Determination of spin and parity of the Higgs boson in the WW∗→eνμν decay channel with the ATLAS detector

Studies of the spin and parity quantum numbers of the Higgs boson in the WW∗→eνμν final state are presented, based on proton--proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 at a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The Standard Model spin-parity JCP=0++ hypothesis is compared with alternative hypotheses for both spin and CP. The case where the observed resonance is a mixture of the Standard-Model-like Higgs boson and CP-even (JCP=0++) or CP-odd (JCP=0+−) Higgs boson in scenarios beyond the Standard Model is also studied. The data are found to be consistent with the Standard Model prediction and limits are placed on alternative spin and CP hypotheses, including CP mixing in different scenarios.

Study of the spin and parity of the Higgs boson in diboson decays with the ATLAS detector

Studies of the spin, parity and tensor couplings of the Higgs boson in the H→ZZ∗→4ℓ , H→WW∗→eνμν and H→γγ decay processes at the LHC are presented. The investigations are based on 25 fb−1 of pp collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at s√=7 TeV and s√=8 TeV. The Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson hypothesis, corresponding to the quantum numbers JP=0+, is tested against several alternative spin scenarios, including non-SM spin-0 and spin-2 models with universal and non-universal couplings to fermions and vector bosons. All tested alternative models are excluded in favour of the SM Higgs boson hypothesis at more than 99.9% confidence level. Using the H→ZZ∗→4ℓ and H→WW∗→eνμν decays, the tensor structure of the HVV interaction in the spin-0 hypothesis is also investigated. The observed distributions of variables sensitive to the non-SM tensor couplings are compatible with the SM predictions and constraints on the non-SM couplings are derived.

24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum: gender and parity differences and effects

Background: Pregnancy and postpartum have been associated to several physiological changes;however, empirical evidence was almost exclusively obtained in primiparous women and few studies focus on hormonal changes in men and second-time parents. The main aim of this study is to examine 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum, comparing women/men and first/second-time parents.Methods: Twenty-six women and 22 men (N = 48) were recruited from an antenatal obstetric unit in Porto, Portugal. 24-h urinary free cortisol was measured at the 2nd and 3rd trimester and at 3-months postpartum. Repeated measures analyses of variance were conducted, in order to analyze 24-h urinary free cortisol patterns of change over this period. Gender and parity were included in the analyses as potential modifiers, in order to compare women and men, and first-and second-time parents.Results: An increase from the 2nd to the 3rd trimester (p = .006) and a decrease from the 3rd trimester to 3-months postpartum (p = .005) were reported in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol. The interaction effects for Time * Gender (p = .03) and Time * Parity (p = .02) were found. Women and first-time parents revealed higher levels, while men and second-time parents showed lower 24-h urinary free cortisol levels at the 2nd trimester than at 3-months postpartum.Conclusions: Findings appear to clarify the direction, as well as, the timing, gender and parity extension of 24-h urinary free cortisol changes from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum.The same pattern of change in all parents’ 24-h urinary free cortisol from mid-pregnancy to 3-months postpartum is consistent with the proposed role of hormones in preparation to parenting.

Anxiety and depression symptoms in women and men from early pregnancy to 3-months postpartum: parity differences and effects

This study aimed to investigate both anxiety and depression symptoms from early pregnancy to 3-months postpartum, comparing women and men and first and second-time parents. Methods: A sample of 260 Portuguese couples (N=520), first or second-time parents, recruited in an Obstetrics Out-patients Unit, filled in the State-Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and the Edinburgh Post-Natal Depression Scale (EPDS) at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd pregnancy trimesters, childbirth, and 3-months postpartum. Results: A decrease in anxiety and depression symptoms from early pregnancy to 3-months postpartum was found in both women and men, as well as in first and second-time parents. Men presented less anxiety and depression symptoms than women, but the same pattern of symptoms over time. Second-time parents showed more anxiety and depression symptoms than first-time parents and a different pattern of symptoms over time: an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms from the 3rd trimester to childbirth was observed in first-time parents versus a decrease in second-time parents. Limitations: The voluntary nature of the participation may have lead to a selection bias; women and men who agreed to participate could be those who presented fewer anxiety and depression symptoms. Moreover, the use of self-report symptom measures does not give us the level of possible disorder in participants. Conclusions: Anxiety and depression symptoms diminish from pregnancy to the postpartum period in all parents. Patterns of anxiety and depression symptoms from early pregnancy to 3-months postpartum are similar in women and men, but somewhat different in first and second time parents. Second-time parents should also be considered while studying and intervening during pregnancy and the postpartum.

