The diphoton differential cross-section as a function of mass up to 300 GeV/c{sup 2}, q{sub T} up to 100 GeV/c, and opening angle over a range of 0 to {pi} radians is measured. The measurement is performed using 1046.19 pb{sup -1} of data collected at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory using the D0 detector. This analysis considers all direct diphoton states but attempts to suppress contributions due to fragmentation.

Elementary particle physics raises questions that are several thousand years old. What are the fundamental components of matter and how do they interact? These questions are linked to the question of what happened in the very first moments after the creation of the universe. Modern physics systematically tests nature to find answers to these and other fundamental questions. Precise theories are developed that describe various phenomena and at the same time are reduced to a few basic principals of nature. Simplification and reduction have always been guiding concepts of physics. The interplay between experimental data and theoretical descriptions led to the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. It summarizes the laws of nature and is one of most precise descriptions of nature achieved by mankind. Despite the great success of the Standard Model it is not the ultimate theory of everything. Models beyond the Standard Model try to unify all interactions in one grand unified theory. The number of free parameters is attempted to be reduced. Gravity is attempted to be incorporated. Extensions to the Standard Model like supersymmetry address the so-called hierarchy problem. Precision measurements are the key for searches of new particles and new physics. A powerful tool …

The thesis presented here includes two parts. The first part discusses the production of endcap modules for the ATLAS SemiConductor Tracker at the University of Geneva. The ATLAS experiment is one of the two multi-purpose experiments being built at the LHC at CERN. The University of Geneva invested extensive efforts to create an excellent and efficient module production site, in which 655 endcap outer modules were constructed. The complexity and extreme requirements for 10 years of LHC operation with a high resolution, high efficiency, low noise tracking system resulted in an extremely careful, time consuming production and quality assurance of every single module. At design luminosity about 1000 particles will pass through the tracking system each 25 ns. In addition to requiring fast tracking techniques, the high particle flux causes significant radiation damage. Therefore, modules have to be constructed within tight and accurate mechanical and electrical specification. A description of the ATLAS experiment and the ATLAS Semiconductor tracker is presented, followed by a detailed overview of the module production at the University of Geneva. My personal contribution to the endcap module production at the University of Geneva was taking part, together with other physicists, in selecting components to be assembled …

We report a measurement of the mass of the top quark (m{sub top}) in p{bar p} collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. The analysis is based on p{bar p}{yields}t{bar t}{yields} lepton+jets data recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Events were preselected in the e+jets (913 events/pb of data) and in the {mu}+jets (871 events/pb of data) channels. These were analyzed through a comparison of the matrix element for the production and decay of the t{bar t} states with data, using a likelihood method and 'tagged' b quarks from the t {yields} Wb decays.

Neutrinos produced as a result of cosmic-ray interactions in the earth's atmosphere offer a powerful probe into the nature of this three-membered family of low-mass, weakly-interacting particles. Ten years ago, the Super-Kamiokande Experiment has confirmed earlier indications that neutrinos undergo lepton-flavor oscillations during propagation, proving that they are massive contrary to the previous Standard Model assumptions. The Soudan Underground Laboratory, located in northern Minnesota, was host to the Soudan2 Experiment, which has made important contributions to atmospheric neutrino research. This same lab has more recently been host to the MINOS far detector, a neutrino detector which serves as the downstream element of an accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiment. This thesis has examined 418.5 live days of atmospheric neutrino data (fiducial exposure of 4.18 kton-years) collected in the MINOS far detector prior to the activation of the NuMI neutrino beam, with a specific emphasis on the investigation of electron-type neutrino interactions. Atmospheric neutrino interaction candidates have been selected and separated into showering or track-like events. The showering sample consists of 89 observed events, while the track-like sample consists of 112 observed events. Based on the Bartol atmospheric neutrino flux model of Barr et al. plus a Monte Carlo (MC) simulation of interactions …

This thesis describes a measurement of the W boson mass from a fit to the transverse momentum spectrum of the muon in W decay. In past measurements this technique was used as a cross-check, however, now presents the best method in terms of systematic uncertainty. We discuss all sources of systematic uncertainty with emphasis on those to which the muon p{sub T} measurement is particularly sensitive, specifically, those associated with modeling the production and decay of W bosons. The data were collected with the CDF II detector between March 2002 and September 2003 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of (191 {+-} 11) pb{sup -1}. We measure the W mass to be (80.316 {+-} 0.066{sub stat.} {+-} 0.051{sub syst.}) GeV/c{sup 2} = (80.316 {+-} 0.083) GeV/c{sup 2}.

In this thesis, the results of the search for squarks and gluinos in multiple jets plus missing transverse energy final states have been presented. No evidence of these new particles have been found in 371 pb{sup -1} of CDF Run II data. New limits have been set which exclude gluino masses below 220 GeV and, in the region where M{sub {tilde g}} {approx} M{sub {tilde q}}, masses below 380 GeV/c{sup 2} are excluded. These limits are valid in a mSUGRA scenario with tan {beta} = 5, A = 0 and {mu} < 0 assuming the lightest four squark flavours degenerate in mass. To obtain these results a careful study of the beam conditions and their contribution to events with E{sub T} final states has been performed. Special attention has been taken in studying the different SM backgrounds and their normalizations at NLO. Dedicated cuts have been introduced to remove the background processes and main discriminating variables have been optimized for different signal regions. The different systematic uncertainties have also been considered. This is the first time that this search is performed at CDF Run II and the results presented here show significant improvements with respect to the constraints from previous …

The future of particle physics in the next 30 years must include detailed study of neutrinos. The first proof of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics is evident in results from recent neutrino experiments which imply that neutrinos have mass and flavour mixing. The Neutrino Factory is the leading contender to measure precisely the neutrino mixing parameters to probe beyond the Standard Model physics. Significantly, one must look to measure the mixing angle θ₁₃ and investigate the possibility of leptonic CP violation. If found this may provide a key insight into the origins of the matter/anti- matter asymmetry seen in the universe, through the mechanism of leptogenesis. The Neutrino Factory will be a large international multi-billion dollar experiment combining novel new accelerator and long-baseline detector technology. Arguably the most important and costly features of this facility are the proton driver and cooling channel. This thesis will present simulation work focused on determining the optimal proton driver energy to maximise pion production and also simulation of the transport of this pion °ux through some candidate transport lattices. Bench-marking of pion cross- sections calculated by MARS and GEANT4 codes to measured data from the HARP experiment is also presented. The …