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1. Test of lepton flavor universality in ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$ and ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\text{e}}^{+}{\text{e}}^{-}$ decays in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{\text{s}}=\text{13}\text{TeV}$

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/ad4e65  

   CMS_Collaboration, The (July 2024, Reports on Progress in Physics)

   Abstract A test of lepton flavor universality in ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$and ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\text{e}}^{+}{\text{e}}^{-}$decays, as well as a measurement of differential and integrated branching fractions of a nonresonant ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$decay are presented. The analysis is made possible by a dedicated data set of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13\text{TeV}$recorded in 2018, by the CMS experiment at the LHC, using a special high-rate data stream designed for collecting about 10 billion unbiased b hadron decays. The ratio of the branching fractions $B({\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})$to $B({\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\text{e}}^{+}{\text{e}}^{-})$is determined from the measured double ratio $R\left(\text{K}\right)$of these decays to the respective branching fractions of the ${\text{B}}^{\pm }\to \text{J}/\text{ψ}{\text{K}}^{\pm }$with $\text{J}/\text{ψ}\to {\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-}$and ${\text{e}}^{+}{\text{e}}^{-}$decays, which allow for significant cancellation of systematic uncertainties. The ratio $R\left(\text{K}\right)$is measured in the range $1.1<q^2<6.0{\text{GeV}}^2$, whereqis the invariant mass of the lepton pair, and is found to be $R\left(\text{K}\right)={0.78}_{-0.23}^{+0.47}$, in agreement with the standard model expectation $R\left(\text{K}\right)\approx 1$. This measurement is limited by the statistical precision of the electron channel. The integrated branching fraction in the sameq²range, $B({\text{B}}^{\pm }\to {\text{K}}^{\pm }{\mu }^{+}{\mu }^{-})=(12.42\pm 0.68)\times {10}^{-8}$, is consistent with the present world-average value and has a comparable precision. 

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2. Measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^{\ast }\to ZZ\to 4\ell$ decay channel using a neural simulation-based inference technique in 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/adcd9a  

   The_ATLAS_Collaboration (May 2025, Reports on Progress in Physics)

   Abstract A measurement of off-shell Higgs boson production in the $H^{\ast }\to ZZ\to 4\ell$decay channel is presented. The measurement uses 140 fb⁻¹of proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and supersedes the previous result in this decay channel using the same dataset. The data analysis is performed using a neural simulation-based inference method, which builds per-event likelihood ratios using neural networks. The observed (expected) off-shell Higgs boson production signal strength in the $ZZ\to 4\ell$decay channel at 68% CL is ${0.87}_{-0.54}^{+0.75}$( ${1.00}_{-0.95}^{+1.04}$). The evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production using the $ZZ\to 4\ell$decay channel has an observed (expected) significance of 2.5σ(1.3σ). The expected result represents a significant improvement relative to that of the previous analysis of the same dataset, which obtained an expected significance of 0.5σ. When combined with the most recent ATLAS measurement in the $ZZ\to 2\ell 2\nu$decay channel, the evidence for off-shell Higgs boson production has an observed (expected) significance of 3.7σ(2.4σ). The off-shell measurements are combined with the measurement of on-shell Higgs boson production to obtain constraints on the Higgs boson total width. The observed (expected) value of the Higgs boson width at 68% CL is ${4.3}_{-1.9}^{+2.7}$( ${4.1}_{-3.4}^{+3.5}$) MeV. 

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3. Computation of the expectation value of the spin operator ${\hat{S}}^2$ for the spin-flip Bethe–Salpeter equation

   https://doi.org/10.1088/2516-1075/ad48ed  

   Barker, B A; Seshappan, A; Strubbe, D A (May 2024, Electronic Structure)

