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Brook, N. H., Castillo Garcia, L., Conneely, T. M., Cussans, D., van Dijk, M. W. U., Fohl, K., et al. (2018). Testbeam studies of a TORCH prototype detector. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 908, 256–268.
Abstract: TORCH is a novel time-of-flight detector that has been developed to provide charged-particle identification between 2 and 10 GeV/c momentum. TORCH combines arrival times from multiple Cherenkov photons produced within a 10 mm-thick quartz radiator plate, to achieve a 15 ps time-of-flight resolution per incident particle. A customised Micro-Channel Plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) and associated readout system utilises an innovative charge-sharing technique between adjacent pixels to obtain the necessary 70 ps time resolution of each Cherenkov photon. A five-year R&D programme has been undertaken, culminating in the construction of a small-scale prototype TORCH module. In testbeams at CERN, this prototype operated successfully with customised electronics and readout system. A full analysis chain has been developed to reconstruct the data and to calibrate the detector. Results are compared to those using a commercial Planacon MCP-PMT, and single photon resolutions approaching 80 ps have been achieved. The photon counting efficiency was found to be in reasonable agreement with a GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulation of the detector. The small-scale demonstrator is a precursor to a full-scale TORCH module (with a radiator plate of 660 x 1250 x 10 mm(3)), which is currently under construction.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2021). Test of the universality of τ and μ lepton couplings in W-boson decays with the ATLAS detector. Nat. Phys., 17, 813–818.
Abstract: The standard model of particle physics encapsulates our best current understanding of physics at the smallest scales. A fundamental axiom of this theory is the universality of the couplings of the different generations of leptons to the electroweak gauge bosons. The measurement of the ratio of the decay rate of W bosons to t leptons and muons, R(tau/mu), constitutes an important test of this axiom. Using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, we report a measurement of this quantity from di-leptonic tt events where the top quarks decay into a W boson and a bottom quark. We can distinguish muons originating from W bosons and those originating from an intermediate t lepton through the muon transverse impact parameter and differences in the muon transverse momentum spectra. The measured value of R(tau/mu) is 0.992 +/- 0.013 [+/- 0.007(stat) +/- 0.011(syst)] and is in agreement with the hypothesis of universal lepton couplings as postulated in the standard model. This is the only such measurement from the Large Hadron Collider, so far, and obtains twice the precision of previous measurements.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2020). Test of lepton universality with Lambda(0)(b) -> pK(-) l(+)l(-). J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 40–27pp.
Abstract: The ratio of branching fractions of the decays -> pK(-)mu(+)mu(-),RpK-1}, is measured for the first time using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb(-1) recorded with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. In the dilepton mass-squared range 0.1 < q(2)< 6.0 GeV2/c(4) and the pK(-) mass range m(pK(-)) < 2600 MeV/c(2), the ratio of branching fractions is measured to be RpK-1=1.17-0.16+0.18 +/- 0.0$$ {R}{pK}<^>{-1}={1.17}{-0.16}<^>{+0.18}\pm 0.07 $$\end{document}, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This is the first test of lepton universality with b baryons and the first observation of the decay -> pK(-)e(+)e(-).
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2022). Test of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays. Nat. Phys., 18(3), 277–282.
Abstract: The standard model of particle physics currently provides our best description of fundamental particles and their interactions. The theory predicts that the different charged leptons, the electron, muon and tau, have identical electroweak interaction strengths. Previous measurements have shown that a wide range of particle decays are consistent with this principle of lepton universality. This article presents evidence for the breaking of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations, based on proton–proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are of processes in which a beauty meson transforms into a strange meson with the emission of either an electron and a positron, or a muon and an antimuon. If confirmed by future measurements, this violation of lepton universality would imply physics beyond the standard model, such as a new fundamental interaction between quarks and leptons.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2023). Test of Lepton Universality in b → sl+l- Decays. Phys. Rev. Lett., 131(5), 051803–13pp.
Abstract: The first simultaneous test of muon-electron universality using B+ -> K(+)l(+)l(-) and B-0 -> K*(0)l(+) l(-) decays is performed, in two ranges of the dilepton invariant-mass squared, q(2). The analysis uses beauty mesons produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb(-1). Each of the four lepton universality measurements reported is either the first in the given q(2) interval or supersedes previous LHCb measurements. The results are compatible with the predictions of the Standard Model.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2023). Test of lepton flavor universality using B0→D*−τ+ντ decays with hadronic τ channels. Phys. Rev. D, 108, 012018–18pp.
