A search for diphoton events with large missing transverse energy produced in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV is presented. The data were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider between 2002 and 2010, and correspond to 6.3 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity. The observed missing transverse energy distribution is well described by the Standard Model prediction, and 95% C.L. limits are derived on two realizations of theories beyond the Standard Model. In a gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario, the breaking scale {Lambda} is excluded for {Lambda} < 124 TeV. In a universal extra dimension model including gravitational decays, the compactification radius R{sub c} is excluded for R{sub c}{sup -1} < 477 GeV.

At a hadron collider, diphoton (γγ) production allows detailed studies of the Standard Model (SM), as well as as searches for new phenomena, such as new heavy resonances, extra spatial dimensions or cascade decays of heavy new particles. Within the SM, continuum γγ+X production is characterized by a steeply-falling γγ mass spectrum, on top of which a heavy resonance decaying into γγ can potentially be observed. In particular, this is considered one of the most promising discovery channels for a SM Higgs boson at the LHC, despite the small branching ratio of BR (H → γγ) {approx} 0.2% for 110 < M_Higgs < 140 GeV. At the Tevatron, the dominant SM Higgs boson production mechanism is gluon fusion, followed by associated production with a W or Z boson, and vector boson fusion. While the SM Higgs production rate at the Tevatron is not sufficient to observe it in the γγ mode, the Hgg and Hγγ couplings, being loop-mediated, are particularly sensitive to new physics effects. Furthermore, in some models beyond the SM, for instance, fermiophobic Higgs, with no couplings to fermions, the BR (H → γγ) can be enhanced significantly relative to the SM prediction, while has the SM-like production …

We have presented results in two different yet strongly linked aspects of Higgs boson physics. We have learned about the importance of the Higgs boson for the fate of the Standard Model, being either only a theory limited to explaining phenomena at the electroweak scale or, if the Higgs boson lies within a mass range of 130 < m_H < 160 GeV the SM would remain a self consistent theory up to highest energy scales O(m_Pl). This could have direct implications on theories of cosmological inflation using the Higgs boson as the particle giving rise to inflation in the very early Universe, if it couples non-minimally to gravity, an effect that would only become significant at very high energies. After understanding the immense meaning of proving whether the Higgs boson exists and if so, at which mass, we have presented a direct search for a Higgs boson in associated production with a W boson in a mass range 100 < m_H < 150 GeV. A light Higgs boson is favored regarding constraints from electroweak precision measurements. As a single analysis is not yet sensitive for an observation of the Higgs boson using 5.3 fb^-1 of Tevatron data, we set limits …

The MINOS experiment was designed to measure neutrino oscillation parameters with muon neutrinos. It achieves this by measuring the neutrino energy spectrum and flavor composition of the man-made NuMI neutrino beam 1km after the beam is formed and again after 735 km. By comparing the two spectra it is possible to measure the oscillation parameters. The NuMI beam is made up of 7.0%$\bar{v}$_μ, which can be separated from the v_μ because the MINOS detectors are magnetized. This makes it possible to study $\bar{v}$_μ oscillations separately from those of muon neutrinos, and thereby test CPT invariance in the neutrino sector by determining the $\bar{v}$_μ oscillation parameters and comparing them with those for v_μ, although any unknown physics of the antineutrino would appear as a difference in oscillation parameters. Such a test has not been performed with beam $\bar{v}$_μ before. It is also possible to produce an almost pure $\bar{v}$_μ beam by reversing the current through the magnetic focusing horns of the NuMI beamline, thereby focusing negatively, instead of positively charged particles. This thesis describes the analysis of the 7% $\bar{v}$_μ component of the forward horn current NuMI beam. The $\bar{v}$_μ of a data sample of 3.2 x 10{sup 20} protons on …

This dissertation focuses on the development of facile and rapid quantitative Raman spectroscopy measurements for the determination of conversion products in producing bioethanol from corn stover. Raman spectroscopy was chosen to determine glucose, xylose and ethanol in complex hydrolysis and fermentation matrices. Chapter 1 describes the motives and main goals of this work, and includes an introduction to biomass, commonly used pretreatment methods, hydrolysis and fermentation reactions. The principles of Raman spectroscopy, its advantages and applications related to biomass analysis are also illustrated. Chapter 2 and 3 comprise two published or submitted manuscripts, and the thesis concludes with an appendix. In Chapter 2, a Raman spectroscopic protocol is described to study the efficiency of enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose by measuring the main product in hydrolysate, glucose. Two commonly utilized pretreatment methods were investigated in order to understand their effect on glucose measurements by Raman spectroscopy. Second, a similar method was set up to determine the concentration of ethanol in fermentation broth. Both of these measurements are challenged by the presence of complex matrices. In Chapter 3, a quantitative comparison of pretreatment protocols and the effect of enzyme composition are studied using systematic methods. A multipeak fitting algorithm was developed to …

