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At least 991 records · Page 55

Decay spectroscopy of an isomeric state in Md251

Excited states in Md251 have been populated by decay of an isomeric state at Ex≈1174 keV and studied via delayed γ-ray spectroscopy. We observe the population of two rotational bands, one of which we identify as the Nilsson π72[514] ground-state band and the other we propose is based on the π92[624] configuration. From the observed decay pattern, we suggest that the isomer spin parity is 232+, with the three-quasiparticle configuration π72[514]⊗{ν72[624]⊗ν92[734]}Kπ=8−. We compare our results to theoretical predictions of the single- and multi-quasiparticle structure of Md251.

Morse, C↗

Search for heavy neutral leptons decaying into muon-pion pairs in the MicroBooNE detector

We present upper limits on the production of heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) decaying to $\mu \pi$ pairs using data collected with the MicroBooNE liquid-argon time projection chamber (TPC) operating at Fermilab. This search is the first of its kind performed in a liquid-argon TPC. We use data collected in 2017 and 2018 corresponding to an exposure of $2.0 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target from the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam, which produces mainly muon neutrinos with an average energy of $\approx 800$ MeV. HNLs with higher mass are expected to have a longer time-of-flight to the liquid-argon TPC than Standard Model neutrinos. The data are therefore recorded with a dedicated trigger configured to detect HNL decays that occur after the neutrino spill reaches the detector. We set upper limits at the $90\%$ confidence level on the element $\lvert U_{\mu4}\rvert^2$ of the extended PMNS mixing matrix in the range $\lvert U_{\mu4}\rvert^2<(6.6$-$0.9)\times 10^{-7}$ for Dirac HNLs and $\lvert U_{\mu4}\rvert^2<(4.7$-$0.7)\times 10^{-7}$ for Majorana HNLs, assuming HNL masses between $260$ and $385$ MeV and $\lvert U_{e 4}\rvert^2 = \lvert U_{\tau 4}\rvert^2 = 0$.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Khuri-Treiman equations for 3$π$ decays of particles with spin

Khuri-Treiman equations have proven to be a useful theoretical tool in the analysis of three-body decays, especially into the 3$π$ final state. In this work we present in full detail the necessary generalization of the formalism to study the decays of particles with arbitrary spin, parity, and charge conjugation. To this extent, we find it most convenient to work with helicity amplitudes instead of the so-called invariant amplitudes, especially when dealing with the unitarity relations. The isobar expansions in the three possible ( s-, t-, and u- ) final channels are related with the appropriate crossing matrices. We pay special attention to the kinematical singularities and constraints of the helicity amplitudes, showing that these can be derived by means of the crossing matrix.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for charginos and neutralinos in final states with two boosted hadronically decaying bosons and missing transverse momentum in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for charginos and neutralinos at the Large Hadron Collider using fully hadronic final states and missing transverse momentum is reported. Pair-produced charginos or neutralinos are explored, each decaying into a high-p T Standard Model weak boson. Fully hadronic final states are studied to exploit the advantage of the large branching ratio, and the efficient rejection of backgrounds by identifying the high-p T bosons using large-radius jets and jet substructure information. An integrated luminosity of 139 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is used. No significant excess is found beyond the Standard Model expectation. Exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level are set on wino or higgsino production with various assumptions about the decay branching ratios and the type of lightest supersymmetric particle. A wino (higgsino) mass up to 1060 (900) GeV is excluded when the lightest supersymmetry particle mass is below 400 (240) GeV and the mass splitting is larger than 400 (450) GeV. The sensitivity to high-mass winos and higgsinos is significantly extended relative to previous LHC searches using other final states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for Higgs boson decays into a pair of pseudoscalar particles in the $bbμμ$ final state with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV

This paper presents a search for decays of the Higgs boson with a mass of 125 GeV into a pair of new pseudoscalar particles, $H→aa$, where one a-boson decays into a b-quark pair and the other into a muon pair. The search uses 139 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} =$ 13 TeV recorded between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. A narrow dimuon resonance is searched for in the invariant mass spectrum between 16 GeV and 62 GeV. The largest excess of events above the Standard Model backgrounds is observed at a dimuon invariant mass of 52 GeV and corresponds to a local (global) significance of 3.3σ (1.7σ). Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio of the Higgs boson to the $bbμμ$ final state, $B(H→aa→bbμμ)$, and are in the range 0.2-4.0×10 -4 , depending on the signal mass hypothesis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of inclusive electrons from open heavy-flavor hadron decays in p + p collisions at s = 200 GeV with the STAR detector