Search for massive supersymmetric particles decaying to many jets using the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at s√=8TeV

Results of a search for decays of massive particles to fully hadronic final states are presented. This search uses 20.3 fb−1 of data collected by the ATLAS detector in s√=8TeV proton--proton collisions at the LHC. Signatures based on high jet multiplicities without requirements on the missing transverse momentum are used to search for R-parity-violating supersymmetric gluino pair production with subsequent decays to quarks. The analysis is performed using a requirement on the number of jets, in combination with separate requirements on the number of b-tagged jets, as well as a topological observable formed from the scalar sum of the mass values of large-radius jets in the event. Results are interpreted in the context of all possible branching ratios of direct gluino decays to various quark flavors. No significant deviation is observed from the expected Standard Model backgrounds estimated using jet-counting as well as data-driven templates of the total-jet-mass spectra. Gluino pair decays to ten or more quarks via intermediate neutralinos are excluded for a gluino with mass mg~<1TeV for a neutralino mass mχ~01=500GeV. Direct gluino decays to six quarks are excluded for mg~<917GeV for light-flavor final states, and results for various flavor hypotheses are presented.

Search for Scalar-Charm Pair Production in pp Collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

The results of a dedicated search for pair production of scalar partners of charm quarks are reported. The search is based on an integrated luminosity of 20.3fb−1 of pp collisions at s√=8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The search is performed using events with large missing transverse momentum and at least two jets, where the two leading jets are each tagged as originating from c-quarks. Events containing isolated electrons or muons are vetoed. In an R-parity-conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario in which a single scalar-charm state is kinematically accessible, and where it decays exclusively into a charm quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the scalar-charm—neutralino mass plane such that, for neutralino masses below 200 GeV, scalar-charm masses up to 490 GeV are excluded.

Search for a Heavy Neutral Particle Decaying to eμ, eτ, or μτ in pp Collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS Detector

This Letter presents a search for a heavy neutral particle decaying into an opposite-sign different-flavor dilepton pair, e±μ∓, e±τ∓, or μ±τ∓ using 20.3 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√=8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The numbers of observed candidate events are compatible with the Standard Model expectations. Limits are set on the cross section of new phenomena in two scenarios: the production of ν~τ in R-parity-violating supersymmetric models and the production of a lepton-flavor-violating Z′ vector boson.

Summary of the ATLAS experiment's sensitivity to supersymmetry after LHC Run 1-interpreted in the phenomenological MSSM

A summary of the constraints from the ATLAS experiment on R-parity-conserving supersymmetry is presented. Results from 22 separate ATLAS searches are considered, each based on analysis of up to 20.3 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of s√=7 and 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider. The results are interpreted in the context of the 19-parameter phenomenological minimal supersymmetric standard model, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is a neutralino, taking into account constraints from previous precision electroweak and flavour measurements as well as from dark matter related measurements. The results are presented in terms of constraints on supersymmetric particle masses and are compared to limits from simplified models. The impact of ATLAS searches on parameters such as the dark matter relic density, the couplings of the observed Higgs boson, and the degree of electroweak fine-tuning is also shown. Spectra for surviving supersymmetry model points with low fine-tunings are presented.

