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Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of Beta Contamination (open access)

Development and Performance of Detectors for the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search Experiment with an Increased Sensitivity Based on a Maximum Likelihood Analysis of Beta Contamination

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) uses cryogenically-cooled detectors made of germanium and silicon in an attempt to detect dark matter in the form of Weakly-Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The expected interaction rate of these particles is on the order of 1/kg/day, far below the 200/kg/day expected rate of background interactions after passive shielding and an active cosmic ray muon veto. Our detectors are instrumented to make a simultaneous measurement of both the ionization energy and thermal energy deposited by the interaction of a particle with the crystal substrate. A comparison of these two quantities allows for the rejection of a background of electromagnetically-interacting particles at a level of better than 99.9%. The dominant remaining background at a depth of {approx} 11 m below the surface comes from fast neutrons produced by cosmic ray muons interacting in the rock surrounding the experiment. Contamination of our detectors by a beta emitter can add an unknown source of unrejected background. In the energy range of interest for a WIMP study, electrons will have a short penetration depth and preferentially interact near the surface. Some of the ionization signal can be lost to the charge contacts there and a decreased ionization signal relative …
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Driscoll, Donald D. & U., /Case Western Reserve
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the $B \to J/\psi X$ inclusive cross-section at the collider detector at Fermilab (open access)

Measurement of the $B \to J/\psi X$ inclusive cross-section at the collider detector at Fermilab

The Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) is a multi-purpose detector designed to study proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 1.96 TeV/c{sup 2}. One of the most importatn components of CDF is the silicon tracking detector. A detailed description of the testing and construction of the CDF silicon tracker is presented. Measurements of the tracking efficiency of the completed detector are also provided. Using 36 pb{sup -1} of the J/{psi} data sample collected by CDF between February and October 2002, the inclusive B {yields} J/{psi} X cross-section is measured in p{bar p} interactions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV/c{sup 2}. The fraction of J/{psi} events arising from the decay of b hadrons is extracted using an unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the decay length of the J/{psi} candidates. The p{sub T} dependent differential cross section for inclusive B {yields} J/{psi} X events with rapidity |y| < 0.6 is obtained by combining the B-fraction result with a measurement of the J/{psi} differential cross-section. For 2.0 < p{sub T}(J/{psi}) < 17.0 GeV/c, the integrated B {yields} J/{psi} X cross-section is measured to be {sigma}(J/{psi}, B) {center_dot} {Beta}(J/{psi} {yields} {mu}{mu}) = 16.02 {+-} 0.24(stat){sub -2.20}{sup +2.26}(syst) nb.
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Waschke, Simon
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Measurement of the Bs Lifetime at CDF Run II (open access)

A Measurement of the Bs Lifetime at CDF Run II

This thesis describes a measurement of the proper lifetime of the B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons produced in proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV, collected by the CDF experiment at Fermilab. The B{sub s}{sup 0} meson lifetime is measured in its semileptonic decay mode, B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}D{sub s}{sup -}. The D{sub s}{sup -} meson candidates are reconstructed in the decay mode D{sub s}{sup -} {yields} {phi}{pi}, with {phi} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}, in a trigger sample which requires a muon or an electron and another track which has a large impact parameters. The large impact parameter track is required by the silicon vertex trigger which is an innovative triggering device which has not previously been used in lifetime measurements. A total of 905 {+-} B{sub s}{sup 0} candidates are reconstructed in a sample which has an integrated luminosity of 140 pb{sup -1} using data gathered between February 2002 and August 2003. The pseudo-proper lifetime distribution of these candidates is fitted with an unbinned maximum likelihood fit. This fit takes into account the missing momentum carried by the neutrino and the bias caused by requiring a track with large impact parameter by modeling …
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Farrington, Sinead
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for chargino-neutralino pair production with the D0 detector at the Tevatron (open access)

Search for chargino-neutralino pair production with the D0 detector at the Tevatron

