A search for the Technicolor processes p{bar p} {yields} {rho}{sub T}{sup {+-}} {yields} W{sup {+-}}{pi}{sub T}{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{nu}b{bar b} and p{bar p} {yields} {rho}{sub T}{sup 0} {yields} W{sup {+-}}{pi}{sub T}{sup {+-}} {yields} {mu}{nu}b{bar c} is conducted at the D0 detector. Selection requirements are individually optimized for each of twenty mass hypotheses by means of a random grid search. No excess is seen in a 291 pb{sup -1} data set and 95% confidence level upper limits are set on the Technicolor production cross section. The mass combinations M{sub {rho}} = 195 GeV/c{sup 2}, M{sub {pi}} = 100 GeV/c{sup 2} and M{sub {rho}} = 200 GeV/c{sup 2}, M{sub {pi}} = 105 GeV/c{sup 2} are excluded for the choice of the Technicolor scale parameter M{sub V} = 500 GeV.

Slant-path buildup factors for photons between 1 keV and 10 MeV for nine radiation shielding materials (air, aluminum, concrete, iron, lead, leaded glass, polyethylene, stainless steel, and water) are calculated with the most recent cross-section data available using Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates methods. Discrete ordinates calculations use a 244-group energy structure that is based on previous research at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), but extended with the results of this thesis, and its focused studies on low-energy photon transport and the effects of group widths in multigroup calculations. Buildup factor calculations in discrete ordinates benefit from coupled photon/electron cross sections to account for secondary photon effects. Also, ambient dose equivalent (herein referred to as dose) buildup factors were analyzed at lower energies where corresponding response functions do not exist in literature. The results of these studies are directly applicable to radiation safety at LANL, where the dose modeling tool Pandemonium is used to estimate worker dose in plutonium handling facilities. Buildup factors determined in this thesis will be used to enhance the code's modeling capabilities, but should be of interest to the radiation shielding community.

MiniBooNE seeks to corroborate or refute the unconfirmed oscillation result from the LSND experiment. If correct, the result implies that a new kind of massive neutrino, with no weak interactions, participates in neutrino oscillations. MiniBooNE searches for {nu}{sub {mu}} {yields} {nu}{sub e} oscillations with the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 8 GeV beam line, which produces a {nu}{sub {mu}} beam with an average energy of {approx} 0.8 GeV and an intrinsic {nu}{sub e} content of 0.4%. The neutrino detector is a 6.1 m radius sphere filled with CH{sub 2}, viewed by 1540 photo-multiplier tubes, and located 541 m downstream from the source. This work focuses on the estimation of systematic errors associated with the neutrino flux and neutrino interaction cross section predictions, and in particular, on constraining these uncertainties using in-situ MiniBooNE {nu}{sub {mu}} charged current quasielastic (CCQE) scattering data. A data set with {approx} 100,000 events is identified, with 91% CCQE purity. This data set is used to measure several parameters of the CCQE cross section: the axial mass, the Fermi momentum, the binding energy, and the functional dependence of the axial form factor on four-momentum transfer squared. Constraints on the {nu}{sub {mu}} and {nu}{sub e} fluxes are derived using …

The authors present a measurement of the cross section of b hadron (H{sub b}) production in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. They use 83 pb{sup -1} of data taken between october 2002 and May 2003 that was collected with a trigger sensitive to high momentum muons and displaced tracks. They use partially reconstructed decays in the following modes: H{sub b} {yields} {mu}{sup -} {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}D{sup 0}X, D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -}{pi}{sup +}, and H{sub b} {yields} {mu}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}D*{sup +} X, D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +}, D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup -} {pi}{sup +}, and their charge conjugates. They correct for the backgrounds from c{bar c} and b{bar b} decays, for trigger and reconstruction efficiencies, and for detector acceptance. They report the total cross section above a minimum transverse momentum (p{sub T}) of 9 GeV/c for the rapidity range |y| {le} 0.6.

The study of thermal decomposition in high explosive (HE) charges has been an ongoing process since the early 1900s. This work is specifically directed towards the analysis of PBX 9501. In the early 1970s, Dwight Jaeger of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) developed a single-step, two-species kinetics system that was used in the development of one of the first finite element codes for thermal analyses known as EXPLO. Jaeger's research focused on unconfined spherical samples of HE charges to determine if varied heating ramps would cause detonation or deflagration. Tarver and McGuire of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) followed soon after with a three-step, four-species kinetics system that was developed for confined spheres under relatively fast heating conditions. Peter Dickson et al. of LANL then introduced a kinetics system with four steps and five species that included bimolecular products to capture the effects of the endothermic phase change that the HE undergoes. The results of four experiments are examined to study the effectiveness of these kinetics systems. The experiments are: (1) The LLNL scaled thermal explosion (STEX) experiments on confined cylindrical charges with long heating ramps in the range of 90 hours. (2) The LLNL one-dimensional time to explosion (ODTX) …