T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Novella, P., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Measurement of Coherent pi(+) Production in Low Energy Neutrino-Carbon Scattering. Phys. Rev. Lett., 117(9), 192501–7pp.
Abstract: We report the first measurement of the flux-averaged cross section for charged current coherent pi(+) production on carbon for neutrino energies less than 1.5 GeV, and with a restriction on the final state phase space volume in the T2K near detector, ND280. Comparisons are made with predictions from the Rein-Sehgal coherent production model and the model by Alvarez-Ruso et al., the latter representing the first implementation of an instance of the new class of microscopic coherent models in a neutrino interaction Monte Carlo event generator. We observe a clear event excess above background, disagreeing with the null results reported by K2K and SciBooNE in a similar neutrino energy region. The measured flux-averaged cross sections are below those predicted by both the Rein-Sehgal and Alvarez-Ruso et al. models.
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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. (2016). Search for metastable heavy charged particles with large ionization energy loss in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV using the ATLAS experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 93(11), 112015–25pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a search for massive charged long-lived particles produced in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC using the ATLAS experiment. The data set used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). Many extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of massive charged long-lived particles, such as R-hadrons. These massive particles are expected to be produced with a velocity significantly below the speed of light, and therefore to have a specific ionization higher than any Standard Model particle of unit charge at high momenta. The Pixel subsystem of the ATLAS detector is used to measure the ionization energy loss of reconstructed charged particles and to search for such highly ionizing particles. The search presented here has much greater sensitivity than a similar search performed using the ATLAS detector in the root s = 8 TeV data set, thanks to the increase in expected signal cross section due to the higher center-of-mass energy of collisions, to an upgraded detector with a new silicon layer close to the interaction point, and to analysis improvements. No significant deviation from Standard Model background expectations is observed, and lifetime-dependent upper limits on R-hadron production cross sections and masses are set. Gluino R-hadrons with lifetimes above 0.4 ns and decaying to q (q) over bar plus a 100 GeV neutralino are excluded at the 95% confidence level, with lower mass limit ranging between 740 and 1590 GeV. In the case of stable R-hadrons the lower mass limit at the 95% confidence level is 1570 GeV.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). Measurements of Z gamma and Z gamma gamma production in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 93(11), 112002–41pp.
Abstract: The production of Z bosons with one or two isolated high-energy photons is studied using pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV. The analyses use a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS detector during the 2012 LHC data taking. The Z gamma and Z gamma gamma production cross sections are measured with leptonic (e(+) e(-), mu(+) mu(-), nu(nu) over bar) decays of the Z boson, in extended fiducial regions defined in terms of the lepton and photon acceptance. They are then compared to cross-section predictions from the Standard Model, where the sources of the photons are radiation off initial-state quarks and radiative Z-boson decay to charged leptons, and from fragmentation of final-state quarks and gluons into photons. The yields of events with photon transverse energy E-T > 250 GeV from l(+) l(-) gamma events and with E-T > 400 GeV from nu(nu) over bar gamma events are used to search for anomalous triple gauge-boson couplings ZZ gamma and Z gamma gamma. The yields of events with diphoton invariant mass m(gamma gamma) > 200 GeV from l(+) l(-) gamma gamma events and with m(gamma gamma) > 300 GeV from nu(nu) over bar gamma gamma events are used to search for anomalous quartic gauge-boson couplings ZZ gamma gamma and Z gamma gamma gamma. No deviations from Standard Model predictions are observed and limits are placed on parameters used to describe anomalous triple and quartic gauge-boson couplings.
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Serenelli, A., Scott, P., Villante, F. L., Vincent, A. C., Asplund, M., Basu, S., et al. (2016). Implications of solar wind measurements for solar models and composition. Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 463(1), 2–9.
Abstract: We critically examine recent claims of a high solar metallicity by von Steiger & Zurbuchen (2016, vSZ16) based onin situ measurements of the solar wind, rather than the standard spectroscopically inferred abundances (Asplund et al. 2009, hereafter AGSS09). We test the claim by Vagnozzi et al. (2016) that a composition based on the solar wind enables one to construct a standard solar model in agreement with helioseismological observations and thus solve the decades-old solar modelling problem. We show that, although some helioseismological observables are improved compared to models computed with spectroscopic abundances, most are in fact worse. The high abundance of refractory elements leads to an overproduction of neutrinos, with a predicted B-8 flux that is nearly twice its observed value, and Be-7 and CNO fluxes that are experimentally ruled out at high confidence. A combined likelihood analysis shows that models using the vSZ16 abundances are worse than AGSS09 despite a higher metallicity. We also present astrophysical and spectroscopic arguments showing the vSZ16 composition to be an implausible representation of the solar interior, identifying the first ionization potential effect in the outer solar atmosphere and wind as the likely culprit.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). Measurements of the charge asymmetry in top-quark pair production in the dilepton final state at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 94(3), 032006–31pp.
Abstract: Measurements of the top-antitop quark pair production charge asymmetry in the dilepton channel, characterized by two high-p(T) leptons (electrons or muons), are presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) from pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy root s = 8 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Inclusive and differential measurements as a function of the invariant mass, transverse momentum, and longitudinal boost of the tt system arc performed both in the full phase space and in a fiducial phase space closely matching the detector acceptance. Two observables are studied: A(c)(ll) based on the selected leptons and A(c)(tt) based on the reconstructed tt final state. The inclusive asymmetries are measured in the full phase space to be A(c)(ll)= 0.008 +/- 0.006 and A(c)(tt)= 0.021 +/- 0.016, which are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of A(c)(ll)= 0.0064 +/- 0.0003 and A(c)(tt)= 0.0111 +/- 0.0004.
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