Abstract: The inclusive top-quark-pair production cross section rrtt and its ratio to the Z-boson production cross section have been measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13.6 TeV, using 29 fb-1 of data collected in 2022 with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Using events with an opposite-charge electron-muon pair and b-tagged jets, and assuming Standard Model decays, the top-quark-pair production cross section is measured to be rrtt = 850 +/- 3(stat.) +/- 18(syst.) +/- 20(lumi.) pb. The ratio of the ttand the Z-boson production cross sections is also measured, where the Z-boson contribution is determined for inclusive e+e- and mu+mu- events in a fiducial phase space. The relative uncertainty on the ratio is reduced compared to the ttcross section, thanks to the cancellation of several systematic uncertainties. The result for the ratio, Rtt/Z = 1.145 +/- 0.003(stat.) +/- 0.021(syst.) +/- 0.002(lumi.) is consistent with the Standard Model prediction using the PDF4LHC21 PDF set.

Abstract: A search for a new massive charged gauge boson, W ', is performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The dataset used in this analysis was collected from proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV, and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). The reconstructed tb invariant mass is used to search for a W ' boson decaying into a top quark and a bottom quark. The result is interpreted in terms of a W ' boson with purely right-handed or left-handed chirality in a mass range of 0.5-6 TeV. Different values for the coupling of the W ' boson to the top and bottom quarks are considered, taking into account interference with single-top-quark production in the s-channel. No significant deviation from the background prediction is observed. The results are expressed as upper limits on the W ' -> tb production cross-section times branching ratio as a function of the W '-boson mass and in the plane of the coupling vs the W '-boson mass.

Abstract: The interactions of charged particles with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) may excite electromagnetic modes in the electron gas produced in the cylindrical graphene shell constituting the nanotube wall. This wake effect has recently been proposed as a potential novel method of short-wavelength high-gradient particle acceleration. In this work, the excitation of these wakefields is studied by means of the linearized hydrodynamic model. In this model, the electronic excitations on the nanotube surface are described treating the electron gas as a 2D plasma with additional contributions to the fluid momentum equation from specific solid-state properties of the gas. General expressions are derived for the excited longitudinal and transverse wakefields. Numerical results are obtained for a charged particle moving within a CNT, paraxially to its axis, showing how the wakefield is affected by parameters such as the particle velocity and its radial position, the nanotube radius, and a friction factor, which can be used as a phenomenological parameter to describe effects from the ionic lattice. Assuming a particle driver propagating on axis at a given velocity, optimal parameters were obtained to maximize the longitudinal wakefield amplitude.

Abstract: We study the nonconservation of the chiral charge of Dirac fields between past and future null infinity due to the Adler-Bell-Jackiw chiral anomaly. In previous investigations [A. del Rio, Phys. Rev. D 104, 065012 (2021)], we found that this charge fails to be conserved if electromagnetic sources in the bulk emit circularly polarized radiation. In this article, we unravel yet another contribution coming from the nonzero, infrared “soft” charges of the external, electromagnetic field. This new contribution can be interpreted as another manifestation of the ordinary memory effect produced by transitions between different infrared sectors of Maxwell theory, but now on test quantum fields rather than on test classical particles. In other words, a flux of electromagnetic waves can leave a memory on quantum fermion states in the form of a permanent, net helicity. We elaborate this idea in both 1 + 1 and 3 + 1 dimensions. We also show that, in sharp contrast, gravitational infrared charges do not contribute to the fermion chiral anomaly.

Abstract: Metalenses and metasurfaces are promising emerging technologies that could improve light collection in light collection detectors, concentrating light on small area photodetectors such as silicon photomultipliers. Here we present a detailed method to characterize metalenses to assess their efficiency at concentrating monochromatic light coming from a wide range of incidence angles, not taking into account their imaging quality.