ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Differential t(t)over-tilde cross-section measurements using boosted top quarks in the all-hadronic final state with 139 fb(-1) of ATLAS data. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 080–108pp.
Abstract: Measurements of single-, double-, and triple-differential cross-sections are presented for boosted top-quark pair-production in 13 TeV proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The top quarks are observed through their hadronic decay and reconstructed as large-radius jets with the leading jet having transverse momentum (p(T)) greater than 500 GeV. The observed data are unfolded to remove detector effects. The particle-level cross-section, multiplied by the t (t) over bar branching fraction and measured in a fiducial phase space defined by requiring the leading and second-leading jets to have p(T)> 500 GeV and p(T)> 350 GeV, respectively, is 331 +/- 3(stat.) +/- 39(syst.) fb. This is approximately 20% lower than the prediction of 398(-49)(+48) fb by Powheg+Pythia 8 with next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy but consistent within the theoretical uncertainties. Results are also presented at the parton level, where the effects of top-quark decay, parton showering, and hadronization are removed such that they can be compared with fixed-order next-to-next-to-leading-order (NNLO) calculations. The parton-level cross-section, measured in a fiducial phase space similar to that at particle level, is 1.94 +/- 0.02(stat.) +/- 0.25(syst.) pb. This agrees with the NNLO prediction of 1.96(-0.17)(+0.02) pb. Reasonable agreement with the differential cross-sections is found for most NLO models, while the NNLO calculations are generally in better agreement with the data. The differential cross-sections are interpreted using a Standard Model effective field-theory formalism and limits are set on Wilson coefficients of several four-fermion operators.
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Martinelli, M., Scarcella, F., Hogg, N. B., Kavanagh, B. J., Gaggero, D., & Fleury, P. (2022). Dancing in the dark: detecting a population of distant primordial black holes. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 08(8), 006–47pp.
Abstract: Primordial black holes (PBHs) are compact objects proposed to have formed in the early Universe from the collapse of small-scale over-densities. Their existence may be detected from the observation of gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by PBH mergers, if the signals can be distinguished from those produced by the merging of astrophysical black holes. In this work, we forecast the capability of the Einstein Telescope, a proposed third-generation GW observatory, to identify and measure the abundance of a subdominant population of distant PBHs, using the difference in the redshift evolution of the merger rate of the two populations as our discriminant. We carefully model the merger rates and generate realistic mock catalogues of the luminosity distances and errors that would be obtained from GW signals observed by the Einstein Telescope. We use two independent statistical methods to analyse the mock data, finding that, with our more powerful, likelihood-based method, PBH abundances as small as fPBH approximate to 7 x 10(-6) ( fPBH approximate to 2 x 10(-6)) would be distinguishable from f(PBH) = 0 at the level of 3 sigma with a one year (ten year) observing run of the Einstein Telescope. Our mock data generation code, darksirens, is fast, easily extendable and publicly available on GitLab.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Cross-section measurements for the production of a Z boson in association with high-transverse-momentum jets in pp collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 080–53pp.
Abstract: Cross-section measurements for a Z boson produced in association with high-transverse-momentum jets ((pT) >= 100 GeV) and decaying into a charged-lepton pair (e(+) e(-), mu(+)mu(-)) are presented. The measurements are performed using proton-proton collisions at root s = 13TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1) collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Measurements of angular correlations between the Z boson and the closest jet are performed in events with at least one jet with (pT) >= 500 GeV. Event topologies of particular interest are the collinear emission of a Z boson in dijet events and a boosted Z boson recoiling against a jet. Fiducial cross sections are compared with state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The data are found to agree with next-to-nextto-leading-order predictions by NNLOjet and with the next-to-leading-order multi-leg generators MadGraph5_aMC@NLO and Sherpa.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Search for flavour-changing neutral-current couplings between the top quark and the photon with the ATLAS detector at root s=13 TeV. Phys. Lett. B, 842, 137379–22pp.
