Abstract: Searches for dark matter produced via scalar resonances in final states consisting of Standard Model (SM) particles and missing transverse momentum are of high relevance at the LHC. Motivated by dark-matter portal models, most existing searches are optimized for unbalanced decay topologies for which the missing momentum recoils against the visible SM particles. In this work, we show that existing searches are also sensitive to a wider class of models, which we characterize by a recently presented simplified model framework. We point out that searches for models with a balanced decay topology can be further improved with more dedicated analysis strategies. For this study, we investigate the feasibility of a new search for bottom-quark associated neutral Higgs production with a b (b) over barZ + p(T)(miss) final state and perform a detailed collider analysis. Our projected results in the different simplified model topologies investigated here can be easily reinterpreted in a wide range of models of physics beyond the SM, which we explicitly demonstrate for the example of the Two-Higgs-Doublet model with an additional pseudoscalar Higgs boson.

Abstract: The t (t) over bar + jet + X differential cross-section in proton-proton collisions at 7 TeV centre of mass energy is investigated with respect to its sensitivity to the top quark mass. The analysis includes higher order QCD corrections at NLO. The impact of the renormalization scale (mu(R)), the factorization (mu(F)) scale and of the choice of different proton's PDF (parton distribution function) has been evaluated. In this study it is concluded that differential jet rates offer a promising option for alternative mass measurements of the top quark, with theoretical uncertainties below 1 GeV.

Abstract: We consider a non-perturbative formulation of an SU(2) massive gauge theory on a space-time lattice, which is also a discretised gauged non-linear chiral model. The lattice model is shown to have an exactly conserved global SU(2) symmetry. If a scaling region for the lattice model exists and the lightest degrees of freedom are spin one vector particles with the same quantum numbers as the conserved current, we argue that the most general effective theory describing their low-energy dynamics must be a massive gauge theory. We present results of a exploratory numerical simulation of the model and find indications for the presence of a scaling region where both a triplet vector and a scalar remain light.

Abstract: We present a novel approach to derive constraints on neutrino masses, as well as on other cosmological parameters, from cosmological data, while taking into account our ignorance of the neutrino mass ordering. We derive constraints from a combination of current as well as future cosmological datasets on the total neutrino mass M-nu and on the mass fractions f(nu),i = m(i)/M-nu (where the index i = 1, 2, 3 indicates the three mass eigenstates) carried by each of the mass eigenstates m(i), after marginalizing over the (unknown) neutrino mass ordering, either normal ordering (NH) or inverted ordering (IH). The bounds on all the cosmological parameters, including those on the total neutrino mass, take therefore into account the uncertainty related to our ignorance of the mass hierarchy that is actually realized in nature. This novel approach is carried out in the framework of Bayesian analysis of a typical hierarchical problem, where the distribution of the parameters of the model depends on further parameters, the hyperparameters. In this context, the choice of the neutrino mass ordering is modeled via the discrete hyperparameter h(type), which we introduce in the usual Markov chain analysis. The preference from cosmological data for either the NH or the IH scenarios is then simply encoded in the posterior distribution of the hyper-parameter itself. Current cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements assign equal odds to the two hierarchies, and are thus unable to distinguish between them. However, after the addition of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, a weak preference for the normal hierarchical scenario appears, with odds of 4 : 3 from Planck temperature and large-scale polarization in combination with BAO (3 : 2 if small-scale polarization is also included). Concerning next-generation cosmological experiments, forecasts suggest that the combination of upcoming CMB (COrE) and BAO surveys (DESI) may determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at a high statistical significance if the mass is very close to the minimal value allowed by oscillation experiments, as for NH and a fiducial value of M-nu = 0.06 eV there is a 9 : 1 preference of normal versus inverted hierarchy. On the contrary, if the sum of the masses is of the order of 0.1 eV or larger, even future cosmological observations will be inconclusive. The innovative statistical strategy exploited here represents a very simple, efficient and robust tool to study the sensitivity of present and future cosmological data to the neutrino mass hierarchy, and a sound competitor to the standard Bayesian model comparison. The unbiased limit on M-nu we obtain is crucial for ongoing and planned neutrinoless double beta decay searches.

Abstract: The photon spectrum in macro-coherent atomic deexcitation via radiative emission of neutrino pairs has been proposed as a sensitive probe of the neutrino mass spectrum, capable of competing with conventional neutrino experiments. In this paper, we revisit this intriguing possibility, presenting an alternative method for inducing large coherence in a target based on adiabatic techniques. More concretely, we propose the use of a modified version of coherent population return (CPR), namely two-photon CPR, that turns out to be extremely robust with respect to the experimental parameters and capable of inducing a coherence close to 100 % in the target.