Abstract: Inclusive isolated-photon production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a data set with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb(-1). The cross section is measured as a function of the photon transverse energy above 125 GeV in different regions of photon pseudorapidity. Next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD and Monte Carlo event-generator predictions are compared to the cross-section measurements and provide an adequate description of the data.

Abstract: A search for CP violation in D-+/- -> eta 'pi(+/-) and D-S(+/-) -> eta 'pi(+/-) decays is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1), recorded by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The measured CP-violating charge asymmetries are A(CP)(D-+/- -> eta 'pi(+/-)) = (-0.61 +/- 0.72 +/- 0.53 +/- 0.12)% and A(CP)(D-S(+/-) -> eta 'pi(+/-)) = (-0.82 +/- 0.36 +/- 0.22 +/- 0.27)%, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second systematic, and the third are the uncertainties on the A(CP)(D-+/- -> K-S(0)pi(+/-)) and A(CP)(D-S(+/-) -> phi pi(+/-)) measurements used for calibration. The results represent the most precise measurements of these asymmetries to date.

Abstract: The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays to final states with multiple charged particles in 2003-2004. A new upper limit on the rate of the lepton number violating decay K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-) is reported: B( K-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(+/-)) < 8.6 x 10(-11) at 90% CL. Searches for two-body resonances X in K-+/- -> pi μμdecays (such as heavy neutral leptons N-4 and inflatons chi) are also presented. In the absence of signals, upper limits are set on the products of branching fractions B(K-+/- -> μN-+/-(4))B(N-4 -> pi mu) and B(K-+/- ->pi X-+/-)B(X -> mu(+),mu(-)) for ranges of assumed resonance masses and lifetimes. The limits are in the (10(-11),10(-9)) range for resonance lifetimes below 100 ps.

Abstract: We discuss a non-supersymmetric scenario which addresses the origin of the matter-parity symmetry, P-M = (-1)(3(B-L)+2s), leading to a viable Dirac fermion dark matter candidate. Implications to electroweak precision, muon anomalous magnetic moment, flavor changing interactions, lepton flavor violation, dark matter and collider physics are discussed in detail. We show that this non-supersymmetric model is capable of generating the matter-parity symmetry in agreement with existing data with gripping implications to particle physics and cosmology.

Abstract: We present a novel approach to derive constraints on neutrino masses, as well as on other cosmological parameters, from cosmological data, while taking into account our ignorance of the neutrino mass ordering. We derive constraints from a combination of current as well as future cosmological datasets on the total neutrino mass M-nu and on the mass fractions f(nu),i = m(i)/M-nu (where the index i = 1, 2, 3 indicates the three mass eigenstates) carried by each of the mass eigenstates m(i), after marginalizing over the (unknown) neutrino mass ordering, either normal ordering (NH) or inverted ordering (IH). The bounds on all the cosmological parameters, including those on the total neutrino mass, take therefore into account the uncertainty related to our ignorance of the mass hierarchy that is actually realized in nature. This novel approach is carried out in the framework of Bayesian analysis of a typical hierarchical problem, where the distribution of the parameters of the model depends on further parameters, the hyperparameters. In this context, the choice of the neutrino mass ordering is modeled via the discrete hyperparameter h(type), which we introduce in the usual Markov chain analysis. The preference from cosmological data for either the NH or the IH scenarios is then simply encoded in the posterior distribution of the hyper-parameter itself. Current cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements assign equal odds to the two hierarchies, and are thus unable to distinguish between them. However, after the addition of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, a weak preference for the normal hierarchical scenario appears, with odds of 4 : 3 from Planck temperature and large-scale polarization in combination with BAO (3 : 2 if small-scale polarization is also included). Concerning next-generation cosmological experiments, forecasts suggest that the combination of upcoming CMB (COrE) and BAO surveys (DESI) may determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at a high statistical significance if the mass is very close to the minimal value allowed by oscillation experiments, as for NH and a fiducial value of M-nu = 0.06 eV there is a 9 : 1 preference of normal versus inverted hierarchy. On the contrary, if the sum of the masses is of the order of 0.1 eV or larger, even future cosmological observations will be inconclusive. The innovative statistical strategy exploited here represents a very simple, efficient and robust tool to study the sensitivity of present and future cosmological data to the neutrino mass hierarchy, and a sound competitor to the standard Bayesian model comparison. The unbiased limit on M-nu we obtain is crucial for ongoing and planned neutrinoless double beta decay searches.