A novel new approach to retrieve cloud microphysical properties from mixed-phase clouds is presented. This algorithm retrieves cloud optical depth, ice fraction, and the effective size of the water and ice particles from ground-based, high-resolution infrared radiance observations. The theoretical basis is that the absorption coefficient of ice is stronger than that of liquid water from 10-13 mm, whereas liquid water is more absorbing than ice from 16-25 um. However, due to strong absorption in the rotational water vapor absorption band, the 16-25 um spectral region becomes opaque for significant water vapor burdens (i.e., for precipitable water vapor amounts over approximately 1 cm). The Arctic is characterized by its dry and cold atmosphere, as well as a preponderance of mixed-phase clouds, and thus this approach is applicable to Arctic clouds. Since this approach uses infrared observations, cloud properties are retrieved at night and during the long polar wintertime period. The analysis of the cloud properties retrieved during a 7 month period during the Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic (SHEBA) experiment demonstrates many interesting features. These results show a dependence of the optical depth on cloud phase, differences in the mode radius of the water droplets in liquid-only and mid-phase …

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 …

The authors present a measurement of the mass dependence of the forward-backward charge asymmetry for e{sup +}e{sup -} pairs resulting from {gamma}*/Z decays with mass M{sub ee} > 40 GeV/c{sup 2}. The Run II data sample consists of 72 pb{sup -1} of data, which was collected by the CDF detector in {bar p}p collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The measurement is compared with predictions from the Standard Model.

An overview of the current status of the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is presented. MINOS is a long-baseline experiment with two detectors situated in North America. The near detector is based at the emission point of the NuMI beam at Fermilab, Chicago, the far detector is 735 km downstream in a disused iron mine in Soudan, Minnesota. A third detector, the calibration detector, is used to cross-calibrate these detectors by sampling different particle beams at CERN. A detailed description of the design and construction of the light-injection calibration system is included. Also presented are experimental investigations into proton-carbon collisions at 158 GeV/c carried out with the NA49 experiment at CERN. The NA49 experiment is a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) based experiment situated at CERN's North Area. It is a well established experiment with well known characteristics. The data gained from this investigation are to be used to parameterize various hadronic production processes in accelerator and atmospheric neutrino production. These hadronic production parameters will be used to improve the neutrino generation models used in calculating the neutrino oscillation parameters in MINOS.

The size-dependent optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nanocrystals have drawn much attention in the past decade, and have been very well understood for spherical ones. The advent of the synthetic methods to make rod-like CdSe nanocrystals with wurtzite structure has offered us a new opportunity to study their properties as functions of their shape. This dissertation includes three main parts: synthesis of CdSe nanorods with tightly controlled widths and lengths, their optical and dielectric properties, and their large-scale assembly, all of which are either directly or indirectly caused by the uniaxial crystallographic structure of wurtzite CdSe. The hexagonal wurtzite structure is believed to be the primary reason for the growth of CdSe nanorods. It represents itself in the kinetic stabilization of the rod-like particles over the spherical ones in the presence of phosphonic acids. By varying the composition of the surfactant mixture used for synthesis we have achieved tight control of the widths and lengths of the nanorods. The synthesis of monodisperse CdSe nanorods enables us to systematically study their size-dependent properties. For example, room temperature single particle fluorescence spectroscopy has shown that nanorods emit linearly polarized photoluminescence. Theoretical calculations have shown that it is due to the crossing …

We have measured the three-body photobreakup of {sup 3}He with the tagged photon beam and the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer in Hall B at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, in the photon energy range between 0.35 GeV and 1.55 GeV. This measurement constitutes a wide-ranging survey of two- and three-body processes in the gamma{sup 3}He {yields} ppn reaction channel, thanks to the high statistics and large kinematic coverage obtained with the CLAS. Total and partially integrated differential cross sections for the full ppn data set and for selected kinematics were extracted and are compared to theoretical predictions of Laget (up to 1.0 GeV). At low photon energies, the calculations are generally in fair agreement with the data. The comparison shows evidence of strong contributions of three-body absorption mechanisms, especially in the star kinematics, a symmetric configuration of the three final-state nucleons. Mostly the effects of two-body absorption mechanisms are se en, as expected, in the pp-pair-breakup kinematics, where the neutron does not participate in the reaction. The quasi-two-body breakup shows angular distributions consistent with preliminary gamma{sup 3}He --> pd results, extracted from our experiment. The ratio of cross sections for the star configuration and for the two-body kinematics, shows …

