Particle Physics at the Year of Light

The following sections are included:

• Seventeenth Lomonosov Conference on Elementary Particle Physics — Sponsors and Committees
• Eleventh International Meeting on Problems of Intelligentsia — Presidium
• Foreword
• Contents

A brief history of the genesis of the relativity theory with account of the role of light in it is discussed.

We review the status of standard three-neutrino mixing and the results of a global analysis of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data in the extended framework of 3+1 neutrino mixing with a sterile neutrino at the eV scale.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) collaboration will perform an experiment centered on accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino studies along with nucleon decay and topics in neutrino astrophysics. It will consist of a modular 40-kt (fiducial) mass liquid argon TPC detector located deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota and a high-resolution near detector at Fermilab in Illinois. This configuration provides a 1300-km baseline in a megawatt-scale neutrino beam provided by the Fermilab-hosted international Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility.

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton liquid scintillator (LS) detector, which is planed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and measure the oscillation parameters at the sub-percent level using reactor antineutrino oscillations. As a multipurpose neutrino experiment, JUNO is also capable of measuring supernova burst neutrinos, the diffuse supernova neutrino background, geo-neutrinos, solar neutrinos and atmospheric neutrinos. After a brief introduction to the physics motivation, we discuss the status of the JUNO project, including the conceptual design of the detector systems. Finally the latest civil progress and future prospectives are also highlighted.

Definitive measurements of the smallest neutrino mixing angle θ₁₃ were made by Daya Bay, Double Chooz and RENO experiments in 2012, based on the disappearance of electron antineutrinos emitted from reactors. The new generation reactor experiments have significantly improved a sensitivity for θ₁₃ down to the sin²(2θ₁₃) ~ 0.01 level. A rather large value of θ₁₃ has opened a new window to find the CP violation phase and to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. The θ₁₃ measurements by the three reactor experiments are presented with their future expected sensitivities.

After an introduction to neutrino oscillation, the article discusses how atmospheric neutrinos in the GeV range can be used to determine the mass ordering of neutrinos and presents detectors which aim at realizing this within the next 10 to 20 years.

Neutrino flavor oscillations are a consequence of relative phase shifts from the propagation of neutrinos of different mass. Neutrino interactions with other particles produce additional phase shifts and therefore influences these oscillations. This paper reviews the existing experimental data on such “matter effects”.

The OPERA experiment was designed to study v_μ → v_τ oscillations in appearance mode in the CNGS neutrino beam. The observation of v_μ → v_τ appearance was previously reported with four v_τ candidate events. A fifth candidate event has been recently found in an increased data sample. Given the number of analyzed events and the low background, we report the discovery of v_τ appearance with a significance of 5.1σ.

The MAJORANA Collaboration is constructing the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, an ultra-low background, 44-kg (29 kg ⁷⁶Ge and 15 kg ^natGe) modular high purity Ge detector array to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay in ⁷⁶Ge. In view of the next generation of tonne-scale Ge-based neutrinoless double-beta decay searches that will probe the neutrino mass scale in the inverted hierarchy region, a major goal of the DEMONSTRATOR is to demonstrate a path forward to achieving a background rate at or below 1 count/tonne/year in the 4 keV region of interest around the Q-value at 2039 keV. The current status of the DEMONSTRATOR is discussed, as are plans for its completion.

The T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino oscillation experiment. Intense muon neutrino and antineutrino beams are produced at the J-PARC accelerator complex situated in Tokai. After 280 metres the beam goes through the set of two near detectors: INGRID and ND280, where the beam parameters before oscillations are measured and neutrino cross-sections are studied. After another 295 km, the distance corresponding to the first oscillation maximum, the neutrino beam passes through the Super-Kamiokande far detector. Comparison of the beam characteristics in the near and far detectors makes it possible to determine the oscillation parameters.

Based on muon neutrino disappearance, T2K has delivered the world’s leading measurement of the θ₂₃ mixing angle. It has been also the first experiment to observe electron neutrino appearance, with a significance of 7.3σ. These results made it possible to determine the θ₁₃ mixing angle and to provide the first hint of a non-zero value of the δ_CP phase. The T2K experiment has also delivered several neutrino cross-section measurements at neutrino energies around 1 GeV. Currently, T2K is collecting data with a muon antineutrino beam, for the δ_CP and antineutrino cross-section measurements.

A summary of the most recent oscillation measurements, including the new electron antineutrino appearance results, is presented.

The Double Chooz experiment was designed for the precision measurement of the neutrino mixing angle θ₁₃, using two identical detectors, one far (1050 m) and the other near (400 m) of two commercial nuclear reactors (4 GWth each). The far detector has been taking data since 2011, same year that the collaboration reported an indication of non-zero θ₁₃ ever, by reactor neutrinos, while the near detector is operational since last year. In this talk I give an overview of the experiment and its latest results on θ₁₃ using the n-H channel.

The Borexino experiment is an ultra-pure liquid scintillator detector, running at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (Italy). Borexino has completed the real time spectroscopy of the solar neutrinos generated in the proton-proton chain in the core of the Sun. This proceedings reviews the Borexino experiment and the first direct measurement of pp solar neutrinos.