In this Dissertation I present a detailed study of p$\bar{p}$ → WZ production using fully leptonic decays of W and Z bosons with electrons and muons in the final state. Data used for the study were collected by the DØ detector at the Fermilab p$\bar{p}$ collider with a center-of-mass energy of √s = 1.96 TeV and correspond to 4.1 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity. The most precise measurement of the WZ production cross section is obtained and found to be in a good agreement with the standard model prediction. I also present a search for new phenomena in the WZ production by investigating the coupling between W and Z bosons and by searching for new charged particles that can decay into WZ boson pair. No evidence for new physics is found, and the most stringent limits are set on the anomalous WWZ coupling parameters and masses of charged resonances. This result also sets the stringest limit on one of the possible sources of electroweak symmetry breaking, a low-scale Technicolor with a typical heavy techni-pion hypothesis.

The work in this dissertation presents the synthesis of two mixed metal oxides for biofuel applications and NMR characterization of silica materials. In the chapter 2, high catalytic efficiency of calcium silicate is synthesized for transesterfication of soybean oil to biodisels. Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of a new Rh based catalyst on mesoporous manganese oxides. The new catalyst is found to have higher activity and selectivity towards ethanol. Chapter 4 demonstrates the applications of solid-state Si NMR in the silica materials.

Continually rising energy prices have inspired increased interest in weight reduction in the automotive and aerospace industries, opening the door for the widespread use and development of lightweight structural materials. Chief among these materials are cast Al-Si and magnesium-based alloys. Utilization of Al-Si alloys depends on obtaining a modified fibrous microstructure in lieu of the intrinsic flake structure, a process which is incompletely understood. The local solidification conditions, mechanisms, and tensile properties associated with the flake to fiber growth mode transition in Al-Si eutectic alloys are investigated here using bridgman type gradient-zone directional solidification. Resulting microstructures are examined through quantitative image analysis of two-dimensional sections and observation of deep-etched sections showing three-dimensional microstructural features. The transition was found to occur in two stages: an initial stage dominated by in-plane plate breakup and rod formation within the plane of the plate, and a second stage where the onset of out-of-plane silicon rod growth leads to the formation of an irregular fibrous structure. Several microstructural parameters were investigated in an attempt to quantify this transition, and it was found that the particle aspect ratio is effective in objectively identifying the onset and completion velocity of the flake to fiber transition. The appearance …

We present here the search for Standard Model V H → VWW → lll + E_T (missing energy due to neutrinos) production, where V is a W or Z weak vector boson, which uses up to 5.9 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity. This analysis has recently added to the CDF high-mass Higgs group three new signal topologies characterized by a tri-lepton signature, which are chosen to isolate the V H → VWW associated production signals in the three-lepton signature. As such, we define three new regions for a WH analysis, a ZH 1-jet analysis, and a ZH ≥ 2-jet analysis with which we expect to contribute an additional 5.8% (for mH = 165 GeV) acceptance to the current H → WW dilepton analysis. The ZH trilepton regions are defined by events passing a Z-boson selection: events having at least one lepton pairing (among three possible pairings) with opposite sign, same flavor, and a dilepton invariant mass within [76.0, 106.0] GeV–a ± 15 GeV window around the Z-boson mass. TheWH trilepton region is then defined as the set of trilepton events that are complement to those chosen by the Z-boson selection. These three new event topologies make a substantial contribution to the …

Quantum mechanical (QM) calculations have the advantage of attaining high-level accuracy, however QM calculations become computationally inefficient as the size of the system grows. Solving complex molecular problems on large systems and ensembles by using quantum mechanics still poses a challenge in terms of the computational cost. Methods that are based on classical mechanics are an inexpensive alternative, but they lack accuracy. A good trade off between accuracy and efficiency is achieved by combining QM methods with molecular mechanics (MM) methods to use the robustness of the QM methods in terms of accuracy and the MM methods to minimize the computational cost. Two types of QM combined with MM (QM/MM) methods are the main focus of the present dissertation: the application and development of QM/MM methods for solvation studies and reactions on the Si(100) surface. The solvation studies were performed using a discreet solvation model that is largely based on first principles called the effective fragment potential method (EFP). The main idea of combining the EFP method with quantum mechanics is to accurately treat the solute-solvent and solvent-solvent interactions, such as electrostatic, polarization, dispersion and charge transfer, that are important in correctly calculating solvent effects on systems of interest. A …

