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NEXT Collaboration(Henriques, C. A. O. et al), Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J., Botas, A., Carcel, S., et al. (2017). Secondary scintillation yield of xenon with sub-percent levels of CO2 additive for rare-event detection. Phys. Lett. B, 773, 663–671.
Abstract: Xe-CO2 mixtures are important alternatives to pure xenon in Time Projection Chambers (TPC) based on secondary scintillation (electroluminescence) signal amplification with applications in the important field of rare event detection such as directional dark matter, double electron capture and double beta decay detection. The addition of CO2 to pure xenon at the level of 0.05-0.1% can reduce significantly the scale of electron diffusion from 10 mm/root m to 2.5 mm/root m, with high impact on the discrimination of the events through pattern recognition of the topology of primary ionization trails. We have measured the electroluminescence (EL) yield of Xe-CO2 mixtures, with sub-percent CO2 concentrations. We demonstrate that the EL production is still high in these mixtures, 70% and 35% relative to that produced in pure xenon, for CO2 concentrations around 0.05% and 0.1%, respectively. The contribution of the statistical fluctuations in EL production to the energy resolution increases with increasing CO2 concentration, being smaller than the contribution of the Fano factor for concentrations below 0.1% CO2.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Searches for the Z gamma decay mode of the Higgs boson and for new high-mass resonances in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 112–51pp.
Abstract: This article presents searches for the Z gamma decay of the Higgs boson and for narrow high-mass resonances decaying to Z gamma, exploiting Z boson decays to pairs of electrons or muons. The data analysis uses 36.1 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 13 recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The data are found to be consistent with the expected Standard Model background. The observed (expected – assuming Standard Model pp -> H -> Z gamma production and decay) upper limit on the production cross section times the branching ratio for pp -> H -> Z gamma is 6.6. (5.2) times the Standard Model prediction at the 95% confidence level for a Higgs boson mass of 125.09 GeV. In addition, upper limits are set on the production cross section times the branching ratio as a function of the mass of a narrow resonance between 250 GeV and 2.4 TeV, assuming spin-0 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion, and spin-2 resonances produced via gluon-gluon or quark-antiquark initial states. For high-mass spin-0 resonances, the observed (expected) limits vary between 88 fb (61 fb) and 2.8 fb (2.7 fb) for the mass range from 250 GeV to 2.4 TeV at the 95% confidence level.
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NA48/2 Collaboration(Batley, J. R. et al), & Fiorini, L. (2017). Searches for lepton number violation and resonances in K-+/- -> pi μμdecays. Phys. Lett. B, 769, 67–76.
Abstract: The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays to final states with multiple charged particles in 2003-2004. A new upper limit on the rate of the lepton number violating decay K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-) is reported: B( K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-)) < 8.6 x 10(-11) at 90% CL. Searches for two-body resonances X in K-+/- -> pi μμdecays (such as heavy neutral leptons N-4 and inflatons chi) are also presented. In the absence of signals, upper limits are set on the products of branching fractions B(K-+/- -> μN-+/-(4))B(N-4 -> pi mu) and B(K-+/- ->pi X-+/-)B(X -> mu(+),mu(-)) for ranges of assumed resonance masses and lifetimes. The limits are in the (10(-11),10(-9)) range for resonance lifetimes below 100 ps.
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XENON Collaboration(Aprile, E. et al), & Orrigo, S. E. A. (2017). Search for two-neutrino double electron capture of Xe-124 with XENON100. Phys. Rev. C, 95(2), 024605–6pp.
Abstract: Two-neutrino double electron capture is a rare nuclear decay where two electrons are simultaneously captured from the atomic shell. For Xe-124 this process has not yet been observed and its detection would provide a new reference for nuclear matrix element calculations. We have conducted a search for two-neutrino double electron capture from the K shell of 124Xe using 7636 kg d of data from the XENON100 dark matter detector. Using a Bayesian analysis we observed no significant excess above background, leading to a lower 90% credibility limit on the half-life T-1/2 > 6.5 x 10(20) yr. We have also evaluated the sensitivity of the XENON1T experiment, which is currently being commissioned, and found a sensitivity of T-1/2 > 6.1 x 10(22) yr after an exposure of 2 t yr.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Search for triboson (WWW -/+)-W-+/-W-+/- production in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 77(3), 141–28pp.
Abstract: This paper reports a search for triboson (WWW -/+)-W-+/--W-+/- production in two decay channels ((WWW -/+)-W-+/--W-+/- -> l(+/-)vl(+/-)vl(-/+) v and (WWW -/+)-W-+/--W-+/- -> l(+/-)vl(+/-)vjj with l = e, mu) in proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with exactly three charged leptons, or two leptons with the same electric charge in association with two jets, are selected. The total number of events observed in data is consistent with the Standard Model (SM) predictions. The observed 95% confidence level upper limit on the (WWW -/+)-W-+/--W-+/- production cross section is found to be 730 fb with an expected limit of 560 fb in the absence of SM (WWW -/+)-W-+/--W-+/- production. Limits are also set on WWWW anomalous quartic gauge couplings.
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