Experimental evidence has established that neutrino flavor states evolve over time. A neutrino of a particular flavor that travels some distance can be detected in a different neutrino flavor state. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline experiment that is designed to study this phenomenon, called neutrino oscillations. MINOS is based at Fermilab near Chicago, IL, and consists of two detectors: the Near Detector located at Fermilab, and the Far Detector, which is located in an old iron mine in Soudan, MN. Both detectors are exposed to a beam of muon neutrinos from the NuMI beamline, and MINOS measures the fraction of muon neutrinos that disappear after traveling the 734 km between the two detectors. One can measure the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting and mixing angle by observing the energy-dependence of this muon neutrino disappearance. MINOS has made several prior measurements of these parameters. Here I describe recently-developed techniques used to enhance our sensitivity to the oscillation parameters, and I present the results obtained when they are applied to a dataset that is twice as large as has been previously analyzed. We measure the mass splitting {Delta}m{sub 23}{sup 2} = (2.32{sub -0.08}{sup +0.12}) x 10{sup -3} eV{sup …

We report on the search for heavy metastable particles that decay into quark pairs with a macroscopic lifetime (c{tau} {approx} 1 cm) using data taken with the CDF II detector at Fermilab. We use a data driven background approach, where they build probability density functions to model Standard Model secondary vertices from known processes in order to estimate the background contribution from the Standard Model. No statistically significant excess is observed above the background. Limits on the production cross section in a Hidden Valley benchmark phenomenology are set for various Higgs boson masses as well as metastable particle masses and lifetimes.

The composition of matter is a topic in which the man has been interested throughout History. Since the introduction of the atom by Democritus in the 5th century BC until the establishment of the Standard Model, our successful theory that contains our current knowledge on the matter and their interactions, it has come a long way trying to solve this fundamental question. The efforts of many of the greatest minds to perform crucial experiments and develop theoretical models have helped to get deeper insight into the origin of the matter. Today we know that indivisible atoms postulated by Democritus are no longer true, and they are actually composed of a nucleus made of protons and neutrons (nucleons) with orbiting electrons through electromagnetic interactions. Also the nucleons are not fundamental particles but are composed of more fundamental ones called quarks. According to the present state of our knowledge, matter is composed of two types of particles: quarks and leptons. Leptons are believed to be fundamental particles and can occur freely in nature. Quarks are also fundamental particles, and there are no free in nature, but are confined to form hadrons. The hadrons may consist of a quark and an antiquark (mesons) …

A search for the standard model Higgs boson is performed in 6.4 fb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, collected with the D0 detector during Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron. The final state considered is a pair of jets originating from b quarks and missing transverse energy, as expected from p{bar p} {yields} ZH {yields} {nu}{bar {nu}}b{bar b} production. The search is also sensitive to the WH {yields} {ell}{nu}b{bar b} channel, where the charged lepton is not identified. Boosted decision trees are used to discriminate signal from background. Good agreement is observed between data and expected backgrounds, and a limit is set at 95% C.L. on the section multiplied by branching fraction of (p{bar p} {yields} (Z/W)H) x (H {yields} b{bar b}). For a Higgs boson mass of 115 GeV, the observed limit is a factor of 3.5 larger than the value expected from the standard model.

This thesis presents measurements of the oscillations of muon antineutrinos in the atmospheric sector, where world knowledge of antineutrino oscillations lags well behind the knowledge of neutrinos, as well as a search for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}} transitions. Differences between neutrino and antineutrino oscillations could be a sign of physics beyond the Standard Model, including non-standard matter interactions or the violation of CPT symmetry. These measurements leverage the sign-selecting capabilities of the magnetized steel-scintillator MINOS detectors to analyze antineutrinos from the NuMI beam, both when it is in neutrino-mode and when it is in antineutrino-mode. Antineutrino oscillations are observed at |{Delta}{bar m}{sub atm}{sup 2}| = (3.36{sub -0.40}{sup +0.46}(stat) {+-} 0.06(syst)) x 10{sup -3} eV{sup 2} and sin{sup 2}(2{bar {theta}}{sub 23}) = 0.860{sub -0.12}{sup +0.11}(stat) {+-} 0.01(syst). The oscillation parameters measured for antineutrinos and those measured by MINOS for neutrinos differ by a large enough margin that the chance of obtaining two values as discrepant as those observed is only 2%, assuming the two measurements arise from the same underlying mechanism, with the same parameter values. No evidence is seen for neutrino-to-antineutrino transitions.