Abstract: This letter documents a search for flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNCs), which are strongly sup-pressed in the Standard Model, in events with a photon and a top quark with the ATLAS detector. The analysis uses data collected in pp collisions at & RADIC;s =13 TeV during Run 2 of the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb-1. Both FCNC top-quark production and decay are considered. The final state consists of a charged lepton, missing transverse momentum, a b-tagged jet, one high-momentum photon and possibly additional jets. A multiclass deep neural network is used to classify events either as signal in one of the two categories, FCNC production or decay, or as background. No significant ex-cess of events over the background prediction is observed and 95% CL upper limits are placed on the strength of left-and right-handed FCNC interactions. The 95% CL bounds on the branching fractions for the FCNC top-quark decays, estimated (expected) from both top-quark production and decay, are B(t & RARR; u & gamma; ) < 0.85 (0.88+0.37 -0.25) x 10-5 and B(t & RARR; c & gamma; ) < 4.2 (3.40+1.35-0.95) x 10-5 for a left-handed tq & gamma; cou-pling, and B(t & RARR; u & gamma; ) < 1.2 (1.20+0.50 -0.33) x10-5 and B(t & RARR; c & gamma; ) < 4.5 (3.70+1.47 -1.03) x10-5 for a right-handed coupling.
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An, L., Auffray, E., Betti, F., Dall'Omo, F., Gascon, D., Golutvin, A., et al. (2023). Performance of a spaghetti calorimeter prototype with tungsten absorber and garnet crystal fibres. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 1045, 167629–7pp.
Abstract: A spaghetti calorimeter (SPACAL) prototype with scintillating crystal fibres was assembled and tested with electron beams of energy from 1 to 5 GeV. The prototype comprised radiation-hard Cerium-doped Gd3Al2Ga3O12 (GAGG:Ce) and Y3Al5O12 (YAG:Ce) embedded in a pure tungsten absorber. The energy resolution root was studied as a function of the incidence angle of the beam and found to be of the order of 10%/ E a 1%, in line with the LHCb Shashlik technology. The time resolution was measured with metal channel dynode photomultipliers placed in contact with the fibres or coupled via a light guide, additionally testing an optical tape to glue the components. Time resolution of a few tens of picosecond was achieved for all the energies reaching down to (18.5 +/- 0.2) ps at 5 GeV.
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Gariazzo, S., Gerbino, M., Brinckmann, T., Lattanzi, M., Mena, O., Schwetz, T., et al. (2022). Neutrino mass and mass ordering: no conclusive evidence for normal ordering. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 10(10), 010–18pp.
Abstract: The extraction of the neutrino mass ordering is one of the major challenges in particle physics and cosmology, not only for its implications for a fundamental theory of mass generation in nature, but also for its decisive role in the scale of future neutrinoless double beta decay experimental searches. It has been recently claimed that current oscillation, beta decay and cosmological limits on the different observables describing the neutrino mass parameter space provide robust decisive Bayesian evidence in favor of the normal ordering of the neutrino mass spectrum [1]. We further investigate these strong claims using a rich and wide phenomenology, with different sampling techniques of the neutrino parameter space. Contrary to the findings of Jimenez et al. [1], no decisive evidence for the normal mass ordering is found. Neutrino mass ordering analyses must rely on priors and parameterizations that are ordering-agnostic: robust results should be regarded as those in which the preference for the normal neutrino mass ordering is driven exclusively by the data, while we find a difference of up to a factor of 33 in the Bayes factors among the different priors and parameterizations exploited here. An ordering-agnostic prior would be represented by the case of parameterizations sampling over the two mass splittings and a mass scale, or those sampling over the individual neutrino masses via normal prior distributions only. In this regard, we show that the current significance in favor of the normal mass ordering should be taken as 2.7 sigma (i.e. moderate evidence), mostly driven by neutrino oscillation data. Let us stress that, while current data favor NO only mildly, we do not exclude the possibility that this may change in the future. Eventually, upcoming oscillation and cosmological data may (or may not) lead to a more significant exclusion of IO.
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Martinez Torres, A., Khemchandani, K. P., & Oset, E. (2023). Theoretical study of the gamma d -> pi(0)eta d reaction. Phys. Rev. C, 107(2), 025202–24pp.
Abstract: We have done a theoretical study of the gamma d -> pi(0)eta d reaction starting with a realistic model for the gamma N -> pi(0)eta N reaction that reproduces cross sections and polarization observables at low energies and involves the gamma N -> Delta(1700) -> eta Delta(1232) -> eta pi N-0 process. For the coherent reaction in the deuteron we considered the impulse approximation together with the rescattering of the pions and the eta on a different nucleon than the one where they are produced. We found this second mechanism very important since it helps share between two nucleons the otherwise large momentum transfer of the reaction. Other contributions to the gamma d -> pi(0)eta d reaction, involving the gamma N -> pi(+/-)pi N-0' process, followed by the rescattering of the pi(+/-) with another nucleon to give eta and a nucleon, have also been included. We find a natural explanation, tied to the dynamics of our model, for the shift of the eta-d mass distribution to lower invariant masses, and of the pi(0)-d mass distribution to larger invariant masses, compared to a phase space calculation. We also study theoretical uncertainties related to the large momenta of the deuteron wave function involved in the process as well as to the couplings present in the model. Striking differences are found with the experimental angular distribution and further theoretical investigations might be necessary.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Measurements of the suppression and correlations of dijets in Pb plus Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV. Phys. Rev. C, 107(5), 054908–31pp.