We report a new measurement of the production cross section for inclusive electrons from open heavy-flavor hadron decays as a function of transverse momentum (p T ) at midrapidity (|y| < 0.7) in p + p collisions at √s = 200 GeV. Overall, the result is presented for 2.5 < P T < 10 GeV/c with an improved precision above 6 GeV/c with respect to the previous measurements, providing more constraints on perturbative QCD calculations. Moreover, this measurement also provides a high-precision reference for measurements of nuclear modification factors for inclusive electrons from open-charm and -bottom hadron decays in heavy-ion collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Long-exposure NuSTAR constraints on decaying dark matter in the Galactic halo

Here, we present two complementary NuSTAR x-ray searches for keV-scale dark matter decaying to monoenergetic photons in the Milky Way halo. In the first, we utilize the known intensity pattern of unfocused stray light across the detector planes—the dominant source of photons from diffuse sources—to separate astrophysical emission from internal instrument backgrounds using ~7- Ms/detector deep blank-sky exposures. In the second, we present an updated parametric model of the full NuSTAR instrument background, allowing us to leverage the statistical power of an independent ~20-Ms/detector stacked exposures spread across the sky. Finding no evidence of anomalous x-ray lines using either method, we set limits on the active-sterile mixing angle sin 2 ⁡(2⁢θ) for sterile-neutrino masses 6–40 keV. The first key result is that we strongly disfavor a ~7-keV sterile neutrino decaying into a 3.5-keV photon. The second is that we derive leading limits on sterile neutrinos with masses ~15–18 keV and ~25–40 keV, reaching or extending below the big bang nucleosynthesis limit. In combination with previous results, the parameter space for the neutrino minimal standard model is now nearly closed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

First search for the weak radiative decays Λ$^+_c$ → Σ + γ and Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ 0 γ

We present the first search for the weak radiative decays Λ$^+_c$ → Σ + γ and Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ 0 γ using a data sample of 980 fb -1 collected by the Belle detector operating at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e + e - collider. There are no evident Λ$^+_c$ → Σ + γ or Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ 0 γ signals. Taking the decays Λ$^+_c$ → pK - π + and Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ - π + as normalization channels, the upper limits at 90% credibility level on the ratios of branching fractions $\mathcal{B}$(Λ$^+_c$ → Σ + γ)/$\mathcal{B}$(Λ$^+_c$ → pK - π + ) < 4.0 x 10 -3 and $\mathcal{B}$(Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ 0 γ)/$\mathcal{B}$(Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ - π + ) < 1.2 x 10 -2 are determined. We obtain the upper limits at 90% credibility level on the absolute branching fractions $\mathcal{B}$(Λ$^+_c$ → Σ + γ) < 2.6 x 10 -4 and $\mathcal{B}$(Ξ$^0_c$ → Ξ 0 γ) < 1.8 x 10 -4 .

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Measurements of the branching fractions of the inclusive decays D 0 ( D + ) → π + π + π - X

Using e + ⁢e - annihilation data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.93 fb -1 taken at a center-of-mass energy of 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector, we report the first measurements of the branching fractions of the inclusive decays D 0 → π + π + π - X and D + → π + π + π - X, where pions from $K^0_S$ decays have been excluded from the → π + π + π - system and X denotes any possible particle combination. The branching fractions of D 0 ⁡(D + ) → π + π + π - X are determined to be B⁡(D 0 → π + π + π - X) = (17.60 ± 0.11 ± 0.22)% and B(D + → π + π + π - X) = (15.25 ± 0.09 ± 0.18)%, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement of the B + /B 0 production ratio in e + e - collisions at the $\Upsilon$ (4S) resonance using B → J/Ψ($\ell\ell$)K decays at Belle

We measure the ratio of branching fractions for the $\Upsilon$ (4S) decays to B + B - and B 0 $\bar{B}$ 0 using B + → J/Ψ($\ell\ell$)K + and B 0 → J/Ψ($\ell\ell$)K 0 samples, where J/Ψ($\ell\ell$) stands for J/Ψ → $\ell$ + $\ell$ - ($\ell$ = e or μ), with 711 fb -1 of data collected at the $\Upsilon$ (4S) resonance with the Belle detector. We find the decay rate ratio of $\Upsilon$ (4S) → B + B - over $\Upsilon$ (4S) → B 0 $\bar{B}$ 0 to be 1.065 ± 0.012 ± 0.019 ± 0.047, which is the most precise measurement to date. The first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively, and the third uncertainty is due to the assumption of isospin symmetry in B → J/Ψ($\ell\ell$) K.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Search for a new pseudoscalar decaying into a pair of muons in events with a top-quark pair at $\sqrt{s} = 13$ $\mathrm{TeV}$ with the ATLAS detector

A search for a new pseudoscalar a-boson produced in events with a top-quark pair, where the a-boson decays into a pair of muons, is performed using $\sqrt{s}$=13 TeV pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb -1 . The search targets the final state where only one top quark decays to an electron or muon, resulting in a signature with three leptons eμμ and μμμ. No significant excess of events above the Standard Model expectation is observed and upper limits are set on two signal models: $pp→t\bar{t}a$ and $pp→t\bar{t}$ with $t→H^±b, H^±→W^±a$, where $a→μμ$, in the mass ranges 15 GeV a <72 GeV and 120 GeV≤m H± ≤160 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation and branching fraction measurement of the decay J / ψ → p ¯ Σ + K S 0 + c . c .

The first observation of the decays J / ψ → p ¯ Σ + K S 0 and J / ψ → p Σ ¯ − K S 0 is reported using ( 10087 ± 44 ) × 10 6 J / ψ events recorded by the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring. The branching fractions of each channel are determined to be B ( J / ψ → p ¯ Σ + K S 0 ) = ( 1.361 ± 0.006 ± 0.025 ) × 10 − 4 , and B ( J / ψ → p Σ ¯ − K S 0 ) = ( 1.352 ± 0.006 ± 0.025 ) × 10 − 4 . The combined result is B ( J / ψ → p ¯ Σ + K S 0 + c . c . ) = ( 2.725 ± 0.009 ± 0.050 ) × 10 − 4 , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The results presented are in good agreement with the branching fractions of the isospin partner decay J / ψ → p K − Σ ¯ 0 + c . c . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Observation of the decay J / ψ → e + e − η ( 1405 ) with η ( 1405 ) → π 0 f 0 ( 980 )

Using a data sample of ( 10087 ± 44 ) × 10 6 J / ψ events collected by the BESIII detector in 2009, 2012, 2018 and 2019, the electromagnetic Dalitz process J / ψ → e + e − η ( 1405 ) is observed via the decay η ( 1405 ) → π 0 f 0 ( 980 ) , f 0 ( 980 ) → π + π − , with a significance of about 9.8 σ . The branching fraction of this decay is measured to be B ( J / ψ → e + e − η ( 1405 ) → e + e − π 0 f 0 ( 980 ) → e + e − π 0 π + π − ) = ( 2.04 ± 0.20 ( stat ) ± 0.08 ( syst ) ) × 10 − 7 . The branching fraction ratio B ( J / ψ → e + e − η ( 1405 ) ) / B ( J / ψ → γ η ( 1405 ) ) is determined to be ( 1.36 ± 0.17 ( stat ) ± 0.06 ( syst ) ) × 10 − 2 . Furthermore, an e + e − invariant mass dependent transition form factor of J / ψ → e + e − η ( 1405 ) is presented for the first time. The obtained result provides input for different theoretical models and is valuable for the improved understanding the intrinsic structure of the η ( 1405 ) meson. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Study of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays D s + → K + K + π − and D s + → K + K + π − π 0

Based on 7.33 fb − 1 of e + e − collision data collected at center-of-mass energies between 4.128 and 4.226 GeV with the BESIII detector, the experimental studies of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays D s + → K + K + π − and D s + → K + K + π − π 0 are reported. We determine the absolute branching fraction of D s + → K + K + π − to be ( 1.2 4 − 0.26 + 0.28 ( stat ) ± 0.06 ( syst ) ) × 10 − 4 . No significant signal of D s + → K + K + π − π 0 is observed and the upper limit on its decay branching fraction at 90% confidence level is set to be 1.7 × 10 − 4 . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Search for decaying dark matter in the Virgo cluster of galaxies with HAWC

The decay or annihilation of dark matter particles may produce a steady flux of very-high-energy gamma rays detectable above the diffuse background. Nearby clusters of galaxies provide excellent targets to search for the signatures of particle dark matter interactions. In particular, the Virgo cluster spans several degrees across the sky and can be efficiently probed with a wide field-of-view instrument. The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, due to its wide field of view and sensitivity to gamma rays at an energy scale of 300 GeV–100 TeV is well-suited for this search. Using 2141 days of data, we search for γ -ray emission from the Virgo cluster, assuming well-motivated dark matter substructure models. Our results provide some of the strongest constraints on the decay lifetime of dark matter for masses above 10 TeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Albert, A.↗

Looking in the axion mirror: An all-sky analysis of stimulated decay

Axion dark matter (DM) produces echo images of bright radio sources via stimulated decay. These images appear as a faint radio line centered at half the axion mass, with the line width set by the DM velocity dispersion. Due to the kinematics of the decay, the echo can be emitted in the direction nearly opposite to the incoming source of stimulating radiation, meaning that axions effectively behave as imperfect monochromatic mirrors. We present an all-sky analysis of axion DM-induced echo images using extragalactic radio point sources, Galactic supernova remnants (SNRs), and Galactic synchrotron radiation (GSR) as sources of stimulating radiation. The aggregate signal strength is not significantly affected by unknown properties of individual sources of stimulating radiation, which we sample from an empirical distribution to generate an ensemble of realizations for the all-sky signal template. We perform forecasts for CHIME, HERA, CHORD, HIRAX, and BURSTT, finding that they can run as competitive axion experiments simultaneously with other objectives, requiring no new hardware.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

First observation of the decay Λ c + → n K S 0 π + π 0

Based on 4.5 fb − 1 of e + e − collision data accumulated at center-of-mass energies between 4599.53 and 4698.82 MeV with the BESIII detector, the decay Λ c + → n K S 0 π + π 0 is observed for the first time with a significance of 9.2 σ . The branching fraction is measured to be ( 0.85 ± 0.13 ± 0.03 ) % , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic, which differs from the theoretical prediction based on isospin by 4.4 σ . This indicates that there may be resonant contributions or some unknown dynamics in this decay. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Improved measurements of the Dalitz decays η / η ′ → γ e + e −

Based on a data sample of 10 billion J / ψ events collected with the BESIII detector, improved measurements of the Dalitz decays η / η ′ → γ e + e − are performed, where the η and η ′ are produced through the radiative decays J / ψ → γ η / η ′ . The branching fractions of η → γ e + e − and η ′ → γ e + e − are measured to be ( 7.07 ± 0.05 ± 0.23 ) × 10 − 3 and ( 4.83 ± 0.07 ± 0.14 ) × 10 − 4 , respectively. Within the single-pole model, the parameter of electromagnetic transition form factor for η → γ e + e − is determined to be Λ η = ( 0.749 ± 0.027 ± 0.007 ) GeV / c 2 . Within the multipole model, we extract the electromagnetic transition form factors for η ′ → γ e + e − to be Λ η ′ = ( 0.802 ± 0.007 ± 0.008 ) GeV / c 2 and γ η ′ = ( 0.113 ± 0.010 ± 0.002 ) GeV / c 2 . The results are consistent with both theoretical predictions and previous measurements. The characteristic sizes of the interaction regions for the η and η ′ are calculated to be ( 0.645 ± 0.023 ± 0.007 ) fm and ( 0.596 ± 0.005 ± 0.006 ) fm , respectively. In addition, we search for the dark photon in η / η ′ → γ e + e − , and the upper limits of the branching fractions as a function of the dark photon are given at 90% confidence level. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