We have searched for evidence for the chargino {bar {chi}}{sub 1}{sup {+-}} and neutralino ({bar {chi}}{sub 2}{sup 0}) pair production in proton anti-proton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 124.5 pb{sup -1} were examined for events containing like-sign electron pair and missing energy for the first time at D0. They observed no excess above the yield from Standard Model processes. In the framework of mSUGRA, they set a series of upper limits, at the 95% confidence level, of the chargino neutralino production cross section times the branching fraction to tri-electrons as a function of the chargino mass. These limits range from 0.79 pb for m{sub {bar {chi}}{sub 1}{sup {+-}}} = 86.9 GeV/c{sup 2} to 0.52 pb for m{sub {bar {chi}}{sub 1}{sup {+-}}} = 115.1 GeV/c{sup 2}.
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Wang, Zhongmin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for doubly-charged Higgs Boson production in the decay H++ H-- ---> mu+ mu+ mu- mu - with the D0 detector at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV (open access)

Search for doubly-charged Higgs Boson production in the decay H++ H-- ---> mu+ mu+ mu- mu - with the D0 detector at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV

This work presents a search for the pair production of doubly-charged Higgs Bosons in the process p{bar p} {yields} H{sup ++}H{sup --} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}{mu}{sup -} using inclusive dimuon events. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 113 pb 1 and were recorded by the D0 experiment between August 2002 and June 2003. In the absence of a signal, 95% confidence level mass limits of M(H{sub L}{sup {+-}{+-}}) > 118.6 GeV/c{sup 2} and M(H{sub R}{sup {+-}{+-}}) > 98.1 GeV/c{sup 2} are set for left-handed and right-handed doubly-charged Higgs boson, assuming 100% branching into muons and hypercharge |Y| = 2 and Yukawa coupling h{sub {mu}{mu}} > 10{sup -7}. This is the first search for doubly-charged Higgs bosons at hadron colliders. It significantly extends the previous mass limit of 100.5 GeV/c{sup 2} for a left-handed doubly-charged Higgs boson measured in the muon final states by the OPAL collaboration.
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Zdrazil, Marian
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tests of Enhanced Leading Order QCD in W Boson plus Jet Production in 1.96-TeV Proton-Antiproton Collisions (open access)

Tests of Enhanced Leading Order QCD in W Boson plus Jet Production in 1.96-TeV Proton-Antiproton Collisions

The authors have studied the W + {ge} n jets process in Tevatron Run II experiment. The data used correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 72 pb{sup -1} taken from March 2002 through January 2003. The lowest order QCD predictions have been tested with a new prescription of the parton-jet matching, which allows to construct the enhanced LO phase space. According to this procedure, one gets unique results which do not depend on unphysical bias of kinematical cuts to avoid the collinear/infrared divergence in calculation. Namely, one can get the meaningful results in the lowest order prediction. The controllable event samples of the W boson plus jets events by the enhanced lowest order prediction will lead smaller systematic uncertainty than the naive prediction without any cares of the collinear/infrared divergence. They expect their method will be also useful to make systematically small samples as the background estimates in the top quark analysis. They found a good agreement between data and theory in typical kinematics distributions. The number of events for each inclusive sample up to 3 jets are compared with Monte Carlo calculations. A comparison with Run I results is also presented. This is the first result for the …
Date: January 1, 2004
Creator: Tsuno, Soushi
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sum frequency generation (SFQ) vibrational spectroscopy studies of combustion reactions on platinum single crystal surfaces (open access)

Sum frequency generation (SFQ) vibrational spectroscopy studies of combustion reactions on platinum single crystal surfaces

We have studied the dissociation of CO catalyzed by platinum single crystals. At 40 torr of CO, the Pt(111) crystal dissociates CO at 673 K. Under the same conditions, Pt(100) dissociates CO at 500 K, and Pt(557) dissociates CO at 548 K. Hence, the CO dissociation reaction is a structure sensitive reaction. SFG was used to monitor the CO top site resonance as the platinum crystals were heated to the dissociation temperature when exposed to 40 torr of CO. In all three systems, the CO resonance shifts to lower frequency as the platinum crystal is heated. However, the frequency of the CO resonance at the dissociation frequency is lower on the (100) and (111) crystal faces than on the Pt(557) crystal. We believe that the (111) and (100) crystal faces must undergo roughening to expose step or kink sites in order to facilitate the dissociation reaction. This is supported by UHV studies of CO dissociation catalyzed by platinum crystals. These studies observe dissociation only when step or kink sites are present. Since the Pt(111) surface is very stable, it needs to be heated to 673 K to produce the low coordination number sites needed for CO dissociation. Since the Pt(100) …
Date: January 15, 2004
Creator: Gaughan, Jessica S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the B+- Lifetime and Top Quark Identification Using Secondary Vertex B-Tagging (open access)

