Abstract: This letter reports on the first observation of an octupole band in the neutron-deficient (N = Z + 2) nucleus Xe-110. The Xe-110 nuclei were produced via the Fe-54(Ni-58,2n) fusion-evaporation reaction. The emitted gamma rays were detected using the jurogam 3 gamma-ray spectrometer, while the fusion-evaporation residues were separated with the MARA separator at the Accelerator Laboratory of the University of Jyv & auml;skyl & auml;, Finland. The experimental observation of the low-lying 3(-) and 5(-) states and inter-band E1 transitions between the ground-state band and the octupole band proves the importance of octupole correlations in this region. These new experimental data combined with theoretical calculations using the symmetry-conserving configuration-mixing method, based on a Gogny energy density functional, have been interpreted as an evidence of enhanced octupole correlations in neutron-deficient xenon isotopes.

Abstract: Semi-visible jets, with a significant contribution to the event's missing transverse momentum, can arise in strongly interacting dark sectors. This results in an event topology where one of the jets can be aligned with the direction of the missing transverse momentum. The first search for semi-visible jets produced via a t-channel mediator exchange is presented. The analysis uses proton-proton collisions with an integrated luminosity of 139 fb-1 and a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector during the Run 2 of the LHC. No excess over Standard Model predictions is observed. Assuming a coupling strength of unity between the mediator, a Standard Model quark and a dark quark, mediator masses up to 2.7 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Upper limits on the coupling strength are also derived.

Abstract: This letter presents a search for narrow, high-mass resonances in the Zy final state with the Z boson decaying into a pair of electrons or muons. The root s = 13 TeV pp collision data were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and have an integrated luminosity of 140 fb-1. The data are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model background expectation. Upper limits are set on the resonance production cross section times the decay branching ratio into Zy. For spin-0 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion, the observed limits at 95% confidence level vary between 65.5 fb and 0.6 fb, while for spin-2 resonances produced via gluon-gluon fusion (or quark-antiquark initial states) limits vary between 77.4 (76.1) fb and 0.6 (0.5) fb, for the mass range from 220 GeV to 3400 GeV.

Abstract: We face the inverse problem of obtaining the interaction between coupled channels from the correlation functions of these channels. We apply the method to the interaction of the (DK+)-K-0, (D+K0), and D-s(+)eta channels, from where the D-s0(& lowast;)(2317) state emerges. We use synthetic data extracted from an interaction model based on the local hidden gauge approach and find that the inverse problem can determine the existence of a bound state of the system with a precision of about 20 MeV. At the same time, we can determine the isospin nature of the bound state and its compositeness in terms of the channels. Furthermore, we evaluate the scattering length and effective range of all three channels, as well as the couplings of the bound state found to all the components. Lastly, the size parameter of the source function, R, which in principle should be a magnitude provided by the experimental teams, can be obtained from a fit to the data with relatively high accuracy. These findings show the value of the correlation function to learn about the meson-meson interaction for systems which are difficult to access in other present facilities.

Abstract: Searches for the exclusive decays of the Higgs boson to an omega meson and a photon or a K* meson and a photon can probe flavour-conserving and flavour-violating Higgs boson couplings to light quarks, respectively. Searches for these decays, along with the analogous Z boson decay to an omega meson and a photon, are performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 134 fb(-1) collected at root s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The obtained 95% confidence-level upper limits on the respective branching fractions are B(H -> omega gamma) < 5.5 x 10(-4), B(H -> K*gamma) < 2.2 x 10(-4) and B(Z -> omega gamma) < 3.9 x 10(-6). The limits for H -> omega gamma and Z -> omega gamma) are 370 times and 140 times the Standard Model expected values, respectively. The result for Z -> omega gamma corresponds to a two-orders-of-magnitude improvement over the limit obtained by the DELPHI experiment at LEP.