Abstract: The element vertical bar V-cb vertical bar of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix is measured using semileptonic B-s(0) decays produced in 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). Rates of B-s0 -> D-s(-) mu(+)nu(mu) and B-s0 -> D-s*(-) mu(+)nu(mu) decays are analyzed using hadronic form-factor parametrizations derived either by Caprini, Lellouch and Neubert (CLN) or by Boyd, Grinstein and Lebed (BGL). The measured values of vertical bar V-cb vertical bar are (41.4 +/- 0.6 +/- 0.9 +/- 1.2) x 10(-3) and (42.3 +/- 0.8 +/- 0.9 +/- 1.2) x 10(-3) in the CLN and BGL parametrization, respectively. The first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic, and the third is due to the external inputs used in the measurement. These results are in agreement with those obtained from decays of B+ and B-0 mesons. They are the first determinations of vertical bar V-cb vertical bar at a hadron-collider experiment and the first using B-s(0) meson decays.

Abstract: Many scenarios of new physics predict the existence of neutrino nonstandard interactions, new vector contact interactions between neutrinos, and first generation fermions beyond the Standard Model. We obtain model-independent constraints on the Standard Model effective field theory at high energies from bounds on neutrino nonstandard interactions derived at low energies. Our analysis explores a large set of new physics scenarios and includes full one-loop running effects below and above the electroweak scale. Our results show that neutrino nonstandard interactions already push the scale of new physics beyond the TeV. We also conclude that bounds derived by other experimental probes, in particular by low-energy precision measurements and by charged lepton flavor violation searches, are generally more stringent. Our study constitutes a first step toward the systematization of phenomenological analyses to evaluate the impact of neutrino nonstandard interactions for new physics scenarios at high energies.

Abstract: We conduct a study of the interaction of the (K) over bar Xi*, eta Omega(s-wave), and (K) over bar Xi(d-wave) channels within a coupled channel unitary approach where the transition potential between the (K) over bar Xi* and eta Omega channels is obtained from chiral Lagrangians. The transition potential between (K) over bar Xi*, eta Omega, and (K) over bar Xi is taken in terms of free parameters, which together with a cutoff to regularize the meson-baryon loops are fitted to the Omega(2012) data. We find that all data including the recent Belle experiment on Gamma(Omega*->pi(K) over bar Xi)/Gamma(Omega*->(K) over bar Xi), are compatible with the molecular picture stemming from meson baryon interaction of these channels.

Abstract: The adiabatic regularization method was originally proposed by Parker and Fulling to renormalize the energy-momentum tensor of scalar fields in expanding universes. It can be extended to renormalize the electric current induced by quantized scalar fields in a time-varying electric background. This can be done in a way consistent with gravity if the vector potential is considered as a variable of adiabatic order one. Assuming this, we further extend the method to deal with Dirac fields in four space-time dimensions. This requires a self-consistent ansatz for the adiabatic expansion, in presence of a prescribed time-dependent electric field, which is different from the conventional expansion used for scalar fields. Our proposal is consistent, in the massless limit, with the conformal anomaly. We also provide evidence that our proposed adiabatic expansion for the fermionic modes parallels the Schwinger-DeWitt adiabatic expansion of the two-point function. We give the renormalized expression of the electric current and analyze, using numerical and analytical tools, the pair production induced by a Sauter-type electric pulse. We also analyze the scaling properties of the current for a large field strength.

Abstract: In the presence of an external magnetic field, the axion and the photon mix. In particular, the dispersion relation of a longitudinal plasmon always crosses the dispersion relation of the axion (for small axion masses), thus leading to a resonant conversion. Using thermal field theory, we concisely derive the axion emission rate, applying it to astrophysical and laboratory scenarios. For the Sun, depending on the magnetic field profile, plasmon-axion conversion can dominate over Primakoff production at low energies (less than or similar to 200 eV). This both provides a new axion source for future helioscopes and, in the event of discovery, would probe the magnetic field structure of the Sun. In the case of white dwarfs (WDs), plasmon-axion conversion provides a pure photon coupling probe of the axion, which may contribute significantly for low-mass WDs. Finally, we rederive and confirm the axion absorption rate of the recently proposed plasma haloscopes.