Measurement of the B+- Lifetime and Top Quark Identification Using Secondary Vertex B-Tagging

This dissertation presents a preliminary measurement of the B{sup {+-}} lifetime through the full reconstruction of its decay chain, and the identification of top quark production in the electron plus jets channel using the displaced vertex b-tagging method. Its main contribution is the development, implementation and optimization of the Kalman filter algorithm for vertex reconstruction, and of the displaced vertex technique for tagging jets arising from b quark fragmentation, both of which have now become part of the standard D0 reconstruction package. These two algorithms fully exploit the new state-of-the-art tracking detectors, recently installed as part of the Run 2 D0 upgrade project. The analysis is based on data collected during Run 2a at the Fermilab Tevatron p{bar p} Hadron Collider up to April 2003, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 60 pb{sup -1}. The measured B meson lifetime of {tau} = 1.57 {+-} 0.18 ps is in agreement with the current world average, with a competitive level of precision expected when the full data sample becomes available.
Date: February 1, 2004
Creator: Schwartzman, Ariel G. & U., /Buenos Aires
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the t anti-t production cross section in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV (open access)

Measurement of the t anti-t production cross section in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV

The direct observation of the top quark was first achieved at the Tevatron proton anti-proton collider at Fermilab. This discovery completed the third generation quark sector where the top quark is expected to accompany the bottom quark in the weak isospin doublet. This dissertation discusses the experimental verification of the production cross section as predicted by the Standard Model. A measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section using 107.9 pb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab between March of 2003 and June of 2003 is presented. The measurement focuses on the t{bar t} production in the ''lepton plus jets'' final state in which one of the W bosons from the t{bar t} decay subsequently decays leptonically to an electron or a muon, and the other decays hadronically. The B-tagging technique which utilizes the precision silicon detector tracking is used to enhance the signal for t{bar t} events relative to the background through identification of the bottom quark from its measurable lifetime. The t{bar t} production cross section is measured to be {sigma}{sub t{bar t}} = 4.5 {+-} 1.4(stat) {+-} 0.8(sys) pb.
Date: February 1, 2004
Creator: Ray, Heather Lynn
System: The UNT Digital Library
A measurement of the t anti-t production cross-section in proton anti-proton collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV with the D0 detector at the Tevatron using final states with a muon and jets (open access)

A measurement of the t anti-t production cross-section in proton anti-proton collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV with the D0 detector at the Tevatron using final states with a muon and jets

A preliminary measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV is presented. The {mu}-plus-jets final state is analyzed in a data sample of 94 pb{sup -1} and a total of 14 events are selected with a background expectation of 11.7 {+-} 1.9 events. The measurement yields: {sigma}{sub p{bar p} {yields} t{bar t} + X} = 2.4{sub -3.5}{sup +4.2}(stat.){sub -2.6}{sup +2.5}(syst.) {+-} 0.3(lumi.) pb. The analysis, being part of a larger effort to re-observe the top quark in Tevatron Run II data and to measure the production cross section, is combined with results from all available analyses channels. The combined result yields: {sigma}{sub p{bar p}} {yields} t{bar t} + X = 8.1{sub -2.0}{sup +2.2}(stat.){sub -1.4}{sup +1.6}(syst.) {+-} 0.8(lumi.) pb.
Date: February 1, 2004
Creator: Klute, Markus
System: The UNT Digital Library
The neutron electric form factor to Q² = 1.45 (GeV/c)² (open access)