Summary of the searches for squarks and gluinos using root s=8 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC

A summary is presented of ATLAS searches for gluinos and first- and second-generation squarks in final states containing jets and missing transverse momentum, with or without leptons or b-jets, in the s√=8 TeV data set collected at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012. This paper reports the results of new interpretations and statistical combinations of previously published analyses, as well as a new analysis. Since no significant excess of events over the Standard Model expectation is observed, the data are used to set limits in a variety of models. In all the considered simplified models that assume R-parity conservation, the limit on the gluino mass exceeds 1150 GeV at 95% confidence level, for an LSP mass smaller than 100 GeV. Furthermore, exclusion limits are set for left-handed squarks in a phenomenological MSSM model, a minimal Supergravity/Constrained MSSM model, R-parity-violation scenarios, a minimal gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking model, a natural gauge mediation model, a non-universal Higgs mass model with gaugino mediation and a minimal model of universal extra dimensions.

Search for massive, long-lived particles using multitrack displaced vertices or displaced lepton pairs in pp collisions at s =8TeV with the ATLAS detector

Many extensions of the Standard Model posit the existence of heavy particles with long lifetimes. This article presents the results of a search for events containing at least one long-lived particle that decays at a significant distance from its production point into two leptons or into five or more charged particles. This analysis uses a data sample of proton-proton collisions at s√ = 8 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1 collected in 2012 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. No events are observed in any of the signal regions, and limits are set on model parameters within supersymmetric scenarios involving R-parity violation, split supersymmetry, and gauge mediation. In some of the search channels, the trigger and search strategy are based only on the decay products of individual long-lived particles, irrespective of the rest of the event. In these cases, the provided limits can easily be reinterpreted in different scenarios.

Stage at presentation of breast cancer in Luanda, Angola - a retrospective study

Background: It is expected that, by 2020, 15 million new cases of cancer will occur every year in the world, one million of them in Africa. Knowledge of cancer trends in African countries is far from adequate, and improvements in cancer prevention efforts are urgently needed. The aim of this study was to characterize breast cancer clinically and pathologically at presentation in Luanda, Angola; we additionally provide quality information that will be useful for breast cancer care planning in the country. Methods: Data on breast cancer cases were retrieved from the Angolan Institute of Cancer Control, from 2006 to 2014. For women diagnosed in 2009 (5-years of follow-up), demographic, clinical and pathological information, at presentation, was collected, namely age at diagnosis, parity, methods used for pathological diagnoses, tumor pathological characteristics, stage of disease and treatment. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: The median age of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 was 47 years old (range 25–89). The most frequent clinical presentation was breast swelling with axillary lymph nodes metastasis (44.9 %), followed by a mass larger than 5 cm (14.2 %) and lump (12.9 %). Invasive ductal carcinoma was the main histologic type (81.8 %). Only 10.1 % of cancer cases had a well differentiated histological grade. Cancers were diagnosed mostly at advanced stages (66.7 % in stage III and 11.1 % in stage IV). Discussion: In this study, breast cancer was diagnosed at a very advanced stage. Although it reports data from a single cancer center in Luanda, Angola it reinforces the need for early diagnosis and increasing awareness. According to the main challenges related to breast cancer diagnosis and treatment herein presented, we propose a realistic framework that would allow for the implementation of a breast cancer care program, built under a strong network based on cooperation, teaching, audit, good practices and the organization of health services. Conclusion: Angola needs urgently a program for early diagnosis of breast cancer.

First- and second-time parents’ couple relationship: from pregnancy to second year postpartum

First- and second-time parents’ couple relationships were studied from early pregnancy to the second year postpartum. The Relationship Questionnaire (RQ) was administered to Portuguese couples (N = 82), first- or second-time parents, at the first, second and third pregnancy trimester, childbirth, 3 and 18 months postpartum. Adverse changes in positive and negative partner relationship dimensions were reported from early pregnancy to the second year postpartum by all participants; in the same way by mothers and fathers and by first- and second-time parents. Second-time parents reported a worse couple relationship (lower RQ-positive scores) than first-time parents, but only during pregnancy. Results from the present study suggest a decline in partner relationship quality during the transition to parenthood both in mothers and fathers, as well as in first- and second-time parents.