Abstract: Light primordial black holes (PBHs) with masses smaller than 10(9) g (10(-24) M-circle dot) evaporate before the onset of Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, rendering their detection rather challenging. If efficiently produced, they may have dominated the universe energy density. We study how such an early matter-dominated era can be probed successfully using gravitational waves (GW) emitted by local and global cosmic strings. While previous studies showed that a matter era generates a single-step suppression of the GW spectrum, we instead find a double-step suppression for local-string GW whose spectral shape provides information on the duration of the matter era. The presence of the two steps in the GW spectrum originates from GW being produced through two events separated in time: loop formation and loop decay, taking place either before or after the matter era. The second step – called the knee – is a novel feature which is universal to any early matter-dominated era and is not only specific to PBHs. Detecting GWs from cosmic strings with LISA, ET, or BBO would set constraints on PBHs with masses between 10(6) and 10(9) g for local strings with tension G μ= 10(-11), and PBHs masses between 10(4) and 10(9) g for global strings with symmetry-breaking scale eta = 10(15) GeV. Effects from the spin of PBHs are discussed.

Abstract: The vector-boson production cross section for the Higgs boson decay in the H -> WW* -> e nu μnu channel is measured as a function of kinematic observables sensitive to the Higgs boson production and decay properties as well as integrated in a fiducial phase space. The analysis is performed using the proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector in Run 2 of the LHC at root s = 13 TeV center-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). The different flavor final state is studied by selecting an electron and a muon originating from a pair of W bosons and compatible with the Higgs boson decay. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution, and the measurements are compared with different state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The differential cross sections are used to constrain anomalous interactions described by dimension-six operators in an effective field theory.

Abstract: We perform a fit to the LHCb data on the T-cc(3875) state in order to determine its nature. We use a general framework that allows to have the (DD & lowast;+)-D-0, (D+D & lowast;0) components forming a molecular state, as well as a possible nonmolecular state or contributions from missing coupled channels. From the fits to the data we conclude that the state observed is clearly of molecular nature from the (DD & lowast;+)-D-0, (D+D & lowast;0) components and the possible contribution of a nonmolecular state or missing channels is smaller than 3%, compatible with zero. We also determine that the state has isospin I=0 with a minor isospin breaking from the different masses of the channels involved, and the probabilities of the (DD & lowast;+)-D-0, (D+D & lowast;0) channels are of the order of 69% and 29% with uncertainties of 1%. The differences between these probabilities should not be interpreted as a measure of the isospin violation. Due to the short range of the strong interaction where the isospin is manifested, the isospin nature is provided by the couplings of the state found to the (DD & lowast;+)-D-0, (D+D & lowast;0) components, and our results for these couplings indicate that we have an I=0 state with a very small isospin breaking. We also find that the potential obtained provides a repulsive interaction in I=1, preventing the formation of an I=1 state, in agreement with what is observed in the experiment.