The neutron electric form factor to Q² = 1.45 (GeV/c)²

The nucleon elastic electromagnetic form factors are fundamental quantities needed for an understanding of nucleon and nuclear electromagnetic structure. The evolution of the Sachs electric and magnetic form factors with Q2, the square of the four-momentum transfer, is related to the distribution of charge and magnetization within the nucleon. High precision measurements of the nucleon form factors are essential for stringent tests of our current theoretical understanding of confinement within the nucleon. Measurements of the neutron form factors, in particular, those of the neutron electric form factor, have been notoriously difficult due to the lack of a free neutron target and the vanishing integral charge of the neutron. Indeed, a precise measurement of the neutron electric form factor has eluded experimentalists for decades; however, with the advent of high duty-factor polarized electron beam facilities, experiments employing polarization degrees of freedom have finally yielded the first precise measurements of this fundamental quantity. Following a general overview of the experimental and theoretical status of the nucleon form factors, a detailed description of an experiment designed to extract the neutron electric form factor from measurements of the neutron's recoil polarization in quasielastic 2H(e, e')1H scattering is presented. The experiment described here employed the …
Date: February 1, 2004
Creator: Plaster, Bradley
System: The UNT Digital Library
Mass spectrum analysis of K- pi+ from the semileptonic decay D+ --> K- pi+ mu+ nu (open access)

Mass spectrum analysis of K- pi+ from the semileptonic decay D+ --> K- pi+ mu+ nu

The Higgs mechanism preserves the gauge symmetries of the Standard Model while giving masses to the W, Z bosons. Supersymmetry, which protects the Higgs boson mass scale from quantum corrections, predicts at least 5 Higgs bosons, none of which has been directly observed. This thesis presents a search for neutral Higgs bosons, produced in association with bottom quarks. The production rate is greatly enhanced at large values of the Supersymmetric parameter tan {beta}. High-energy p{bar p} collision data, collected from Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron using the D0 detector, are analyzed. In the absence of a signal, values of tan {beta} > 80-120 are excluded at 95% Confidence Level (C.L.), depending on the (CP-odd) neutral Higgs boson mass (studied from 100 to 150 GeV/c{sup 2}).
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Massafferri Rodrigues, Andre & /Rio de Janeiro, CBPF
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the Ratio of Branching Fractions Br(Bs -> Ds- pi+)/Br(B -> D- pi+) at CDF-II (open access)

Measurement of the Ratio of Branching Fractions Br(Bs -> Ds- pi+)/Br(B -> D- pi+) at CDF-II

The measurement of B{sub s}{sup 0} mixing is one of the flagship analyses for the Run II B physics program. The sensitivity of the measurement to the frequency of B{sub s}{sup 0} oscillations strongly depends on the number of reconstructed B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons. They present the measurement of the ratio of branching fractions Br(B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +})/Br(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}), which directly influences the number of B{sub s}{sup 0} events available for the measurement of B{sub s}{sup 0} mixing at CDF-II. They analyze 115 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF-II detector in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using a novel displaced track trigger. They reconstruct 78 {+-} 11 B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays at 1153 {+-} 45 B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays with good signal to background ratio. This is the world's largest sample of fully reconstructed B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays. They find the ratio of production fractions multiplied by the ratio of branching fractions to be: f{sub s}/f{sub d} {center_dot} Br(B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +})/Br(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}) = 0.325 {+-} …
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Furic, Ivan Kresimir
System: The UNT Digital Library
p{sup 0} Meson Photoproduction using Linearly Polarized Photons with the CLAS detector (open access)

p{sup 0} Meson Photoproduction using Linearly Polarized Photons with the CLAS detector

The work presented in this thesis describes the first experimental measurement of the photon asymmetry of the exclusive {rvec {gamma}} {yields} {rho}{sup 0}p {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}p reaction. The data were gathered during the summer of 2001 as a proof of principle study using a polarized beam of photons with the CLAS detector in Hall B of Jefferson Lab for the first time. The aim of the g8a set of experiments is to improve the understanding of the underlying symmetry of the quark degrees of freedom in the nucleon, the nature of the parity exchange between the incident photon and the target nucleon, the mechanism of associated strangeness production in electromagnetic reactions, and to search for evidence for the existence of the so called missing resonances. A beam of tagged and collimated linearly polarized photons (energy range 1.8-2.2 GeV) in conjunction with the large solid angle coverage of CLAS make possible the extraction of polarization observables for the photoproduction of vector mesons. For example, the azimuthal distribution of the {rho}{sup 0} as a function of its polar angle in the ({rvec {gamma}},p) c.m. system enables the measurement of the photon asymmetry parameter, {Sigma}. This has been measured for {theta}{sub c.m.} …
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Gordon, Chris
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for first-generation leptoquarks in the jets and missing transverse energy topology in proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV (open access)

Search for first-generation leptoquarks in the jets and missing transverse energy topology in proton-antiproton collisions at center-of-mass energy 1.96 TeV

