Abstract: In this paper we provide an updated analysis of the neutrino magnetic moments (NMMs), discussing both the constraints on the magnitudes of the three transition moments Lambda(i) and the role of the CP violating phases present both in the mixing matrix and in the NMM matrix. The scattering of solar neutrinos off electrons in Borexino provides the most stringent restrictions, due to its robust statistics and the low energies observed, below 1 MeV. Our new limit on the effective neutrino magnetic moment which follows from the most recent Borexino data is 3.1 x 10(-11) mu(B) at 90% C.L. This corresponds to the individual transition magnetic moment constraints: vertical bar Lambda(1)vertical bar <= 5.6 x10(-11)mu(B), vertical bar Lambda(2)vertical bar <= 4.0 x10(-11)mu(B), and vertical bar Lambda(3)vertical bar <= 3.1 x10(-11)mu B(90% C. L.), irrespective of any complex phase. Indeed, the incoherent admixture of neutrino mass eigenstates present in the solar flux makes Borexino insensitive to the Majorana phases present in the NMM matrix. For this reason we also provide a global analysis including the case of reactor and accelerator neutrino sources, presenting the resulting constraints for different values of the relevant CP phases. Improved reactor and accelerator neutrino experiments will be needed in order to underpin the full profile of the neutrino electromagnetic properties.

Abstract: The O(alpha) electromagnetic radiative corrections to the B- -> V(0)l(-)(nu) over bar (l) (V is a vector meson and l a charged lepton) decay rates are evaluated using the cutoff method to regularize virtual corrections and incorporating intermediate resonance states in the real-photon amplitude to extend the region of validity of the soft-photon approximation. The electromagnetic and weak form factors of hadrons are assumed to vary smoothly over the energies of virtual and real photons under consideration. The cutoff dependence of radiative corrections upon the scale Lambda that separates the long-and short-distance regimes is found to be mild and is considered as an uncertainty of the calculation. Owing to partial cancellations of electromagnetic corrections evaluated over the three-and four-body regions of phase space, the photoninclusive corrected rates are found to be dominated by the short-distance contribution. These corrections will be relevant for a precise determination of the b quark mixing angles by testing isospin symmetrywhen measurements of semileptonic rates of charged and neutral B mesons at the fewpercent level become available. For completeness, we also provide numerical values of radiative corrections in the three-body region of the Dalitz plot distributions of these decays.

Abstract: NEXT-100 is an electroluminescent high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber that will search for the neutrinoless double beta (0v beta beta) decay of Xe-136. The detector possesses two features of great value for 0v beta beta searches: energy resolution better than 1% FWHM at the Q value of Xe-136 and track reconstruction for the discrimination of signal and background events. This combination results in excellent sensitivity, as discussed in this paper. Material-screening measurements and a detailed Monte Carlo detector simulation predict a background rate for NEXT-100 of at most 4 x 10(-4) counts keV(-1) kg(-1) yr(-1). Accordingly, the detector will reach a sensitivity to the 0v beta beta-decay half-life of 2.8 x 10(25) years (90% CL) for an exposure of 100 kg.year, or 6.0 x 10(25) years after a run of 3 effective years.

Abstract: We describe an extension of the SOFTSUSY spectrum calculator to include two-loop supersymmetric QCD (SUSYQCD) corrections of order O(alpha(2)(s)) to gluino and squark pole masses, either in the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) or the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model (NMSSM). This document provides an overview of the program and acts as a manual for the new version of SOFTSUSY, which includes the increase in accuracy in squark and gluino pole mass predictions. Program summary Program title: SOFTSUSY Program Files doi: http://dx.doLorg/10.17632/sh77x9j7hs.1 Licensing provisions: GNU GPLv3 Programming language: C++, fortran, C Nature of problem: Calculating supersymmetric particle spectrum, mixing parameters and couplings in the MSSM or the NMSSM. The solution to the renormalization group equations must be consistent with theoretical boundary conditions on supersymmetry breaking parameters, as well as a weak-scale boundary condition on gauge couplings, Yukawa couplings and the Higgs potential parameters. Solution method: Nested fixed point iteration. Restrictions: SOFTSUSY will provide a solution only in the perturbative regime and it assumes that all couplings of the model are real (i.e. CP-conserving). If the parameter point under investigation is nonphysical for some reason (for example because the electroWeak potential does not have an acceptable minimum), SOFTSUSY returns an error message. The higher order corrections included are for the MSSM (R-parity conserving or violating) or the real R-parity conserving NMSSM only. Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 189 (2015) 192. Does the new version supersede the previous version?: Yes. Reasons for the new version: It is desirable to improve the accuracy of the squark and gluinos mass predictions, since they strongly affect supersymmetric particle production cross-sections at colliders. Summary of revisions: The calculation of the squark and gluino pole masses is extended to be of next-to next-to leading order in SUSYQCD, i.e. including terms up to O(g(s)(4)/(16 pi(2))(2)). Additional comments: Program obtainable from http://softsusy.hepforge.org/

Abstract: A highly significant excess of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos has been reported by the IceCube Collaboration. Some features of the energy and declination distributions of IceCube events hint at a North/South asymmetry of the neutrino flux. This could be due to the presence of the bulk of our Galaxy in the Southern hemisphere. The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located in the Mediterranean Sea, has been taking data since 2007. It offers the best sensitivity to muon neutrinos produced by galactic cosmic ray interactions in this region of the sky. In this letter a search for an extended neutrino flux from the Galactic Ridge region is presented. Different models of neutrino production by cosmic ray propagation are tested. No excess of events is observed and upper limits for different neutrino flux spectral indices Gamma are set. For Gamma = 2.4 the 90% confidence level flux upper limit at 100 TeV for one neutrino flavour corresponds to phi(1f)(0) (100TeV) = 2.0 . 10(-17) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1). Under this assumption, at most two events of the IceCube cosmic candidates can originate from the Galactic Ridge. A simple power-law extrapolation of the Fermi-LAT flux to account for IceCube High Energy Starting Events is excluded at 90% confidence level.