Neutron generators based on the {sup 2}H(d,n){sup 3}He and {sup 3}H(d,n){sup 4}He fusion reactions are the most commonly available neutron sources. The applications of current commercial neutron generators are often limited by their low neutron yield and their short operational lifetime. A new generation of D-D/D-T fusion-based neutron generators has been designed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) by using high current ion beams hitting on a self-loading target that has a large surface area to dissipate the heat load. This thesis describes the rationale behind the new designs and their potential applications. A survey of other neutron sources is presented to show their advantages and disadvantages compared to the fusion-based neutron generator. A prototype neutron facility was built at LBNL to test these neutron generators. High current ion beams were extracted from an RF-driven ion source to produce neutrons. With an average deuteron beam current of 24 mA and an energy of 100 keV, a neutron yield of >10{sup 9} n/s has been obtained with a D-D coaxial neutron source. Several potential applications were investigated by using computer simulations. The computer code used for simulations and the variance reduction techniques employed were discussed. A study was carried out to …

This thesis reports the measurement of the inclusive charged particle (h{sup +} + h{sup -}) p{perpendicular} spectra for 1.7 < p{perpendicular} < 6 GeV/c at midrapidity (|{eta}| < 0.5) as a function of various centrality classes in Au+Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 130 GeV. Hadron suppression is observed relative to both scaled NN and peripheral Au+Au reference data, possibly indicating non-Abelian radiative energy loss in a hot, dense medium.

Two main issues regarding the disposal of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors in the United States in the geological repository Yucca Mountain are: (1) Yucca Mountain is not designed to hold the amount of fuel that has been and is proposed to be generated in the next few decades, and (2) the radiotoxicity (i.e., biological hazard) of the waste (particularly the actinides) does not decrease below that of natural uranium ore for hundreds of thousands of years. One solution to these problems may be to use transmutation to convert the nuclides in spent nuclear fuel to ones with shorter half-lives. Both reactor and accelerator-based systems have been examined in the past for transmutation; there are advantages and disadvantages associated with each. By using existing Light Water Reactors (LWRs) to burn a majority of the plutonium in spent nuclear fuel and Accelerator-Driven Systems (ADSs) to transmute the remainder of the actinides, the benefits of each type of system can be realized. The transmutation process then becomes more efficient and less expensive. This research searched for the best combination of LWRs with multiple recycling of plutonium and ADSs to transmute spent nuclear fuel from past and projected nuclear activities (assuming little …

One of the goals of nanotechnology is to enable programmed self-assembly of patterns made of various materials with nanometer-sized control. This dissertation describes the results of experiments templating arrangements of gold and semiconductor nanocrystals using 2'-deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Previously, simple DNA-templated linear arrangements of two and three nanocrystals structures have been made.[1] Here, we have sought to assemble larger and more complex nanostructures. Gold-DNA conjugates with 50 to 100 bases self-assembled into planned arrangements using strands of DNA containing complementary base sequences. We used two methods to increase the complexity of the arrangements: using branched synthetic doublers within the DNA covalent backbone to create discrete nanocrystal groupings, and incorporating the nanocrystals into a previously developed DNA lattice structure [2][3] that self-assembles from tiles made of DNA double-crossover molecules to create ordered nanoparticle arrays. In the first project, the introduction of a covalently-branched synthetic doubler reagent into the backbone of DNA strands created a branched DNA ''trimer.'' This DNA trimer templated various structures that contained groupings of three and four gold nanoparticles, giving promising, but inconclusive transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results. Due to the presence of a variety of possible structures in the reaction mixtures, and due to the difficulty of …

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This thesis presents a measurement of the cross-section of the purely electromagnetic production of e{sup +}e{sup -} pairs accompanied by mutual nuclear Coulomb excitation AuAu {yields} Au*Au* + e{sup +}e{sup -}, in ultra-peripheral gold-gold collisions at RHIC at the center-of-mass collision energy of {radical}S{sub NN} = 200 GeV per nucleon. These reactions were selected by detecting neutron emission by the excited gold ions in the Zero Degree Calorimeters. The charged tracks in the e{sup +}e{sup -} events were reconstructed with the STAR Time Projection Chamber. The detector acceptance limits the kinematical range of the observed e{sup +}e{sup -} pairs; therefore the measured cross-section is extrapolated to 4{pi} with the use of Monte Carlo simulations. We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation for ultra-peripheral e{sup +}e{sup -} production at RHIC based on the Equivalent Photon Approximation, the lowest-order QED e{sup +}e{sup -} production cross-section by two real photons and the assumption that the mutual nuclear excitations and the e{sup +}e{sup -} production are independent (EPA model). We compare our experimental results to two models: the EPA model and a model based on full QED calculation of the e{sup +}e{sup -} production, taking the photon virtuality into account. The measured differential cross-section …