Models of neutrino mass generation constitute well motivated scenarios of Beyond-the-Standard-Model physics. The interplay between high energy collider physics and low energy searches provides us with an effective approach to rule out, constrain and pinpoint such models. In this report, we give a brief overview of examples where collider searches at the LHC can help determine the mechanism of light neutrino mass generation and potentially falsify baryogenesis mechanisms.

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is a largescale experiment for the model independent determination of the effective mass of electron anti-neutrinos with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c² (at 90 % C.L.). It investigates the kinematics of electrons from tritium β-decay close to the endpoint of the energy spectrum with a high-resolution electrostatic spectrometer (energy resolution 0.93 eV at 18.6 keV). The experiment is currently in in the final phase of construction at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany.

The KATRIN measurement setup consists of a high luminosity windowless gaseous molecular tritium source, a differential and cryogenic pumped electron transport and tritium retention section, a tandem spectrometer section (pre-spectrometer and main spectrometer) for energy analysis, followed by a detector system for counting transmitted β-decay electrons.

This proceedings will give an overview of the KATRIN experiment and its current status. Furthermore, results of the recent commissioning measurements of the KATRIN main spectrometer will be presented.

The NOνA experiment aims to study the mixing behavior of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos using the Fermilab NuMI neutrino beam. The experiment collects data at two detectors, one near the neutrino production target at Fermilab; the other 810 km away. The detectors are 14 mrad off the beam axis, which results in an almost monoenergetic beam of 2 GeV neutrinos. The construction of the 14 kT Far Detector and 300 T Near Detector finished in 2014. Since then, NOvA has collected data and we will discuss the first data analyses using 2.74×10²⁰ POT searching for muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance in the Far Detector.

ICARUS T600 liquid argon TPC completed in 2013 a very successful three year run at LNGS underground laboratory exposed to CNGS neutrino and cosmic rays achieving relevant physics and technical results. The T600 will be be exposed to FNAL Booster neutrinos in the framework of the joint ICARUS, SBND and MicroBooNE effort to definitely clarify the presence of sterile neutrinos.

In this work, I discuss in detail the model of Krauss-Nasri-Trodden (KNT) that can generate small neutrino masses at three-loop level and being consistent with the lepton flavor violating processes. In addition, I argue that the model provide a viable dark matter candidate, and a strongly electroweak phase transition can be achieved. Furthermore, we show that the KNT model belongs to a class of three loop models with interesting implications for the DM.

We report about new results from elastic neutron scattering experiments on protons contained in samples of a LAB-based liquid scintillator. This measurements have been performed at the MLL accelerator laboratory in Garching, Germany. We measure the quenching factor of the light emitted by recoil-protons as a function of energy and we determine the pulse-shape discrimination capability of LAB-based liquid scintillators in order to probe the feasibility of future low energy neutrino experiments to separate neutrino events from background signals, which are caused by fast neutrons. This studies were performed first in the context of the project LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) where a 50 kton liquid scintillator detector in the underground laboratory at Pyhäsalmi, Finland, was proposed. However, the results obtained are also applicable for the upcoming JUNO (Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory) neutrino experiment in China, where a 20 kton neutrino detector with a LAB-based liquid scintillator will be used.

We relate the observed pattern of leptonic mixing to the quaidegeneracy of three Majorana neutrinos. We show how lifting the degeneracy may lead to the measured value of |U₁₃| and to sizeable CP violation of Dirac-type. We show some of the correlations obtained among physical observables, starting from some of the most interesting schemes proposed in the literature.

Results of the phase-1 and a part of the phase-2 of the KamLAND-Zen experiment searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of ¹³⁶Xe nuclei and the current activity for the next phase and future upgrade are presented.

The search of the neutrinoless double beta decay is currently the only way to test the nature, Dirac or Majorana, of the neutrino. Two different experimental approaches exist : one, where source and detector coïncide, is pure calorimetric. In the other technique, before the measurements of their energies, the two electrons are tracked. The results of the currently data-taking experiments are presented. The expected sensitivities for future experiments are discussed.

The tracking capabilities of the OPERA detector allow to observe v_μ → v_T oscillations in appearance mode and to study v_μ → v_e oscillations in the CNGS v_μ beam. Current results on v_μ → v_e channel in the three-flavour mixing model are presented. The same data allow to constrain the mixing with additional sterile neutrino states. The analysis of the full 2008-2012 OPERA data set is ongoing. Details of the systematic v_e search will be presented.

The OPERA experiment collected data on the CNGS beam from 2008 to 2012. Five oscillated v_T CC interaction candidates have been detected so far with an expected background of 0.25 events. The OPERA appearance results are used to derive limits on the mixing parameters of a massive sterile neutrino.

The NESSiE Collaboration proposed an experiment to definitively clarify the existing tension between the ν_μ disappearance and the ν_e appearance/disappearance at the eV mass scale. That is achieved extending by more than one order of magnitude the range of the investigated mixing angle between standard and sterile neutrinos. To this aim the use of the current FNAL Booster neutrino beam for a Short Baseline experiment was carefully evaluated by considering the use of magnetic spectrometers at two sites, near and far ones. The detector locations were extensively studied, together with the achievable performances of two OPERA like spectrometers.

In April 2015 the demonstration cluster ”Dubna” was deployed and started to take data in Lake Baikal. This array is the first cluster of the cubic kilometer scale Gigaton Volume Detector (Baikal-GVD), which is constructed in Lake Baikal. We review the status and performance of the array.

