Abstract: On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of similar to 1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg(2) at a luminosity distance of 40(-8)(+8) Mpc and with component masses consistent with neutron stars. The component masses were later measured to be in the range 0.86 to 2.26 M-circle dot. An extensive observing campaign was launched across the electromagnetic spectrum leading to the discovery of a bright optical transient (SSS17a, now with the IAU identification of AT 2017gfo) in NGC 4993 (at similar to 40 Mpc) less than 11 hours after the merger by the One-Meter, Two Hemisphere (1M2H) team using the 1 m Swope Telescope. The optical transient was independently detected by multiple teams within an hour. Subsequent observations targeted the object and its environment. Early ultraviolet observations revealed a blue transient that faded within 48 hours. Optical and infrared observations showed a redward evolution over similar to 10 days. Following early non-detections, X-ray and radio emission were discovered at the transient's position similar to 9 and similar to 16 days, respectively, after the merger. Both the X-ray and radio emission likely arise from a physical process that is distinct from the one that generates the UV/optical/near-infrared emission. No ultra-high-energy gamma-rays and no neutrino candidates consistent with the source were found in follow-up searches. These observations support the hypothesis that GW170817 was produced by the merger of two neutron stars in NGC4993 followed by a short gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and a kilonova/macronova powered by the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei synthesized in the ejecta.

Abstract: The production of B +/- mesons is studied in pp collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 13 TeV, using B-+/- -> J/psi K-+/- decays and data samples corresponding to 1.0 fb(-1) and 0.3 fb(-1), respectively. The production cross-sections summed over both charges and integrated over the transverse momentum range 0 < pT < 40 GeV/c and the rapidity range 2.0 < y < 4.5 are measured to be sigma-(pp -> B-+/- X, root s = 7 TeV) = 43.0 +/- 0.2 +/- 2.5 +/- 1.7 μb, sigma(pp -> B-+/- X, root s = 13 TeV) = 86.6 +/- 0.5 +/- 5.4 +/- 3.4 μb, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, and the third are due to the limited knowledge of the B-+/- -> J/psi K-+/- branching fraction. The ratio of the cross-section at 13 TeV to that at 7 TeV is determined to be 2.02 +/- 0.02 (stat) +/- 0.12 (syst). Differential cross-sections are also reported as functions of pi, and y. All results are in agreement with theoretical calculations based on the state-of-art fixed next-to-leading order quantum chromodynamics.

Abstract: Supersymmetric theories supplemented by an underlying flavor-symmetry G(f) provide a rich playground for model building aimed at explaining the flavor structure of the Standard Model. In the case where supersymmetry breaking is mediated by gravity, the soft-breaking Lagrangian typically exhibits large tree-level flavor violating e ff ects, even if it stems from an ultraviolet flavor-conserving origin. Building on previous work, we continue our phenomenological analysis of these models with a particular emphasis on leptonicflavor observables. We consider three representative models which aim to explain the flavor structure of the lepton sector, with symmetry groups G(f) = Delta (27), A(4); and S-3.