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 …

I present an analysis of b{bar b} pair production correlations, using dimuon-triggered data collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV during Run II of the TeVatron. The leading order (LO) and next-to-leading order (NLO) b quark production processes are discriminated by the angular and momentum correlations between the b{bar b} pair. Track-level jets containing a muon are classified by b quark content and used to estimate the momentum vector of the progenitor b quark. The theoretical distributions given by the MC{at}NLO event generator are tested against the data.

Evidence from observational cosmology and astrophysics indicates that about one third of the universe is matter, but that the known baryonic matter only contributes to the universe at 4%. A large fraction of the universe is cold and non-baryonic matter, which has important role in the universe structure formation and its evolution. The leading candidate for the non-baryonic dark matter is Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), which naturally occurs in the supersymmetry theory in particle physics. The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) experiment is searching for evidence of a WIMP interaction off an atomic nucleus in crystals of Ge and Si by measuring simultaneously the phonon energy and ionization energy of the interaction in the CDMS detectors. The WIMP interaction energy is from a few keV to tens of keV with a rate less than 0.1 events/kg/day. To reach the goal of WIMP detection, the CDMS experiment has been conducted in the Soudan mine with an active muon veto and multistage passive background shields. The CDMS detectors have a low energy threshold and background rejection capabilities based on ionization yield. However, betas from contamination and other radioactive sources produce surface interactions, which have low ionization yield, comparable to that of …

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 …

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 …

The D0 detector has recently undergone a major upgrade to maximize its potential to fully exploit Run II at the Tevatron 2 TeV proton-antiproton collider. The upgrade includes a completely new central tracking system with an outer scintillating fiber tracker and an inner silicon vertex detector. This thesis describes the development of the software to ''unpack'' the raw data from the central tracking detectors into a useful form, and the development of the Level 3 trigger algorithms to cluster the hit information from these detectors. One of the many areas of physics that is being studied by the D0 experiment is the physics of B mesons, particularly that involving CP violation. The second part of the thesis details a constrained mass fitting tool written to aid the reconstruction of B particles, and a Monte Carlo study into measuring the lifetime of B{sup +} and B{sup 0} mesons. This thesis lays the foundations for the means by which physics is extracted from the vast amount of Tevatron data--the trigger--and illustrates how analyses will proceed through the key reconstruction of heavy quarks.

Arsenic in drinking water is a major public health problem threatening the lives of over 140 million people worldwide. In Bangladesh alone, up to 57 million people drink arsenic-laden water from shallow wells. ElectroChemical Arsenic Remediation(ECAR) overcomes many of the obstacles that plague current technologies and can be used affordably and on a small-scale, allowing for rapid dissemination into Bangladesh to address this arsenic crisis. In this work, ECAR was shown to effectively reduce 550 - 580 mu g=L arsenic (including both As[III]and As[V]in a 1:1 ratio) to below the WHO recommended maximum limit of 10 mu g=L in synthetic Bangladesh groundwater containing relevant concentrations of competitive ions such as phosphate, silicate, and bicarbonate. Arsenic removal capacity was found to be approximately constant within certain ranges of current density, but was found to change substantially between ranges. In order of decreasing arsenic removal capacity, the pattern was: 0.02 mA=cm2> 0.07 mA=cm2> 0.30 - 1.1 mA=cm2> 5.0 - 100 mA=cm2. Current processing time was found to effect arsenic removal capacity independent of either charge density or current density. Electrode polarization studies showed no passivation of the electrode in the tested range (up to current density 10 mA=cm2) and ruled out oxygen …

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) uses position-sensitive Germanium and Silicon crystals in the direct detection of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) believed to constitute most of the dark matter in the Universe. WIMP interactions with matter being rare, identifying and eliminating known backgrounds is critical for detection. Event-by-event discrimination by the detectors rejects the predominant gamma and beta backgrounds while Monte Carlo simulations help estimate, and subtract, the contribution from the neutrons. This thesis describes the effort to understand neutron backgrounds as seen in the two stages of the CDMS search for WIMPs. The first stage of the experiment was at a shallow site at the Stanford Underground Facility where the limiting background came from high-energy neutrons produced by cosmic-ray muon interactions in the rock surrounding the cavern. Simulations of this background helped inform the analysis of data from an experimental run at this site and served as input for the background reduction techniques necessary to set new exclusion limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross-section, excluding new parameter space for WIMPs of masses 8-20 GeV/c{sup 2}. This thesis considers the simulation methods used as well as how various event populations in the data served as checks on the simulations to …

Fermilab Experiment 866 took single muon data from 800 GeV/c ({radical}s = 38.8 GeV) p-Cu and p-Be interactions in an attempt to extract the inclusive nuclear open charm/anti-charm (D/{bar D}) differential cross sections as a function of p{sub T}. The muons were decay products from semi-leptonic decays of open charm mesons as well as decays from lighter non-charmed mesons ({pi}'s and K's). Data were taken simultaneously from two interaction regions; one of two thin nuclear targets and a copper beam dump 92 inches downstream. The open decay length for hadrons produced in the targets increased the contribution to the muon spectrum from light hadron decays, relative to those from the dump. Production cross sections for light hadrons from previous experiments were used in conjunction with parameterized open charm cross sections to produce total Monte Carlo single muon spectra that were subsequently fit to the data. The sensitivity of this measurement covered an open charm hadron p{sub T} range of approximately 2 to 7 GeV/c, center-of-mass rapidity, y{sub cm}, between 0 and 2, and x{sub F} between 0.2 and 0.8. Previous experimental results for p-p or p-A open charm production at comparable energy was limited to {radical}5 GeV/ Three functions describing …

