Pair production of quarkonia and electroweak bosons from double-parton scatterings in nuclear collisions at the LHC

Cross sections for the concurrent production of pairs of quarkonia (J/psi, Upsilon) and/or gauge bosons (W, Z) from double-parton scatterings (DPS) in high-energy proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC are calculated. The estimates are based on next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions, including nuclear modifications of the parton densities, for the corresponding single-scattering cross sections. Expected event rates for J/psi+J/psi, J/psi+Upsilon, J/psi+W, J/psi+Z, Upsilon+Upsilon, Upsilon+W, Upsilon+Z, and same-sign W+W production in their (di)leptonic decay modes, after typical acceptance and efficiency losses, are given for pPb and PbPb collisions.Comment: 4 pages. 2 figures. Proceedings Quark-Matter'14. To appear in NP

Triple parton scatterings in proton-nucleus collisions at high energies

A generic expression to compute triple parton scattering (TPS) cross sections in high-energy proton-nucleus (pA) collisions is derived as a function of the corresponding single-parton cross sections and an effective parameter encoding the transverse parton profile of the proton. The TPS cross sections are enhanced by a factor of $9\,A\approx 2000$ in pPb compared to those in proton-nucleon collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. Estimates for triple charm ($c\overline{c}$) and bottom ($b\overline{b}$) production in pPb collisions at LHC and FCC energies are presented based on next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) calculations for $c\overline{c}, b\overline{b}$ single-parton cross sections. At $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 8.8$ TeV, about 10% of the pPb events have three $c\overline{c}$ pairs produced in separate partonic interactions. At $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 63$ TeV, the pPb cross sections for triple-J$/\psi$ and triple-$b\overline{b}$ are ${\cal O}$(1--10 mb). In the most energetic cosmic-ray collisions observed on earth, TPS $c\overline{c}$-pair cross sections equal the total p-Air inelastic cross section.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1612.0558

Same-sign WW production in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC as a signal for double parton scattering

The production of same-sign W-boson pairs from double parton scatterings (DPS) in proton-lead (p-Pb) collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is studied. The signal and background cross sections are estimated with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations using nuclear parton distribution functions for the Pb ion. At sqrt(sNN) = 8.8 TeV the cross section for the DPS process is about 150 pb, i.e. 600 times larger than that in proton-proton collisions at the same centre-of-mass energy and 1.5 times higher than the pPb --> WW+2-jets single-parton background. The measurement of such a process, where 10 events with fully leptonic W's decays are expected after cuts in 2 pb^{-1}, would constitute an unambiguous DPS signal and would help determine the effective sigma_eff parameter characterising the transverse distribution of partons in the proton.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. Tiny mods. Matches PLB published versio

Enhanced J/Psi-pair production from double parton scatterings in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the Large Hadron Collider

A generic expression of double-parton scattering cross sections in high-energy nucleus-nucleus (A-A) collisions is derived as a function of the corresponding single-parton hard cross sections and of the A-A event centrality. We consider the case of prompt-J/psi production in lead-lead (Pb-Pb) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider and find that about 20% (35%) of the J/psi events in minimum-bias (most central) collisions contain a second J/psi from double parton interactions. In Pb-Pb at 5.5 TeV, in the absence of final-state effects, about 240 double-J/psi events are expected per unit midrapidity and per inverse-nanobarn in the dilepton decay modes. The implications of double-J/psi production on the interpretation of the observed J/psi suppression in A-A collisions are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Triple parton scatterings in high-energy proton-proton collisions

A generic expression to compute triple parton scattering (TPS) cross sections in high-energy proton-proton (pp) collisions is presented as a function of the corresponding single-parton cross sections and the transverse parton distribution in the proton encoded in an effective parameter $\sigma_{\rm eff,TPS}$. The value of $\sigma_{\rm eff,TPS}$ is closely related to the similar effective cross section that characterizes double-parton scatterings, and amounts to $\sigma_{\rm eff,TPS} = 12.5 \pm 4.5$ mb. Estimates for triple charm ($\rm c\overline{c}$) and bottom ($\rm b\overline{b}$) production in pp collisions at LHC and FCC energies are presented based on next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative calculations for single $\rm c\overline{c},\rm b\overline{b}$ cross sections. At $\sqrt{s}\approx$ 100 TeV, about 15% of the pp collisions produce three $\rm c\overline{c}$ pairs from three different parton-parton scatterings.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Double-parton scattering cross sections in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC

Simple generic expressions to compute double-parton scattering (DPS) cross sections in high-energy proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions, as a function of the corresponding single-parton cross sections, are presented. Estimates of DPS contributions are studied for two specific processes at LHC energies: (i) same-sign W-boson pair production in p-Pb, and (ii) double-J/psi production in Pb-Pb, using NLO predictions with nuclear parton densities for the corresponding single-parton cross sections. The expected DPS cross sections and event rates after typical acceptance and efficiency losses are also given for other processes involving J/psi and W,Z gauge bosons in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Proceedings Hard-Probes'13 (Stellenbosch, South Africa) to appear in Nucl.Phys.

Reconstruction of Residual Stress in a Welded Plate Using the Variational Eigenstrain Approach

We present the formulation for finding the distribution of eigenstrains, i.e. the sources of residual stress, from a set of measurements of residual elastic strain (e.g. by diffraction), or residual stress, or stress redistribution, or distortion. The variational formulation employed seeks to achieve the best agreement between the model prediction and some measured parameters in the sense of a minimum of a functional given by a sum over the entire set of measurements. The advantage of this approach lies in its flexibility: different sets of measurements and information about different components of the stress-strain state can be incorporated. We demonstrate the power of the technique by analysing experimental data for welds in thin sheet of a nickel superalloy aerospace material. Very good agreement can be achieved between the prediction and the measurement results without the necessity of using iterative solution. In practice complete characterisation of residual stress states is often very difficult, due to limitations of facility access, measurement time or specimen dimensions. Implications of the new technique for experimental analysis are all the more significant, since it allows the reconstruction of the entire stress state from incomplete sets of data.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figure

Higgs Boson Decays to Dark Photons through the Vectorized Lepton Portal

Vector-like fermions charged under both the Standard Model and a new dark gauge group arise in many theories of new physics. If these fermions include an electroweak doublet and singlet with equal dark charges, they can potentially connect to the Higgs field through a Yukawa coupling in analogy to the standard neutrino portal. With such a coupling, fermion loops generate exotic decays of the Higgs boson to one or more dark vector bosons. In this work we study a minimal realization of this scenario with an Abelian dark group. We investigate the potential new Higgs decays modes, we compute their rates, and we study the prospects for observing them at the Large Hadron Collider and beyond given the other experimental constraints on the theory. We also discuss extensions of the theory to non-Abelian dark groups.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures, updated to match JHEP versio