The composition of matter is a topic in which the man has been interested throughout History. Since the introduction of the atom by Democritus in the 5th century BC until the establishment of the Standard Model, our successful theory that contains our current knowledge on the matter and their interactions, it has come a long way trying to solve this fundamental question. The efforts of many of the greatest minds to perform crucial experiments and develop theoretical models have helped to get deeper insight into the origin of the matter. Today we know that indivisible atoms postulated by Democritus are no longer true, and they are actually composed of a nucleus made of protons and neutrons (nucleons) with orbiting electrons through electromagnetic interactions. Also the nucleons are not fundamental particles but are composed of more fundamental ones called quarks. According to the present state of our knowledge, matter is composed of two types of particles: quarks and leptons. Leptons are believed to be fundamental particles and can occur freely in nature. Quarks are also fundamental particles, and there are no free in nature, but are confined to form hadrons. The hadrons may consist of a quark and an antiquark (mesons) …

MINOS is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It consists of two large steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. The near detector is situated at Fermilab, close to the production point of the NuMI muon-neutrino beam. The far detector is 735 km away, 716m underground in the Soudan mine, Northern Minnesota. The primary purpose of the MINOS experiment is to make precise measurements of the 'atmospheric' neutrino oscillation parameters ({Delta}m{sub atm}{sup 2} and sin{sup 2} 2{theta}{sub atm}). The oscillation signal consists of an energy-dependent deficit of {nu}{sub {mu}} interactions in the far detector. The near detector is used to characterize the properties of the beam before oscillations develop. The two-detector design allows many potential sources of systematic error in the far detector to be mitigated by the near detector observations. This thesis describes the details of the {nu}{sub {mu}}-disappearance analysis, and presents a new technique to estimate the hadronic energy of neutrino interactions. This estimator achieves a significant improvement in the energy resolution of the neutrino spectrum, and in the sensitivity of the neutrino oscillation fit. The systematic uncertainty on the hadronic energy scale was re-evaluated and found to be comparable to that of the energy estimator previously in use. The best-fit oscillation parameters …

This thesis reports the first experimental evidence of the doubly strange b-baryon {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} (ssb) following the decay channel {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} {yields} J/{psi}(1S) {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} {Omega}{sup -} {Lambda} K{sup -} p {pi}{sup -} in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 Tev. Using approximately 1.3 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, they observe 17.8 {+-} 4.9(stat) {+-} 0.8(syst) {Omega}{sub b}{sup -} signal events at 6.165 {+-} 0.010(stat) {+-} 0.013(syst) GeV/c{sup 2} with a corresponding significance of 5.4 {sigma}, meaning that the probability of the signal coming from a fluctuation in the background is 6.7 x 10{sup -8}. The theoretical model we have to describe what we believe are the building blocks of nature and the interactions between them, is known as Standard Model. The Standard Model is the combination of Electroweak Theory and Quantum Chromodynamics into a single core in the attempt to include all interactions of subatomic particles except those due to gravity in a simple framework. This model has proved highly accurate in predicting certain interactions, but it does not explain all aspects of subatomic particles. For example, it cannot say how many particles there should be …

In the Standard Model, CP violation in weak interactions involving quarks is parameterized by an irreducible complex phase in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark-mixing-matrix. The precise determination of the CKM elements is a necessary ingredient for a stringent test of the Standard Model predictions, and is a crucial input for reducing the theoretical error in many New Physics searches with flavor, e.g., in the kaon sector. The unitarity of the CKM matrix is typically expressed as a triangle relationship among its parameters, where the area of the so-called Unitarity Triangle visually depicts the amount of asymmetry between the decays of B particles and their antimatter counterparts. In the past few years, the BABAR and Belle experiments have been able to measure all three angles of the triangle from CP asymmetry measurements. The first asymmetry measurements in B particle decays, about ten years ago, allowed to determine {beta}, which is now known to better than 5% precision. The angles {alpha} and {gamma}, measured in much rarer processes, required several years of data taking before analyses could yield reliable answers. A remarkable feature is that the direct measurement of the angles of the Unitarity Triangle generates an area that is consistent with the …

The Standard Model (SM) explains CP violation in terms of the CKM matrix. The BABAR experiment was designed mainly to test the CKM model in B decays. B decays that proceed through b {yields} s loop diagrams, of which B {yields} KKK decays are an example, are sensitive to new physics effects that could lead to deviations from the CKM predictions for CP violation. We present studies of CP violation in the decays B{sup +} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sup +}, B{sup +} {yields} K{sub S}{sup 0}K{sub S}{sup 0}K{sup +}, and B{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sub S}{sup 0}, using a Dalitz plot amplitude analysis. These studies are based on approximately 470 million B{bar B} decays collected by BABAR at the PEP-II collider at SLAC. We perform measurements of time-dependent CP violation in B{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sub S}{sup 0}, including B{sup 0} {yields} {phi}K{sub S}{sup 0}. We measure a CP-violating phase {beta}{sub eff} ({phi}K{sub S}{sup 0}) = 0.36 {+-} 0.11 {+-} 0.04 rad., in agreement with the SM. This is the world's most precise measurement of this quantity. We also measure direct CP asymmetries in all three decay modes, including the direct CP asymmetry A{sub CP} ({phi}K{sup +}) = …

