NLO QCD corrections to $W^\pm Z\gamma$ production with leptonic decays
We present a computation of the O(alpha_s) QCD corrections to W^\pm Z \gamma production at the Large Hadron Collider. The photon is considered as real, and we include full leptonic decays for the W and Z bosons. Based on the structure of the VBFNLO program package, we obtain numerical results through a fully flexible Monte Carlo program, which allows to implement general cuts and distributions of the final-state particles. The NLO QCD corrections are sizable and strongly exceed the theory error obtained by a scale variation of the leading-order result. Also, the shapes of relevant observables are significantly altered.

title: Higgs Couplings after the Discovery
abstract: Following the ATLAS and CMS analyses presented around ICHEP 2012 we determine the individual Higgs couplings. The new data allow us to specifically test the effective coupling to photons. We find no significant deviation from the Standard Model in any of the Higgs couplings.

title: Dark sector spectroscopy at the ILC
abstract: Recent studies have shown that searches in the mono-photon and missing energy final state can be used to discover dark matter candidates at the ILC. While an excess in this final state over the Standard Model background would indicate the existence of a dark sector, no detailed information about the internal structure of this sector can be inferred. Here, we demonstrate how just a few observables can discriminate between various realisations of dark sectors, including e.g. the spin of mediators.

title: ZZ + jet production via gluon fusion at the LHC
abstract: A bstractPair production of Z bosons in association with a hard jet is an important background for new physics searches at the LHC. The loop-induced gluon-fusion process $ gg $ → ZZg contributes formally only at the next-to-next-to-leading order. Nevertheless, it can get enhanced by the large gluon flux at the LHC, and thus should be taken into account in relevant experimental searches. We provide the details and results of this calculation, which involves the manipulation of rank-5 pentagon integrals. Our results show that the gluon-fusion process can contribute more than 10% to the next-to-leading order QCD result and increases the overall scale uncertainty. Moreover, interference effects between Higgs and non-Higgs contributions can become large in phase-space regions where the Higgs is far off-shell.

title: Helmholtz Alliance Linear Collider Forum
abstract: Supersymmetric scenarios with a very weakly interacting lightest superpartner (LSP) - like the gravitino or axino - naturally give rise to a long-lived next-to-LSP (NLSP). If the NLSP is a charged slepton it leaves a very distinct signature in a collider experiment. At the ILC/CLIC it will be possible to capture a significant fraction of the produced charged sleptons and observe their decays. These decays potentially reveal the nature of the LSP and thus provide a unique possibility to measure the properties of a very weakly interacting LSP which otherwise is most likely hidden from any other observation, like direct or indirect dark matter searches. We review the proposals that have been made to measure the LSP properties at the ILC/CLIC and compare its potential to the capability of the LHC.

title: Measuring Higgs couplings at a linear collider
abstract: Higgs couplings can be measured at a linear collider with high precision. We estimate the uncertainties of such measurements, including theoretical errors. Based on these results we show an extrapolation for a combined analysis at a linear collider and a high-luminosity LHC.

title: High-redshift Metals. II. Probing Reionization Galaxies with Low-ionization Absorption Lines at Redshift Six
abstract: We present a survey for low-ionization metal absorption line systems toward 17 QSOs at redshifts z_(em) = 5.8-6.4. Nine of our objects were observed at high resolution with either Keck/HIRES or Magellan/MIKE, and the remainder at moderate resolution with Keck/ESI. The survey spans 5.3 5.3 in the number density of highly ionized systems traced by C IV. The low-ionization systems at z ~ 6 span a similar range of velocity widths as lower-redshift sub-DLAs but have significantly weaker lines at a given width. This may imply that the mass-metallicity relation of the host galaxies evolves toward lower metallicities at higher redshifts. These systems lack strong Si IV and C IV, which are common among lower-redshift DLAs and sub-DLAs. This is consistent, however, with a similar decrease in the metallicity of the low- and high-ionization phases, and does not necessarily indicate a lack of nearby, highly ionized gas. The high number density of low-ionization systems at z ~ 6 suggests that we may be detecting galaxies below the current limits of i-dropout and Lyα emission galaxy surveys. These systems may therefore be the first direct probes of the "typical" galaxies responsible for hydrogen reionization.

