Amorphous and nanocrystalline phase formation in highly-driven Al-based binary alloys (open access)

Amorphous and nanocrystalline phase formation in highly-driven Al-based binary alloys

Remarkable advances have been made since rapid solidification was first introduced to the field of materials science and technology. New types of materials such as amorphous alloys and nanostructure materials have been developed as a result of rapid solidification techniques. While these advances are, in many respects, ground breaking, much remains to be discerned concerning the fundamental relationships that exist between a liquid and a rapidly solidified solid. The scope of the current dissertation involves an extensive set of experimental, analytical, and computational studies designed to increase the overall understanding of morphological selection, phase competition, and structural hierarchy that occurs under far-from equilibrium conditions. High pressure gas atomization and Cu-block melt-spinning are the two different rapid solidification techniques applied in this study. The research is mainly focused on Al-Si and Al-Sm alloy systems. Silicon and samarium produce different, yet favorable, systems for exploration when alloyed with aluminum under far-from equilibrium conditions. One of the main differences comes from the positions of their respective T{sub 0} curves, which makes Al-Si a good candidate for solubility extension while the plunging T{sub 0} line in Al-Sm promotes glass formation. The rapidly solidified gas-atomized Al-Si powders within a composition range of 15 to 50 …
Date: October 15, 2008
Creator: Kalay, Yunus Eren
System: The UNT Digital Library
Applications of a single-molecule detection in early disease diagnosis and enzymatic reaction study (open access)

Applications of a single-molecule detection in early disease diagnosis and enzymatic reaction study

Various single-molecule techniques were utilized for ultra-sensitive early diagnosis of viral DNA and antigen and basic mechanism study of enzymatic reactions. DNA of human papilloma virus (HPV) served as the screening target in a flow system. Alexa Fluor 532 (AF532) labeled single-stranded DNA probes were hybridized to the target HPV-16 DNA in solution. The individual hybridized molecules were imaged with an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) in two ways. In the single-color mode, target molecules were detected via fluorescence from hybridized probes only. This system could detect HPV-16 DNA in the presence of human genomic DNA down to 0.7 copy/cell and had a linear dynamic range of over 6 orders of magnitude. In the dual-color mode, fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was employed to achieve zero false-positive count. We also showed that DNA extracts from Pap test specimens did not interfere with the system. A surface-based method was used to improve the throughput of the flow system. HPV-16 DNA was hybridized to probes on a glass surface and detected with a total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscope. In the single-probe mode, the whole genome and target DNA were fluorescently labeled before hybridization, and the detection limit is similar to the flow …
Date: October 15, 2008
Creator: Li, Jiangwei
System: The UNT Digital Library
Radiative Leptonic B Decays (open access)

Radiative Leptonic B Decays

We present the results of a search for B{sup +} meson decays into {gamma}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}, where {ell} = e,{mu}. We use a sample of 232 million B{bar B} meson pairs recorded at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory. We measure a partial branching fraction {Delta}{beta} in a restricted region of phase space that reduces the effect of theoretical uncertainties, requiring the lepton energy to be in the range 1.875 and 2.850 GeV, the photon energy to be in the range 0.45 and 2.35 GeV, and the cosine of the angle between the lepton and photon momenta to be less than -0.36, with all quantities computed in the {Upsilon}(4S) center-of-mass frame. We find {Delta}{Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {gamma}{ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}}) = (-0.3{sub 1.5}{sup +1.3}(statistical){sub -0.6}{sup +0.6}(systematic) {+-} 0.1(theoretical)) x 10{sup -6}, under the assumption of lepton universality. Interpreted as a 90% confidence-level Bayesian upper limit, the result corresponds to 1.7 x 10{sup -6} for a prior at in amplitude, and 2.3 x 10{sup -6} for a prior at in branching fraction.
Date: October 6, 2008
Creator: Chen, Edward Tann & /Caltech
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the top-antitop quark pair differential cross section with respect to the invariant mass of the pair in proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV (open access)

Measurement of the top-antitop quark pair differential cross section with respect to the invariant mass of the pair in proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV

I present a measurement of the t{bar t} differential cross section, d{sigma}/dM{sub t{bar t}}, in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using 2.7 fb{sup -1} of CDF II data. I find that d{sigma}/dM{sub t{bar t}} is consistent with the Standard Model expectation, as modeled by PYTHIA with CTEQ5L parton distribution functions. I set limits on the ratio {kappa}/M{sub Pl} in the Randall-Sundrum model by looking for Kaluza Klein gravitons which decay to top quarks. I find {kappa}/M{sub Pl} > 0.16 at the 95% confidence level.
Date: October 1, 2008
Creator: Bridgeman, Alice
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurements and searches with top quarks (open access)

Measurements and searches with top quarks

In 1995 the last missing member of the known families of quarks, the top quark, was discovered by the CDF and D0 experiments at the Tevatron, a proton-antiproton collider at Fermilab near Chicago. Until today, the Tevatron is the only place where top quarks can be produced. The determination of top quark production and properties is crucial to understand the Standard Model of particle physics and beyond. The most striking property of the top quark is its mass--of the order of the mass of a gold atom and close to the electroweak scale--making the top quark not only interesting in itself but also as a window to new physics. Due to the high mass, much higher than of any other known fermion, it is expected that the top quark plays an important role in electroweak symmetry breaking, which is the most prominent candidate to explain the mass of particles. In the Standard Model, electroweak symmetry breaking is induced by one Higgs field, producing one additional physical particle, the Higgs boson. Although various searches have been performed, for example at the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP), no evidence for the Higgs boson could yet be found in any experiment. At the …
Date: October 1, 2008
Creator: Peters, Reinhild Yvonne & U., /Wuppertal
System: The UNT Digital Library
Producao d Dijatos por Dupla Troca de Pomeron Exclusiva no Experimento D0 (open access)

Producao d Dijatos por Dupla Troca de Pomeron Exclusiva no Experimento D0

The first search for exclusive diffractive dijet production with invariant mass {approx}> 100 GeV in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider is performed. The set of data used is the Run IIa, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 30 pb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV taken with the D0 detector. At 95% CL, an upper limit for the ratio between the number of diffractive exclusive events and the number of non diffractive events is set to be 7.5 x 10{sup -6}, excluding two of the three models proposed to explain this production.
Date: October 1, 2008
Creator: Rangel, Murilo, Santana & /Rio de Janeiro, CBPF
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for High-Mass Resonances Decaying into Leptons of Different Flavor (e mu, e tau, mu tau) in p anti-p Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV (open access)

Search for High-Mass Resonances Decaying into Leptons of Different Flavor (e mu, e tau, mu tau) in p anti-p Collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a search for high-mass resonances decaying into two leptons of different flavor: e{mu}, e{tau}, and {mu}{tau}. These resonances are predicted by several models beyond the standard model, such as the R-parity-violating MSSM. The search is based on 1 fb{sup -1} of data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF II) in proton anti-proton collisions. Our observations are consistent with the standard model expectations. The results are interpreted to set 95% C.L. upper limits on {sigma} x BR of {tilde {nu}}{sub {tau}} {yields} e{mu}, e{tau}, {mu}{tau}.
Date: October 1, 2008
Creator: Tu, Yanjun
System: The UNT Digital Library
Search for super symmetry at the Tevatron using the trilepton signature (open access)

Search for super symmetry at the Tevatron using the trilepton signature

This dissertation describes a search for the associated production of the supersymmetric particles, the chargino and the neutralino, through their R-parity conserving decays to three leptons and missing energy. This search is carried out using the data collected at the CDF experiment at the Tevatron {radical}s = 1.96 TeV p{bar p} collider at Fermilab. The results are obtained by combining five independent channels with varying signal to background ratio. Overall, a total of 6.4 {+-} 1.1 background events from standard model processes and 11.4 {+-} 1.1 signal events for a particular choice of mSUGRA model parameters are expected. The observation of 7 events in data is consistent with the standard model background expectation, and the mSUGRA model is constrained. Limits are set on the cross section of Chargino-Neutralino pair production, and a limit on the mass of the chargino is extracted. A method of obtaining model-independent results is also discussed.
Date: October 1, 2008
Creator: Dube, Sourabh Shishir
System: The UNT Digital Library