The authors performed a search for the pair production of first-generation leptoquarks using 191 pb{sup -1} of proton-antiproton collision data recorded by the CDF experiment during Run II of the Tevatron. The leptoquarks are sought via their decay into a neutrino and quark, which yields missing transverse energy and several high-E{sub T} jets. Several control regions were studied to check the background estimation from Standard Model sources, with good agreement observed in data. In the leptoquark signal region, 124 events were observed with 118.3 {+-} 14.5 expected from background. Therefore, no evidence for leptoquark production was observed, and limits were set on the cross section times the squared branching ratio. Using the next-to-leading order cross section for leptoquark production, they excluded the mass interval 78 to 117 GeV/c{sup 2} at the 95% confidence level for 100% branching ratio into neutrino plus quark.
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Tsybychev, Dmitri
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for New Physics in Dielectron Events in 1.96-TeV Proton - Anti-proton Collisions (open access)

Search for New Physics in Dielectron Events in 1.96-TeV Proton - Anti-proton Collisions

The authors have searched for new physics beyond the Standard Model of elementary particle physics in dielectron decay mode at the CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) experiment in {bar p}p collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV. The data were collected during the 2002-2003 runs corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 200 pb{sup -1}. Many extensions of the Standard Model have been proposed. Grand Unified Theories (GUT) assumes a larger gauge symmetry group and predict new gauge bosons. GUT has hierarchy problem in it and there have been many attempts to solve the hierarchy problem. Solutions for the hierarchy problem are supersymmetry, technicolor, large extra dimensions, warped extra dimensions and little Higgs models. The authors analyze the differential distribution of dielectron events in terms of their invariant mass and no significant excess is found in very high mass region. They present a 95% confidence level limit on the production cross section times branching ratio for new resonant particles decaying into an electron pair as a function of invariant mass. New resonant particles include new neutral gauge boson Z', Randall-Sundrum graviton, R-parity violating sneutrino, and technicolor particles. They also present limits on the effective Planck scale of large extra dimensions.
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Ikado, Koji & U., /Waseda
System: The UNT Digital Library
Spatially indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells (open access)

Spatially indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells

Microscopic quantum phenomena such as interference or phase coherence between different quantum states are rarely manifest in macroscopic systems due to a lack of significant correlation between different states. An exciton system is one candidate for observation of possible quantum collective effects. In the dilute limit, excitons in semiconductors behave as bosons and are expected to undergo Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at a temperature several orders of magnitude higher than for atomic BEC because of their light mass. Furthermore, well-developed modern semiconductor technologies offer flexible manipulations of an exciton system. Realization of BEC in solid-state systems can thus provide new opportunities for macroscopic quantum coherence research. In semiconductor coupled quantum wells (CQW) under across-well static electric field, excitons exist as separately confined electron-hole pairs. These spatially indirect excitons exhibit a radiative recombination time much longer than their thermal relaxation time a unique feature in direct band gap semiconductor based structures. Their mutual repulsive dipole interaction further stabilizes the exciton system at low temperature and screens in-plane disorder more effectively. All these features make indirect excitons in CQW a promising system to search for quantum collective effects. Properties of indirect excitons in CQW have been analyzed and investigated extensively. The experimental results …
Date: March 1, 2004
Creator: Lai, Chih-Wei Eddy
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bio-Aerosol Detection Using Mass Spectrometry: Public Health Applications (open access)

Bio-Aerosol Detection Using Mass Spectrometry: Public Health Applications

I recently spent a summer as an intern at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. I worked on a project involving the real-time, reagentless, single cell detection of aerosolized pathogens using a novel mass spectrometry approach called Bio-Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (BAMS). Based upon preliminary results showing the differentiation capabilities of BAMS, I would like to explore the development and use of this novel detection system in the context of both environmental and clinical sample pathogen detection. I would also like to explore the broader public health applications that a system such as BAMS might have in terms of infectious disease prevention and control. In order to appreciate the potential of this instrument, I will demonstrate the need for better pathogen detection methods, and outline the instrumentation, data analysis and preliminary results that lead me toward a desire to explore this technology further. I will also discuss potential experiments for the future along with possible problems that may be encountered along the way.
Date: March 5, 2004
Creator: Ludvigson, L D
System: The UNT Digital Library
Laser Ion Acceleration from the Interaction of Ultra-Intense laser Pulse with thi foils (open access)

