Abstract: The first observation of the decay of a B0 meson to a purely baryonic final state, B-0 -> p$(p)over-bar-$ , is reported. The proton-proton collision data sample used was collected with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1). The branching fraction is determined to be B(B-0 -> p$(p)over-bar-$) = (1.25 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.18) x 10(-8), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The decay mode B-0 -> p$(p)over-bar-$ is the rarest decay of the B-0 meson observed to date. The decay B-s(0 )-> p$(p)over-bar-$ is also investigated. No signal is seen and the upper limit B(B-s(0) -> p$(p)over-bar-$) < 1.5 x 10(-8) at 90% confidence level is set on the branching fraction.

Abstract: We report the first search for dark sectors performed at the NA64 experiment employing a high energy muon beam and a missing energy-momentum technique. Muons from the M2 beamline at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron with a momentum of 160 GeV/c are directed to an active target. The signal signature consists of a single scattered muon with momentum < 80 GeV/c in the final state, accompanied by missing energy, i.e., no detectable activity in the downstream calorimeters. For a total dataset of (1.98 +/- 0.02) x 10(10) muons on target, no event is observed in the expected signal region. This allows us to set new limits on the remaining (m(Z)'; g(Z)') parameter space of a new Z' (L-mu – L-tau) vector boson which could explain the muon (g – 2)(mu) anomaly. Additionally, our study excludes part of the parameter space suggested by the thermal dark matter relic abundance. Our results pave the way to explore dark sectors and light dark matter with muon beams in a unique and complementary way to other experiments.

Abstract: The IceCube experiment has recently reported the observation of 28 high-energy (> 30 TeV) neutrino events, separated into 21 showers and 7 muon tracks, consistent with an extraterrestrial origin. In this Letter, we compute the compatibility of such an observation with possible combinations of neutrino flavors with relative proportion (alpha(e:)alpha(mu):alpha tau)(circle plus). Although the 7: 21 track-to-shower ratio is naively favored for the canonical (1:1:1)(circle plus) at Earth, this is not true once the atmospheric muon and neutrino backgrounds are properly accounted for. We find that, for an astrophysical neutrino E-2 energy spectrum, (1:1:1)(circle plus). at Earth is disfavored at 81% C. L. If this proportion does not change, 6 more years of data would be needed to exclude (1:1:1)(circle plus) at Earth at 3 sigma C.L. Indeed, with the recently released 3-yr data, that flavor composition is excluded at 92% C. L. The best fit is obtained for (1:0:0)(circle plus). at Earth, which cannot be achieved from any flavor ratio at sources with averaged oscillations during propagation. If confirmed, this result would suggest either a misunderstanding of the expected background events or a misidentification of tracks as showers, or even more compellingly, some exotic physics which deviates from the standard scenario.