MINOS is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It consists of two large steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. The near detector is situated at Fermilab, close to the production point of the NuMI muon-neutrino beam. The far detector is 735 km away, 716m underground in the Soudan mine, Northern Minnesota. The primary purpose of the MINOS experiment is to make precise measurements of the 'atmospheric' neutrino oscillation parameters ({Delta}m{sub atm}{sup 2} and sin{sup 2} 2{theta}{sub atm}). The oscillation signal consists of an energy-dependent deficit of {nu}{sub {mu}} interactions in the far detector. The near detector is used to characterize the properties of the beam before oscillations develop. The two-detector design allows many potential sources of systematic error in the far detector to be mitigated by the near detector observations. This thesis describes the details of the {nu}{sub {mu}}-disappearance analysis, and presents a new technique to estimate the hadronic energy of neutrino interactions. This estimator achieves a significant improvement in the energy resolution of the neutrino spectrum, and in the sensitivity of the neutrino oscillation fit. The systematic uncertainty on the hadronic energy scale was re-evaluated and found to be comparable to that of the energy estimator previously in use. The best-fit oscillation parameters …

Current understanding of particle physics postulates that there are 17 fundamental particles that interact via four fundamental forces - gravity, the strong force, the weak force, and the electromagnetic force. These fundamental particles can be classified by their spins into bosons, which are the force-carrying particles with integer spins, and fermions, which have half-integer spins. Fermions can be further divided into quarks and leptons. The particles and three of the four forces - all but gravity - are described by the Standard Model, a local SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) gauge theory. Electromagnetic and weak interactions as described by Electroweak Theory or Quantum Electrodynamics, SU(2) x U(1). Strong interactions are described by Quantum Chromodynamics or QCD, SU(3). Fermions are grouped into three generations as shown in Table 1.1. Each generation consists of a leptonic doublet containing a charged and a neutral lepton and a weak isospin doublet containing two quarks. The first generation, containing the electron, the electron neutrino, the up quark, and the down quark, is the lightest generation and is thus the most frequently found in nature. The second generation contains the muon, the muon neutrino, the strange quark, and the charm quark. The third generation contains the …

In this thesis we present a study of the production of D{sup 0} meson in the low transverse momentum region. In particular the inclusive differential production cross section of the D{sup 0} meson (in the two-body decay channel D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}) is obtained extending the published CDF II measurement to p{sub T} as low as 1.5 GeV/c. This study is performed at the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab with the CDF II detector.

This thesis reports the first experimental evidence of the doubly strange b-baryon {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} (ssb) following the decay channel {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} {yields} J/{psi}(1S) {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} {Omega}{sup -} {Lambda} K{sup -} p {pi}{sup -} in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 Tev. Using approximately 1.3 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, they observe 17.8 {+-} 4.9(stat) {+-} 0.8(syst) {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} signal events at 6.165 {+-} 0.010(stat) {+-} 0.013(syst) GeV/c{sup 2} with a corresponding significance of 5.4 {sigma}, meaning that the probability of the signal coming from a fluctuation in the background is 6.7 x 10{sup -8}. The theoretical model we have to describe what we believe are the building blocks of nature and the interactions between them, is known as Standard Model. The Standard Model is the combination of Electroweak Theory and Quantum Chromodynamics into a single core in the attempt to include all interactions of subatomic particles except those due to gravity in a simple framework. This model has proved highly accurate in predicting certain interactions, but it does not explain all aspects of subatomic particles. For example, it cannot say how many particles there should be …