This thesis reports the analysis of the e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}K{sub S}{sup 0}K{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}} and e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}K{sup +}K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup 0} processes using the final dataset of the BABAR experiment located at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. From previous measurements, the K{sub S}{sup 0}K{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}} final state is known to show a clear signal from the {eta}{sub c}(2S) particle. This c{bar c} state escaped detection for almost twenty years and its properties are still not well established on the experimental ground, while accurate predictions exist on the theoretical side. The e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -}K{sup +}K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup 0} process is first studied in this thesis. An accurate determination of the {eta}{sub c}(2S) properties is obtained in the K{sub S}{sup 0}K{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup {-+}} decay mode. We also report the first observation of {eta}{sub c}(2S) and other charmonium states to the K{sup +}K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{pi}{sup 0} final state. The results of this thesis have been published in Physical Review D, and will be useful to test theoretical models describing the charmonium system. The thesis is organized in four chapters. The first one gives a brief introduction …

This thesis describes application and development of advanced solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance techniques for complex materials, in particular organic-inorganic nanocomposites and thermoelectric tellurides. The apatite-collagen interface, essential for understanding the biomineralization process in bone and engineering the interface for controlled bio-mimetic synthesis and optimized mechanical properties, is buried within the nanocomposite of bone. We used multinuclear solid-state NMR to study the composition and structure of the interface. Citrate has been identified as the main organic molecule strongly bound to the apatite surface with a density of 1/(2 nm){sup 2}, covering 1/6 of the total surface area in bovine bone. Citrate provides more carboxylate groups, one of the key functional groups found to affect apatite nucleation and growth, than all the non-collagenous proteins all together in bone; thus we propose that citrate stabilizes apatite crystals at a very small thickness of {approx}3 nm (4 unit cells) to increase bone fracture tolerance. The hypothesis has been confirmed in vitro by adding citrate in the bio-mimetic synthesis of polymerhydroxyapatite nanocomposites. The results have shown that the size of hydroxyapatite nanocrystals decreases as increasing citrate concentration. With citrate concentrations comparable to that in body fluids, similar-sized nanocrystals as in bone have been produced. Besides …

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A measurement of the mass of the top quark is presented, using top-antitop pair (t{bar t}) candidate events for the lepton+jets decay channel. The measurement makes use of Tevatron p{bar p} collision data at centre-of-mass energy {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, collected at the CDF detector. The top quark mass is measured by employing an unbinned maximum likelihood method where the event probability density functions are calculated using signal (t{bar t}) and background (W+jets) matrix elements, as well as a set of parameterised jet-to-parton mapping functions. The likelihood function is maximised with respect to the top quark mass, the fraction of signal events, and a correction to the jet energy scale (JES) of the calorimeter jets. The simultaneous measurement of the JES correction ({Delta}{sub JES}) provides an in situ jet energy calibration based on the known mass of the hadronically decaying W boson. Using 578 lepton+jets candidate events corresponding to 3.2 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity, the top quark mass is measured to be m{sub t} = 172.4 {+-} 1.4 (stat+{Delta}{sub JES}) {+-} 1.3 (syst) GeV=c{sup 2}, one of the most precise single measurements to date.

The top quark produced through the electroweak channel provides a direct measurement of the V{sub tb} element in the CKM matrix which can be viewed as a transition rate of a top quark to a bottom quark. This production channel of top quark is also sensitive to different theories beyond the Standard Model such as heavy charged gauged bosons termed W{prime}. This thesis measures the cross section of the electroweak produced top quark using a technique based on using the matrix elements of the processes under consideration. The technique is applied to 2.3 fb{sup -1} of data from the D0 detector. From a comparison of the matrix element discriminants between data and the signal and background model using Bayesian statistics, we measure the cross section of the top quark produced through the electroweak mechanism {sigma}(p{bar p} {yields} tb + X, tqb + X) = 4.30{sub -1.20}{sup +0.98} pb. The measured result corresponds to a 4.9{sigma} Gaussian-equivalent significance. By combining this analysis with other analyses based on the Bayesian Neural Network (BNN) and Boosted Decision Tree (BDT) method, the measured cross section is 3.94 {+-} 0.88 pb with a significance of 5.0{sigma}, resulting in the discovery of electroweak produced top quarks. …

A Neutrino Factory based on a high-energy muon storage-ring is proposed to study neutrino oscillation with high precision. An emittance reduction of muon beam by ionization cooling, which has never been demonstrated in practice, is one of the critical issues for Neutrino Factory. The international Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment (MICE) is the first experiment to verify an effect of the ionization cooling with muons. MICE will measure a change in transverse emittance of approximately 10% with a precision of ±0.1%. In order to meet the requirements, muon trackers based on 350 μm diameter scintillating fibers have been proposed. The construction of such trackers is a very challenging task and some innovative techniques are needed to realize, since there have been no trackers made with such a small diameter of scintillating fibers in the world. Upstream and downstream SciFi trackers have been successfully constructed with the international collaboration of UK, US and Japan by 2008. Both of the trackers have been tested with cosmic-rays at the RAL by 2009, at which high tracking efficiencies more than 90% are measured for both trackers. It is also confirmed that by collecting the misalignments found in both of the trackers, the requirements for the …

We have searched for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the WH → lvbb channel in 1.96 TeV pp collisions at CDF. This search is based on the data collected by March 2009, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.3 fb^-1. The W H channel is one of the most promising channels for the Higgs boson search at Tevatron in the low Higgs boson mass region.