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Abstract:

The standard model of particle physics contains parameters--such as particle masses--whose origins are still unknown and which cannot be predicted, but whose values are constrained through their interactions. In particular, the masses of the top quark (M(t)) and W boson (M(W)) constrain the mass of the long-hypothesized, but thus far not observed, Higgs boson. A precise measurement of M(t) can therefore indicate where to look for the Higgs, and indeed whether the hypothesis of a standard model Higgs is consistent with experimental data. As top quarks are produced in pairs and decay in only about 10(-24) s into various final states, reconstructing their masses from their decay products is very challenging. Here we report a technique that extracts more information from each top-quark event and yields a greatly improved precision (of +/- 5.3 GeV/c2) when compared to previous measurements. When our new result is combined with our published measurement in a complementary decay mode and with the only other measurements available, the new world average for M(t) becomes 178.0 +/- 4.3 GeV/c2. As a result, the most likely Higgs mass increases from the experimentally excluded value of 96 to 117 GeV/c2, which is beyond current experimental sensitivity. The upper limit on the Higgs mass at the 95% confidence level is raised from 219 to 251 GeV/c2.

Abstract:

In data taken with the NA48 experiment at the CERN SPS in 1999, 730 candidates of the weak radiative hyperon decay Ξ⁰→Λγ have been found with an estimated background of 58±8 events. From these events the Ξ⁰→Λγ decay asymmetry has been determined to α(Ξ⁰→Λγ)=-0.78±0.18stat±0.06 syst, which is the first evidence of a decay asymmetry in Ξ ⁰→Λγ. The branching fraction of the decay has been measured to be Br(Ξ⁰→Λγ)=(1.16±0.05 stat±0.06syst)×10^-3. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The MINOS light-injection calibration system has been fully documented in a previous article (Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 492 (2002) 353). Upon commissioning in the MINOS detectors, the system was found to give a non-linear response to variations in the intensity of injected light. The source of this non-linearity has been traced to a small change in the spectrum of the injected light as a function of the current applied to the original blue LEDs, in combination with a rapidly varying spectral response function of the wavelength-shifting fibre used in the detector. Both aspects of the problem have been addressed successfully by use of LEDs with different spectral characteristics, and the system now has a linear response. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

We use a neural-network technique to search for standard model single-top-quark production in the [Formula Presented] dataset accumulated by the Collider Detector at Fermilab detector during the 1992–1995 collider run (“run I”). Using a sample of 64 [Formula Presented] 2, 3 jets events, we set a 95% confidence level upper limit of 24 pb on the W-gluon and [Formula Presented] combined single-top cross section. © 2004 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

We have searched for the signature of 3- and 4-body decays of pair-produced scalar top quarks (stop) in the inclusive final state containing an electron, a muon, and significant missing transverse energy using a sample of pp̄ events corresponding to 108.3 pb^-1 of data collected with the DØ detector at Fermilab. The search is done in the framework of the minimal supersymmetric standard model assuming that the neutralino (χ̃1⁰) is the lightest supersymmetric particle and is stable. No evidence for a signal is found and we derive cross-section upper limits as a function of stop (t̃) and neutralino masses in different decay scenarios leading to the bℓνχ̃1⁰ final state. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.