ATLAS sensitivity studies into the prospects of measuring Higgs boson properties and performing searches for new phenomena are presented in the context of the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider. Simulated data provides expected limits on Higgs self-coupling, coupling to dark matter and constraints on discovering further Higgs bosons, with a total integrated luminosity of 3000 fb⁻¹ and collisions at $\sqrt{s}=14$ TeV. Likewise, prospects of supersymmetry and di-jet resonance searches are highlighted.

In this paper, based on the invited talk at the 17^th Lomonosov Conference of Elementary Particle Physics, the physics program at the future Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on the Higgs physics studies. It will be demonstrated, on the basis of detailed physics and detector studies carried out at CLIC, that the CLIC is indeed a precision tool for studies both in the Higgs sector and beyond the Standard Model.

The physics program accessible in e⁺e⁻ collisions at the Future Circular Collider (FCC-ee) is summarized. The FCC-ee aims at collecting multi-ab⁻¹ integrated luminosities in e⁺e⁻ at $\sqrt{\text{s}}$ = 90, 160, 240, and 350 GeV, yielding 10¹² Z bosons, 10⁸ W⁺W⁻ pairs, 10⁶ Higgs bosons and 4 · 10⁵ top-quark pairs per year. Such huge data samples combined with a O (100 keV) c.m. energy uncertainty will allow for Standard Model measurements with unparalleled precision and searches for new physics in regions not probed so far. The FCC-ee will be able to (i) indirectly discover new particles coupling to the Higgs and electroweak bosons up to scales Λ ≈ 7 and 100 TeV; (ii) perform competitive SUSY tests at the loop level in regions beyond the LHC reach; and (iii) achieve the best potential in direct collider searches for dark matter and sterile neutrinos with masses below 60 GeV.

Free Electron Laser devices have provided a breakthrough within the framework of the sources of coherent radiation. They are the result of multiple technological achievements, including the development of accelerators able to provide high brightness electron beam. We describe the main features of these revolutionary devices and address some potential novel applications.

A review of the Higgs coupling measurements and spin/CP tests with up to 25 fb.1 of $\sqrt{s}=7$ and 8 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2011 and 2012 is presented. No significant deviation from Standard Model expectations is observed.

A brief overview of the searches for a neutral Higgs boson using ττ decay channels with events recorded by the CMS experiment in 2011 and 2012 is given. It includes three searches, using similar analysis techniques: the searches for the standard model Higgs boson and the MSSM Higgs boson decaying to a pair of τ, and the search for a neutral scalar heavy Higgs H decaying to a pair of 125 GeV Higgs bosons in the final state bbττ.

We present a review of recent results from the Fermilab Tevatron CDF and D0 experiments covering a wide range of topics including combined results.

The OLYMPUS experiment aims at measuring the two-photon exchange amplitude in the elastic scattering of electrons off protons. This amplitude comprises a possible explanation for the significant, experimental discrepancy in the determination of the ratio of the proton electric to magnetic form factor, R = G_E/G_M, extracted using Rosenbluth separation method and polarization transfer technique. A measurement of the elastic scattering cross section ratio σ_e+p/σ_e−p will render a direct measurement of the two-photon exchange amplitude. The OLYMPUS experiment was carried out at DESY Hamburg, Germany using 2.01 GeV electron and positron beams of the DORIS storage ring incident on an internal hydrogen gas target. Multiple independent luminosity monitors were operated in parallel to the main spectrometer during data taking to allow for a precise relative luminosity measurement. Approximately 4.45 fb⁻¹ of data were collected. The current status of the OLYMPUS experiment will be discussed.

ATLAS measurements of multi-boson production processes involving combinations of W, Z and isolated photons at 8 TeV are summarized. Standard Model cross section are measured with high precision by ATLAS and are compared to world averages. Production processes sensitive to vector-boson fusion and vector-boson scattering are also presented and used for the triple and quartic gauge boson couplings limits setting.

These proceedings summarize the latest measurements on top production, top properties and searches using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed on pp collision data with a center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=7,8$ and 13 TeV.

Weak scale supersymmetry remains one of the best motivated and studied Standard Model extensions. This contribution summarises recent ATLAS results for searches for supersymmetric particles with the LHC Run 1 data at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. A sensitivity study for the $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV data is also briefly presented.

A summary is given of non-SUSY searches for New Physics with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Shown results use a data sample collected with a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV and an integrated luminosity of around 20 fb⁻¹ in proton-proton collisions. Four recent searches using leptons, photons, missing transverse momentum, and jets are presented. No significant deviations from Standard Model expectations are observed, hence new limits on a wide set of predictions for several Standard Model extensions are set.

We will describe some of the future measurements to be performed by the TOTEM collaboration on soft and hard diffraction in order to understand better the structure of the Pomeron. We will also describe the prospects concerning the search for quartic γγγγ anomalous couplings.

The TOTEM experiment at the LHC has measured proton-proton elastic scattering in dedicated runs at $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 and 8 TeV centre-of-mass LHC energies. The proton-proton total cross-section σ_tot has been derived for both energies using a luminosity independent method. TOTEM has excluded a purely exponential differential cross-section for elastic proton-proton scattering with significance greater than 7σ in the |t| range from 0.027 to 0.2 GeV² at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV.

This is a short survey of the gross features of the hadron diffraction processes observed at the LHC energies with brief theoretical comments to them.

