Abstract: This Letter presents a search for the production of new heavy resonances decaying into a Higgs boson and a photon using proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). The analysis is performed by reconstructing hadronically decaying Higgs boson (H -> b (b) over bar) candidates as single large-radius jets. A novel algorithm using information about the jet constituents in the center-of-mass frame of the jet is implemented to identify the two b quarks in the single jet. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected background. Upper limits are set on the production cross-section times branching fraction for narrow spin-1 resonances decaying into a Higgs boson and a photon in the resonance mass range from 0.7 to 4 TeV, cross-section times branching fractions are excluded between 11.6 fb and 0.11 fb at a 95% confidence level.

Abstract: The observation of forward proton scattering in association with lepton pairs (e(+)e(-) + p or mu(+)mu(-) + p) produced via photon fusion is presented. The scattered proton is detected by the ATLAS Forward Proton spectrometer, while the leptons are reconstructed by the central ATLAS detector. Proton-proton collision data recorded in 2017 at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV are analyzed, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 14.6 fb(-1). A total of 57 (123) candidates in the ee + p (mu μ+ p) final state arc selected, allowing the background-only hypothesis to be rejected with a significance exceeding 5 standard deviations in each channel. Proton-tagging techniques are introduced for cross-section measurements in the fiducial detector acceptance, corresponding to sigma(ee)(+p) = 11.0 +/- 2.6(stat) 1.2(syst) +/- 0.3(lumi) and sigma(mu)(mu+)(p) = 7.2 +/- 1.6(stat) +/- 0.9(syst) 0.2(lumi) fb in the dielectron and dimuon channel, respectively.

Abstract: The exploration of the universe has recently entered a new era thanks to the multi-messenger paradigm, characterized by a continuous increase in the quantity and quality of experimental data that is obtained by the detection of the various cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) from numerous origins. They give us information about their sources in the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium. Moreover, multi-messenger astronomy opens up the possibility to search for phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity. On the one hand, the most energetic events allow us to test our physical theories at energy regimes which are not directly accessible in accelerators; on the other hand, tiny effects in the propagation of very high energy particles could be amplified by cosmological distances. After decades of merely theoretical investigations, the possibility of obtaining phenomenological indications of Planck-scale effects is a revolutionary step in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity, but it requires cooperation between different communities of physicists (both theoretical and experimental). This review, prepared within the COST Action CA18108 “Quantum gravity phenomenology in the multi-messenger approach”, is aimed at promoting this cooperation by giving a state-of-the art account of the interdisciplinary expertise that is needed in the effective search of quantum gravity footprints in the production, propagation and detection of cosmic messengers.

Abstract: We analyze the spectrum of two- and three-pion states of maximal isospin obtained recently for isosymmetric QCD with pion mass M approximate to 200 MeV in Horz and Hanlon, [Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 142002 (2019)]. Using the relativistic three-particle quantization condition, we find similar to 2 sigma evidence for a nonzero value for the contact part of the 3 pi(+) (I = 3) scattering amplitude. We also compare our results to leading-order chiral perturbation theory. We find good agreement at threshold and some tension in the energy dependent part of the 3 pi(+) scattering amplitude. We also find that the 2 pi(+) (I = 2) spectrum is fit well by an s-wave phase shift that incorporates the expected Adler zero.

Abstract: The low-lying energy spectrum of the extremely neutron-deficient self-conjugate (N = Z) nuclide Ru-88(44)44 has been measured using the combination of the Advanced Gamma Tracking Array (AGATA) spectrometer, the NEDA and Neutron Wall neutron detector arrays, and the DIAMANT charged particle detector array. Excited states in Ru-88 were populated via the Fe-54(Ar-36, 2n gamma)Ru-88* fusion-evaporation reaction at the Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds (GANIL) accelerator complex. The observed gamma-ray cascade is assigned to Ru-88 using clean prompt gamma-gamma-2-neutron coincidences in anticoincidence with the detection of charged particles, confirming and extending the previously assigned sequence of low-lying excited states. It is consistent with a moderately deformed rotating system exhibiting a band crossing at a rotational frequency that is significantly higher than standard theoretical predictions with isovector pairing, as well as observations in neighboring N > Z nuclides. The direct observation of such a “delayed” rotational alignment in a deformed N = Z nucleus is in agreement with theoretical predictions related to the presence of strong isoscalar neutron-proton pair correlations.