Abstract: A state-of-the-art analysis of the pion-photon transition form factor is presented based on an improved theoretical calculation that includes the effect of a finite virtuality of the quasireal photon in the method of light-cone sum rules. We carry out a detailed statistical analysis of the existing experimental data using this method and by employing pion distribution amplitudes with up to three Gegenbauer coefficients a(2), a(4), a(6). Allowing for an error range in the coefficient a(6) approximate to 0, the theoretical predictions for gamma*gamma -> pi(0) obtained with nonlocal QCD sum rules are found to be in good agreement with all data that support a scaling behavior of the transition form factor at higher Q(2), like those of the Belle Collaboration. The data on gamma*gamma -> eta/eta' from CLEO and BABAR are also reproduced, while there is a strong conflict with the auxetic trend of the BABAR data above 10 GeV2. The broader implications of these findings are discussed.

Abstract: Neutron-rich chlorine isotopes were populated in the Ar-40 + Pb-208 multiple transfer reaction via the -1p channels in a fragment-gamma coincident measurement employing the Prisma-Clara setup. New gamma transitions have been identified and, together with already available data, level schemes have been revised and compared with the results of large-scale sd-pf shell-model calculations. The evolution of the energy splitting between the s(1/2) and d(3/2) orbitals and the increased mixing of different proton configurations in the populated Cl isotopic chain have been deduced by inspecting the shell-model wave functions.

Abstract: Recent cosmic microwave background measurements at high multipoles from the South Pole Telescope and from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope seem to disagree in their conclusions for the neutrino and dark radiation properties. In this paper we set new bounds on the dark radiation and neutrino properties in different cosmological scenarios combining the ACT and SPT data with the nine-year data release of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP-9), baryon acoustic oscillation data, Hubble Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant, and supernovae Ia luminosity distance data. In the standard three massive neutrino case, the two high multipole probes give similar results if baryon acoustic oscillation data are removed from the analyses and Hubble Telescope measurements are also exploited. A similar result is obtained within a standard cosmology with N-eff massless neutrinos, although in this case the agreement between these two measurements is also improved when considering simultaneously baryon acoustic oscillation data and Hubble Space Telescope measurements. In the N-eff massive neutrino case the two high multipole probes give very different results regardless of the external data sets used in the combined analyses. When considering extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy equation of state or with a running of the scalar spectral index, the evidence for neutrino masses found for the South Pole Telescope in the three neutrino scenario disappears for all the data combinations explored here. Again, adding Hubble Telescope data seems to improve the agreement between the two high multipole cosmic microwave background measurements considered here. In the case in which a dark radiation background with unknown clustering properties is also considered, SPT data seem to exclude the standard value for the dark radiation viscosity c(vis)(2) = 1/3 at the 2 sigma C.L., finding evidence for massive neutrinos only when combining SPT data with baryon acoustic oscillation measurements.

Abstract: We search for the flavor-changing neutral-current decays B -> K-(*()) v (v) over bar, and the invisible decays J/psi -> v (v) over bar and psi(2S) -> v (v) over bar via B -> K-(*())J/psi and B -> K-(*()) psi(2S), respectively, using a data sample of 471 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs collected by the BABAR experiment. We fully reconstruct the hadronBic decay of one of the B mesons in the Y(4S) -> B (B) over bar decay, and search for the B -> K-(*()) v (v) over bar decay in the rest of the event. We observe no significant excess of signal decays over background and report branching fraction upper limits of B(B+ -> K+ v (v) over bar) < 3.7 x 10(-5), B(B-0 -> K-0 v<(v)over bar>) < 8.1 x 10(-5), B(B+ -> K*(+) v<(v)over bar>) < 11.6 x 10(-5), B(B-0 -> K*(0) v<(v)over bar>), < 9.3 x 10(-5), and combined upper limits of B(B -> K v<(v)over bar>) < 3.2 x 10(-5) and B(B -> K* v<(v)over bar>) < 7.9 x 10(-5), all at the 90% confidence level. For the invisible quarkonium decays, we report branching fraction upper limits of B(J/psi -> v<(v)over bar>) < 3.9 x 10(-3) and B(psi(2S) -> v<(v)over bar> < 15.5 x 10(-3) at the 90% confidence level. Using the improved kinematic resolution achieved from hadronic reconstruction, we also provide partial branching fraction limits for the B -> K-(*()) v<(v)over bar> decays over the full kinematic spectrum.

Abstract: A search for resonant diboson production using a data sample corresponding to 4.7 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in pp collisions at root s = 7 TeV is presented. The search for a narrow resonance in the WW or WZ mass distribution is conducted in a final state with an electron or a muon, missing transverse momentum, and at least two jets. No significant excess is observed and limits are set using three benchmark models: WW resonance masses below 940 and 710 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for spin-2 Randall-Sundrum and bulk Randall-Sundrum gravitons, respectively; WZ resonance masses below 950 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level for a spin-1 extended gauge model W' boson.