Abstract: We discuss a scenario of the type-II two-Higgs- doublet model (2HDM) in which the b (b) over bar gamma gamma rate of the Higgs pair production is enhanced due to the two nearly degenerate 125 GeV Higgs bosons ( h, H). Considering various theoretical and experimental constraints, we figure out the allowed ranges of the trilinear couplings of these two Higgs bosons and calculate the signal rate of b (b) over bar gamma gamma from the productions of Higgs pairs (hh, hH, HH) at the large hadron collider (LHC). We find that in the allowed parameter space some trilinear Higgs couplings can be larger than the Standard Model (SM) value by an order and the production rate of b _ b.. can be greatly enhanced. We also consider a “decoupling” benchmark point where the light CP-even Higgs has a SM-like cubic self-coupling while other trilinear couplings are very small. With a detailed simulation on the b (b) over bar gamma gamma signal and backgrounds, we find that in such a “decoupling” scenario the hh and hH channels can jointly enhance the statistical significance to 5 sigma at 14 TeV LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3000 fb(-1).

Abstract: The origin of small mixing among the quarks and a large mixing among the neutrinos has been an open question in particle physics. In order to answer this question, we postulate general relations among the quarks and the leptonic mixing angles at a high scale, which could be the scale of Grand Unified Theories. The central idea of these relations is that the quark and the leptonic mixing angles can be unified at some high scale either due to some quark lepton symmetry or some other underlying mechanism and as a consequence, the mixing angles of the leptonic sector are proportional to that of the quark sector. We investigate the phenomenology of the possible relations where the leptonic mixing angles are proportional to the quark mixing angles at the unification scale by taking into account the latest experimental constraints from the neutrino sector. These relations are able to explain the pattern of leptonic mixing at the low scale and thereby hint that these relations could be possible signatures of a quark lepton symmetry or some other underlying quark lepton mixing unification mechanism at some high scale linked to Grand Unified Theories.

Abstract: In this paper, we present a review of recent works on weak decay of heavy mesons and baryons with two mesons, or a meson and a baryon, interacting strongly in the final state. The aim is to learn about the interaction of hadrons and how some particular resonances are produced in the reactions. It is shown that these reactions have peculiar features and act as filters for some quantum numbers which allow to identify easily some resonances and learn about their nature. The combination of basic elements of the weak interaction with the framework of the chiral unitary approach allow for an interpretation of results of many reactions and add a novel information to different aspects of the hadron interaction and the properties of dynamically generated resonances.

Abstract: Nuclear reactions where an exotic nucleus captures a neutron are critical for a wide variety of applications, from energy production and national security, to astrophysical processes, and nucleosynthesis. Neutron capture rates are well constrained near stable isotopes where experimental data are available; however, moving far from the valley of stability, uncertainties grow by orders of magnitude. This is due to the complete lack of experimental constraints, as the direct measurement of a neutron-capture reaction on a short-lived nucleus is extremely challenging. Here, we report on the first experimental extraction of a neutron capture reaction rate on Ni-69, a nucleus that is five neutrons away from the last stable isotope of Ni. The implications of this measurement on nucleosynthesis around mass 70 are discussed, and the impact of similar future measurements on the understanding of the origin of the heavy elements in the cosmos is presented.

Abstract: Violations of CPT symmetry and Lorentz invariance are searched for by studying interference effects in B-0 mixing and in B-s(0) mixing. Samples of B-0 -> J/psi K-S(0) and B-0(s) -> J/psi K+K- decays are recorded by the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb(-1). No periodic variations of the particle-antiparticle mass differences are found, consistent with Lorentz invariance and CPT symmetry. Results are expressed in terms of the standard model extension parameter Delta a(mu) with precisions of O(10(-15)) and O(10(-14)) GeV for the B-0 and B-s(0) systems, respectively. With no assumption on Lorentz (non) invariance, the CPT-violating parameter z in the B-s(0) system is measured for the first time and found to be Re(z) = -0.022 +/- 0.033 +/- 0.005 and Im(z) = 0.004 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.002, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic.