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At least 1,207 records · Page 67

Toward Complete Leading-Order Predictions for Neutrinoless Double β Decay

The amplitude for the neutrinoless double β (0νββ) decay of the two-neutron system nn → ppe – e – constitutes a key building block for nuclear-structure calculations of heavy nuclei employed in large-scale 0νββ searches. Assuming that the 0νββ process is mediated by a light-Majorana-neutrino exchange, a systematic analysis in chiral effective field theory shows that already at leading order a contact operator is required to ensure renormalizability. Here, we develop a method to estimate the numerical value of its coefficient (in analogy to the Cottingham formula for electromagnetic contributions to hadron masses) and validate the result by reproducing the charge-independence-breaking contribution to the nucleon-nucleon scattering lengths. Our central result, while derived in dimensional regularization, is given in terms of the renormalized amplitude Aν(|p|, |p'|) , matching to which will allow one to determine the contact-term contribution in regularization schemes employed in nuclear-structure calculations. Our results thus greatly reduce a crucial uncertainty in the interpretation of searches for 0νββ decay.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Modification of χ c 1 ( 3872 ) and ψ ( 2 S ) Production in p Pb Collisions at s NN = 8.16 TeV

The LHCb Collaboration measures production of the exotic hadron χ c 1 ( 3872 ) in proton-nucleus collisions for the first time. Comparison with the charmonium state ψ ( 2 S ) suggests that the exotic χ c 1 ( 3872 ) experiences different dynamics in the nuclear medium than conventional hadrons, and comparison with data from proton-proton collisions indicates that the presence of the nucleus may modify χ c 1 ( 3872 ) production rates. This is the first measurement of the nuclear modification factor of an exotic hadron. © 2024 CERN, for the LHCb Collaboration 2024 CERN

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Effects of shape/phase transition regions on neutron capture cross sections

Abstract A recent study found a new, purely empirical correlation between two-neutron separation energies and neutron capture cross sections in keV neutron energy regimes. In shape/phase transition regimes, such as that near A= 150, S $$_{2n}$$ 2 n values show an anomaly—a flattening of the normal near linear decrease with neutron number. This paper addresses two questions: (1) Using this new correlation, is this anomaly in S $$_{2n}$$ 2 n values sizeable enough to produce an observable effect in capture cross sections? and (2) Can the correlation be used to quantitatively reproduce the cross sections in the transition region? It is found that the answer to both questions is in the affirmative. Possible relations to the r -process are briefly discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for heavy neutral leptons in $W^+\rightarrow \mu ^{+}\mu ^{\pm }\, \text {jet}$ decays

A search is performed for heavy neutrinos in the decay of a W boson into two muons and a jet. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately 3.0fb –1 of proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV collected with the LHCb experiment. Both same-sign and opposite-sign muons in the final state are considered. Data are found to be consistent with the expected background. Upper limits on the coupling of a heavy neutrino with the Standard Model neutrino are set at 95% confidence level in the heavy-neutrino mass range from 5 to 50GeV/c 2 . These are of the order of 10 –3 for lepton-number-conserving decays and of the order of 10 –4 for lepton-number-violating heavy-neutrino decays.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for long-lived particles decaying to e± μ∓ ν

Long-lived particles decaying to e±μ∓ν, with masses between 7 and 50GeV/c 2 and lifetimes between 2 and 50 ps, are searched for by looking at displaced vertices containing electrons and muons of opposite charges. The search is performed using 5.4 fb -1 of p p collisions collected with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$=13TeV. Three mechanisms of production of long-lived particles are considered: the direct pair production from quark interactions, the pair production from the decay of a Standard-Model-like Higgs boson with a mass of 125GeV/c 2 , and the charged current production from an on-shell W boson with an additional lepton. No evidence of these long-lived states is obtained and upper limits on the production cross-section times branching fraction are set on the different production modes.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Observation of new excited ${B} ^0_{s}$ states

