ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fernandez Martinez, P., Ferrer, A., et al. (2015). Observation and measurement of Higgs boson decays to WW* with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 92(1), 012006–84pp.
Abstract: We report the observation of Higgs boson decays to WW* based on an excess over background of 6.1 standard deviations in the dilepton final state, where the Standard Model expectation is 5.8 standard deviations. Evidence for the vector-boson fusion (VBF) production process is obtained with a significance of 3.2 standard deviations. The results are obtained from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 25 fb(-1) from root s = 7 and 8 TeV pp collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. For a Higgs boson mass of 125.36 GeV, the ratio of the measured value to the expected value of the total production cross section times branching fraction is 1.09(-0.15)(+0.16)(stat)(-0.14)(+0.17)(syst). The corresponding ratios for the gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion production mechanisms are 1.02 +/- 0.19(stat)(-0.18)(+0.22)(syst) and 1.27(-0.40)(+0.44)(stat)(-0.21)(+0.30)(syst), respectively. At root s = 8 TeV, the total production cross sections are measured to be sigma(gg -> H -> WW*) = 4.6 +/- 0.9(stat)(-0.7)(+0.8)(syst) pb and sigma(VBF H -> WW*) = 0.51(-0.15)(+0.17)(stat)(-0.08)(+0.13)(syst) pb. The fiducial cross section is determined for the gluon-fusion process in exclusive final states with zero or one associated jet.
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Novella, P. (2015). The antineutrino energy structure in reactor experiments. Adv. High. Energy Phys., 2015, 364392–12pp.
Abstract: The recent observation of an energy structure in the reactor antineutrino spectrum is reviewed. The reactor experiments Daya Bay, Double Chooz, and RENO have reported a consistent excess of antineutrinos deviating from the flux predictions, with a local significance of about 4 sigma between 4 and 6 MeV of the positron energy spectrum. The possible causes of the structure are analyzed in this work, along with the different experimental approaches developed to identify its origin. Considering the available data and results from the three experiments, the most likely explanation concerns the reactor flux predictions and the associated uncertainties. Therefore, the different current models are described and compared. The possible sources of incompleteness or inaccuracy of such models are discussed, as well as the experimental data required to improve their precision.
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de Salas, P. F., Lattanzi, M., Mangano, G., Miele, G., Pastor, S., & Pisanti, O. (2015). Bounds on very low reheating scenarios after Planck. Phys. Rev. D, 92(12), 123534–9pp.
Abstract: We consider the case of very low reheating scenarios [T-RH similar to O(MeV)] with a better calculation of the production of the relic neutrino background (with three-flavor oscillations). At 95% confidence level, a lower bound on the reheating temperature T-RH > 4.1 MeV is obtained from big bang nucleosynthesis, while T-RH > 4.7 MeV from Planck data (allowing neutrino masses to vary), the most stringent bound on the reheating temperature to date. Neutrino masses as large as 1 eV are possible for very low reheating temperatures.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Search for the rare decays B-0 -> J/psi gamma and B-s(0)-> J/psi gamma. Phys. Rev. D, 92(11), 112002–9pp.
Abstract: A search for the rare decay of a B-0 or B-s(0) meson into the final state J/psi gamma is performed, using data collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at root s = 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). The observed number of signal candidates is consistent with a background-only hypothesis. Branching fraction values larger than 1.5 x 10(-6) for the B-0 -> J/psi gamma decay mode are excluded at 90% confidence level. For the B-s(0) -> J/psi gamma decay mode, branching fraction values larger than 7.3 x 10(-6) are excluded at 90% confidence level; this is the first branching fraction limit for this decay.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Evidence for the Strangeness-Changing Weak Decay Xi(-)(b) -> Lambda(0)(b)pi(-). Phys. Rev. Lett., 115(24), 241801–10pp.
Abstract: Using a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb detector, we present the first search for the strangeness-changing weak decay Xi(-)(b) -> Delta(0)(b)pi(-). No b hadron decay of this type has been seen before. A signal for this decay, corresponding to a significance of 3.2 standard deviations, is reported. The relative rate is measured to be f Xi(-)(b)/f Lambda B-0(b)(Xi(-)(b) -> Lambda(0)(b)pi(-)) = (5.7 +/- 1.8(-0.9)(+0.8)) x 10(-4) where f Xi(-)(b) and f Lambda(0)(b) are the b -> Xi(-)(b) and b -> Lambda(0)(b) fragmentation fractions, and B(Xi(-)(b) -> Lambda(0)(b)pi(-)) is the branching fraction. Assuming f Xi(-)(b)/f Lambda(0)(b) is bounded between 0.1 and 0.3, the branching fraction B(Xi(-)(b) -> Lambda(0)(b)pi(-)) would lie in the range from (0.57 +/- 0.21)% to (0.19 +/- 0.07)%.
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