Abstract: We consider the X(3872) resonance as a J(PC) = 1(++) D (D) over bar* hadronic molecule. According to heavy quark spin symmetry, there will exist a partner with quantum numbers 2(++), X-2, which would be a D*(D) over bar* loosely bound state. The X-2 is expected to decay dominantly into D (D) over bar, D (D) over bar* and (D) over barD* in d-wave. In this work, we calculate the decay widths of the X-2 resonance into the above channels, as well as those of its bottom partner, X-b2, the mass of which comes from assuming heavy flavor symmetry for the contact terms. We find partial widths of the X-2 and X-b2 of the order of a few MeV. Finally, we also study the radiative X-2 -> D (D) over bar*gamma. and X-b2 -> (B) over bar B*gamma decays. These decay modes are more sensitive to the long-distance structure of the resonances and to the D (D) over bar* or B (B) over bar* final state interaction.

Abstract: The first prototype of a photo-detection unit of the future KM3NeT neutrino telescope has been deployed in the deepwaters of the Mediterranean Sea. This digital optical module has a novel design with a very large photocathode area segmented by the use of 31 three inch photomultiplier tubes. It has been integrated in the ANTARES detector for in-situ testing and validation. This paper reports on the first months of data taking and rate measurements. The analysis results highlight the capabilities of the new module design in terms of background suppression and signal recognition. The directionality of the optical module enables the recognition of multiple Cherenkov photons from the same (40)Kdecay and the localisation of bioluminescent activity in the neighbourhood. The single unit can cleanly identify atmospheric muons and provide sensitivity to the muon arrival directions.

Abstract: KM3NeT is a research infrastructure located in the Mediterranean Sea, that will consist of two deep-sea Cherenkov neutrino detectors. With one detector (ARCA), the KM3NeT Collaboration aims at identifying and studying TeV-PeV astrophysical neutrino sources. With the other detector (ORCA), the neutrino mass ordering will be determined by studying GeV-scale atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The first KM3NeT detection units were deployed at the Italian and French sites between 2015 and 2017. In this paper, a description of the detector is presented, together with a summary of the procedures used to calibrate the detector in-situ. Finally, the measurement of the atmospheric muon flux between 2232-3386 m seawater depth is obtained.

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: We present the details and first results of a new strategy for the determination of alpha s(mZ) (ALPHA Collaboration et al. in Phys. Lett. B 807:135571, 2020). By simultaneously decoupling 3 fictitious heavy quarks we establish a relation between the A-parameters of three-flavor QCD and pure gauge theory. Very precise recent results in the pure gauge theory (Dalla Brida and Ramos in Eur. Phys. J. C 79(8):720, 2019; Nada and Ramos in Eur Phys J C 81(1):1, 2021) can thus be leveraged to obtain the three flavour A-parameter in units of a common decoupling scale. Connecting this scale to hadronic physics in 3-flavour QCD leads to our result in physical units, A(3)/MS = 336(12) MeV, which translates to alpha s(m(Z)) = 0.11823(84). This is compatible with both the FLAG average (Aoki et al. in FLAG review 2021. arXiv:2111.09849 [hep-lat]) and the previous ALPHA result (ALPHA Collaboration et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 119(10):102001, 2017), with a comparable, yet still statistics dominated, error. This constitutes a highly non-trivial check, as the decoupling strategy is conceptually very different from the 3-flavour QCD step-scaling method, and so are their systematic errors. These include the uncertainties of the combined decoupling and continuum limits, which we discuss in some detail. We also quantify the correlation between both results, due to some common elements, such as the scale determination in physical units and the definition of the energy scale where we apply decoupling.