ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2017). Measurements of integrated and differential cross sections for isolated photon pair production in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 95(11), 112005–27pp.
Abstract: A measurement of the production cross section for two isolated photons in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV is presented. The results are based on an integrated luminosity of 20.2 fb(-1) recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The measurement considers photons with pseudorapidities satisfying vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar< 1.37 or 1.56 <vertical bar eta(gamma)vertical bar< 2.37 and transverse energies of respectively E-T,1(gamma) > 40 GeV and E-T,2(gamma) > 30 GeV for the two leading photons ordered in transverse energy produced in the interaction. The background due to hadronic jets and electrons is subtracted using data-driven techniques. The fiducial cross sections are corrected for detector effects and measured differentially as a function of six kinematic observables. The measured cross section integrated within the fiducial volume is 16.8 +/- 0.8 pb. The data are compared to fixed-order QCD calculations at next-to-leading-order and next-to-next-to-leading-order accuracy as well as next-to-leading-order computations including resummation of initial-state gluon radiation at next-to-next-to-leading logarithm or matched to a parton shower, with relative uncertainties varying from 5% to 20%.
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Gerbino, M., Freese, K., Vagnozzi, S., Lattanzi, M., Mena, O., Giusarma, E., et al. (2017). Impact of neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from current and future observations. Phys. Rev. D, 95(4), 043512–22pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of assumptions about neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from cosmological data, with a specific focus on the allowed contours in the n(s)/r plane, where n(s) is the scalar spectral index and r is the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We study the following neutrino properties: (i) the total neutrino mass M-i = Sigma(i)m(i) (where the index i = 1, 2, 3 runs over the three neutrino mass eigenstates); (ii) the number of relativistic degrees of freedom N-eff at the time of recombination; and (iii) the neutrino hierarchy. Whereas previous literature assumed three degenerate neutrino masses or two massless neutrino species (approximations that clearly do not match neutrino oscillation data), we study the cases of normal and inverted hierarchy. Our basic result is that these three neutrino properties induce < 1 sigma shift of the probability contours in the n(s)/r plane with both current or upcoming data. We find that the choice of neutrino hierarchy (normal, inverted, or degenerate) has a negligible impact. However, the minimal cutoff on the total neutrino mass M-v,M-min = 0 that accompanies previous works using the degenerate hierarchy does introduce biases in the n(s)/r plane and should be replaced by M-v,M-min = 0.059 eV as required by oscillation data. Using current cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck and Bicep/Keck, marginalizing over the total neutrino mass M-v and over r can lead to a shift in the mean value of ns of similar to 0.3 sigma toward lower values. However, once baryon acoustic oscillation measurements are included, the standard contours in the n(s)/r plane are basically reproduced. Larger shifts of the contours in the n(s)/r plane (up to 0.8 sigma) arise for nonstandard values of N-eff. We also provide forecasts for the future CMB experiments Cosmic Origins Explorer (COrE, satellite) and Stage-IV (ground-based) and show that the incomplete knowledge of neutrino properties, taken into account by a marginalization over M-v, could induce a shift of similar to 0.4 sigma toward lower values in the determination of ns (or a similar to 0.8 sigma shift if one marginalizes over N-eff). Comparison to specific inflationary models is shown. Imperfect knowledge of neutrino properties must be taken into account properly, given the desired precision in determining whether or not inflationary models match the future data.
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Arbelaez, C., Gonzalez, M., Kovalenko, S. G., & Hirsch, M. (2017). QCD-improved limits from neutrinoless double beta decay. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 015010–12pp.
Abstract: We analyze the impact of QCD corrections on limits derived from neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu beta beta ). As demonstrated previously, the effect of the color mismatch arising from loops with gluons linking the quarks from different color-singlet currents participating in the effective operators has a dramatic impact on the predictions for some particular Wilson coefficients. Here, we consider all possible contributions from heavy particle exchange, i.e. the so-called short-range mechanism of 0 nu beta beta decay. All high-scale models (HSM) in this class match at some scale around a similar to few TeV with the corresponding effective theory, containing a certain set of effective dimension-9 operators. Many of these HSM receive contributions from more than one of the basic operators and we calculate limits on these models using the latest experimental data. We also show with one nontrivial example, how to derive limits on more complicated models, in which many different Feynman diagrams contribute to 0 nu beta beta decay, using our general method.
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Hati, C., Patra, S., Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2017). Towards gauge coupling unification in left-right symmetric SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) theories. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 015004–9pp.
Abstract: We consider the possibility of gauge coupling unification within the simplest realizations of the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) gauge theory. We present a first exploration of the renormalization group equations governing the “bottom-up” evolution of the gauge couplings in a generic model with free normalization for the generators. Interestingly, we find that for a SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) symmetry breaking scale M-X as low as a few TeV one can achieve unification in the presence of leptonic octets. We briefly comment on possible grand unified theory frameworks which can embed the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) model as well as possible implications, such as lepton flavor violating physics at the LHC.
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Chatterjee, S. S., Pasquini, P., & Valle, J. W. F. (2017). Resolving the atmospheric octant by an improved measurement of the reactor angle. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 011303–6pp.
Abstract: Taking into account the current global information on neutrino oscillation parameters we forecast the capabilities of future long-baseline experiments such as DUNE and T2HK in settling the atmospheric octant puzzle. We find that a good measurement of the reactor angle theta(13) plays a key role in fixing the octant of the atmospheric angle theta(23) with such future accelerator neutrino studies.
