Abstract: This paper presents a search for a new Z' resonance decaying into a pair of dark quarks which hadronise into dark hadrons before promptly decaying back as Standard Model particles. This analysis is based on proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 13TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). After selecting events containing large-radius jets with high track multiplicity, the invariant mass distribution of the two highest-transverse-momentum jets is scanned to look for an excess above a data-driven estimate of the Standard Model multijet background. No significant excess of events is observed and the results are thus used to set 95% confidence-level upper limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio of the Z' to dark quarks as a function of the Z' mass for various dark-quark scenarios.

Abstract: NEXT -100 is currently being constructed at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc in the Spanish Pyrenees and will search for neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure gaseous time projection chamber (TPC) with 100 kg of xenon. Charge amplification is carried out via electroluminescence (EL) which is the process of accelerating electrons in a high electric field region causing secondary scintillation of the medium proportional to the initial charge. The NEXT -100 EL and cathode regions are made from tensioned hexagonal meshes of 1 m diameter. This paper describes the design, characterization, and installation of these parts for NEXT -100. Simulations of the electric field are performed to model the drift and amplification of ionization electrons produced in the detector under various EL region alignments and rotations. Measurements of the electrostatic breakdown voltage in air characterize performance under high voltage conditions and identify breakdown points. The electrostatic deflection of the mesh is quantified and fit to a first -pr inciples mechanical model. Measurements were performed with both a standalone test EL region and with the NEXT-100 EL region before its installation in the detector. Finally, we describe the parts as installed in NEXT-100, following their deployment in Summer 2023.

Abstract: Heavy-ion collisions, such as Pb-Pb or p-Pb, produce extreme conditions in temperature and density that make the hadronic matter transition to a new state, called quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Simulations of heavy-ion collisions provide a way to improve our understanding of the QGP's properties. These simulations are composed of a hybrid description that results in final observables in agreement with accelerators like LHC and RHIC. However, recent works pointed out that these hydrodynamic simulations can display acausal behavior during the evolution in certain regions, indicating a deviation from a faithful representation of the underlying QCD dynamics. To pursue a better understanding of this problem and its consequences, this work simulated two different collision systems, Pb-Pb and p-Pb at root sNN = 5.02 TeV. In this context, our results show that causality violation, even though always present, typically occurs on a small part of the system, quantified by the total energy fraction residing in the acausal region. In addition, the acausal behavior can be reduced with changes in the prehydrodynamic factors and the definition of the bulk-viscous relaxation time. Since these aspects are fairly arbitrary in current simulation models, without solid guidance from the underlying theory, it is reasonable to use the disturbing presence of acausal behavior in current simulations to guide improvements towards more realistic modeling. While this work does not solve the acausality problem, it sheds more light on this issue and also proposes a way to solve this problem in simulations of heavy-ion collisions.