Abstract: A combination of measurements sensitive to the CP violation angle gamma of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa unitarity triangle and to the charm mixing parameters that describe oscillations between D-0 and (D) over bar (0) mesons is performed. Results from the charm and beauty sectors, based on data collected with the LHCb detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider, are combined for the first time. This method provides an improvement on the precision of the charm mixing parameter y by a factor of two with respect to the current world average. The charm mixing parameters are determined to be x = (0.400(-0.053)(+0.052))% and y = (0.630(-0.030)(+0.033))%. The angle gamma is found to be gamma = (65.4(-4.2)(+3.8))degrees and is the most precise determination from a single experiment.

Abstract: In leptophilic scenarios, dark matter interactions with nuclei, relevant for direct detection experiments and for the capture by celestial objects, could only occur via loop-induced processes. If the mediator is a scalar or pseudo-scalar particle, which only couples to leptons, the dominant contribution to dark matter-nucleus scattering would take place via two-photon exchange with a lepton triangle loop. The corresponding diagrams have been estimated in the literature under different approximations. Here, we present new analytical calculations for one-body two-loop and two-body one-loop interactions. The two-loop form factors are presented in closed analytical form in terms of generalized polylogarithms up to weight four. In both cases, we consider the exact dependence on all the involved scales, and study the dependence on the momentum transfer. We show that some previous approximations fail to correctly predict the scattering cross section by several orders of magnitude. Moreover, we quantitatively show that form factors in the range of momentum transfer relevant for local galactic dark matter, can be significantly smaller than their value at zero momentum transfer, which is the approach usually considered.

Abstract: We discuss fermion mass hierarchies within modular invariant flavour models. We analyse the neighbourhood of the self-dual point tau = i, where modular invariant theories possess a residual Z(4) invariance. In this region the breaking of Z(4) can be fully described by the spurion epsilon approximate to tau – i, that flips its sign under Z(4). Degeneracies or vanishing eigenvalues of fermion mass matrices, forced by the Z(4) symmetry at tau = i, are removed by slightly deviating from the self-dual point. Relevant mass ratios are controlled by powers of vertical bar epsilon vertical bar. We present examples where this mechanism is a key ingredient to successfully implement an hierarchical spectrum in the lepton sector, even in the presence of a non-minimal Kahler potential.

Abstract: Hadronic matrix elements of local four-quark operators play a central role in non-leptonic kaon decays, while vacuum matrix elements involving the same kind of operators appear in inclusive dispersion relations, such as those relevant in tau -decay analyses. Using an SU(3)(L) circle times SU(3)(R) decomposition of the operators, we derive generic relations between these matrix elements, extending well-known results that link observables in the two different sectors. Two relevant phenomenological applications are presented. First, we determine the electroweak-penguin contribution to the kaon CP-violating ratio epsilon '/epsilon, using the measured hadronic spectral functions in tau decay. Second, we fit our SU(3) dynamical parameters to the most recent lattice data on K -> pi pi matrix elements. The comparison of this numerical fit with results from previous analytical approaches provides an interesting anatomy of the Delta I = 1/2 enhancement, confirming old suggestions about its underlying dynamical origin.

Abstract: Reactor experiments are well suited to probe the possible loss of coherence of neutrino oscillations due to wave-packets separation. We combine data from the short-baseline experiments Daya Bay and the Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) and from the long baseline reactor experiment KamLAND to obtain the best current limit on the reactor antineutrino wave-packet width, sigma > 2.1 x 10(-4) nm at 90% CL. We also find that the determination of standard oscillation parameters is robust, i.e., it is mostly insensitive to the presence of hypothetical decoherence effects once one combines the results of the different reactor neutrino experiments.