Laser Ion Acceleration from the Interaction of Ultra-Intense laser Pulse with thi foils

The discovery that ultra-intense laser pulses (I > 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}) can produce short pulse, high energy proton beams has renewed interest in the fundamental mechanisms that govern particle acceleration from laser-solid interactions. Experiments have shown that protons present as hydrocarbon contaminants on laser targets can be accelerated up to energies > 50 MeV. Different theoretical models that explain the observed results have been proposed. One model describes a front-surface acceleration mechanism based on the ponderomotive potential of the laser pulse. At high intensities (I > 10{sup 18} W/cm{sup 2}), the quiver energy of an electron oscillating in the electric field of the laser pulse exceeds the electron rest mass, requiring the consideration of relativistic effects. The relativistically correct ponderomotive potential is given by U{sub p} = ([1 + I{lambda}{sup 2}/1.3 x 10{sup 18}]{sup 1/2} - 1) m{sub o}c{sup 2}, where I{lambda}{sup 2} is the irradiance in W{micro}m{sup 2}/cm{sup 2} and m{sub o}c{sup 2} is the electron rest mass.At laser irradiance of I{lambda}{sup 2} {approx} 10{sup 20} W{micro}m{sup 2}/cm{sup 2}, the ponderomotive potential can be of order several MeV. A few recent experiments--discussed in Chapter 3 of this thesis--consider this ponderomotive potential sufficiently strong to accelerate protons from the …
Date: March 12, 2004
Creator: Allen, M
System: The UNT Digital Library
Automatic MEA Coupling Tester: two proposed designs (open access)

Automatic MEA Coupling Tester: two proposed designs

Thesis written by a student in the UNT Honors College discussing the development of an automatic coupling tester to test for electrode-electrode coupling on an Malt Extract Agar plate.
Date: Spring 2004
Creator: Jain, Vivek
System: The UNT Digital Library
Superior Orders and Duress as Defenses in International Law and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (open access)

Superior Orders and Duress as Defenses in International Law and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Thesis written by a student in the UNT Honors College discussing the changes in understanding of the defenses of duress and "superior orders" in international humanitarian law over the past several centuries, changing from one extreme to another.
Date: Spring 2004
Creator: Henson, Christopher M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The TAT Affect Scale and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: How Problems Relate to Interpersonal Affect (open access)

The TAT Affect Scale and the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems: How Problems Relate to Interpersonal Affect

Thesis written by a student in the UNT Honors College discussing the relationship between the Thematic Apperception Test Affect Scoring System and the Inventory for Interpersonal Problems circumplex in a sample of 167 college students.
Date: Spring 2004
Creator: White, Rachel L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Characterization of Functionalized Self-Assembled Monolayers and Surface-Attached Interlocking Molecules Using Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (open access)

Characterization of Functionalized Self-Assembled Monolayers and Surface-Attached Interlocking Molecules Using Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy

Quantitative knowledge of the fundamental structure and substrate binding, as well as the direct measurement of conformational changes, are essential to the development of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) and surface-attached interlocking molecules, catenanes and rotaxanes. These monolayers are vital to development of nano-mechanical, molecular electronic, and biological/chemical sensor applications. This dissertation investigates properties of functionalized SAMs in sulfur-gold based adsorbed molecular monolayers using quantitative spectroscopic techniques including near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The stability of the gold-thiolate interface is addressed. A simple model SAM consisting of dodecanethiol adsorbed on Au(111) degrades significantly in less than 24 hours under ambient laboratory air. S 2p and O 1s XPS show the gold-bound thiolates oxidize to sulfinates and sulfonates. A reduction of organic material on the surface and a decrease in order are observed as the layer degrades. The effect of the carboxyl vs. carboxylate functionalization on SAM structure is investigated. Carboxyl-terminated layers consisting of long alkyl-chain thiols vs. thioctic acid with short, sterically separated, alkyl groups are compared and contrasted. NEXAFS shows a conformational change, or chemical switchability, with carboxyl groups tilted over and carboxylate endgroups more upright. Surface-attached loops and simple surface-attached rotaxanes are quantitatively …
Date: March 24, 2004
Creator: Willey, T & Willey, T
System: The UNT Digital Library