We report on the measurement of the top quark electric charge using the jet charge tagging method on events containing a single lepton collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab between February 2002 and February 2010 at the center-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. There are three main components to this measurement: determining the charge of the W (using the charge of the lepton), pairing the W with the b-jet to ensure that they are from the same top decay branch and finally determining the charge of the b-jet using the Jet Charge algorithm. We found, on a sample of 5.6 fb{sup -1} of data, that the p-value under the standard model hypothesis is equal to 13.4%, while the p-value under the exotic model hypothesis is equal to 0.014%. Using the a priori criteria generally accepted by the CDF collaboration, we can say that the result is consistent with the standard model, while we exclude an exotic quark hypothesis with 95% confidence. Using the Bayesian approach, we obtain for the Bayes factor (2ln(BF)) a value of 19.6, that favors very strongly the SM hypothesis over the XM one. The presented method has the highest sensitivity to the top quark …

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We conduct the first study of the T-odd correlations in tt events produced in p{bar p} collision at the Fermilab Tevatron collider that can be used to search for CP violation. We select events which have lepton+jets final states to identify t{bar t} events and measure counting asymmetries of several physics observables. Based on the result, we search the top quark anomalous couplings at the production vertex at the Tevatron. In addition, Geant4 development, photon identification, the discrimination of a single photon and a photon doublet from {pi}{sup 0} decay are discussed in this thesis.

In this thesis, we report on a measurement of muon neutrino inclusive charged current interactions on carbon in the few GeV region, using the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. The all neutrino mode data collected in the SciBooNE experiment is used for this analysis. We collected high-statistics CC interaction sample at SciBooNE, and extracted energy dependent inclusive charged current interaction rates and cross sections for a wide energy range from 0.25 GeV to {approx}3 GeV. We measure the interaction rates with 6-15% precision, and the cross sections with 10-30% precision. We also made an energy integrated measurements, with the precisions of 3% for the rate, and 8% for the cross section measurements. This is the first measurement of the CC inclusive cross section on carbon around 1 GeV. This inclusive interaction measurement is nearly free from effects of hadron re-interactions in the nucleus. Hence, it is complementary to other exclusive cross section measurements, and essential to understand the neutrino interaction cross sections in the few GeV region, which is relevant to ongoing and future neutrino oscillation experiments. This analysis also provides the normalization for SciBooNE's previous cross section ratio measurements for charged current coherent pion production and neutral current neutral pion …

The Standard Model (SM) is a very successful description of particle physics, and its predictions have stood up to a multitude of precision experimental tests. But one of the central elements of the SM, the Higgs mechanism, has yet to be verified. The Higgs mechanism (and the associated Higgs Boson) generates electroweak symmetry breaking and consequently allows for W and Z bosons and fermions to be massive. This thesis presents a search for the SM Higgs boson at the D0 experiment using the Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab in the final state {tau}{tau} + jet jet with 4.3 fb{sup -1} of data. This final state is sensitive to the Higgs production mechanisms gluon-gluon fusion and vector-boson fusion, and to the Higgs produced in association with a W or Z, for Higgs masses from 100 to 200 GeV. We see no evidence for the Higgs boson, but by itself our search does not rule out the SM Higgs. When this analysis is combined with other searches at the Tevatron the Higgs can be ruled out at a 95% confidence level for the mass range from 156 to 177 GeV.

Extensive studies of high-energy deuteron photodisintegration over the past two decades have probed the limits of meson-baryon descriptions of nuclei and nuclear reactions. At high energies, photodisintegration cross sections have been shown to scale as a power law in s (the total cm energy squared), which suggests that quarks are the relevant degrees of freedom. In an attempt to more clearly identify the underlying dynamics at play, JLab/Hall A experiment 03-101 measured the hard photodisintegration of {sup 3}He into p-p and p-d pairs at θ{sub c.m.} = 90◦ and E{sub {gamma}} = 0.8 - 4.7 GeV. The basic idea is that the measurement should be able to test theoretical predictions for the relative size of pp versus pn disintegrations. This document presents data for the energy dependence of the high energy 90◦ c.m. photodisintegration of {sup3]He: dσ/dt(γ + {sup3}He → p + p + n{sub spectator}), and dσ/dt(γ + {sup 3}He → p + d). The cross sections were observed to scale as a function of s{sup −n} where n was found to be 11.1±0.1 and 17.4±0.5 for the two reactions respectively. The degree of scaling found for d#27;{sigma}/dt (γ + {sup 3}He → p + d) is the highest …