We present the measurement of the two-kaon correlation functions using the 600 GeV/c Σ⁻ beam from the SELEX (E781) experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. The femtoscopic analysis was performed using the three-dimensional Bertsch-Pratt decomposition. The dependence of the correlation functions on the average transverse pair momentum was investigated.

High energy transients make up a diverse and exotic class of objects, from terrestrial lightning to γ-ray bursts at cosmological distances. In this review we provide a detailed look at look at some of the more exciting transients observed over the last few years by Swift and other high energy missions.

We present a brief review of the main results of the Planck 2015 release describing the new calibration of the data, the maps delivered in temperature and, for the first time, in polarization, the cosmological parameters and the lensing potential. In addition, we present estimates of the Galactic foregrounds in polarization: future satellite experiments will have the challenge to remove foregrounds with great accuracy to be able to measure tensor-to-scalar ratios less than ∼ 0.01.

The DAMA/LIBRA experiment (∼ 250 kg sensitive mass composed by highly radio-pure NaI(Tl)) is in data taking in the underground Laboratory of Gran Sasso (LNGS). The so called DAMA/LIBRA–phase1 and the former DAMA/NaI experiment (∼ 100 kg of highly radio-pure NaI(Tl)) collected data for 14 independent annual cycles, exploiting the model-independent Dark Matter (DM) annual modulation signature (total exposure 1.33 ton × yr). A DM annual modulation effect has been observed at 9.3 σ C.L., supporting the presence of DM particles in the galactic halo. No systematic or side reaction able to mimic the observed DM annual modulation has been found or suggested by anyone. Recent analyses on possible diurnal effects, on the Earth shadowing effect and on possible interpretation in terms of Asymmetric Mirror DM will be mentioned. At present DAMA/LIBRA is running in its phase2 with increased sensitivity after an upgrade of the experiment.

High-energy phenomena in the cosmos, and in particular processes leading to the emission of gamma-rays in the energy range 10 MeV - 100 GeV, play a very special role in the understanding of our Universe. This energy range is indeed associated with non-thermal phenomena and challenging particle acceleration processes. The Universe can be thought as a context where fundamental physics, relativistic processes, strong gravity regimes, and plasma instabilities can be explored in a way that is not possible to reproduce in our laboratories. High-energy astrophysics and atmospheric plasma physics are indeed not esoteric subjects, but are strongly linked with our daily life. Understanding cosmic high-energy processes has a large impact on our theories and laboratories applications. The technology involved in detecting gamma-rays is challenging and drives our ability to develop improved instruments for a large variety of applications.

The energy range between 1 and 100 MeV is an experimentally very difficult range and remained uncovered since the time of COMPTEL. New instruments can address all astrophysics issues left open by the current generation of instruments. In particular, the breakthrough angular resolution in the energy range 10 MeV - 1 GeV is crucial to resolve patchy and complex features of diffuse sources in the Galaxy and in the Galactic Centre as well as increasing the point source sensitivity. This instrument addresses scientific topics of great interest to the community, with particular emphasis on multifrequency correlation studies involving radio, optical, IR, X-ray, soft gamma-ray and TeV emission. The possibility to study not only the pair production regime but also the Compton regime with this kind of detectors is currently under investigation and it is another possible very interesting breaktrough.

One of the most important goal is the detection of gamma rays and cosmic rays from the annihilation or decay of dark matter particles. This is a promising method for identifying dark matter, understanding its intrinsic properties, and mapping its distribution in the universe. Based on N-body simulations the largest γ-ray signal from DM annihilation is expected from the centre of the Galaxy. In the same region a large γ-ray background is produced by bright discrete sources and the cosmic-rays interacting with the interstellar gas and the photons fields but the DM-induced gamma-ray emission is expected to be so large there that the search is still worthwhile. A good angular resolution below 100 MeV is crucial and I will review the effort in this direction.

Two major unresolved issues with cosmic ray particle energy spectrum concern the isotropy & stable critical indices. Our basic hypothesis for isotropy is thermal particle production and thus the basic theoretical tool for critical indices is thermal field theory. Particles are supposed to evaporate from a hot source as in Landau-Fermi liquid theory. We compute both classical and quantum (Bosonic and Fermionic) critical indices. A quantum phase transition is found that explains the onset and the development of the “knee”. The AMS data for (e⁻e⁺) and cosmic ray data on nuclei are considered in detail and our theoretical predictions agree very well with experimental data. We have also made some energy loss estimates and show that for electrons and positrons of energy below about 1 TeV the energy losses are miniscule and thus the predicted critical indices remain robust and of fundamental importance. We conclude by highlighting our results and discuss further work in progress.

If the astronomical dark matter is made of weakly interacting, massive and stable species, it should annihilate on itself into particles. This process should produce rare antimatter cosmic rays and lead to distortions in their energy distributions. The AMS-02 spectrometer has been measuring them with unprecedented accuracy. It is timely to investigate if anomalies have been found in the positron and antiproton spectra and if so, if they indirectly point toward the presence of DM particles annihilating inside the Milky Way.

