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1. The neutron veto of the XENONnT experiment: results with demineralized water

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-025-14105-0  

   Aprile, E; Aalbers, J; Abe, K; Ahmed_Maouloud, S; Althueser, L; Andrieu, B; Angelino, E; Antón_Martin, D; Arneodo, F; Baudis, L; et al (June 2025, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract Radiogenic neutrons emitted by detector materials are one of the most challenging backgrounds for the direct search of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). To mitigate this background, the XENONnT experiment is equipped with a novel gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector, which encloses the xenon dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC). The neutron veto (NV) can tag neutrons via their capture on gadolinium or hydrogen, which release$$\gamma $$ $\gamma$-rays that are subsequently detected as Cherenkov light. In this work, we present the first results of the XENONnT NV when operated with demineralized water only, before the insertion of gadolinium. Its efficiency for detecting neutrons is$$({82\pm 1}){\%}$$ $\left(82\pm 1\right)\%$, the highest neutron detection efficiency achieved in a water Cherenkov detector. This enables a high efficiency of$$({53\pm 3}){\%}$$ $\left(53\pm 3\right)\%$for the tagging of WIMP-like neutron signals, inside a tagging time window of$${250}~{\upmu }\hbox {s}$$ $250\mu \text{s}$between TPC and NV, leading to a livetime loss of$${1.6}{\%}$$ $1.6\%$during the first science run of XENONnT. 

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2. XENONnT analysis: Signal reconstruction, calibration, and event selection

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.111.062006  

   Aprile, E; Aalbers, J; Abe, K; Ahmed_Maouloud, S; Althueser, L; Andrieu, B; Angelino, E; Angevaare, J R; Antón_Martin, D; Arneodo, F; et al (March 2025, Physical Review D)

   The XENONnT experiment, located at the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Italy, features a 5.9 tonne liquid xenon time projection chamber surrounded by an instrumented neutron veto, all of which is housed within a muon veto water tank. Because of extensive shielding and advanced purification to mitigate natural radioactivity, an exceptionally low background level of $(15.8\pm 1.3)\mathrm{events}/(\mathrm{tonne}·\mathrm{year}·\mathrm{keV})$in the (1,30) keV region is reached in the inner part of the time projection chamber. XENONnT is, thus, sensitive to a wide range of rare phenomena related to dark matter and neutrino interactions, both within and beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, with a focus on the direct detection of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles. From May 2021 to December 2021, XENONnT accumulated data in rare-event search mode with a total exposure of one $\mathrm{tonne}·\mathrm{year}$. This paper provides a detailed description of the signal reconstruction methods, event selection procedure, and detector response calibration, as well as an overview of the detector performance in this time frame. This work establishes the foundational framework for the “blind analysis” methodology we are using when reporting XENONnT physics results. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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3. Search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson to a pair of pseudoscalars in the $$\upmu \upmu \text{ b } \text{ b } $$ and $$\uptau \uptau \text{ b } \text{ b } $$ final states

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-12727-4  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Del_Valle, A Escalante; Hussain, P S; et al (May 2024, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract A search for exotic decays of the Higgs boson ($$\text {H}$$ $\text{H}$) with a mass of 125$$\,\text {Ge}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V}$$ $\text{Ge}\text{V}$to a pair of light pseudoscalars$$\text {a}_{1} $$ ${\text{a}}_1$is performed in final states where one pseudoscalar decays to two$${\textrm{b}}$$ $\text{b}$quarks and the other to a pair of muons or$$\tau $$ $\tau$leptons. A data sample of proton–proton collisions at$$\sqrt{s}=13\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V} $$ $\sqrt{s}=13\text{Te}\text{V}$corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fb}}^{-1}$recorded with the CMS detector is analyzed. No statistically significant excess is observed over the standard model backgrounds. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level ($$\text {CL}$$ $\text{CL}$) on the Higgs boson branching fraction to$$\upmu \upmu \text{ b } \text{ b } $$ $\mu \mu \text{b}\text{b}$and to$$\uptau \uptau \text{ b } \text{ b },$$ $\tau \tau \text{b}\text{b},$via a pair of$$\text {a}_{1} $$ ${\text{a}}_1$s. The limits depend on the pseudoscalar mass$$m_{\text {a}_{1}}$$ $m_{{\text{a}}_1}$and are observed to be in the range (0.17–3.3) $$\times 10^{-4}$$ $\times {10}^{-4}$and (1.7–7.7) $$\times 10^{-2}$$ $\times {10}^{-2}$in the$$\upmu \upmu \text{ b } \text{ b } $$ $\mu \mu \text{b}\text{b}$and$$\uptau \uptau \text{ b } \text{ b } $$ $\tau \tau \text{b}\text{b}$final states, respectively. In the framework of models with two Higgs doublets and a complex scalar singlet (2HDM+S), the results of the two final states are combined to determine upper limits on the branching fraction$${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} \rightarrow \ell \ell \text{ b } \text{ b})$$ $B(\text{H}\to {\text{a}}_1{\text{a}}_1\to \ell \ell \text{b}\text{b})$at 95%$$\text {CL}$$ $\text{CL}$, with$$\ell $$ $\ell$being a muon or a$$\uptau $$ $\tau$lepton. For different types of 2HDM+S, upper bounds on the branching fraction$${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} )$$ $B(\text{H}\to {\text{a}}_1{\text{a}}_1)$are extracted from the combination of the two channels. In most of the Type II 2HDM+S parameter space,$${\mathcal {B}}(\text {H} \rightarrow \text {a}_{1} \text {a}_{1} )$$ $B(\text{H}\to {\text{a}}_1{\text{a}}_1)$values above 0.23 are excluded at 95%$$\text {CL}$$ $\text{CL}$for$$m_{\text {a}_{1}}$$ $m_{{\text{a}}_1}$values between 15 and 60$$\,\text {Ge}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V}$$ $\text{Ge}\text{V}$. 

