Abstract: A search for flavour changing neutral current (FCNC) processes in top-quark decays by the ATLAS Collaboration is presented. Data collected from pp collisions at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV during 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb(-1), were used. A search was performed for top-quark pair-production events, with one top quark decaying through the t -> Zq FCNC (q = u, c) channel, and the other through the Standard Model dominant mode t -> Wb. Only the decays of the Z boson to charged leptons and leptonic W-boson decays were considered as signal. Consequently, the final-state topology is characterised by the presence of three isolated charged leptons, at least two jets and missing transverse momentum from the undetected neutrino. No evidence for an FCNC signal was found. An upper limit on the t -> Zq branching ratio of BR(t -> Zq) < 0.73% is set at the 95% confidence level.

Abstract: We analyse the possible presence of New Physics (NP) in the Flavour Sector and evaluate its potential for solving the tension between the experimental values of A(J/Psi KS) and Br(B+ -> tau(+)v(tau)) with respect to the Standard Model (SM) expectations. Updated model independent analyses, where NP contributions are allowed in B-d(0) – (B) over bar (0)(d) and B-s(0) – (B) over bar (0)(s) transitions, suggest the need of New Physics in the bd sector. A detailed analysis of recent Flavour data is then presented in the framework of a simple extension of the SM, where a Q = 2/3 vector-like isosinglet quark is added to the spectrum of the SM. Special emphasis is given to the implications of this model for correlations among various measurable quantities. We include constraints from all the relevant quark flavour sectors and give precise predictions for selected rare processes. We find important deviations from the SM in observables in the bd sector like the semileptonic asymmetry A(SL)(d), B-d(0) -> mu(+)mu(-) and A(SL)(s) – A(SL)(d). Other potential places where NP can show up include A(J/Psi Phi), gamma, K-L(0) -> pi(0)v (v) over bar, t -> Zq and D-0 -> mu(+)mu(-) among others. The experimental data favours in this model the existence of an up vector-like quark with a mass below 600(1000) GeV at 1(2) sigma.

Abstract: Motivated by the ATLAS and CMS discovery of a Higgs-like boson with a mass around 125 GeV, and by the need of explaining neutrino masses, we analyse the three canonical SUSY versions of the seesaw mechanism (type I, II and III) with CMSSM boundary conditions. In type II and III cases, SUSY particles are lighter than in the CMSSM (or the constrained type I seesaw), for the same set of input parameters at the universality scale. Thus, to explain m(h0) similar or equal to 125 GeV at low energies, one is forced into regions of parameter space with very large values of m(0), M-1/2 or A(0). We compare the squark and gluino masses allowed by the ATLAS and CMS ranges for m(h0) (extracted from the 2011-2012 data), and discuss the possibility of distinguishing seesaw models in view of future results on SUSY searches. In particular, we briefly comment on the discovery potential of LHC upgrades, for squark/gluino mass ranges required by present Higgs mass constraints. A discrimination between different seesaw models cannot rely on the Higgs mass data alone, therefore we also take into account the MEG upper limit on BR(mu -> e gamma) and show that, in some cases, this may help to restrict the SUSY parameter space, as well as to set complementary limits on the seesaw scale.

Abstract: The rare decays B-s,d(0) -> l(+)l(-) are analyzed within the general framework of the aligned two-Higgs doublet model. We present a complete one-loop calculation of the relevant short-distance Wilson coefficients, giving a detailed technical summary of our results and comparing them with previous calculations performed in particular limits or approximations. We investigate the impact of various model parameters on the branching ratios and study the phenomenological constraints imposed by present data.