ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2022). Search for Higgs boson decays into a pair of pseudoscalar particles in the bb μμfinal state with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV. Phys. Rev. D, 105(1), 012006–29pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a search for decays of the Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV into a pair of new pseudoscalar particles, H -> aa, where one a-boson decays into a b-quark pair and the other into a muon pair. The search uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. A narrow dimuon resonance is searched for in the invariant mass spectrum between 16 GeV and 62 GeV. The largest excess of events above the Standard Model backgrounds is observed at a dimuon invariant mass of 52 GeV and corresponds to a local (global) significance of 3.3 sigma (1.7 sigma). Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to the bb μμfinal state, beta(H -> aa -> bb μmu), and are in the range 0.2-4.0 x 10(-4), depending on the signal mass hypothesis.
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Giare, W., Renzi, F., Melchiorri, A., Mena, O., & Di Valentino, E. (2022). Cosmological forecasts on thermal axions, relic neutrinos, and light elements. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 511(1), 1373–1382.
Abstract: One of the targets of future cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements is to improve the current accuracy in the neutrino sector and reach a much better sensitivity on extra dark radiation in the early Universe. In this paper, we study how these improvements can be translated into constraining power for well-motivated extensions of the standard model of elementary particles that involve axions thermalized before the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition by scatterings with gluons. Assuming a fiducial Lambda cold dark matter cosmological model, we simulate future data for Stage-IV CMB-like and Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI)-like surveys and analyse a mixed scenario of axion and neutrino hot dark matter. We further account also for the effects of these QCD axions on the light element abundances predicted by big bang nucleosynthesis. The most constraining forecasted limits on the hot relic masses are m(a) less than or similar to 0.92 eV and n-ary sumation m(nu) less than or similar to 0.12 eV at 95 per cent Confidence Level, showing that future cosmic observations can substantially improve the current bounds, supporting multimessenger analyses of axion, neutrino, and primordial light element properties.
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Belle II Collaboration(Abudinen, F. et al), & Marinas, C. (2022). B-flavor tagging at Belle II. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(4), 283–29pp.
Abstract: We report on new flavor tagging algorithms developed to determine the quark-flavor content of bottom (B) mesons at Belle II. The algorithms provide essential inputs for measurements of quark-flavor mixing and charge-parity violation. We validate and evaluate the performance of the algorithms using hadronic B decays with flavor-specific final states reconstructed in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 62.8 fb(-1), collected at the gamma(4S) resonance with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB collider. We measure the total effective tagging efficiency to be epsilon(eff) = (30.0 +/- 1.2(stat) +/- 0.4(syst))% for a category-based algorithm and epsilon(eff) = (28.8 +/- 1.2(stat) +/- 0.4(syst))% for a deep-learning-based algorithm.
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Biryukov, V. M., & Ruiz Vidal, J. (2022). Improved experimental layout for dipole moment measurements at the LHC. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(2), 149–11pp.
Abstract: The electric and magnetic dipole moment of charm and bottom baryons can be measured for the first time by using bent crystal technology at the LHC. The experimental method, proposed in recent years, suffers from limited statistics, which dominates the uncertainty of the measurement. In this work, we present an alternative experimental layout, based on the use of crystal lenses, that improves the trapping efficiency by about a factor 15 (35) for a 2-cm (5-mm) target with respect to the nominal layout, with plain crystal faces. The efficiencies are evaluated taking into account the constraints from the LHC machine, and the technical challenges to realize this novel experimental method are discussed.
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Albaladejo, M. (2022). T-cc(+) coupled channel analysis and predictions. Phys. Lett. B, 829, 137052–13pp.
Abstract: A coupled channel analysis of the D*D-+(0) and D*D-0(+) system is performed to study the doubly charmed T-cc(+) state recently discovered by the LHCb collaboration. We use a simple model for the scattering amplitude and production mechanism that allows us to describe well the experimental spectrum, and obtain the T-cc(+) pole in the coupled channel T-matrix. We find that this bound state has a large molecular component. The isospin (I = 0 or I = 1) of the state cannot be inferred from the (DD0)-D-0 pi(+) spectrum alone, although there is some experimental evidence that points to the I = 0 interpretation. Therefore, we use the same formalism to predict other DD pi spectra. In the case the T-cc(+) has I = 1, we also predict the location of the other two members (T-cc(+) and T-cc(0)) of the triplet. Finally, using Heavy-Quark Spin Symmetry, we predict the location of possible heavier D*D* (I = 0 or I= 1) partners.