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4. Measurement of non-prompt $${{\textrm{D}}^{0}}$$-meson elliptic flow in Pb–Pb collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} = 5.02$$ TeV

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-12259-3  

   Acharya, S; Adamová, D; Aglieri_Rinella, G; Agnello, M; Agrawal, N; Ahammed, Z; Ahmad, S; Ahn, S U; Ahuja, I; Akindinov, A; et al (December 2023, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract The elliptic flow$$(v_2)$$ $\left(v_2\right)$of$${\textrm{D}}^{0}$$ ${\text{D}}^0$mesons from beauty-hadron decays (non-prompt$${\textrm{D}}^{0})$$ ${\text{D}}^0)$was measured in midcentral (30–50%) Pb–Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair$$\sqrt{s_{\textrm{NN}}} = 5.02$$ $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The$${\textrm{D}}^{0}$$ ${\text{D}}^0$mesons were reconstructed at midrapidity$$(|y|<0.8)$$ $\left(\right|y|<0.8)$from their hadronic decay$$\mathrm {D^0 \rightarrow K^-\uppi ^+}$$ $D^0\to K^{-}{\pi }^{+}$, in the transverse momentum interval$$2< p_{\textrm{T}} < 12$$ $2<p_{\text{T}}<12$ GeV/c. The result indicates a positive$$v_2$$ $v_2$for non-prompt$${{\textrm{D}}^{0}}$$ ${\text{D}}^0$mesons with a significance of 2.7$$\sigma $$ $\sigma$. The non-prompt$${{\textrm{D}}^{0}}$$ ${\text{D}}^0$-meson$$v_2$$ $v_2$is lower than that of prompt non-strange D mesons with 3.2$$\sigma $$ $\sigma$significance in$$2< p_\textrm{T} < 8~\textrm{GeV}/c$$ $2<p_{\text{T}}<8\text{GeV}/c$, and compatible with the$$v_2$$ $v_2$of beauty-decay electrons. Theoretical calculations of beauty-quark transport in a hydrodynamically expanding medium describe the measurement within uncertainties. 

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5. Measurement of multijet azimuthal correlations and determination of the strong coupling in proton-proton collisions at $$\sqrt{s}=13\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V} $$

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13116-7  

   Hayrapetyan, A; Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (August 2024, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract A measurement is presented of a ratio observable that provides a measure of the azimuthal correlations among jets with large transverse momentum$$p_{\textrm{T}}$$ $p_{\text{T}}$. This observable is measured in multijet events over the range of$$p_{\textrm{T}} = 360$$ $p_{\text{T}}=360$–$$3170\,\text {Ge}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V} $$ $3170\text{Ge}\text{V}$based on data collected by the CMS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13$$\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V}$$ $\text{Te}\text{V}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 134$$\,\text {fb}^{-1}$$ ${\text{fb}}^{-1}$. The results are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo parton-shower event generator simulations, as well as with fixed-order perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) predictions at next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy obtained with different parton distribution functions (PDFs) and corrected for nonperturbative and electroweak effects. Data and theory agree within uncertainties. From the comparison of the measured observable with the pQCD prediction obtained with the NNPDF3.1 NLO PDFs, the strong coupling at the Z boson mass scale is$$\alpha _\textrm{S} (m_{{\textrm{Z}}}) =0.1177 \pm 0.0013\, \text {(exp)} _{-0.0073}^{+0.0116} \,\text {(theo)} = 0.1177_{-0.0074}^{+0.0117}$$ ${\alpha }_{\text{S}}\left(m_{\text{Z}}\right)=0.1177\pm 0.0013{\text{(exp)}}_{-0.0073}^{+0.0116}\text{(theo)}=0.{1177}_{-0.0074}^{+0.0117}$, where the total uncertainty is dominated by the scale dependence of the fixed-order predictions. A test of the running of$$\alpha _\textrm{S}$$ ${\alpha }_{\text{S}}$in the$$\,\text {Te}\hspace{-.08em}\text {V}$$ $\text{Te}\text{V}$region shows no deviation from the expected NLO pQCD behaviour. 

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