Very high energy (VHE, E > 30 GeV) gamma rays are absorbed via interaction with low-energy photons from the extragalactic background light (EBL) if the involved photon energies are above the threshold for electron-positron pair creation. The VHE gamma-ray absorption, which is energy dependent and increases strongly with redshift, distorts the VHE energy spectra observed from distant objects. The observed energy spectra of the AGNs carry, therefore, an imprint of the EBL. The detection of hard VHE gamma-ray spectra of distant sources (z = 0.11 - 0.94) by H.E.S.S., MAGIC and VERITAS enabled to set strong limits on the EBL density, using certain basic assumptions about blazar physics. Recently, Fermi/LAT and H.E.S.S. data led to a first clear detection of the EBL. Here, we critically review the assumptions for the constraints and discuss perspectives for the EBL and cosmology studies with the next generation observatory for ground-based gamma-ray observation CTA.

Gravitational instability in classical Jeans theory, General Relativity, and modified gravity is considered. It is shown that density perturbations in the background with an increasing density rise faster than in the case of time independent background. Evolution of density and metric perturbations in the background of high frequency oscillations of curvature in F(R) gravity is studied. In addition to the usual Jeans-like instability new effects of amplification of perturbations, associated with parametric resonance and antifriction phenomena, are found.

The Planck Collaboration has recently released maps of the microwave sky in both temperature and polarization. Diffuse astrophysical components (including Galactic emissions, cosmic far infrared (IR) background, y-maps of the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) effect) and catalogs of many thousands of Galactic and extragalactic radio and far-IR sources, and galaxy clusters detected through the SZ effect are the main astrophysical products of the mission. A concise overview of these results and of astrophysical studies based on Planck data is presented.

Very High Energy (VHE) γ-ray astronomy studies the extremely energetic processes at the TeV regime in- and outside our Galaxy. Significant progress on the investigation of VHE γ-ray phenomena has been achieved in recent years due to the operation of ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) such as MAGIC, VERITAS and H.E.S.S. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is an international initiative to build the next generation ground-based VHE γ-ray observatory. Full sky coverage will be assured by two arrays, with one located in the northern and one in the southern hemisphere. Three main classes of IACTs (large, medium, small) will cover a wide energy range, from tens of GeV up to hundreds of TeV. CTA will have a 10 times better sensitivity and angular resolution compared to the present Cherenkov telescope installations. CTA plans to install, at its southern site, about 70 small size telescopes (SSTs) dedicated to study the sky from a few TeV up to hundreds of TeV. The implementation foresees intermediate steps with the development of telescope precursor mini-arrays, like ASTRI led by the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) in synergy with the Universidade de Sao Paulo (Brazil) and the North-West University (South Africa). The ASTRI mini-array will be composed of nine dual-mirror SSTs whose end-to-end prototype, developed by INAF during the first phase of the ASTRI program, has been recently inaugurated in Italy. In addition to the assessment of a number of technological aspects related to CTA, the ASTRI mini-array will allow us to perform scientific investigations with unprecedented flux sensitivity in the 5-100 TeV energy range.

Gravitational wave (GW) astronomy will start soon with the advent of the second generation ground-based GW detectors operating in the 1 Hz - 10 kHz frequency range. The electromagnetic counterpart is very important to assess and characterize their astrophysical origin of the first GW signals. Among the astrophysical sources expected to be detected in the next years both by GW detectors and ground- and space-based telescopes, the most promising ones are coalescing binary systems of compact objects as two neutron stars (BNS) or a neutron star and a stellar-mass black hole (NSBH). Indeed, a number of indirect empirical evidence identify these systems with the progenitors of short Gamma Ray Burst (sGRB) and their multi-wavelength afterglow emission. The simultaneous detection of a sGRB and a GW signal from a BNS or NSBH will definitively confirm this scenario, and at the same time it will increase the confidence in the astrophysical origin of the detected GW signal. The status of the art of the observational properties of sGRB electromagnetic radiation as well as the observational strategies to simultaneously detect these objects in both the gravitational and electromagnetic waves are briefly summarized in this manuscript.

We describe a promising method for measuring the total dark matter mass near a supermassive black hole at the Galactic center based on observations of nonrelativistic precession of the orbits of fast S0 stars. An analytical expression for the precession angle has been obtained under the assumption of a power-law profile of the dark matter density. The awaited weighing of the dark matter at the Galactic center provides the strong constraints on the annihilation signal from the SUSY neuralino dark matter particle candidate.

EDELWEISS experiment performs direct dark matter search by means of Ge bolometers. It is located in the underground laboratory of Modane (LSM, France). The third phase of the experiment is currently accumulating data using 20-kg array of detectors with improved resolution and rejection performance relative to the results of EDELWEISS-II. A part of the data has been analyzed and are presented, in particularly showing good performance for low-mass WIMPs. Prospects for the next-generation project, EURECA, are mentioned as well.

We propose that observations of “hidden” magnetars in central compact objects can be used to probe crustal activity of neutron stars with large internal magnetic fields. Our calculations suggest that central compact objects, which are proposed to be “hidden” magnetars, must demonstrate flux variations on the time scale of months-years. We consider the source 1E161348-5055 in RCW103 as a “hidden” magnetar candidate. Employing a simple 2D-modeling we argue that properties of the source can be explained by the crustal activity of the magnetar type. Thus, this object may be supplemented for the known candidates for the “hidden” magnetars among central compact objects discussed in literature.

