component with w(z) >= -1 is unable to alleviate the tension between high-redshift observables and direct measurements of the Hubble constant H o . Finally, in light of the results of this analysis, we also discuss the implications for DDE models of a possible determination of the neutrino mass ordering by laboratory searches.
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HAWC Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), & Salesa Greus, F. (2022). Constraints on the Very High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from Short GRBs with HAWC. Astrophys. J., 936(2), 126–14pp.
Abstract: Many gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been observed from radio wavelengths, and a few at very high energies (VHEs, >100 GeV). The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory is well suited to study transient phenomena at VHEs owing to its large field of view and duty cycle. These features allow for searches of VHE emission and can probe different model assumptions of duration and spectra. In this paper, we use data collected by HAWC between 2014 December and 2020 May to search for emission in the energy range from 80 to 800 GeV coming from a sample of 47 short GRBs that triggered the Fermi, Swift, and Konus satellites during this period. This analysis is optimized to search for delayed and extended VHE emission within the first 20 s of each burst. We find no evidence of VHE emission, either simultaneous or delayed, with respect to the prompt emission. Upper limits (90% confidence level) derived on the GRB fluence are used to constrain the synchrotron self-Compton forward-shock model. Constraints for the interstellar density as low as 10(-2) cm(-3) are obtained when assuming z = 0.3 for bursts with the highest keV fluences such as GRB 170206A and GRB 181222841. Such a low density makes observing VHE emission mainly from the fast-cooling regime challenging.
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Li, H. P., Song, J., Liang, W. H., Molina, R., & Oset, E. (2024). Contrasting observables related to the N*(1535) from the molecular or a genuine structure. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(7), 656–8pp.
Abstract: In this work we compare the predictions for the scattering length and effective range of the channels K-0 Sigma(+), K+Sigma(0), K+ Lambda and eta p, assuming the N*(1535) state as a molecular state of these channels, or an original genuine state, made for instance from three quarks. Looking at very different scenarios, what we conclude is that the predictions of these two pictures are drastically different, to the point that we advise the measurement of these magnitudes, accessible for instance by measuring correlation functions, in order to gain much valuable information concerning the nature of this state.
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Albaladejo, M., Fernandez-Soler, P., Nieves, J., & Ortega, P. G. (2018). Contribution of constituent quark model c(s)over-bar states to the dynamics of the D*s0 (2317) and Ds1(2460) resonances. Eur. Phys. J. C, 78(9), 722–22pp.
Abstract: The masses of the D*(s0) (2317) and D-s1(2460) resonances lie below the DK and D* K thresholds respectively, which contradicts the predictions of naive quark models and points out to non-negligible effects of the D(*) K loops in the dynamics of the even-parity scalar (J(pi) = 0(+)) and axial-vector (J(pi) = 1(+)) c (s) over bar systems. Recent lattice QCD studies, incorporating the effects of the D(*) K channels, analyzed these spin-parity sectors and correctly described the D*(s0)(2317) – D-s1(2460) mass splitting. Motivated by such works, we study the structure of the D*(s0)(2317) and D-s1(2460) resonances in the framework of an effective field theory consistent with heavy quark spin symmetry, and that incorporates the interplay between D(*) K meson-meson degrees of freedom and bare P-wave c (s) over bar states predicted by constituent quark models. We extend the scheme to finite volumes and fit the strength of the coupling between both types of degrees of freedom to the available lattice levels, which we successfully describe. We finally estimate the size of the D(*) K two-meson components in the D*(s0)(2317) and D-s1(2460) resonances, and we conclude that these states have a predominantly hadronic-molecular structure, and that it should not be tried to accommodate these mesons within c (s) over bar constituent quark model patterns.
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de Medeiros Varzielas, I., Lopez-Ibañez, M. L., Melis, A., & Vives, O. (2018). Controlled flavor violation in the MSSM from a unified Delta(27) flavor symmetry. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 047–22pp.
Abstract: We study the phenomenology of a unified supersymmetric theory with a flavor symmetry Delta(27). The model accommodates quark and lepton masses, mixing angles and CP phases. In this model, the Dirac and Majorana mass matrices have a unified texture zero structure in the (1, 1) entry that leads to the Gatto-Sartori-Tonin relation between the Cabibbo angle and ratios of the masses in the quark sectors, and to a natural departure from zero of the theta 13(l) angle in the lepton sector. We derive the flavor structures of the trilinears and soft mass matrices, and show their general non-universality. This causes large flavor violating effects. As a consequence, the parameter space for this model is constrained, allowing it to be (dis)proven by flavor violation searches in the next decade. Although the results are model specific, we compare them to previous studies to show similar flavor effects (and associated constraints) are expected in general in supersymmetric flavor models, and may be used to distinguish them.
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Khosa, C. K., Mars, L., Richards, J., & Sanz, V. (2020). Convolutional neural networks for direct detection of dark matter. J. Phys. G, 47(9), 095201–20pp.
Abstract: The XENON1T experiment uses a time projection chamber (TPC) with liquid xenon to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), a proposed dark matter particle, via direct detection. As this experiment relies on capturing rare events, the focus is on achieving a high recall of WIMP events. Hence the ability to distinguish between WIMP and the background is extremely important. To accomplish this, we suggest using convolutional neural networks (CNNs); a machine learning procedure mainly used in image recognition tasks. To explore this technique we use XENON collaboration open-source software to simulate the TPC graphical output of dark matter signals and main backgrounds. A CNN turns out to be a suitable tool for this purpose, as it can identify features in the images that differentiate the two types of events without the need to manipulate or remove data in order to focus on a particular region of the detector. We find that the CNN can distinguish between the dominant background events (ER) and 500 GeV WIMP events with a recall of 93.4%, precision of 81.2% and an accuracy of 87.2%.
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