A structure is observed in the ${B} ^{\pm }{K} ^{\mp }$ mass spectrum in a sample of proton–proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, collected with the LHCb detector and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9$\,\text {fb} ^{-1}$. The structure is interpreted as the result of overlapping excited ${B} ^0_{s}$ states. With high significance, a two-peak hypothesis provides a better description of the data than a single resonance. Under this hypothesis the masses and widths of the two states, assuming they decay directly to ${B} ^{\pm }{K} ^{\mp }$, are determined to be $\begin{aligned} m_1&= 6063.5 \pm 1.2 \text { (stat)} \pm 0.8\text { (syst)}\,\text {Me}\text {V}, \\ \Gamma _1&= 26 \pm 4 \text { (stat)} \pm 4\text { (syst)}\,\text {Me}\text {V}, \\ m_2&= 6114 \pm 3 \text { (stat)} \pm 5\text { (syst)}\,\text {Me}\text {V}, \\ \Gamma _2&= 66 \pm 18 \text { (stat)} \pm 21\text { (syst)}\,\text {Me}\text {V}. \end{aligned}$ Alternative values assuming a decay through ${B} ^{*\pm }{K} ^{\mp }$, with a missing photon from the $B^{*\pm } \rightarrow B^{\pm }\gamma $ decay, which are shifted by approximately 45 $\,\text {Me}$V, are also determined. The possibility of a single state decaying in both channels is also considered. The ratio of the total production cross-section times branching fraction of the new states relative to the previously observed $B_{s2}^{*0}$ state is determined to be $0.87 \pm 0.15 \text { (stat)} \pm 0.19 \text { (syst)}$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Kaon physics without new physics in $$ \varepsilon _K$$

Abstract Despite the observation of significant suppressions of $$b\rightarrow s\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ b → s μ + μ - branching ratios no clear sign of New Physics (NP) has been identified in $$\Delta F=2$$ Δ F = 2 observables $$\Delta M_{d,s}$$ Δ M d , s , $$\varepsilon _K$$ ε K and the mixing induced CP asymmetries $$S_{\psi K_S}$$ S ψ K S and $$S_{\psi \phi }$$ S ψ ϕ . Assuming negligible NP contributions to these observables allows to determine CKM parameters without being involved in the tensions between inclusive and exclusive determinations of $$|V_{cb}|$$ | V cb | and $$|V_{ub}|$$ | V ub | . Furthermore this method avoids the impact of NP on the determination of these parameters present likely in global fits. Simultaneously it provides SM predictions for numerous rare K and B branching ratios that are most accurate to date. Analyzing this scenario within $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ models we point out, following the 2009 observations of Monika Blanke and ours of 2020, that despite the absence of NP contributions to $$\varepsilon _K$$ ε K , significant NP contributions to $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ , $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ , $$K_S\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ K S → μ + μ - , $$K_L\rightarrow \pi ^0\ell ^+\ell ^-$$ K L → π 0 ℓ + ℓ - , $$\varepsilon '/\varepsilon $$ ε ′ / ε and $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K can be present. In the simplest scenario, this is guaranteed, as far as flavour changes are concerned, by a single non-vanishing imaginary left-handed $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ coupling $$g^L_{sd}$$ g sd L . This scenario implies very stringent correlations between the Kaon observables considered by us. In particular, the identification of NP in any of these observables implies automatically NP contributions to the remaining ones under the assumption of non-vanishing flavour conserving $$Z^\prime $$ Z ′ couplings to $$q{\bar{q}}$$ q q ¯ , $$\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ ν ν ¯ , and $$\mu ^+\mu ^-$$ μ + μ - . A characteristic feature of this scenario is a strict correlation between $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ and $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ branching ratios on a branch parallel to the Grossman-Nir bound. Moreover, $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K is automatically suppressed as seems to be required by the results of the RBC-UKQCD lattice QCD collaboration. Furthermore, there is no NP contribution to $$K_L\rightarrow \mu ^+\mu ^-$$ K L → μ + μ - which otherwise would bound NP effects in $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ . Of particular interest are the correlations of $$K^+\rightarrow \pi ^+\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K + → π + ν ν ¯ and $$K_{L}\rightarrow \pi ^0\nu {\bar{\nu }}$$ K L → π 0 ν ν ¯ branching ratios and of $$\Delta M_K$$ Δ M K with the ratio $$\varepsilon '/\varepsilon $$ ε ′ / ε . We investigate the impact of renormalization group effects in the context of the SMEFT on this simple scenario.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Reconstruction of interactions in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector with Pandora

The Pandora Software Development Kit and algorithm libraries provide pattern-recognition logic essential to the reconstruction of particle interactions in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. Pandora is the primary event reconstruction software used at ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector. ProtoDUNE-SP, located at CERN, is exposed to a charged-particle test beam. This paper gives an overview of the Pandora reconstruction algorithms and how they have been tailored for use at ProtoDUNE-SP. In complex events with numerous cosmic-ray and beam background particles, the simulated reconstruction and identification efficiency for triggered test-beam particles is above 80% for the majority of particle type and beam momentum combinations. Specifically, simulated 1 GeV/c charged pions and protons are correctly reconstructed and identified with efficiencies of 86.1$\pm 0.6$% and 84.1$\pm 0.6$%, respectively. The efficiencies measured for test-beam data are shown to be within 5% of those predicted by the simulation.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