Changes in water level are commonly reported in regions struck by a seismic event. The sign and amplitude of such changes depend on the relative position of measuring points with respect to the hypocenter, and on the poroelastic properties of the rock. We apply a porous media flow model (TOUGH2) to describe groundwater flow and water-level changes associated with the first ML5.9 mainshock of the 2012 seismic sequence in Emilia (Italy). We represent the earthquake as an instantaneous pressure step, whose amplitude was inferred from the properties of the seismic source inverted from geodetic data. The results are consistent with the evolution recorded in both deep and shallow water wells in the area and suggest that our description of the seismic event is suitable to capture both timing and magnitude of water-level changes. We draw some conclusions about the influence of material heterogeneity on the pore pressure evolution, and we show that to reproduce the observed maximum amplitude it is necessary to take into account compaction in the shallow layer.

© 2013, CERN for the benefit of the LHCb collaboration. During 2011 the LHCb experiment at CERN collected 1.0 fb−1 of √s = 7 TeV pp collisions. Due to the large heavy quark production cross-sections, these data provide unprecedented samples of heavy flavoured hadrons. The first results from LHCb have made a significant impact on the flavour physics landscape and have definitively proved the concept of a dedicated experiment in the forwardregion at a hadron collider. This document discusses the implications of these first measurements on classes of extensions to the Standard Model, bearing in mind the interplay with the results of searches for on-shell production of new particles at ATLAS and CMS. The physics potential of an upgrade to the LHCb detector, which would allow an order of magnitude more data to be collected, is emphasised.

© 2017 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. Differences in the behaviour of matter and antimatter have been observed in K and B meson decays, but not yet in any baryon decay. Such differences are associated with the non-invariance of fundamental interactions under the combined charge-conjugation and parity transformations, known as CP violation. Here, using data from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, we search for CP-violating asymmetries in the decay angle distributions of Λb0 baryons decaying to pπ- π+ π- and pπ-K+K- final states. These four-body hadronic decays are a promising place to search for sources of CP violation both within and beyond the standard model of particle physics. We find evidence for CP violation in Λb0 to pπ- π+ π- decays with a statistical significance corresponding to 3.3 standard deviations including systematic uncertainties. This represents the first evidence for CP violation in the baryon sector.

Motivated by the success of the flavour physics programme carried out over the last decade at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), we characterize in detail the physics potential of its High-Luminosity and High-Energy upgrades in this domain of physics. We document the extraordinary breadth of the HL/HE-LHC programme enabled by a putative Upgrade II of the dedicated flavour physics experiment LHCb and the evolution of the established flavour physics role of the ATLAS and CMS general purpose experiments. We connect the dedicated flavour physics programme to studies of the top quark, Higgs boson, and direct high-$p_T$ searches for new particles and force carriers. We discuss the complementarity of their discovery potential for physics beyond the Standard Model, affirming the necessity to fully exploit the LHC's flavour physics potential throughout its upgrade eras.

An angular analysis of the decay J/ψ→μ⁺μ^- is performed to measure the polarization of prompt J/ψ mesons produced in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 0.37 fb^-1 collected with the LHCb detector. The measurement is presented as a function of transverse momentum, p_T, and rapidity, y, of the J/ψ meson, in the kinematic region 2<p_T<15 GeV/c and 2.0<y<4.5.

The B0s and B0 mixing frequencies, Δms and Δmd, are measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV during 2011. Around 1.8 × 106 candidate events are selected of the type B0(s) → D−(s)μ+ (+ anything), where about half are from peaking and combinatorial backgrounds. To determine the B decay times, a correction is required for the momentum carried by missing particles, which is performed using a simulation-based statistical method. Associated production of muons or mesons allows us to tag the initialstate flavour and so to resolve oscillations due to mixing. We obtain Δms = (17.93 ± 0.22 (stat) ± 0.15 (syst)) ps−1, Δmd = (0.503 ± 0.011 (stat) ± 0.013(syst)) ps−1. The hypothesis of no oscillations is rejected by the equivalent of 5.8 standard deviations for B0s and 13.0 standard deviations for B0. This is the first observation of B0s mixing to be made using only semileptonic decays.

The energy flow created in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] is studied within the pseudorapidity range 1.9<η<4.9 with data collected by the LHCb experiment. The measurements are performed for inclusive minimum-bias interactions, hard scattering processes and events with an enhanced or suppressed diffractive contribution. The results are compared to predictions given by Pythia-based and cosmic-ray event generators, which provide different models of soft hadronic interactions.

The decay B(c)(+) → J/ψπ(+) π(-) π(+) is observed for the first time, using 0.8 fb(-1) of pp collisions at sqrt[s] = 7 TeV collected by the LHCb experiment. The ratio of branching fractions B(B(c)(+) → J/ψπ(+) π(-) π(+))/B(B(c)(+)→J/ψπ^{+}) is measured to be 2.41 ± 0.30 ± 0.33, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The result is in agreement with theoretical predictions.

The result of a search for the decay B(c)(+) → B(s)(0) π+ is presented, using the B(s)(0) → D(s)(-)π+ and B(s)(0) → J/ψ Ø channels. The analysis is based on a data sample of pp collisions collected with the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb(-1) taken at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, and 2 fb(-1) taken at 8 TeV. The decay B(c)(+) → B(s)(0)π+ is observed with significance in excess of 5 standard deviations independently in both decay channels. The measured product of the ratio of cross sections and branching fraction is [σ(B(c)(+))/σ(B(s)(0))] × B(B(c)(+)→ B(s)(0)π+) = [2.37 ± 0.31 (stat)± 0.11 (syst)(-0.13)(+0.17)(τ(B)(c)(+)))] × 10(-3), in the pseudorapidity range 2<η(B)<5, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is due to the uncertainty on the B(c)(+) lifetime. This is the first observation of a B meson decaying to another B meson via the weak interaction.