This thesis reports on two searches for the production of squarks and gluinos, supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model (SM) quarks and gluons, using the CDF detector at the Tevatron √s = 1.96 TeV p$\bar{p}$ collider. An inclusive search for squarks and gluinos pair production is performed in events with large E_T and multiple jets in the final state, based on 2 fb^-1 of CDF Run II data. The analysis is performed within the framework of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) and assumes R-parity conservation where sparticles are produced in pairs. The expected signal is characterized by the production of multiple jets of hadrons from the cascade decays of squarks and gluinos and large missing transverse energy E_T from the lightest supersymmetric particles (LSP). The measurements are in good agreement with SM predictions for backgrounds. The results are translated into 95% confidence level (CL) upper limits on production cross sections and squark and gluino masses in a given mSUGRA scenario. An upper limit on the production cross section is placed in the range between 1 pb and 0.1 pb, depending on the gluino and squark masses considered. The result of the search is negative for gluino and squark masses up to 392 …

Oxide compounds containing the transition metal vanadium (V) have attracted a lot of attention in the field of condensed matter physics owing to their exhibition of interesting properties including metal-insulator transitons, structural transitions, ferromagnetic and an- tiferromagnetic orderings, and heavy fermion behavior. Binary vanadium oxides VnO_2n-1 where 2 ≤ n ≤ 9 have triclinic structures and exhibit metal-insulator and antiferromagnetic transitions.[1–6] The only exception is V₇O₁₃ which remains metallic down to 4 K.[7] The ternary vanadium oxide LiV₂O₄ has the normal spinel structure, is metallic, does not un- dergo magnetic ordering and exhibits heavy fermion behavior below 10 K.[8] CaV₂O₄ has an orthorhombic structure[9, 10] with the vanadium spins forming zigzag chains and has been suggested to be a model system to study the gapless chiral phase.[11, 12] These provide great motivation for further investigation of some known vanadium compounds as well as to ex- plore new vanadium compounds in search of new physics. This thesis consists, in part, of experimental studies involving sample preparation and magnetic, transport, thermal, and x- ray measurements on some strongly correlated eletron systems containing the transition metal vanadium. The compounds studied are LiV₂O₄, YV₄O₈, and YbV₄O₈. The recent discovery of superconductivity in RFeAsO_1-xF_x (R …

In summary, there are two major research works presented in this dissertation. The first research project (Chapter 4) is spectrally narrowed edge emission from Organic Light Emitting Diodes. The second project (Chapter 5) is about transient electroluminescent dynamics in OLEDs. Chapter 1 is a general introduction of OLEDs. Chapter 2 is a general introduction of organic semiconductor lasers. Chapter 3 is a description of the thermal evaporation method for OLED fabrication. The detail of the first project was presented in Chapter 4. Extremely narrowed spectrum was observed from the edge of OLED devices. A threshold thickness exists, above which the spectrum is narrow, and below which the spectrum is broad. The FWHM of spectrum depends on the material of the organic thin films, the thickness of the organic layers, and length of the OLED device. A superlinear relationship between the output intensity of the edge emission and the length of the device was observed, which is probably due to the misalignment of the device edge and the optical fiber detector. The original motivation of this research is for organic semiconductor laser that hasn't been realized due to the extremely high photon absorption in OLED devices. Although we didn't succeed in …

The search for the production of the Standard Model Z boson in association with a W boson is motivated and discussed. This is performed using 4.3 fb^-1 of Tevatron Run II data collected with the CDF detector in √s = 1.96 TeV proton anti-proton collisions. This is a signature-based analysis where the W boson decays semileptonically into a high-P_T electron or muon plus a neutrino, and where the Z boson decays into two b quark jets (b-jets). We increase the signal-to-background ratio by identifying the b-quarks in the jets with a new neural network-based algorithm. Another neural network then uses kinematic information to distinguish WZ to further increase the signal-to-background ratio. Since our sensitivity is still not enough to achieve an observation, we set a 95% Confidence Level upper limit on the product of the WZ production cross section and its branching fraction to the decay products specified above, and express it as a ratio to the theoretical Standard Model prediction. The resulting limit is 3.9 x SM (3.9 x SM expected).