Now there are two basic observational techniques to investigate a gravitational potential at the Galactic Center, namely, a) monitoring the orbits of bright stars near the Galactic Center to reconstruct a gravitational potential; b) measuring a size and a shape of shadows around black hole giving an alternative possibility to evaluate black hole parameters in mm-band with VLBI-technique. At the moment one can use a small relativistic correction approach for stellar orbit analysis (however, in the future the approximation will not be not precise enough due to enormous progress of observational facilities) while now for smallest structure analysis in VLBI observations one really needs a strong gravitational field approximation. We discuss results of observations, their conventional interpretations, tensions between observations and models and possible hints for a new physics from the observational data and tensions between observations and interpretations. We will discuss an opportunity to use a Schwarzschild metric for data interpretation or we have to use more exotic models such as Yukawa potential, Reissner – Nordström or Schwarzschild – de-Sitter metrics for better fits.

The DarkSide-50 experiment, located at the “Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (INFN)”, is based on low-radioactivity argon double phase time projection chamber, surrounded by an active liquid scintillator veto, designed for the zero background achievement. The liquid argon features sufficient self shielding and easy scalability to multi-tons scale. The impressive reduction of the ³⁹Ar isotope (compared to the atmospheric argon), along with the excellent pulse shape discrimination, make this technology a possible candidate for the forthcoming generation of multi-ton Dark Matter experiments.

We suggest a new model for generation of strongest magnetic fields in magnetars based on the parity violation for electron-nucleon (eN) interaction in the Standard Model of particle physics.

The China Dark Matter Experiment (CDEX) pursues direct searches of light Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using point contact germanium (PCGe) detector at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL). The results from CDEX-1A and CDEX-0 are reported. CDEX-10 with the PCGe array of 10 kg target mass range is being constructed and tested. The multi-purpose CDEX-1T experiment and the development of CJPL-II will also be discussed.

The DAMA collaboration experiment gave the results similar to seasonal winter-summer cosmic ray muons modulations. If the DAMA effect is connected to just this mechanism the phase shift of the curves describing it in the North and South hemispheres will be half a year. If in the DAMA experiments mainly WIMPs are detected the maximum distribution position of the counting rate will not depend on the hemisphere.

The experiment to measure the number of neutrons produced in iron (Fe) and lead (Pb) by muons at the mean muon energy 280 GeV using LVD is carried out. The preliminary results of the measurements are presented.

It was recently proposed that the two phenomena, WMAP/Planck haze and Fermi bubbles may have a common origin. In the present paper we analyze the spatial structure of the haze using the Planck 2015 data. It is found that the spatial dimensions and locations of WMAP/Planck haze and Fermi bubbles are compatible within experimental uncertainties. Both extended emissions possess north-south symmetry. No substructures similar to Fermi bubbles cocoon are identified in Planck data.

We report about recent studies of the γ(10860) and γ(11020) resonances, charged bottomonium-like states Z_b(10610) and Z_b(10650) and their decays at Belle. Study of the $\overline{B}\to D^{(*)}{\tau }^{-}{\overline{v}}_{\tau }$ with the whole Belle data sample and search for dark photon and dark Higgs boson are also briefly discussed.

A study of χ_b meson spectroscopy and production at LHCb is performed on proton-proton collision data, corresponding to 3.0 fb⁻¹ of integrated luminosity collected at centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s}$ = 7 and 8 TeV. The fraction of γ(nS) mesons originating from χ_b decays is measured as a function of the γ transverse momentum in the rapidity range 2.0 < y^γ < 4.5. The radiative transition of the χ_b(3P) meson to γ(3S) is observed for the first time. The γ_b1(3P) mass is determined to be

The first observation of about 2000 candidates, with a background contamination below 3%, of the rare decay K^± → π^±π⁰e⁻e⁺ is reported. The preliminary branching ratio in the full kinematic region is obtained to be: BR(K^± → π^±π⁰e⁻e⁺)= (4.06±0.17).10⁶ by analyzing the data collected in 2003. A sample of 1.69×10⁷ π⁰ → e⁻e⁺γ decay candidates with a negligible background contamination collected in 2003–2004 data is analyzed to search for the dark photon (A′) production in the π⁰ → γA′ decay followed by the prompt A′ → e⁻e⁺ decay. No signal is observed, and exclusion region in the plane of the dark photon mass (m_A′ ) and mixing parameter ε² is established.

The precise understanding of the proton structure is one of major problems of the modern physics at hadron colliders, which must be addressed by both, experiment and theory. Experimentally, the proton structure is determined by using the data from deep-inelastic scattering experiments. In this work, the additional impact of a verity of processes, measured in the proton-proton collision at the LHC on the precision of the valence and the gluon distribution and on the details of the quark-sea composition in the proton is investigated and quantified.

ALICE is one of the four main experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. It is dedicated to the study of the characteristics of the hot medium produced at large energy densities in heavy-ion collisions, which is called Quark-Gluon Plasma. In addition, ALICE also participates in the pp and p–Pb collisions program at the LHC. The overview of the latest ALICE results is presented in these proceedings.

The hadronic contributions to the muon anomalous magnetic moment and to the shift of the electromagnetic fine structure constant at the scale of Z boson mass are evaluated within dispersively improved perturbation theory (DPT). The latter merges the corresponding perturbative input with intrinsically nonperturbative constraints, which originate in the respective kinematic restrictions. The obtained results conform with recent assessments of the quantities on hand.