Abstract: Studies of the correlations of the two highest transverse momentum (leading) jets in individual Pb+Pb colli-sion events can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense matter created in such collisions. In Pb+Pb and pp collisions at root NN = 5.02 TeV, measurements of the leading dijet transverse momentum (pT) correlations are presented. Additionally, measurements in Pb+Pb collisions of the dijet pair nuclear modification factors projected along leading and subleading jet pT are made. The measurements are per-formed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC with 260 pb(-1) of pp data collected in 2017 and 2.2 nb(-1) of Pb+Pb data collected in 2015 and 2018. An unfolding procedure is applied to the two-dimensional leading and sublead-ing jet pT distributions to account for experimental effects in the measurement of both jets. Results are provided for dijets with leading jet pT greater than 100 GeV. Measurements of the dijet-yield-normalized xJ distributions in Pb+Pb collisions show an increased fraction of imbalanced jets compared to pp collisions; these measurements are in agreement with previous measurements of the same quantity at 2.76 TeV in the overlapping kinematic range. Measurements of the absolutely normalized dijet rate in Pb+Pb and pp collisions are also presented, and show that balanced dijets are significantly more suppressed than imbalanced dijets in Pb+Pb collisions. It is observed in the measurements of the pair nuclear modification factors that the subleading jets are significantly suppressed relative to leading jets with pT between 100 and 316 GeV for all centralities in Pb+Pb collisions.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cantero, J., et al. (2023). Correlations between flow and transverse momentum in Xe plus Xe and Pb plus Pb collisions at the LHC with the ATLAS detector: A probe of the heavy-ion initial state and nuclear deformation. Phys. Rev. C, 107(5), 054910–28pp.
Abstract: The correlations between flow harmonics v(n) for n = 2, 3, and 4 and mean transverse momentum [pT] in Xe-129 + Xe-129 and Pb-208 + Pb-208 collisions at root s = 5.44 and 5.02 TeV, respectively, are measured using charged particles with the ATLAS detector. The correlations are potentially sensitive to the shape and size of the initial geometry, nuclear deformation, and initial momentum anisotropy. The effects from nonflow and centrality fluctuations are minimized, respectively, via a subevent cumulant method and an event-activity selection based on particle production at very forward rapidity. The v(n)-[p(T)] correlations show strong dependencies on centrality, harmonic number n, pT, and pseudorapidity range. Current models qualitatively describe the overall centrality -and system-dependent trends but fail to quantitatively reproduce all features of the data. In central collisions, where models generally show good agreement, the v(2)-[p(T)] correlations are sensitive to the triaxiality of the quadruple deformation. Comparison of the model with the Pb + Pb and Xe + Xe data confirms that the Xe-129 nucleus is a highly deformed triaxial ellipsoid that has neither a prolate nor oblate shape. This provides strong evidence for a triaxial deformation of the Xe-129 nucleus from high-energy heavy-ion collisions.
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Orrigo, S. E. A., Tain, J. L., Mont-Geli, N., Tarifeño-Saldivia, A., Fraile, L. M., Grieger, M., et al. (2022). Long-term evolution of the neutron rate at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. Eur. Phys. J. C, 82(9), 814–11pp.
Abstract: We report results on the long-term variation of the neutron counting rate at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory, of importance for several low-background experiments installed there, including rare-event searches. The measurement campaign was performed employing the High Efficiency Neutron Spectrometry Array (HENSA) mounted in Hall A and lasted 412 live days. The present study is the first long-term measurement of the neutron rate with sensitivity over a wide range of neutron energies (from thermal up to 0.1 GeV and beyond) performed in any underground laboratory so far. Data on the environmental variables inside the experimental hall (radon concentration, air temperature, air pressure and humidity) were also acquired during all the measurement campaign. We have investigated for the first time the evolution of the neutron rate for different energies of the neutrons and its correlation with the ambient variables.
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