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.
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.
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.
Searches are performed for both promptlike and long-lived dark photons, A^{'}, produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using A^{'}→μ^{+}μ^{-} decays and a data ...sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 fb^{-1} collected with the LHCb detector. The promptlike A^{'} search covers the mass range from near the dimuon threshold up to 70 GeV, while the long-lived A^{'} search is restricted to the low-mass region 214<m(A^{'})<350 MeV. No evidence for a signal is found, and 90% confidence level exclusion limits are placed on the γ-A^{'} kinetic-mixing strength. The constraints placed on promptlike dark photons are the most stringent to date for the mass range 10.6<m(A^{'})<70 GeV, and are comparable to the best existing limits for m(A^{'})<0.5 GeV. The search for long-lived dark photons is the first to achieve sensitivity using a displaced-vertex signature.
The ratio of branching fractions R ( D * − ) ≡ B ( B 0 → D * − τ + ν τ ) / B ( B 0 → D * − μ + ν μ ) is measured using a data sample of proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector at ...center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb − 1 . For the first time, R ( D * − ) is determined using the τ -lepton decays with three charged pions in the final state. The B 0 → D * − τ + ν τ yield is normalized to that of the B 0 → D * − π + π − π + mode, providing a measurement of B ( B 0 → D * − τ + ν τ ) / B ( B 0 → D * − π + π − π + ) = 1.97 ± 0.13 ± 0.18 , where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The value of B ( B 0 → D * − τ + ν τ ) = ( 1.42 ± 0.094 ± 0.129 ± 0.054 ) % is obtained, where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fraction of the normalization mode. Using the well-measured branching fraction of the B 0 → D * − μ + ν μ decay, a value of R ( D * − ) = 0.291 ± 0.019 ± 0.026 ± 0.013 is established, where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of the normalization and B 0 → D * − μ + ν μ modes. This measurement is in agreement with the standard model prediction and with previous results.
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