Measurements of W and Z bosons production at the Large Hadron Collider with the ATLAS detector are presented. These measurements include total and differential cross-sections of inclusive vector-boson production as well as in association with jets. The results show sensitivity to the parton distribution functions, are used to test predictions from Quantum Chromodynamics and to tune Monte Carlo predictions.

The recent CMS results on anisotropic particle emission will be presented. A multi-particle nature of the long-range correlations observed in pPb collisions is revealed through consistency between the results obtained using four-, six and eight-particle correlation as well as the Lee-Yang zero method. The magnitude of the elliptic and triangular flow of strange particles from both pPb and PbPb collisions have been extracted by correlating an identified strange hadron ($K_S^0$ or $\Lambda /\overline{\Lambda }$) with a charged particle separated by a large relative pseudorapidity. The results for strange, $K_S^0$ and $\Lambda /\overline{\Lambda }$, particles scaled by the number of constituent quarks plotted as a function of transverse kinetic energy per number of constituent quarks are in a rather good mutual agreement for both v₂ and v₃ over a wide range of particle transverse kinetic energy and event multiplicities. The initial-state fluctuations induce that the event-plane angle is not any more a global quantity but depends on both, transverse momenta (p_T ) and pseudorapidity (η), which further induces the factorization breaking of the two-particle azimuthal anisotropy into a product of single-particle anisotropies. In the p_T direction, maximal effect of factorization breaking of about 20% is observed in ultra-central PbPb collisions. In the η direction, the effect is weakest for mid-central PbPb events and gets larger for more central or peripheral PbPb collisions as well as for high multiplicity pPb collisions. The experimental results are compared with recent hydrodynamic predictions which involve the factorization breakdown effect. The effect is sensitive to the initial-state conditions rather than the shear viscosity of the medium.

Recently measured differential cross sections of diffractive processes with dijets and prompt photons in the final state of ep collisions at the HERA collider are reviewed. Results are compared to QCD calculations based on different models of diffraction.

The development of nonabelian gauge fields for last 60 years is reviewed. The new method of quantization of gauge fields applicable beyond perturbation theory is proposed.

Precise experimental data on the Higgs boson properties at the LHC provide significant constraints on both the general model-independent extensions of the SM by effective operators of higher dimension and model-dependent extensions of the SM, among the latter Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) seems to be one of the most attractive candidates. Production channels include γγ, ZZ, W⁺W⁻, τ⁺τ⁻, $b\overline{b}$ and µ⁺µ⁻. in the data samples collected at the integrated luminosities 5.1 fb⁻¹ at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and 19.7 fb⁻¹ at 8 TeV. They give possibilities to probe deviations of the couplings of the Higgs boson from the Standard Model in many ways and to limit significantly the MSSM parameter space.

The spin-charge-family theory, which is a kind of the Kaluza-Klein theories, but with two kinds of the spin connection fields - the gauge fields of the two kinds of spins [1, 2] - is offering the explanation for the appearance and properties of family members (quarks and leptons), of families, of vector gauge fields (weak, hyper, colour), of scalar higgs and Yukawa couplings. It offers also the explanation for the appearance of the dark matter and matter/anti-matter asymmetry. In this talk the achievements of this theory and its predictions are briefly presented. Not yet solved problems are discussed in the talk [3], the shorter version of which is the present paper.

The conventional neutrino sources have been decay products of pion, muon and beta-nuclei. In this talk I shall present a new idea of neutrino pair beam emitted from circulating heavy ions in a pure mixed quantum state. This neutrino beam has a number of interesting features particularly suitable for CP violation measurements. Furthermore, intensive flux of the neutrino pair beam opens a possibility of using it as a tool for the earth tomography.

We briefly discuss the main effects of the presence of a Light Sterile Neutrino (LSν) in Cosmology and how its properties can be constrained by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and other cosmological measurements.

Prompt neutrino fluxes due to the interactions of high-energy cosmic rays with the Earth’s atmosphere are backgrounds in the search for high-energy neutrinos of galactic or extra-galactic origin performed by Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescopes. We summarize our predictions for prompt neutrinos, showing their basic features as emerging from the calculation in a QCD framework capable of describing recent charm data from the Large Hadron Collider.

Some aspects of the effective Lagrangian approach to describe effects of New Physics are briefly described.

We study the decays of the lightest CP–even Higgs boson into a pair of pseudoscalar Higgs states within U(1)_N extensions of the MSSM.

It seems that the loop integrals contributing to the β-function of N = 1 supersymmetric theories regularized by higher covariant derivatives are integrals of double total derivatives. This allows obtaining the NSVZ relation for the renormalization group functions defined in terms of the bare charges at least in the Abelian case. For the renormalization group functions defined in terms of the renormalized charges we discuss the prescription giving the NSVZ scheme in all orders for the Abelian theories. In the non-Abelian case we present the exact expression for the Adler D-function, which follows from the similar structure of quantum corrections.

The description of physical processes in accelerated frames opens a window to numerous new phenomena. One can encounter these effects both in the subatomic world and on a macroscale. In the present work we review our recent results on the study of the electroweak interaction of particles with an accelerated background matter. In our analysis we choose the noninertial comoving frame, where matter is at rest. Our study is based on the solution of the Dirac equation, which exactly takes into account both the interaction with matter and the nonintertial effects. First, we study the interaction of ultrarelativistic neutrinos, electrons and quarks with the rotating matter. We consider the influence of the matter rotation on the resonance in neutrino oscillations and the generation of anomalous electric current of charged particles along the rotation axis. Then, we study the creation of neutrino-antineutrino pairs in a linearly accelerated matter. The applications of the obtained results for elementary particle physics and astrophysics are discussed.