title: THE LYMAN ALPHA FOREST IN THE SPECTRA OF QUASISTELLAR OBJECTS
abstract: Observations of redshifted Lyman alpha (Ly alpha) forest absorption in the spectra of quasistellar objects (QSOs) provide a highly sensitive probe of the distribution of gaseous matter in the universe. Over the past two decades, optical spectroscopy with large ground-based telescopes, and more recently ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopy from space, have yielded a wealth of information on what appears to be a gaseous, photoionized intergalactic medium (IGM), partly enriched by the products of stellar nucleosynthesis, residing in coherent structures over many hundreds of kiloparsecs. 
Recent progress with cosmological hydro-simulations based or hierarchical structure formation models has led to important insights into the physical structures giving rise to the forest. If these ideas are correct, a truly inter- and protogalactic medium [at high redshift (z similar to 3), the main repository of baryons] collapses under the influence of dark matter gravity into flattened or filamentary structures, which are seen in absorption against background QSOs. With decreasing redshift, galaxies forming in the denser regions may contribute an increasing part of the Ly alpha absorption cross section. Comparisons between large data samples from the new generation of telescopes and artificial Ly alpha forest spectra from cosmological simulations promise to become a useful cosmological tool.

title: New Statistical Measures of the Lya Forest Spectra for Accurate Comparison to Theoretical Models
abstract: We propose a new method of analysis for the \lya forest, namely to measure the 1-point and 2-point joint probability distribution of the transmitted flux. The results for a sample of seven observed quasars and from two simulations of structure formation are shown and compared. Statistically significant differences in the 2-point function between the results of the numerical simulations and the observations are easily found. The analysis we suggest is very simple to apply to observed data sets, and we discuss its superiority over the traditional Voigt-profile fitting algorithms for accurate comparison to the predictions of theoretical models.

title: Direct integration and non-perturbative effects in matrix models
abstract: We show how direct integration can be used to solve the closed amplitudes of multicut matrix models with polynomial potentials. In the case of the cubic matrix model, we give explicit expressions for the ring of nonholomorphic modular objects that are needed to express all closed matrix model amplitudes. This allows us to integrate the holomorphic anomaly equation up to holomorphic modular terms that we fix by the gap condition up to genus four. There is an onedimensional submanifold of the moduli space in which the spectral curve becomes the Seiberg-Witten curve and the ring reduces to the nonholomorphic modular ring of the group Γ(2). On that submanifold, the gap conditions completely fix the holomorphic ambiguity and the model can be solved explicitly to very high genus. We use these results to make precision tests of the connection between the large order behavior of the 1/N expansion and nonperturbative effects due to instantons. Finally, we argue that a full understanding of the large genus asymptotics in the multicut case requires a new class of nonperturbative sectors in the matrix model.

title: The metal line systems in hs1700+6416: evidence for inhomogeneities
abstract: We present a high S/N ratio optical spectrum of the bright quasar HS1700+6416. These data usefully complement the UV HST data from Vogel and Reimers (1995). We analyse the metal line systems using photo-ionization models allowing for inhomogeneities in the gas. The models are able to reproduce within a factor of two the large N(HeI)/N(HI) ratio together with the mean column densities of the heavy element species observed in the z=2 systems. The density contrast between low and high density regions is of the order of 30. Although the [O/C] abundance ratio seems slighly larger than solar, firm conclusion should await higher spectral resolution data. A break at the HeII ionization limit of a factor of ten is acceptable in the ionizing spectrum. Abundances are found to be about 0.08 solar. This together with other determinations from the literature indicates that there is evolution in the metal content of metal line systems with redshift: [Mg/H] is slighly below solar at z=0.7 and [C/H]=0.1-0.01 at z=2. We detect an associated CIV system at z=2.7126 in which there is some evidence for the presence of NeVIII, probably NeVI, NeVII, and possibly SiXII.