Identification of the TeV Gamma-ray Source ARGO J2031+4157 with the Cygnus Cocoon

The extended TeV gamma-ray source ARGO J2031+4157 (or MGRO J2031+41) is positionally consistent with the Cygnus Cocoon discovered by $Fermi$-LAT at GeV energies in the Cygnus superbubble. Reanalyzing the ARGO-YBJ data collected from November 2007 to January 2013, the angular extension and energy spectrum of ARGO J2031+4157 are evaluated. After subtracting the contribution of the overlapping TeV sources, the ARGO-YBJ excess map is fitted with a two-dimensional Gaussian function in a square region of $10^{\circ}\times 10^{\circ}$, finding a source extension $\sigma_{ext}$= 1$^{\circ}$.8$\pm$0$^{\circ}$.5. The observed differential energy spectrum is $dN/dE =(2.5\pm0.4) \times 10^{-11}(E/1 TeV)^{-2.6\pm0.3}$ photons cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ TeV$^{-1}$, in the energy range 0.2-10 TeV. The angular extension is consistent with that of the Cygnus Cocoon as measured by $Fermi$-LAT, and the spectrum also shows a good connection with the one measured in the 1-100 GeV energy range. These features suggest to identify ARGO J2031+4157 as the counterpart of the Cygnus Cocoon at TeV energies. The Cygnus Cocoon, located in the star-forming region of Cygnus X, is interpreted as a cocoon of freshly accelerated cosmic rays related to the Cygnus superbubble. The spectral similarity with Supernova Remnants indicates that the particle acceleration inside a superbubble is similar to that in a SNR. The spectral measurements from 1 GeV to 10 TeV allows for the first time to determine the possible spectrum slope of the underlying particle distribution. A hadronic model is adopted to explain the spectral energy distribution.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, has been accepted by ApJ for publicatio

SEARCH FOR GeV GAMMA-RAY BURSTS WITH THE ARGO-YBJ DETECTOR: SUMMARY OF EIGHT YEARS OF OBSERVATIONS

The search for gamma-ray burst (GRB) emission in the energy range of 1-100 GeV in coincidence with the satellite detection has been carried out using the Astrophysical Radiation with Ground-based Observatory at YangBaJing (ARGO-YBJ) experiment. The high-altitude location (4300 m a.s.l.), the large active surface (~6700 m2 of Resistive Plate Chambers), the wide field of view (~2 sr, limited only by the atmospheric absorption), and the high duty cycle (>86%) make the ARGO-YBJ experiment particularly suitable to detect short and unexpected events like GRBs. With the scaler mode technique, i.e., counting all the particles hitting the detector with no measurement of the primary energy and arrival direction, the minimum threshold of ~1 GeV can be reached, overlapping the direct measurements carried out by satellites. During the experiment lifetime from 2004 December 17 to 2013 February 7, a total of 206 GRBs occurring within the ARGO-YBJ field of view (zenith angle θ ≤ 45°) have been analyzed. This is the largest sample of GRBs investigated with a ground-based detector. Two light curve models have been assumed and since in both cases no significant excess has been found, the corresponding fluence upper limits in the 1-100 GeV energy region have been derived, with values as low as 10–5 erg cm–2. The analysis of a subset of 24 GRBs with known redshift has been used to constrain the fluence extrapolation to the GeV region together with possible cutoffs under different assumptions on the spectrum

Measurement of the flavour-specific CP-violating asymmetry as sl in B0s decays

The CP  -violating asymmetry is studied using semileptonic decays of and mesons produced in pp   collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, exploiting a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. The reconstructed final states are , with the particle decaying in the ϕπ± mode. The yields are summed over and initial states, and integrated with respect to decay time. Data-driven methods are used to measure efficiency ratios. We obtain , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Searches for violation of lepton flavour and baryon number in tau lepton decays at LHCb