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Di Valentino, E., Gariazzo, S., Giunti, C., Mena, O., Pan, S., & Yang, W. Q. (2022). Minimal dark energy: Key to sterile neutrino and Hubble constant tensions? Phys. Rev. D, 105(10), 103511–15pp.
Abstract: Minimal dark energy models, described by the same number of free parameters of the standard cosmological model with cold dark matter plus a cosmological constant to parametrize the dark energy component, constitute very appealing scenarios which may solve long-standing, pending tensions. On the one hand, they alleviate significantly the tension between cosmological observations and the presence of one sterile neutrino motivated by the short-baseline anomalies: we obtain a 95% CL cosmological bound on the mass of a fully thermalized fourth sterile neutrino (N-eff = 4) equal to m(s) < 0.65(1.3) eV within the Phenomenologically Emergent Dark Energy (PEDE) and Vacuum Metamorphosis (VM) scenarios under consideration. Interestingly, these limits are in agreement with the observations at short-baseline experiments, and the PEDE scenario is favored with respect to the Lambda CDM case when the full data combination is considered. On the other hand, the Hubble tension is satisfactorily solved in almost all the minimal dark energy schemes explored here. These phenomenological scenarios may therefore shed light on differences arising from near and far Universe probes, and also on discrepancies between cosmological and laboratory sterile neutrino searches.
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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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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., & Ruiz Vidal, J. (2022). Observation of two new excited Ξ0b states decaying to Λ0bK−π+. Phys. Rev. Lett., 128(16), 162001–12pp.
Abstract: Two narrow resonant states are observed in the Λ0bK−π+ mass spectrum using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb−1. The minimal quark content of the Λ0bK−π+ system indicates that these are excited Ξ0b baryons. The masses of the Ξb(6327)0 and Ξb(6333)0 states are m(Ξb(6327)0)=6327.28+0.23−0.21±0.12±0.24 MeV and m(Ξb(6333)0)=6332.69+0.17−0.18±0.03±0.22 MeV, respectively, with a mass splitting of Δm=5.41+0.26−0.27±0.12 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and due to the Λ0b mass measurement. The measured natural widths of these states are consistent with zero, with upper limits of Γ(Ξb(6327)0)<2.20 (2.56) MeV and Γ(Ξb(6333)0)<1.60 (1.92) MeV at a 90% (95%) credibility level. The significance of the two-peak hypothesis is larger than nine (five) Gaussian standard deviations compared to the no-peak (one-peak) hypothesis. The masses, widths and resonant structure of the new states are in good agreement with the expectations for a doublet of 1D Ξ0b resonances.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., et al. (2022). Measurement of the energy asymmetry in t(t)over-barj production at 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment and interpretation in the SMEFT framework. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(4), 374–36pp.
Abstract: A measurement of the energy asymmetry in jet-associated top-quark pair production is presented using 139 fb(-1) of data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV. The observable measures the different probability of top and antitop quarks to have the higher energy as a function of the jet scattering angle with respect to the beam axis. The energy asymmetry is measured in the semileptonic t (t) over bar decay channel, and the hadronically decaying top quark must have transverse momentum above 350 GeV. The results are corrected for detector effects to particle level in three bins of the scattering angle of the associated jet. The measurement agrees with the SM prediction at next-to-leading-order accuracy in quantum chromodynamics in all three bins. In the bin with the largest expected asymmetry, where the jet is emitted perpendicular to the beam, the energy asymmetry is measured to be -0.043 +/- 0.020, in agreement with the SM prediction of -0.037 +/- 0.003. Interpreting this result in the framework of the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), it is shown that the energy asymmetry is sensitive to the top-quark chirality in four-quark operators and is therefore a valuable new observable in global SMEFT fits.
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Perez-Ramos, R., Sanchis-Lozano, M. A., & Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, E. K. (2022). Searching for hidden matter with long-range angular correlations at e(+)e(-) colliders. Phys. Rev. D, 105(5), 053001–8pp.
Abstract: The analysis of azimuthal correlations in multiparticle production can be useful to uncover the existence of new physics beyond the Standard Model, e.g., Hidden Valley, in e(+)e(-) annihilation at high energies. In this paper, based on previous theoretical studies and using the PYTHIA8 event generator, it is found that both azimuthal and rapidity long-range correlations are enhanced due to the presence of a new stage of matter on top of the QCD partonic cascade. Ridge structures, similar to those observed in hadronic collisions at the LHC, show up providing a possible signature of new physics at future e(+)e(-) colliders.
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