In this dissertation, we measure the properties of the lowest-mass beauty baryon, {Lambda}{sub b}. Baryons are the bound states of three quarks. Protons and neutrons, constituents of atomic nuclei, are the most common baryons. Other types of baryons can be produced and studied in the high-energy collider environment. Three-body dynamics makes baryons composed of low mass quarks difficult to study. On the other hand, baryons with one heavy quark simplify the theoretical treatment of baryon structure, since the heavy quark can be treated the same way as the nucleus in the atom. The {Lambda}{sub b} is composed of u, d, and b quarks, where the b quark is much heavier than the other two. Although, it is accessible, little is known about {Lambda}{sub b}. In 1991, UA1 [1] reconstructed 9 {+-} 1 {Lambda}{sub b} {yields} J/{Psi}{Lambda} candidates. In 1996, ALEPH and DELPHI reconstructed the decay {Lambda}{sub b} {yields} {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} and found only 3-4 candidates [2, 3]. ALEPH measured a {Lambda}{sub b} mass of 5614 {+-} 21 MeV/c{sup 2}, while DELPHI measured 5668 {+-} 18 MeV/c{sup 2}, about 2 {sigma} higher. Subsequently, CDF-I observed 20 {Lambda}{sub b} {yields} J/{Psi}{Lambda} events [4], confirmed the existence of {Lambda}{sub b} unambiguously …

We calculate the exclusion region in the parameter space of {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations of the LSND type using a combined fit to the reconstructed energy distributions of neutrino candidate samples from the MiniBooNE data obtained with two different particle identification methods. The two {nu}{sub e} candidate samples are included together with a high statistics sample of {nu}{sub {mu}} events in the definition of a {chi}{sup 2} statistic which includes the correlations between the energy intervals of all three samples and handles the event overlap between the {nu}{sub e} samples. The {nu}{sub {mu}} sample is introduced to constrain the effect of systematic uncertainties. This analysis increases the exclusion limit in the region {Delta}m{sup 2} {approx}< 1eV{sup 2} when compared with the result previously published by the collaboration, which used a different technique.

A survey of employee behavior was conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of ergonomic behavior that decreased the chance of having a work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) among employees. The null hypothesis was tested to determine if there was a significant difference in ergonomic behavior between trained and untrained employees. The LANL employees were stratified by job series and then randomly selected to participate. The data were gathered using an electronic self-administered behavior questionnaire. The study population was composed of 6931 employees, and the response rate was 48%. The null hypothesis was rejected for twelve out of fifteen questions on the questionnaire. Logistic regression results indicate that the trained participants were more likely to report the risk-avoiding behavior, which supported the rejection of the null hypothesis for 60% of the questions. There was a higher frequency that the beneficial or risk-avoiding behavior was reported by the uninjured participants. Job series analysis revealed that ergonomics is an important issue among participants from all the job series. It also identified the occupational specialist classification (an administrative job), as the job series with the most occurrences of undesired ergonomic behaviors. In conclusion, there …

A measurement of hadron production cross-sections for the simulation of accelerator neutrino beams and a search for muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillations in the {Delta}m{sup 2} {approx} 1 eV{sup 2} region. This dissertation presents measurements from two different high energy physics experiments with a very strong connection: the Hadron Production (HARP) experiment located at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment (Mini-BooNE) located at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois.

The resonant production of tau-lepton pairs is as interesting for the study of Standard Model (SM) physics as the production of lighter leptons pairs. For new phenomena, such as Higgs boson production or in case new particles beyond the SM would arise, the detection of (resonant) pairs of tau leptons becomes much more interesting. This is due to the fact that tau leptons are much heavier than the other leptons, which increases the chance that these new phenomena would be observed first in this channel. Unfortunately their clean detection is far more difficult than that of muons or electrons. The cross section times branching ratio {sigma}{center_dot} Br for the process p{bar p} {yields} Z {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -} was measured at {radical}s = 1.96 GeV using 1.0 fb{sup -1} of data collected by the D0 experiment. This measurement was performed in the channel in which one of the tau leptons decays to a muon and neutrinos, while the other decays either hadronically or to an electron and neutrinos. A set of 1511 events, of which about 20% estimated background, passed all selection criteria. The trigger and muon reconstruction efficiencies, as well as the efficiency for track reconstruction were obtained from …

The lifetimes of the B{sup -}, B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons are measured using partially reconstructed semileptonic decays. Following semileptonic decay processes and their charge conjugates are used for this analysis: B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sup 0}X; B{sup -}/B{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D*{sup +}X; B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {ell}{sup -}{nu}D{sub s}{sup +}x, where {ell}{sup -} denotes either a muon or electron. The data are collected during 2002-2004 by the 8 GeV single lepton triggers in CDF Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. Corresponding integrated luminosity is about 260 and 360 pb{sup -1} used for the B{sup -}/B{sup 0} and B{sub s}{sup 0} lifetime analyses, respectively. With the single lepton triggers, events which contain a muon or electron with a transverse momentum greater than 8 GeV/c are selected. For these lepton candidates, further lepton identification cuts are applied to improve purity of the B semileptonic decay signal. After the lepton selection, three types of charm mesons associated with the lepton candidates are reconstructed. Following exclusive decay modes are used for the charm meson reconstruction: D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sub s}{sup +}, followed by D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}; D{sub s}{sup …

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.

