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1. Determination of the Relative Sign of the Higgs Boson Couplings to $W$ and $Z$ Bosons Using $WH$ Production via Vector-Boson Fusion with the ATLAS Detector

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.141801  

   Aad, G; Abbott, B; Abeling, K; Abicht, N J; Abidi, S H; Aboulhorma, A; Abramowicz, H; Abreu, H; Abulaiti, Y; Acharya, B S; et al (October 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   The associated production of Higgs and $W$bosons via vector-boson fusion is highly sensitive to the relative sign of the Higgs boson couplings to $W$and $Z$bosons. In this Letter, two searches for this process are presented, using $140{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The first search targets scenarios with opposite-sign couplings of the $W$and $Z$bosons to the Higgs boson, while the second targets standard model-like scenarios with same-sign couplings. Both analyses consider Higgs boson decays into a pair of $b$quarks and $W$boson decays with an electron or muon. The data exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis with a significance beyond $5\sigma$, and the observed (expected) upper limit set on the cross section for vector-boson fusion $WH$production is 9.0 (8.7) times the standard model value at 95% confidence level. © 2024 CERN, for the ATLAS Collaboration2024CERN 

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2. Measurement of simplified template cross sections of the Higgs boson produced in association with $W$ or $Z$ bosons in the $H\to b\overline{b}$ decay channel in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.092011  

   Tumasyan, A; Adam, W; Andrejkovic, J W; Bergauer, T; Chatterjee, S; Damanakis, K; Dragicevic, M; Escalante_Del_Valle, A; Hussain, P S; Jeitler, M; et al (May 2024, Physical Review D)

   Differential cross sections are measured for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with vector bosons ( $W$, $Z$) and decaying to a pair of $b$quarks. Measurements are performed within the framework of the simplified template cross sections. The analysis relies on the leptonic decays of the $W$and $Z$bosons, resulting in final states with 0, 1, or 2 electrons or muons. The Higgs boson candidates are either reconstructed from pairs of resolved $b$-tagged jets, or from single large-radius jets containing the particles arising from two $b$quarks. Proton-proton collision data at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$, collected by the CMS experiment in 2016–2018 and corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of $138{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$, are analyzed. The inclusive signal strength, defined as the product of the observed production cross section and branching fraction relative to the standard model expectation, combining all analysis categories, is found to be $\mu =1.15_{-0.20}^{+0.22}$. This corresponds to an observed (expected) significance of 6.3 (5.6) standard deviations. © 2024 CERN, for the CMS Collaboration2024CERN 

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3. Class $\mathcal{S}$ Superconformal Indices from Maximal Supergravity

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.181601  

   Bhattacharya, Ritabrata; Katyal, Abhay; Varela, Oscar (May 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   We present a new gauging of maximal supergravity in five spacetime dimensions with gauge group containing ISO(5), involving the local scaling symmetry of the metric, and admitting a supersymmetric anti–de Sitter vacuum. We show this maximal supergravity to arise by consistent truncation of M theory on the (nonspherical, nonparallelizable) six-dimensional geometry associated to a stack of $N$M5 branes wrapped on a smooth Riemann surface. The existence of this truncation allows us to holographically determine the complete, universal spectrum of light operators of the dual four-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$theory of class $\mathcal{S}$. We then compute holographically the superconformal index of the dual field theory at large $N$, finding perfect agreement with previously known field theory results in specific limits. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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4. Illuminating all-hadronic final states with a photon: Exotic decays of the Higgs boson to four bottom quarks in vector boson fusion plus gamma at hadron colliders

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.109.115029  

   Roche, Stephen T; Carlson, Benjamin T; Hayes, Christopher R; Hong, Tae Min (June 2024, Physical Review D)

   We investigate the potential to detect Higgs boson decays to four bottom quarks through a pair of pseudoscalars, a final state that is predicted by many theories beyond the Standard Model. For the first time, the signal sensitivity is evaluated for the final state using the vector boson fusion (VBF) production with and without an associated photon, for the Higgs at $m_H=125\mathrm{GeV}$, at hadron colliders. The signal significance is $0.5\sigma$to $6\sigma$, depending on the pseudoscalar mass $m_a$, when setting the Higgs decay branching ratio to unity, using an integrated luminosity of $150{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$at $\sqrt{s}=13\mathrm{TeV}$. This corresponds to an upper limit of 0.3, on the Higgs branching ratio to four bottom quarks, with a nonobservation of the decay. We also consider several variations of selection requirements—input variables for the VBF tagging and the kinematic variables for the photon—that could help guide the design of new triggers for the Run-3 period of the LHC and for the HL-LHC. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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5. First Joint Oscillation Analysis of Super-Kamiokande Atmospheric and T2K Accelerator Neutrino Data

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.134.011801  

   Abe, K; Abe, S; Bronner, C; Hayato, Y; Hiraide, K; Hosokawa, K; Ieki, K; Ikeda, M; Kameda, J; Kanemura, Y; et al (January 2025, Physical Review Letters)

   The Super-Kamiokande and T2K Collaborations present a joint measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters from their atmospheric and beam neutrino data. It uses a common interaction model for events overlapping in neutrino energy and correlated detector systematic uncertainties between the two datasets, which are found to be compatible. Using 3244.4 days of atmospheric data and a beam exposure of $19.7\left(16.3\right)\times {10}^{20}$protons on target in (anti)neutrino mode, the analysis finds a $1.9\sigma$exclusion of $CP$conservation (defined as $J_{CP}=0$) and a $1.2\sigma$exclusion of the inverted mass ordering. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

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