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Song, T., Berrehrah, H., Torres-Rincon, J. M., Tolos, L., Cabrera, D., Cassing, W., et al. (2017). Single electrons from heavy-flavor mesons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Phys. Rev. C, 96(1), 014905–18pp.
Abstract: We study the single electron spectra from D- and B-meson semileptonic decays in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200, 62.4, and 19.2 GeV by employing the parton-hadron-string dynamics (PHSD) transport approach that has been shown to reasonably describe the charm dynamics at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and Large Hadron Collider energies on a microscopic level. In this approach the initial charm and bottom quarks are produced by using the PYTHIA event generator which is tuned to reproduce the fixed-order next-to-leading logarithm calculations for charm and bottom production. The produced charm and bottom quarks interact with off-shell (massive) partons in the quark-gluon plasma with scattering cross sections which are calculated in the dynamical quasiparticle model that is matched to reproduce the equation of state of the partonic system above the deconfinement temperature T-c. At energy densities close to the critical energy density (approximate to 0.5 GeV/fm(3)) the charm and bottom quarks are hadronized intoD and B mesons through either coalescence or fragmentation. After hadronization the D and B mesons interact with the light hadrons by employing the scattering cross sections from an effective Lagrangian. The final D and B mesons then produce single electrons through semileptonic decay. We find that the PHSD approach well describes the nuclear modification factor R-AA and elliptic flow upsilon(2) of single electrons in d + Au and Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV and the elliptic flow in Au + Au reactions at root s(NN) = 62.4 GeV from the PHENIX Collaboration, however, the large RAA at root s(NN) = 62.4 GeV is not described at all. Furthermore, we make predictions for the RAA of D mesons and of single electrons at the lower energy of root s(NN) = 19.2 GeV. Additionally, the medium modification of the azimuthal angle phi between a heavy quark and a heavy antiquark is studied. We find that the transverse flow enhances the azimuthal angular distributions close to phi = 0 because the heavy flavors strongly interact with nuclear medium in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and almost flow with the bulk matter.
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Motohashi, H., & Hu, W. (2017). Generalized slow roll in the unified effective field theory of inflation. Phys. Rev. D, 96(2), 023502–17pp.
Abstract: We provide a compact and unified treatment of power spectrum observables for the effective field theory (EFT) of inflation with the complete set of operators that lead to second-order equations of motion in metric perturbations in both space and time derivatives, including Horndeski and Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi theories. We relate the EFT operators in ADM form to the four additional free functions of time in the scalar and tensor equations. Using the generalized slow-roll formalism, we show that each power spectrum can be described by an integral over a single source that is a function of its respective sound horizon. With this correspondence, existing model independent constraints on the source function can be simply reinterpreted in the more general inflationary context. By expanding these sources around an optimized freeze-out epoch, we also provide characterizations of these spectra in terms of five slow-roll hierarchies whose leading-order forms are compact and accurate as long as EFT coefficients vary only on time scales greater than an e-fold. We also clarify the relationship between the unitary gauge observables employed in the EFT and the comoving gauge observables of the postinflationary universe.
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Chala, M. (2017). Direct bounds on heavy toplike quarks with standard and exotic decays. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 015028–14pp.
Abstract: Heavy vectorlike quarks with electric charge Q = 2/3 (also called heavy tops) appear naturally in many extensions of the Standard Model. Although these typically predict the existence of further particles below the TeV scale, direct searches for heavy tops have been performed assuming that they decay only into SM particles. The aim of this paper is to overcome this situation. We consider the most constraining experimental LHC searches for vectorlike quarks, including analyses of the 36 fb(-1) of data collected in the latest run at 13 TeV of center of mass energy, as well as searches sensitive to heavy tops decaying into a new scalar, S. Combining all these, we derive bounds for arbitrary values of the heavy top branching ratios. A simple code that automatizes this process is also provided. At the physics level, we demonstrate that bounds on heavy tops are not inevitably weaker in the presence of new light scalars. We find that heavy tops with masses below similar to 900 GeV are excluded by direct searches, independently of whether they decay into Zt, Ht, Wb or St (with S giving either missing energy of bottom quarks) or into any combination of them.
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Debastiani, V. R., Dias, J. M., & Oset, E. (2017). Study of the DKK and DK(K)over-bar systems. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 016014–9pp.
Abstract: Using the fixed center approximation to Faddeev equations, we investigate the DKK and DK (K) over bar three-body systems, considering that the DK dynamically generates, through its I = 0 component, the D(so)(*()2317) molecule. According to our findings, for the DK (K) over bar interaction we find evidence of a state I(J(p)) = 1/2 (0(-)) just above the D-s0(*)(2317) (K) over bar threshold and around the Df(0)(980) threshold, with mass of about 2833-2858 MeV, made mostly of Df(0)(980). On the other hand, no evidence related to a state from the DKK interaction is found. The state found could be seen in the ppD invariant mass.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Observation of the B+ -> D*K-(+) pi(+) decay. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 011101–10pp.
Abstract: The B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+) decay potentially provides an excellent way to investigate charm meson spectroscopy. The decay is searched for in a sample of proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). A clear signal is observed, and the ratio of its branching fraction to that of the B+ -> D*(-)pi(+)pi(+) normalization channel is measured to be beta(B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+))/beta(B+ -> D*(-)pi(+)pi(+)) = (6.39 +/- 0.27 +/- 0.48) x 10(-2); where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. This is the first observation of the B+ -> D*K--(+)pi(+) decay.
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