   Abstract Spin-flip (SF) methods applied to excited-state approaches like the Bethe–Salpeter equation allow access to the excitation energies of open-shell systems, such as molecules and defects in solids. The eigenstates of these solutions, however, are generally not eigenstates of the spin operator ${\hat{S}}^2$. Even for simple cases where the excitation vector is expected to be, for example, a triplet state, the value of $⟨{\hat{S}}^2⟩$may be found to differ from 2.00; this difference is called ‘spin contamination’. The expectation values $⟨{\hat{S}}^2⟩$must be computed for each excitation vector, to assist with the characterization of the particular excitation and to determine the amount of spin contamination of the state. Our aim is to provide for the first time in the SF methods literature a comprehensive resource on the derivation of the formulas for $⟨{\hat{S}}^2⟩$as well as its computational implementation. After a brief discussion of the theory of the SF Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) and some examples further illustrating the need for calculating $⟨{\hat{S}}^2⟩$, we present the derivation for the general equation for computing $⟨{\hat{S}}^2⟩$with the eigenvectors from an SF-BSE calculation, how it is implemented in a Python script, and timing information on how this calculation scales with the size of the SF-BSE Hamiltonian. 

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4. Characterizing the fundamental bending vibration of a linear polyatomic molecule for symmetry violation searches

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ace471  

   Jadbabaie, Arian; Takahashi, Yuiki; Pilgram, Nickolas H; Conn, Chandler J; Zeng, Yi; Zhang, Chi; Hutzler, Nicholas R (July 2023, New Journal of Physics)

   Abstract Polyatomic molecules have been identified as sensitive probes of charge-parity violating and parity violating physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). For example, many linear triatomic molecules are both laser-coolable and have parity doublets in the ground electronic $\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}\left(010\right)$state arising from the bending vibration, both features that can greatly aid BSM searches. Understanding the $\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}\left(010\right)$state is a crucial prerequisite to precision measurements with linear polyatomic molecules. Here, we characterize the fundamental bending vibration of ${}^{174}$YbOH using high-resolution optical spectroscopy on the nominally forbidden $\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}\left(010\right)$ $\to \tilde{A}{}^2{\mathrm{\Pi }}_{1/2}\left(000\right)$transition at 588 nm. We assign 39 transitions originating from the lowest rotational levels of the $\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}\left(010\right)$state, and accurately model the state’s structure with an effective Hamiltonian using best-fit parameters. Additionally, we perform Stark and Zeeman spectroscopy on the $\tilde{X}{}^2{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+}\left(010\right)$state and fit the molecule-frame dipole moment to $D_{\mathrm{m}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{l}}=2.16\left(1\right)$Dand the effective electrong-factor to $g_S=2.07\left(2\right)$. Further, we use an empirical model to explain observed anomalous line intensities in terms of interference from spin–orbit and vibronic perturbations in the excited $\tilde{A}{}^2{\mathrm{\Pi }}_{1/2}\left(000\right)$state. Our work is an essential step toward searches for BSM physics in YbOH and other linear polyatomic molecules. 

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5. The metastable Q ³ Δ ₂ state of ThO: a new resource for the ACME electron EDM search

   https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab6a3a  

   Wu, X.; Han, Z.; Chow, J.; Ang, D. G.; Meisenhelder, C.; Panda, C. D.; West, E. P.; Gabrielse, G.; Doyle, J. M.; DeMille, D. (February 2020, New Journal of Physics)

   Abstract The best upper limit for the electron electric dipole moment was recently set by the ACME collaboration. This experiment measures an electron spin-precession in a cold beam of ThO molecules in their metastable $H{(}^3{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1)$state. Improvement in the statistical and systematic uncertainties is possible with more efficient use of molecules from the source and better magnetometry in the experiment, respectively. Here, we report measurements of several relevant properties of the long-lived $Q{(}^3{\mathrm{\Delta }}_2)$state of ThO, and show that this state is a very useful resource for both these purposes. TheQstate lifetime is long enough that its decay during the time of flight in the ACME beam experiment is negligible. The large electric dipole moment measured for theQstate, giving rise to a large linear Stark shift, is ideal for an electrostatic lens that increases the fraction of molecules detected downstream. The measured magnetic moment of theQstate is also large enough to be used as a sensitive co-magnetometer in ACME. Finally, we show that theQstate has a large transition dipole moment to the $C{(}^1{\mathrm{\Pi }}_1)$state, which allows for efficient population transfer between the ground state $X{(}^1{\mathrm{\Sigma }}^{+})$and theQstate via $X-C-Q$Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP). We demonstrate 90 % STIRAP transfer efficiency. In the course of these measurements, we also determine the magnetic moment ofCstate, the $X\to C$transition dipole moment, and branching ratios of decays from theCstate. 

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