LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2014). Precision Measurement of the Mass and Lifetime of the Xi(-)(b) Baryon. Phys. Rev. Lett., 113(24), 242002–9pp.
Abstract: We report on measurements of the mass and lifetime of the Xi(-)(b) baryon using about 1800 Xi(-)(b) decays reconstructed in a proton-proton collision data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment. The decays are reconstructed in the Xi(-)(b) -> Xi(0)(c)pi(-), Xi(0)(c) -> pK(-)K(-)pi(+) channel and the mass and lifetime are measured using the Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda(+)(c)pi(-) mode as a reference. We measure M(Xi(-)(b)) – M(Lambda(0)(b)) = 178.36 +/- 0.46 +/- 0.16 MeV/c(2), (tau Xi(-)(b)/tau Lambda(0)(b)) = 1.089 +/- 0.026 +/- 0.011, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. These results lead to a factor of 2 better precision on the Xi(-)(b) mass and lifetime compared to previous best measurements, and are consistent with theoretical expectations.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2014). Precision luminosity measurements at LHCb. J. Instrum., 9, P12005–91pp.
Abstract: Measuring cross-sections at the LHC requires the luminosity to be determined accurately at each centre-of-mass energy root s. In this paper results are reported from the luminosity calibrations carried out at the LHC interaction point 8 with the LHCb detector for root s = 2.76, 7 and 8TeV (proton-proton collisions) and for root s(NN) = 5TeV (proton-lead collisions). Both the “van der Meer scan” and “beam-gas imaging” luminosity calibration methods were employed. It is observed that the beam density profile cannot always be described by a function that is factorizable in the two transverse coordinates. The introduction of a two-dimensional description of the beams improves significantly the consistency of the results. For proton-proton interactions at root s = 8TeV a relative precision of the luminosity calibration of 1.47% is obtained using van der Meer scans and 1.43% using beam-gas imaging, resulting in a combined precision of 1.12%. Applying the calibration to the full data set determines the luminosity with a precision of 1.16%. This represents the most precise luminosity measurement achieved so far at a bunched-beam hadron collider.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Monfregola, L., Sorel, M., et al. (2014). Precise Measurement of the Neutrino Mixing Parameter theta(23) from Muon Neutrino Disappearance in an Off-Axis Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 112(18), 181801–8pp.
Abstract: New data from the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment produce the most precise measurement of the neutrino mixing parameter theta(23). Using an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV and a data set corresponding to 6.57 x 10(20) protons on target, T2K has fit the energy-dependent nu(mu) oscillation probability to determine oscillation parameters. The 68% confidence limit on sin(2)(theta(23)) is 0.514(-0.056)(+0.055) (0.511 +/- 0.055), assuming normal (inverted) mass hierarchy. The best-fit mass-squared splitting for normal hierarchy is Delta m(32)(2) = (2.51 +/- 0.10) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4) (inverted hierarchy: Delta m(13)(2) = (2.48 +/- 0.10) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4)). Adding a model of multinucleon interactions that affect neutrino energy reconstruction is found to produce only small biases in neutrino oscillation parameter extraction at current levels of statistical uncertainty.
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Lobo, F. S. N., Martinez-Asencio, J., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2014). Planck scale physics and topology change through an exactly solvable model. Phys. Lett. B, 731, 163–167.
Abstract: We consider the collapse of a charged radiation fluid in a Planck-suppressed quadratic extension of General Relativity (GR) formulated A la Palatini. We obtain exact analytical solutions that extend the charged Vaidya-type solution of GR, which allows to explore in detail new physics at the Planck scale. Starting from Minkowski space, we find that the collapsing fluid generates wormholes supported by the electric field. We discuss the relevance of our findings in relation to the quantum foam structure of space-time and the meaning of curvature divergences in this theory.
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Gomez Dumm, D., Noguera, S., Scoccola, N. N., & Scopetta, S. (2014). Pion distribution amplitude and the pion-photon transition form factor in a nonlocal chiral quark model. Phys. Rev. D, 89(5), 054031–14pp.
Abstract: We study the pion distribution amplitude (pi DA) in the context of a nonlocal chiral quark model. The corresponding Lagrangian reproduces the phenomenological values of the pion mass and decay constant, as well as the momentum dependence of the quark propagator obtained in lattice calculations. It is found that the obtained pi DA has two symmetric maxima, which arise from the new contributions generated by the nonlocal character of the interactions. This pi DA is applied to leading order and next-to-leading order calculations of the pion-photon transition form factor. Implications of the results are discussed.
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