The KamLAND-Zen 800 experiment is searching for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe by using $^{136}$Xe-loaded liquid scintillator. The liquid scintillator is enclosed inside a balloon made of thin, transparent, low-radioactivity film that we call Inner Balloon (IB). The IB, apart from guaranteeing the liquid containment, also allows to minimize the background from cosmogenic muon-spallation products and $^{8}$B solar neutrinos. Indeed these events could contribute to the total counts in the region of interest around the Q-value of the double-beta decay of $^{136}$Xe. In this paper, we present an overview of the IB and describe the various steps of its commissioning minimizing the radioactive contaminations, from the material selection, to the fabrication of the balloon and its installation inside the KamLAND detector. Finally, we show the impact of the IB on the KamLAND background as measured by the KamLAND detector itself.

The KamLAND-Zen 800 experiment is searching for the neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe by using 136Xe-loaded liquid scintillator. The liquid scintillator is enclosed inside a balloon made of thin, transparent, low-radioactivity film that we call Inner Balloon (IB). The IB, apart from guaranteeing the liquid containment, also allows to minimize the background from cosmogenic muon-spallation products and 8B solar neutrinos. Indeed these events could contribute to the total counts in the region of interest around the Q-value of the double-beta decay of 136Xe. In this paper, we present an overview of the IB and describe the various steps of its commissioning minimizing the radioactive contaminations, from the material selection, to the fabrication of the balloon and its installation inside the KamLAND detector. Finally, we show the impact of the IB on the KamLAND background as measured by the KamLAND detector itself.

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 relative rates of B-meson decays into J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons are measured for the three decay modes in pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. The ratios of branching fractions ([Formula: see text]) are measured to be [Formula: see text] where the third uncertainty is from the ratio of the ψ(2S) and J/ψ branching fractions to μ⁺μ^-.

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 production of J/ψ mesons in proton-proton collisions at √S = 7 TeV is studied with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The differential cross-section for prompt J/ψ production is measured as a function of the J/ψ transverse momentum pT and rapidity y in the fiducial region pT ∈ [0; 14] GeV/c and y ∈ [2.0; 4.5]. The differential cross-section and fraction of J/ψ from b-hadron decays are also measured in the same pT and y ranges. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.2 pb^&-1. The measured cross-sections integrated over the fiducial region are 10.52 ± 0.04 ± 1.40^+1.64 &-2.20 μb for prompt J/ψ production and 1.14 ± 0.01 ± 0.16 μb for J/ψ from b-hadron decays, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The prompt J/ψ production cross-section is obtained assuming no J/ψ polarisation and the third error indicates the acceptance uncertainty due to this assumption.