The standard model of particle physics provides a detailed description of a universe in which all matter is composed of a small number of fundamental particles, which interact through the exchange of force - carrying gauge bosons (the photon, W ^±, Z and gluons). The organization of the matter and energy in this universe is determined by the effects of three forces; the strong, weak, and electromagnetic. The weak and electromagnetic forces are the low energy manifestations of a single electro-weak force, while the strong force binds quarks into protons and neutrons. The standard model does not include gravity, as the effect of this force on fundamental particles is negligible. Four decades of experimental tests, spanning energies from a few electron-volts (eV) up to nearly two TeV, confirm that the universe described by the standard model is a reasonable approximation of our world. For example, experiments have confirmed the existence of the top quark, the W^± and the Z bosons, as predicted by the standard model. The latest experimental averages for the masses of the top quark, W^± and Z are respectively 173.1 ± 0.6(stat.) ± 1.1(syst.), 80.399 ± 0.023 and 91.1876 ± 0.0021 GeV/c². The SM is a gauge …

The thesis is divided into two parts. In the first part a global optimization method is developed for the interface and surface structures optimization. Two prototype systems are chosen to be studied. One is Si[001] symmetric tilted grain boundaries and the other is Ag/Au induced Si(111) surface. It is found that Genetic Algorithm is very efficient in finding lowest energy structures in both cases. Not only existing structures in the experiments can be reproduced, but also many new structures can be predicted using Genetic Algorithm. Thus it is shown that Genetic Algorithm is a extremely powerful tool for the material structures predictions. The second part of the thesis is devoted to the explanation of an experimental observation of thermal radiation from three-dimensional tungsten photonic crystal structures. The experimental results seems astounding and confusing, yet the theoretical models in the paper revealed the physics insight behind the phenomena and can well reproduced the experimental results.

This dissertation describes a measurement of the forward-backward asymmetry(A_FB) in p$\bar{p}$ → Z/γ* → ee events using 5.0 fb^-1 data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The AFB is measured as a function of the invariant mass of the electron-positron pair. Along with obtaining normalized differential cross section 1/σ x dσ/dM and Z to light quark couplings, we measured the Standard Model(SM) fundamental parameter, the effective weak mixing angle sin² θ$lept\atop{eff}$, with an unprecedented precise in light quark sector, namely the single D0 measurement has surpassed the LEP combination of four experiment results of inclusive hadronic charge asymmetry.

The cross-section times branching ratio of the Higgs boson decaying to τ⁺τ^- final state in the Standard Model (SM) is too small to play any role in the SM Higgs boson searches. This, however, is different in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), which predicts two Higgs doublets leading to five Higgs bosons: a pair of charged Higgs boson (H^±); two neutral CP-even Higgs bosons (h,H) and a CP-odd Higgs boson (A). A search for the production of neutral Higgs bosons decaying into τ⁺τ^- final states in p{bar p} collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 1.96 TeV is presented in this thesis. One of the two τ leptons is required to decay into a muon while the other decays hadronically. The integrated luminosity is L = 1.0-5.36 fb ^-1, collected by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider from 2002 to 2009 in the Run II.

Ultrafast angle-resolved two photon photoemission was used to study the dynamics and interfacial band structure of ultrathin films adsorbed onto Ag(111). Studies focused on the image potential state (IPS) in each system as a probe for measuring changes in electronic behavior in differing environments. The energetics and dynamics of the IPS at the toluene/Ag(111) interface are strongly dependent upon coverage. For a single monolayer, the first IPS is bound by 0.81 eV below the vacuum level and has a lifetime of 50 femtoseconds (fs). Further adsorption of toluene creates islands of toluene with an exposed wetting layer underneath. The IPS is then split into two peaks, one corresponding to the islands and one corresponding to the monolayer. The wetting layer IPS shows the same dynamics as the monolayer, while the lifetime of the islands increases exponentially with increasing thickness. Furthermore, the island IPS transitions from delocalized to localized within 500 fs, and electrons with larger parallel momenta decay much faster. Attempts were made using a stochastic model to extract the rates of localization and intraband cooling at differing momenta. In sexithiophene (6T) and dihexyl-sexithiophene (DH6T), the IPS was used as a probe to see if the nuclear motion of spectating …

An inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) is an elemental analytical instrument capable of determining nearly all elements in the periodic table at limits of detection in the parts per quadrillion and with a linear analytical range over 8-10 orders of magnitude. Three concentric quartz tubes make up the plasma torch. Argon gas is spiraled through the outer tube and generates the plasma powered by a looped load coil operating at 27.1 or 40.6 MHz. The argon flow of the middle channel is used to keep the plasma above the innermost tube through which solid or aqueous sample is carried in a third argon stream. A sample is progressively desolvated, atomized and ionized. The torch is operated at atmospheric pressure. To reach the reduced pressures of mass spectrometers, ions are extracted through a series of two, approximately one millimeter wide, circular apertures set in water cooled metal cones. The space between the cones is evacuated to approximately one torr. The space behind the second cone is pumped down to, or near to, the pressure needed for the mass spectrometer (MS). The first cone, called the sampler, is placed directly in the plasma plume and its position is adjusted to the point …

The top quark has been discovered by CDF and D0 experiments in 1995 at the proton-antiproton collider Tevatron. The amount of data recorded by both experiments makes it possible to accurately study the properties of this quark: its mass is now known to better than 1% accuracy. This thesis describes the measurement of the top pair cross section in the electron muon channel with 4, 3 fb^-1 recorded data between 2006 and 2009 by the D0 experiment. Since the final state included a muon, improvements of some aspects of its identification have been performed : a study of the contamination of the cosmic muons and a study of the quality of the muon tracks. The cross section measurement is in good agreement with the theoretical calculations and the other experimental measurements. This measurement has been used to extract a value for the top quark mass. This method allows for the extraction of a better defined top mass than direct measurements as it depends less on Monte Carlo simulations. The uncertainty on this extracted mass, dominated by the experimental one, is however larger than for direct measurements. In order to decrease this uncertainty, the ratio of the Z boson and …

Understanding the universe, its birth and its future is one of the biggest motivations in physics. In order to understand the cosmos, the fundamental particles forming the universe, the components our matter is built of need to be known and understood. Over time physicists have built a theory which describes the physics of the known fundamental particles very well: the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. The SM describes the particles, their interactions and phenomena with high precision. So far no proven deviations from the SM have been found, though recently evidence for possible physics beyond the SM has been observed. The SM is not describing the mass of the elementary particles however and even with the addition of the Higgs mechanism giving mass to the particles, we have no full theory for all four fundamental forces. We know the model needs to be extended or replaced by another one, as gravitation is not included in the SM. Having a theory which describes all fundamental particles found so far and all but one fundamental interaction is a great success. However, all this describes about 4% of the universe we live in. 23% is dark matter and 73% is dark energy. …

Early measurements of a large forward-background asymmetry at the CDF and D0 experiments at Fermilab have generated much recent interest, but were hampered by large uncertainties. We present here a new measurement of the parton level forward-backward asymmetry of pair-produced top quarks, using a high-statistics sample with much improved precision. We study the rapidity, y_top, of the top quark production angle with respect to the incoming parton momentum in both the lab and t$\bar{t}$ rest frames. We find the parton-level forward-backward asymmetries to be A_fb^p$\bar{t}$ = 0.150 ± 0.050^stat ± 0.024^syst A_fb^t$\bar{t}$ = 0.158 ± 0.072{sup stat} ± 0.024^syst. These results should be compared with the small p$\bar{p}$ frame charge asymmetry expected in QCD at NLO, A_fb = 0.050 ± 0.015. Additionally, we introduce a measurement of the A_fb rapidity dependence dA_fb/d(Δy). We find this to be A_fb^p$\bar{t}$(|Δy| < 1.0) = 0.026 ± 0.104^stat ± 0.012 ^syst A_fb^p$\bar{t}$(|Δy| > 1.0) = 0.611 ± 0.210^stat ± 0.246^syst which we compare with model predictions 0.039 ± 0.006 and 0.123 ± 0.018 for the inner and outer rapidities, respectively.

In this thesis a direct search for the Standard Model Higgs boson production in association with a W boson at the CDF detector in the Tevatron is presented. This search contributes predominantly in the region of low mass Higgs region, when the mass of Higgs boson is less than about 135 GeV. The search is performed in a final state where the Higgs boson decays into two b quarks, and the W boson decays leptonically, to a charged lepton (it can be an electron or a muon) and a neutrino. This work is organized as follows. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the Standard Model theory of particle physics and presents the SM Higgs boson search results at LEP, and the Tevatron colliders, as well as the prospects for the SM Higgs boson searches at the LHC. The dataset used in this analysis corresponds to 4.8 fb^-1 of integrated luminosity of p$\bar{p}$ collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. That is the luminosity acquired between the beginning of the CDF Run II experiment, February 2002, and May 2009. The relevant aspects, for this analysis, of the Tevatron accelerator and the CDF detector are shown in Chapter 3. …