This thesis presents the results a search for chargino and neutralino supersymmetric particles yielding same signed dilepton final states including one hadronically decaying tau lepton using 6.0 fb{sup -1} of data collected by the the CDF II detector. This signature is important in SUSY models where, at high tan {beta}, the branching ratio of charginos and neutralinos to tau leptons becomes dominant. We study event acceptance, lepton identification cuts, and efficiencies. We set limits on the production cross section as a function of SUSY particle mass for certain generic models.

This thesis reports on the first helicity asymmetry measurement for single neutral pion photoproduction using the CLAS detector in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab). This measurement used longitudinally polarized protons and circularly polarized photons at energies between 350 MeV and 2400 MeV. The experimental results are compared to three available model calculations.

A sample of W {yields} e{nu} (W {yields} {mu}{nu}) and Z{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -} (Z{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) events recorded by the CDF detector for p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV are used to evaluate the systematic uncertainty in the determination of the W boson mass arising from uncertainties in the parton distribution functions and higher-order QCD effects. The systematic contribution of PDFs is determined to be 10 MeV/c{sup 2} for MSTW2008 NLO and 12 MeV/c{sup 2} for CTEQ6.6. The total systematic contribution arising from higher-order QCD effects in 9 MeV/c{sup 2}. The Z{sup 0} events are used to extract improved estimates of the phenomenological parameters in the BLNY model that describes low transverse momentum.

Deformation processed metal-metal composites (DMMC’s) are composites formed by mechanical working (i.e., rolling, swaging, or wire drawing) of two-phase, ductile metal mixtures. Since both the matrix and reinforcing phase are ductile metals, the composites can be heavily deformed to reduce the thickness and spacing of the two phases. Recent studies have shown that heavily drawn DMMCs can achieve anomalously high strength and outstanding combinations of strength and conductivity. In this study, Al-Fe wire composite with 0.07, 0.1, and 0.2 volume fractions of Fe filaments and Al-Ca wire composite with 0.03, 0.06, and 0.09 volume fractions of Ca filaments were produced in situ, and their mechanical properties were measured as a function of deformation true strain. The Al-Fe composites displayed limited deformation of the Fe phase even at high true strains, resulting in little strengthening effect in those composites. Al-9vol%Ca wire was deformed to a deformation true strain of 13.76. The resulting Ca second-phase filaments were deformed to thicknesses on the order of one micrometer. The ultimate tensile strength increased exponentially with increasing deformation true strain, reaching a value of 197 MPa at a true strain of 13.76. This value is 2.5 times higher than the value predicted by the rule …

The Advanced eLectron-PHoton fAcility (ALPHA) is a compact electron accelerator under construction and being commissioned at the Indiana University Center for Exploration of Energy and Matter (CEEM). In this thesis, we have studied the refurbished Cooler Injector Synchrotron (CIS) RF cavity using both the transmission line model and SUPERFISH simulation. Both low power and high power RF measurements have been carried out to characterize the cavity. Considering the performance limit of ferrite, we have designed a new ferrite loaded, co-axial quarter wave like cavity with similar structure but a more suitable ferrite material. We have also designed a traveling wave stripline kicker for fast extraction by POISSON and Microwave Studio. The strips geometry is trimmed to maximize the uniformity of the kicking field and match the impedance of the power cables. The time response simulation shows the kicker is fast enough for machine operation. The pulsed power supply requirement has also been specified. For the beam diagnosis in the longitudinal direction, we use a wideband Wall Gap Monitor (WGM) served in CIS. With proper shielding and amplification to get good WGM signal, we have characterized the injected and extracted beam signal in single pass commissioning, and also verified the debunching …