This thesis consists of two parts: In the first part we describe the Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) selection and testing processes for the Hadronic Forward (HF) calorimeter of the CMS, a Large Hadron Collier (LHC) experiment at CERN. We report the evaluation process of the candidate PMTs from three different manufacturers, the complete tests performed on the 2300 Hamamatsu PMTs which will be used in the HF calorimeter, and the details of the PMT Test Station that is in University of Iowa CMS Laboratories. In the second part we report the {Xi}{sub c}{sup +} lifetime measurement from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment at Fermilab. Based upon 301 {+-} 31 events from three di.erent decay channels, by using the binned maximum likelihood technique, we observe the lifetime of {Xi}{sub c}{sup +} as 427 {+-} 31 {+-} 13 fs.

A parallel algorithm is developed for contact/impact of multiple three dimensional bodies undergoing large deformation. As time progresses the relative positions of contact between the multiple bodies changes as collision and sliding occurs. The parallel algorithm is capable of tracking these changes and enforcing an impenetrability constraint and momentum transfer across the surfaces in contact. Portions of the various surfaces of the bodies are assigned to the processors of a distributed-memory parallel machine in an arbitrary fashion, known as the primary decomposition. A secondary, dynamic decomposition is utilized to bring opposing sections of the contacting surfaces together on the same processors, so that opposing forces may be balanced and the resultant deformation of the bodies calculated. The secondary decomposition is accomplished and updated using only local communication with a limited subset of neighbor processors. Each processor represents both a domain of the primary decomposition and a domain of the secondary, or contact, decomposition. Thus each processor has four sets of neighbor processors: (a) those processors which represent regions adjacent to it in the primary decomposition, (b) those processors which represent regions adjacent to it in the contact decomposition, (c) those processors which send it the data from which it constructs …

A search for directly produced Supersymmetric Higgs Bosons has been performed in the di-tau decay channel in 86.3 {+-} 3.5 pb{sup -1} of data collected by CDF during Run1b at the Tevatron. They search for events where one tau decays to an electron and the other tau decays hadronically. They perform a counting experiment and set limits on the cross section for Higgs production in the high tan {beta} region of the m{sub A}-tan {beta} plane. For a benchmark parameter space point where m{sub A} = 100 and tan {beta} = 50, they set a 95% confidence level upper limit at 891 pb compared to the theoretically predicted cross section of 122 pb. For events where the tau candidates are not back-to-back, they utilize a di-tau mass reconstruction technique for the first time on hadron collider data. Limits based on a likelihood binned in di-tau mass from non-back-to-back events alone are weaker than the limits obtained from the counting experiment using the full di-tau sample.

A description of the development of the mc{_}runjob software package used to manage large scale computing tasks for the D0 Experiment at Fermilab is presented, along with a review of the Digital Front End Trigger electronics and the software used to control them. A tracking study is performed on detector data to determine that the D0 Experiment can detect charged B mesons, and that these results are in accordance with current results. B mesons are found by searching for the decay channel B{sup {+-}} {yields} J/{psi}K{sup {+-}}.

While photoproduction has often been advertised as an important environment in which to study light meson spectroscopy, solid experimental results are sparse. In fact, beyond the relatively straightforward photoproduction of the {rho}, {omega}, and {phi} mesons, the few results of exclusive photoproduction that do exist are poorly understood, and several, perhaps, have even been misinterpreted. After extensively reviewing the sometimes tenuous history of the exclusive photoproduction of the ''{rho}{sup 1}(1600)'', the ''{omega}{pi}{sup 0}(1250)'', the ''{omega}(1650)'', and the ''K{sup +}K{sup -}(1750)'', new results from the E831/FOCUS photoproduction experiment at Fermilab are presented which address the interpretation of the K{sup +}K{sup -}(1750). This enhancement in low-p{sub T} K{sup +}K{sup -} pairs at a mass near 1750 MeV/c{sup 2} has been observed by several previous photoproduction experiments, but, despite several apparent inconsistencies, it has always been interpreted as the J{sup PC} = 1{sup --} {phi}(1680) meson. With nearly two orders of magnitude more events than any previous observation of the K{sup +}K{sup -}(1750), and based on precise measurements of its mass and width, and its absence from the K*K final state, the FOCUS data can finally render this interpretation implausible. In addition, several steps have been taken towards establishing a new interpretation. Based …