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 …

The Fermilab experiment E872 (DONUT) was designed to make the first observation of the tau neutrino charged-current interaction. Using a hybrid emulsion-spectrometer detector, the tau lepton was identified by its single-prong or trident decay. Six interactions were observed, of which five were in the deep inelastic scattering region. These five interaction were used to measure the charged-current cross section of the tau neutrino. To minimize uncertainties, the tau neutrino cross section was measured relative to the electron neutrino cross section. The result {sigma}{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}N}{sup const}/{sigma}{sub {nu}{sub e}N}{sup const} = 0.77 {+-} 0.39 is consistent with 1.0, which is predicted by lepton universality. The tau neutrino cross section was also measured for 115 GeV neutrinos, which was the average energy of the interacted tau neutrinos. The result {sigma}{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}N}{sup exp} = 45 {+-} 21 x 10{sup -38} cm{sup 2} is consistent with the standard model prediction calculated in this thesis, {sigma}{sub {tau}N}{sup SM} = 48 {+-} 5 x 10{sup -38} cm{sup 2}.

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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.

Quarks, along with leptons and force carrying particles, are predicted by the Standard Model to be the fundamental constituents of nature. In distinction from the leptons, the quarks interact strongly through the chromodynamic force and are bound together within the hadrons. The familiar proton and neutron are bound states of the light ''up'' and ''down'' quarks. The most massive quark by far, the ''top'' quark, was discovered by the CDF and D0 experiments in March, 1995. The new quark was observed in p{bar p} collisions at 1.8 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The mass of the top quark was measured to be 176 {+-} 13 GeV/c{sup 2} and the cross section 6.8{sub -2.4}{sup +3.6} pb. It is the Q = 2/3, T{sub 3} = +1/2 member of the third generation weak-isospin doublet along with the bottom quark. The top quark is the final Standard Model quark to be discovered. Along with whatever is responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking, top quark physics is considered one of the least understood sectors of the Standard Model and represents a front line of our understanding of particle physics. Currently, the only direct measurements of top quark properties come from the CDF and D0 experiments …

The authors present a measurement of the {Lambda}{sub b}{sup 0} {yields} {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} {pi}{sup -} branching ratio in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using 65 pb{sup -1} data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF). The measurement starts from reconstructing two decay modes: {Lambda}{sub b}{sup 0} {yields} {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}, where {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} {yields} p K{sup -} {pi}{sup +}; and {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D{sup +}{pi}{sup -}, where D{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +} K{sup -} {pi}{sup +}. The authors obtained 96 {+-} 13 {Lambda}{sub b}{sup 0} and 321 {+-} 22 {bar B}{sup 0} candidates from the CDF Run II Two-Track Hadronic Trigger data sample. The relative branching ratio of the two decays is then measured based on the equation: f{sub {Lambda}{sub b}} BR({Lambda}{sub b} {yields} {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} {pi}{sup -})/f{sub d} BR({bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D{sup +} {pi}{sup -}) = BR(D{sup +} {yields} K{pi}{pi}) N{sub {Lambda}{sub b}} {epsilon}{sub B{sup 0}}/BR({Lambda}{sub c}{sup +} {yields} pK{pi}) N{sub {bar B}{sup 0}} {epsilon}{sub {Lambda}{sub b}}. The measurement gives f{sub {Lambda}{sub b}} BR({Lambda}{sub b} {yields} {Lambda}{sub c}{sup +}{pi}{sup -})/f{sub d} BR({bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) = 0.66 {+-} 0.11(stat) {+-} 0.09(syst) {+-} 0.18(BR). The {Lambda}{sub b}{sup …

This dissertation describes a measurement of the mass of the top quark using events consistent with the hypothesis t{bar t} {yields} bW{sup +} {bar b}W{sup -} {yields} bl{sup +}{nu}{bar b}l{sup -}{bar {nu}}, where (l=e,{mu}). The events are obtained from nearly 230 pb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collision data collected by the D0 experiment between 2002 and 2004 during Run II. In this decay channel two neutrinos remain undetected. Extraction of the mass of the top quark by kinematic reconstruction is not possible because the event is under-constrained. Therefore, a dynamical likelihood method is developed to obtain the mass of the top quark. The mass of top quark obtained from the candidate events selected in the di-electron channel and the e{mu} channel is: 154.1 {sup +14.2}{sub -12.8}(stat.) {+-}6.6 (syst.) GeV.

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 …