Abstract: The branching fraction B(B0→D*−τ+ντ) is measured relative to that of the normalization mode B0→D*−π+π−π+ using hadronic τ+→π+π−π+(π0)¯ντ decays in proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb−1. The measured ratio is B(B0→D*−τ+ντ)/B(B0→D*−π+π−π+)=1.70±0.10+0.11−0.10, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is related to systematic effects. Using established branching fractions for the B0→D*−π+π−π+ and B0→D*−μ+νμ modes, the lepton universality test R(D*−)≡B(B0→D*−τ+ντ)/B(B0→D*−μ+νμ) is calculated, R(D*−)=0.247±0.015±0.015±0.012, where the third uncertainty is due to the uncertainties on the external branching fractions. This result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction and with previous measurements.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2020). Test of CP invariance in vector-boson fusion production of the Higgs boson in the H -> tau tau channel in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 805, 135426–25pp.
Abstract: A test of CP invariance in Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion is performed in the H -> tau tau decay channel. This test uses the Optimal Observable method and is carried out using 36.1 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Contributions from CP-violating interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons are described by an effective field theory, in which the parameter (d) over tilde governs the strength of CP violation. No sign of CP violation is observed in the distributions of the Optimal Observable, and (d) over tilde is constrained to the interval [-0.090, 0.035] at the 68% confidence level (CL), compared to an expected interval of (d) over tilde is an element of [ -0.035, 0.033] based upon the Standard Model prediction. No constraints can be set on (d) over tilde at 95% CL, while an expected 95% CL interval of (d) over tilde is an element of [ -0.21, 0.15] for the Standard Model hypothesis was expected.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Test of CP Invariance in Higgs Boson Vector-Boson-Fusion Production Using the H → γγ Channel with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 131(6), 061802–23pp.
Abstract: A test of CP invariance in Higgs boson production via vector-boson fusion has been performed in the H -> gamma gamma channel using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The optimal observable method is used to probe the CP structure of interactions between the Higgs boson and electroweak gauge bosons, as described by an effective field theory. No sign of CP violation is observed in the data. Constraints are set on the parameters describing the strength of the CP-odd component in the coupling between the Higgs boson and the electroweak gauge bosons in two effective field theory bases: (d) over tilde in the HISZ basis and c(H (W) over tilde) in the Warsaw basis. The results presented are the most stringent constraints on CP violation in the coupling between Higgs and weak bosons. The 95% C.L. constraint on (d) over tilde is derived for the first time and the 95% C.L. constraint on c(H (W) over tilde) has been improved by a factor of 5 compared to the previous measurement.
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del Rio, A., Durrer, R., & Patil, S. P. (2018). Tensor bounds on the hidden universe. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 094–34pp.
Abstract: During single clock inflation, hidden fields (i.e. fields coupled to the inflaton only gravitationally) in their adiabatic vacua can ordinarily only affect observables through virtual effects. After renormalizing background quantities (fixed by observations at some pivot scale), all that remains are logarithmic runnings in correlation functions that are both Planck and slow roll suppressed. In this paper we show how a large number of hidden fields can partially compensate this suppression and generate a potentially observable running in the tensor two point function, consistently inferable courtesy of a large N resummation. We detour to address certain subtleties regarding loop corrections during inflation, extending the analysis of [1]. Our main result is that one can extract bounds on the hidden field content of the universe from bounds on violations of the consistency relation between the tensor spectral index and the tensor to scalar ratio, were primordial tensors ever detected. Such bounds are more competitive than the naive bound inferred from requiring inflation to occur below the strong coupling scale of gravity if deviations from the consistency relation can be bounded to within the sub-percent level. We discuss how one can meaningfully constrain the parameter space of various phenomenological scenarios and constructions that address naturalness with a large number of species (such as N-naturalness') with CMB observations up to cosmic variance limits, and possibly future 21cm and gravitational wave observations.
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Alvarez, A., Cepedello, R., Hirsch, M., & Porod, W. (2022). Temperature effects on the Z(2) symmetry breaking in the scotogenic model. Phys. Rev. D, 105(3), 035013–8pp.
Abstract: It is well known that the scotogenic model for neutrino mass generation can explain correctly the relic abundance of cold dark matter. There have been claims in the literature that an important part of the parameter space of the simplest scotogentic model can be constrained by the requirement that no Z(2)-breaking must occur in the early universe. Here we show that this requirement does not give any constraints on the underlying parameter space at least in those parts, where we can trust perturbation theory. To demonstrate this, we have taken into account the proper decoupling of heavy degrees of freedom in both the thermal potential and in the RGE evolution.
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