The ability of C sub(60) fullerene ("Bucky Ball") derivatives to interact with the active site of HIV-1 protease (HIVP) has been examined through model building and simple physical chemical analysis. ...The model complexes generated via the program DOCK3 suggest that C sub(60) derivatives will fit snugly in the active site, thereby removing 298 angstrom super(2) of primarily nonpolar surface from solvent exposure and driving ligand/protein association. The prediction that these compounds should bind to the active site and thereby act as inhibitors has been borne out by the experimental evidence. Kinetic analysis of HIVP in the presence of a water-soluble C sub(60) derivative, bis(phenethylamino-succinate) C sub(60), suggests a competitive mode of inhibition. This is consistent with and supports the predicted binding mode. Diamino C sub(60) has been proposed as a "second-generation" C sub(60) derivative that will be able to form salt bridges with the catalytic aspartic acids in addition to van der Waals contacts with the nonpolar HIVP surface, thereby improving the binding relative to the tested compound.
Quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong force, describes interactions of coloured quarks and gluons and the formation of hadronic matter. Conventional hadronic matter consists of baryons and ...mesons made of three quarks and quark-antiquark pairs, respectively. Particles with an alternative quark content are known as exotic states. Here a study is reported of an exotic narrow state in the D0D0π+ mass spectrum just below the D*+D0 mass threshold produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The state is consistent with the ground isoscalar Tcc+ tetraquark with a quark content of ccu¯d¯ and spin-parity quantum numbers JP = 1+. Study of the DD mass spectra disfavours interpretation of the resonance as the isovector state. The decay structure via intermediate off-shell D*+ mesons is consistent with the observed D0π+ mass distribution. To analyse the mass of the resonance and its coupling to the D*D system, a dedicated model is developed under the assumption of an isoscalar axial-vector Tcc+ state decaying to the D*D channel. Using this model, resonance parameters including the pole position, scattering length, effective range and compositeness are determined to reveal important information about the nature of the Tcc+ state. In addition, an unexpected dependence of the production rate on track multiplicity is observed.The existence and properties of tetraquark states with two heavy quarks and two light antiquarks have been widely debated. Here, the authors use a unitarized model to study the properties of an exotic narrow state compatible with a doubly charmed tetraquark.
A narrow pentaquark state, Pc(4312)+, decaying to J/ψp, is discovered with a statistical significance of 7.3σ in a data sample of Λb0→J/ψpK− decays, which is an order of magnitude larger than that ...previously analyzed by the LHCb Collaboration. The Pc(4450)+ pentaquark structure formerly reported by LHCb is confirmed and observed to consist of two narrow overlapping peaks, Pc(4440)+ and Pc(4457)+, where the statistical significance of this two-peak interpretation is 5.4σ. The proximity of the Σc+D¯0 and Σc+D¯*0 thresholds to the observed narrow peaks suggests that they play an important role in the dynamics of these states.
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We present an angular analysis of the B^{+}→K^{*+}(→K_{S}^{0}π^{+})μ^{+}μ^{-} decay using 9 fb^{-1} of pp collision data collected with the LHCb experiment. For the first time, the full set of ...CP-averaged angular observables is measured in intervals of the dimuon invariant mass squared. Local deviations from standard model predictions are observed, similar to those in previous LHCb analyses of the isospin-partner B^{0}→K^{*0}μ^{+}μ^{-} decay. The global tension is dependent on which effective couplings are considered and on the choice of theory nuisance parameters.
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A measurement is reported of the ratio of branching fractions R(J/ψ)=B(B_{c}^{+}→J/ψτ^{+}ν_{τ})/B(B_{c}^{+}→J/ψμ^{+}ν_{μ}), where the τ^{+} lepton is identified in the decay mode ...τ^{+}→μ^{+}ν_{μ}νover ¯_{τ}. This analysis uses a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb^{-1} of integrated luminosity recorded with the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. A signal is found for the decay B_{c}^{+}→J/ψτ^{+}ν_{τ} at a significance of 3 standard deviations corrected for systematic uncertainty, and the ratio of the branching fractions is measured to be R(J/ψ)=0.71±0.17(stat)±0.18(syst). This result lies within 2 standard deviations above the range of central values currently predicted by the standard model.
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A search for charge-parity (CP) violation in D^{0}→K^{-}K^{+} and D^{0}→π^{-}π^{+} decays is reported, using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.9 fb^{-1} collected at a ...center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV with the LHCb detector. The flavor of the charm meson is inferred from the charge of the pion in D^{*}(2010)^{+}→D^{0}π^{+} decays or from the charge of the muon in Bover ¯→D^{0}μ^{-}νover ¯_{μ}X decays. The difference between the CP asymmetries in D^{0}→K^{-}K^{+} and D^{0}→π^{-}π^{+} decays is measured to be ΔA_{CP}=-18.2±3.2(stat)±0.9(syst)×10^{-4} for π-tagged and ΔA_{CP}=-9±8(stat)±5(syst)×10^{-4} for μ-tagged D^{0} mesons. Combining these with previous LHCb results leads to ΔA_{CP}=(-15.4±2.9)×10^{-4}, where the uncertainty includes both statistical and systematic contributions. The measured value differs from zero by more than 5 standard deviations. This is the first observation of CP violation in the decay of charm hadrons.
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The first simultaneous test of muon-electron universality using B+→K+ℓ+ℓ− and B0→K*0ℓ+ℓ− decays is performed, in two ranges of the dilepton invariant-mass squared, q2. The analysis uses beauty mesons ...produced in proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector between 2011 and 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1. Each of the four lepton universality measurements reported is either the first in the given q2 interval or supersedes previous LHCb measurements. The results are compatible with the predictions of the Standard Model.
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