We calculate the neutrino luminosity of a degenerate electron gas in a strong magnetic field via plasmon decay to a neutrino pair due to nonstandard tensorial interactions with flavor violation and obtain the relative upper bounds on the corresponding effective coupling.

Levels of quantization in gravity theory have been classified. Objects and processes in gravitationally bound quantum systems and their general properties are analyzed to create a consistent theory of gravity quantization and to construct quantum models of compact astrophysical objects and the early Universe.

We calculate one-loop corrections to the effective Lagrangian of a model of a charged fermion with an anomalous magnetic moment and additional axialvector interaction with the background field.

(2+1)D Gross–Neveu model on the cylinder is investigated under the influence of finite temperature and magnetic field. Effective potential of the model is calculated. Phase diagram and magnetization graphs are plotted.

We introduce the postulates, which are used for the construction of the interaction theory in the new physical cosmology.

We study the connection between geometrical approach of quantum theory with maximal mass and algebraic model for the fermions with γ₅-restriction for mass.

Two definitions of angular electromagnetic momentum are compared. One of them is based on a standard description of energy-momentum density tensor that is produced by arbitrarily moving charges. The second one is related to canonical energy–momentum tensor by D. Ivanenko and A. Sokolov. Despite principal differences of these two approaches in defining of angular electromagnetic momenta, both methods produce the same results in the wave zone of radiation.

The processes of neutrino production of electron positron pairs, $v\overline{v}$ → e⁻e⁺ and v → ve⁻e⁺, in a magnetic field of arbitrary strength, where electrons and positrons can be created in the states corresponding to excited Landau levels, are analysed. The results can be applied for calculating the efficiency of the electron-positron plasma production by neutrinos in the conditions of the Kerr black hole accretion disc considered by experts as the most possible source of a short cosmological gamma burst.

Spaces of particle states are constructed in such a way that the neutrinos are combined in a multiplet with their components being considered as different quantum states of a single particle. The same is done for the charged leptons and the down- and up-type quarks. In a theory based on the Lagrangian of the fermion sector of the Standard Model modified in accordance with this construction, the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations arises. By the example of the pion decay it is shown that the states of the neutrino produced in the decay process can be described by a superposition of states with different masses and identical 3-momenta with very high accuracy.

We study the process of the radiative decay of the neutrino with a magnetic moment in a strong magnetic field, with taking account of the influence of the positronium on the photon dispersion. The positronium contribution into the photon polarization operator leads to an essential modification of the photon dispersion law, and of the neutrino radiative decay amplitude. It has been shown that the probability of the neutrino radiative decay essentially increases under an influence of the positronium on the photon dispersion.

We compute the self-energy of a static classical point-like charge, coupled with vector massless field and localized at the distance r ≫ r_g outside the horizon of higher-dimensional Schwarzschild-Tangherlini black hole. We use the perturbation theory and obtain first orders for the electrostatic energy and corresponding self-force. Since the formal expression for self-energy diverges, for the computation we apply the dimensional-regularization technique, well-known in the quantum theory. In the lowest-dimensional cases the results are compared with the ones known in the literature.

This is the 20th anniversary of the Moscow University Conference on the Intelligentsia. It is fitting that a conference dedicated to that class of individuals who cultivate deep thought and abstract reasoning should take place in Russia. The word “intelligentsia” was first coined in the Russian language and the cadre of exceptional individuals who first constituted the Intelligentsia had their principal 19th Century home within the boundaries of the Russian Empire. This conference has examined numerous aspects of the experience of the Intelligentsia, and has produced a unique body of scholarship. This year the topic of the conference is “The Intelligentsia & Culture.” This is an apt topic because, by definition, the members of the Intelligentsia are the custodians the cultural heritage of mankind.

Interestingly the number of individuals participating in the Moscow Conference has declined in recent years. This may bespeak a generalized lessening of interest in the Intelligentsia in a world of ever increasing professional specialization and ebbing concern for the intellectual “big picture.” It should, in any case, be mentioned that the original Moscow Conferences on the Intelligentsia were held in both the English and the Russian languages. Many papers were delivered in Russian with spontaneous translation into English. While the Conference has become more cosmopolitan and the proceedings are now conducted exclusively in English, it may be that the largest concentration of conscious members of the Intelligentsia continue to be found in Russo-phone societies. Thus, it is respectfully suggested that Russian should, once again, be designated as an official language of our conference.

The quintessential question faced by the Intelligentsia has always been existential. The ultimate abstract concept relates to the nature of reality and the position of man in the universe. This matter has been at the root of the great debates which have defined the Intelligentsia and have divided it into differing schools of thought. First and foremost the existential debate has centered around God as a concept, or, the complete rejection of God as an alternative faith based system. Our topic, the “Intelligentsia & Religion” goes to the heart of the Intelligentsia’s existence. It also addresses one of the basic components which have shaped human culture from the beginning of time. Religion represents a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe. These are issues about which the Intelligentsia has ruminated for centuries.

The following sections are included:

• CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
• LIST OF PARTICIPANTS