The longitudinal beam dynamics in circular accelerators is mainly defined by the interaction of the beam current with the accelerating Radio Frequency (RF) stations. For stable operation, Low Level RF (LLRF) feedback systems are employed to reduce coherent instabilities and regulate the accelerating voltage. The LLRF system design has implications for the dynamics and stability of the closed-loop RF systems as well as for the particle beam, and is very sensitive to the operating range of accelerator currents and energies. Stability of the RF loop and the beam are necessary conditions for reliable machine operation. This dissertation describes theoretical formalisms and models that determine the longitudinal beam dynamics based on the LLRF implementation, time domain simulations that capture the dynamic behavior of the RF station-beam interaction, and measurements from the Positron-Electron Project (PEP-II) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that validate the models and simulations. These models and simulations are structured to capture the technical characteristics of the system (noise contributions, non-linear elements, and more). As such, they provide useful results and insight for the development and design of future LLRF feedback systems. They also provide the opportunity to study diverse longitudinal beam dynamics effects such as coupled-bunch impedance driven …

Presented is a series of analyses which are central to the search for a low-mass Higgs boson. A search for ZZ production in the ZZ {yields} {ell}{sup -}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{bar {nu}} channel is introduced then the successful combination of this analysis with with the ZZ {yields} {ell}{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{ell}'{sup +}{ell}'{sup -} search to produce the first observation of the ZZ process at a hadron collider is then detailed. The final analysis presented is the search for the Higgs in the ZH {yields} {nu}{bar {nu}}b{bar b} channel and the interpretation as a ZZ {yields} {nu}{bar {nu}}b{bar b} search in order to validate the techniques. Common themes are discussed, such as multivariate techniques and instrumental backgrounds from energy measurement fluctuations and the tools used to combat them. The formalism of the statistical analysis of the final selected sample is introduced generally and demonstrated in the context of the above mentioned searches. The optimization of the selection through the identification of poorly reconstructed leptons is included as well as the utilization of b-quark identifying tools. Some space is given to jet reconstruction/identification and the Level 1 Calorimeter Trigger. The efficient identification and calibration of jets is central to many physics analysis especially in the …

The top quark is the heaviest known fundamental particle, with a mass of 172.0{sub -1.3}{sup +0.9}GeV. This is nearly twice the mass of the second heaviest known particle, the Z boson, and roughly the mass of a gold atom. Because of its unusually large mass, studying the top quark may provide insight into the Higgs mechanism and other beyond the standard model physics. Only two accelerators in the world are powerful enough to produce top quarks. The Tevatron, which first accelerated protons in 1983, has produced almost 400,000 top quarks, roughly half at each of its two detectors: DO and CDF. The LHC is a much newer accelerator which currently has accumulated about 0.5% as much data as the Tevatron. However, when running at full luminosity, the LHC is capable of producing a top quark about once every second and will quickly surpass the Tevatron as the leading producer of top quarks. This analysis uses data from the D0 detector at the Tevatron, which are described in chapter 3. Top quarks are produced most often in pairs of top and anti-top quarks through an interaction of the strong force. This production mode was first observed in 1995 at the Tevatron. …

My research is on the synergistic regulation of PAI-1 by EGF and TGF-β. The mechanism of synergistic regulation of PAI-1 by EGF and TGF-β are addressed. Methods are described for effective identification of RNA accessible sites for antisense oligodexoxynucleotides (ODNs) and siRNA. In this study effective AS-ODN sequences for both Lcn2 and Bcl2 were identified by in vitro tiled microarray studies. Our results suggest that hybridization of ODN arrays to a target mRNA under physiological conditions might be used as a rapid and reliable in vitro method to accurately identify targets on mRNA molecules for effective antisense and potential siRNA activity in vivo.