This document describes the search for second-generation leptoquarks (LQ{sub 2}) in around 114pb{sup -1} of p{bar p} collisions, recorded with the D0 detector between September 2002 and June 2003 at a centre-of-mass energy of {radical}s = 1.96TeV. The predictions of the Standard Model and models including scalar leptoquark production are compared to the data for various kinematic distributions. Since no excess of data over the Standard Model prediction has been observed, a lower limit on the leptoquark mass of M{sub LQ{sub 2}}{sup {beta}=1} > 200GeV has been calculated at 95% confidence level (C.L.), assuming a branching fraction of {beta} = BF(LQ{sub 2} {yields} {mu}j) = 100% into a charged lepton and a quark. The corresponding limit for {beta} = 1/2 is M{sub LQ{sub 2}}{sup {beta}=1/2} > 152 GeV. Finally, the results were combined with those from the search in the same channel at D0 Run I. This combination yields the exclusion limit of M{sub LQ{sub 2}}{sup {beta}=1} > 222 GeV (177GeV) for (beta) = 1 (1/2) at 95% C.L., which is the best exclusion limit for scalar second-generation leptoquarks (for {beta} = 1) from a single experiment to date.

Jefferson Lab experiment E97-103 measured the spin structure function g{sup n}{sub 2}(x, Q{sup 2}) from a Q{sup 2} of 0.58 to 1.36 with a nearly constant x of 0.2. Combining this data with a fit to the world g{sup n}{sub 1} data, the size of higher twist contributions to the spin structure functions can be extracted using the Wandzura-Wilczek relation. These higher twist contributions result from quark-gluon correlations and are expected to be larger as Q{sup 2} decreases. This experiment was performed in Hall A with a longitudinally polarized electron beam and a high density polarized {sup 3}He target. The physics motivation and an overview of the experiment will be presented.

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The authors describe a measurement of the top quark mass using events with two charged leptons collected by the CDF II Detector from p{bar p} collisions with {radical}s = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron. The posterior probability distribution of the top quark pole mass is calculated using the differential cross-section for the t{bar t} production and decay expressed with respect to observed leptons and jets momenta. The presence of background events in the collected sample is modeled using calculations of the differential cross-sections for major background processes. This measurement represents the first application of this method to events with two charged leptons. In a data sample with integrated luminosity of 340 pb{sup -1}, they observe 33 candidate events and measure M{sub top} = 165.2 {+-} 61.{sub stat} {+-} 3.4{sub syst} GeV/c{sup 2}.

The behavior of nanocrystals under extreme pressure was investigated using synchrotron x-ray diffraction. A major part of this investigation was the testing of a prototype synchrotron endstation on a bend magnet beamline at the Advanced Light Source for high pressure work using a diamond anvil cell. The experiments conducted and documented here helped to determine issues of efficiency and accuracy that had to be resolved before the construction of a dedicated ''super-bend'' beamline and endstation. The major conclusions were the need for a cryo-cooled monochromator and a fully remote-controllable pressurization system which would decrease the time to change pressure and greatly reduce the error created by the re-placement of the diamond anvil cell after each pressure change. Two very different types of nanocrystal systems were studied, colloidal iron oxide (Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) and thin film TiN/BN. Iron oxide nanocrystals were found to have a transition from the {gamma} to the {alpha} structure at a pressure strongly dependent on the size of the nanocrystals, ranging from 26 GPa for 7.2 nm nanocrystals to 37 GPa for 3.6 nm nanocrystals. All nanocrystals were found to remain in the {alpha} structure even after release of pressure. The transition pressure was also found, for …

Trapped radioactive atoms are an appealing source for precise measurements of the beta-neutrino correlation coefficient, a, since the momentum of the neutrino can be inferred from the detection of the unperturbed low-energy recoil daughter nucleus. Sodium-21 is produced on-line at the 88'' cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and 8e5 atoms have been maintained in a magneto-optical trap. A static electric field draws daughter Neon-21 ions to a microchannel plate detector and betas are detected in coincidence with a plastic scintillator beta detector. The Neon-21 time-of-flight distribution determines the beta neutrino correlation coefficient, a. The resulting charge-state distribution is compared to a simple model based on the sudden approximation which suggests a small but important contribution from nuclear recoil-induced ionization. A larger than expected fraction of the daughters are detected in positive charge-states, but no dependence on either the beta or recoil nucleus energy was observed. We find a = 0.5243 plus or minus 0.0092, which is in 3.6 sigma disagreement with the Standard Model prediction of a = 0.559 plus or minus 0.003. Aside from a deviation from the Standard Model, a possible explanation for the discrepancy is that the branching ratio to the first excited state is in …