Searches for the lepton flavour violating decay τ−→μ−μ+μ−τ−→μ−μ+μ− and the lepton flavour and baryon number violating decays sourceτ−→p¯μ+μ− and τ−→pμ−μ−τ−→pμ−μ− have been carried out using proton–proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−11.0 fb−1, taken by the LHCb experiment at s=7 TeV. No evidence has been found for any signal, and limits have been set at 90%90% confidence level on the branching fractions: B(τ−→μ−μ+μ−)<8.0×10−8B(τ−→μ−μ+μ−)<8.0×10−8, B(τ−→p¯μ+μ−)<3.3×10−7 and B(τ−→pμ−μ−)<4.4×10−7B(τ−→pμ−μ−)<4.4×10−7. The results for the τ−→p¯μ+μ− and τ−→pμ−μ−τ−→pμ−μ− decay modes represent the first direct experimental limits on these channels

Narrow-band search of continuous gravitational-wave signals from Crab and Vela pulsars in Virgo VSR4 data

In this paper we present the results of a coherent narrow-band search for continuous gravitational-wave signals from the Crab and Vela pulsars conducted on Virgo VSR4 data. In order to take into account a possible small mismatch between the gravitational-wave frequency and two times the star rotation frequency, inferred from measurement of the electromagnetic pulse rate, a range of 0.02 Hz around two times the star rotational frequency has been searched for both the pulsars. No evidence for a signal has been found and 95% confidence level upper limits have been computed assuming both that polarization parameters are completely unknown and that they are known with some uncertainty, as derived from x-ray observations of the pulsar wind torii. For Vela the upper limits are comparable to the spin-down limit, computed assuming that all the observed spin-down is due to the emission of gravitational waves. For Crab the upper limits are about a factor of 2 below the spin-down limit, and represent a significant improvement with respect to past analysis. This is the first time the spin-down limit is significantly overcome in a narrow-band search.by Anand Sengupta et al

Observation of B[0s χc1φ decay and study of: B0 -> χ c1,2K*1 decays

The first observation of the decay B0s → χc1φ and a study of B0 → χc1,2K*0 decays are presented. The analysis is performed using a dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: Where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of χc → J/ψγ modes. © 2013 CERN. Published by Elsevier B.V

Search for the rare decay D0→μ+μ−D^0 \to \mu^+ \mu^-

22 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Physics Letters BA search for the rare decay $D^0 \to \mu^+ \mu^-$is performed using a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.9 fb$^{-1}$, of $pp$ collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of events is consistent with the background expectations and corresponds to an upper limit of \mbox{${\cal B}(D^0 \to \mu^+ \mu^-) < 6.2(7.6) \times 10^{-9}$} at \mbox{90%} \mbox{(95%)} confidence level. This result represents an improvement of more than a factor twenty with respect to previous measurements

Search for D+(s) to pi+ mu+ mu- and D+(s) to pi- mu+ mu+ decays

21 pages, 5 figures - See paper for full list of authorsA search for non-resonant D+(s) to pi+mu+mu- and D+(s) to pi-mu+mu+ decays is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1, at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment in 2011. No signals are observed and the 90% (95%) confidence level (CL) limits on the branching fractions are B(D+ to pi+mu+mu-) < 7.3 (8.3) x 10-8, B(Ds+ to pi+mu+mu-) < 4.1 (4.8) x 10-7, B(D+ to pi-mu+mu+) < 2.2 (2.5) x 10-8, B(Ds+ to pi-mu+mu+) < 1.2 (1.4) x 10-7. These limits are the most stringent to date

Search for direct CP violation in D0 -> h- h+ modes using semileptonic B decays

15 pages, 4 figures - See paper for full list of authorsA search for direct CP violation in D0 -> h- h+ (where h=K or pi) is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb^-1 collected in 2011 by LHCb in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The analysis uses D0 mesons produced in inclusive semileptonic b-hadron decays to the D0 mu X final state, where the charge of the accompanying muon is used to tag the flavour of the D0 meson. The difference in the CP-violating asymmetries between the two decay channels is measured to be Delta A_CP = A_CP(K-K+) - A_CP(pi-pi+) = (0.49 +- 0.30 (stat) +- 0.14 (syst)) % . This result does not confirm the evidence for direct CP violation in the charm sector reported in other analyses