The study of the top quark pair production mechanism in proton-antiproton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV is described. The main subjects are the measurements of the top quark pair production cross section, the top quark mass and a search for a new particle decaying to the top quark pair. The analyses are based on 1.9 fb{sup -1} of data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF) Run II experiment between March 2002 and May 2007, using the lepton+jets events. The measured top quark pair production cross section is 8.2 {+-} 0.5 (stat.) {+-} 0.8 (syst.) {+-} 0.5 (lum.) pb, which is slightly higher than the standard model prediction at the top mass of 175 GeV/c{sup 2}. The top quark mass is an important parameter in the standard model, and also in the experimental studies. The measured top quark mass if 171.6 {+-} 2.0 (stat.) {+-} 1.3(syst.) GeV/c{sup 2}. Finally, they report on a search for a new gauge boson decaying to t{bar t}, which interferes with the standard model gluon in the q{bar q} {yields} t{bar t} production process. They call such a hypothetical particle a 'Massive Gluon'. The observed t{bar t} invariant mass distribution is …

The authors measure the time-dependent CP asymmetry parameters in B{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}K{sup 0} based on a data sample of approximately 277 million B-meson pairs recorded at the {Upsilon}(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-meson Factory at SLAC. They reconstruct two-body B{sup 0} decays to {phi}(1020)K{sub s}{sup 0} and {phi}(1020)K{sub L}{sup 0}. Using a time-dependent maximum-likelihood fit, they measure sin2{beta}{sub eff}({phi}K{sup 0}) = 0.48 {+-} 0.28 {+-} 0.10, and C({phi}K{sup 0}) = 0.16 {+-} 0.25 {+-} 0.09, where the first error is statistical, and the second is systematic. They also present measurements of the CP-violating asymmetries in the decay B{sup 0} {yields} f{sub 0}({yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -})K{sub s}{sup 0}. The results are obtained from a data sample of 209 x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} decays, also collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. From a time-dependent maximum-likelihood fit they measure the mixing-induced CP violation parameter S(f{sub 0}(980)K{sub S}{sup 0}) = - sin 2{beta}{sub eff}f{sub 0}(980)K{sub S}{sup 0} = -0.95{sub -0.23}{sup +0.32} {+-} 0.10 and the direct CP violation parameter C(f{sub 0}(980)K{sub S}{sup 0}) = - 0.24 {+-} 0.31 {+-} 0.15, where the first errors are statistical and …

The MINOS experiment is designed to study neutrino oscillations. It uses an accelerator generated beam of neutrinos and two detectors, the smaller at a distance of 1km and the larger at 735 km. By comparing the spectrum and flavour composition of the beam at the two detectors precise determinations of the oscillation parameters are possible. This thesis concentrates on the analysis of data from the larger Far Detector. By studying the spectrum of neutral current events it is possible to look for evidence of non-interacting 'sterile' neutrinos. The thesis describes how events are selected for this analysis, and a method for discriminating between charged current and neutral current events. The systematic uncertainties resulting from these cuts are evaluated. Several techniques for using Near Detector data to eliminate systematic uncertainties in the predicted Far Detector spectrum are compared. An oscillation analysis, based on the first year of MINOS data, uses the selected events to make a measurement of f{sub s}, the fraction of unseen neutrinos that are sterile. The measured value is f{sub s} = 0.07{sup +0.32} at 68%C.L., and is consistent with the standard three-neutrino picture, which has no sterile neutrino.

Two novel regenerated solvent extraction processes are examined. The first process has the potential to reduce the energy costs inherent in the recovery of low-volatility carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous solutions. The second process has the potential for reducing the energy costs required for separate recovery of ammonia and acid gases (e.g. CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}S) from industrial sour waters. The recovery of carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous solution can be achieved by extraction with tertiary amines. An approach for regeneration and product recovery from such extracts is to back-extract the carboxylic acid with a water-soluble, volatile tertiary amine, such as trimethylamine. The resulting trimethylammonium carboxylate solution can be concentrated and thermally decomposed, yielding the product acid and the volatile amine for recycle. Experimental work was performed with lactic acid, SUCCiOlC acid, and fumaric acid. Equilibrium data show near-stoichiometric recovery of the carboxylic acids from an organic solution of Alamine 336 into aqueous solutions of trimethylamine. For fumaric and succinic acids, partial evaporation of the aqueous back extract decomposes the carboxylate and yields the acid product in crystalline form. The decomposition of aqueous solutions of trimethylammonium lactates was not carried out to completion, due to the high water solubility …

In the first part of this work, we present a search for WW and WZ production in charged lepton, neutrino plus jets final states produced in p{bar p} collisions with {radical}s = 1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron, using 1.2 fb{sup -1} of data accumulated with the CDF II detector. This channel is yet to be observed in hadron colliders due to the large singleWplus jets background. However, this decay mode has a much larger branching fraction than the cleaner fully leptonic mode making it more sensitive to anomalous triple gauge couplings that manifest themselves at higher transverse W momentum. Because the final state is topologically similar to associated production of a Higgs boson with a W, the techniques developed in this analysis are also applicable in that search. An Artificial Neural Network has been used for the event selection optimization. The theoretical prediction for the cross section is {sigma}{sub WW/WZ}{sup theory} x Br(W {yields} {ell}{nu}; W/Z {yields} jj) = 2.09 {+-} 0.14 pb. They measured N{sub Signal} = 410 {+-} 212(stat) {+-} 102(sys) signal events that correspond to a cross section {sigma}{sub WW/WZ} x Br(W {yields} {ell}{nu}; W/Z {yields} jj) = 1.47 {+-} 0.77(stat) {+-} 0.38(sys) pb. The 95% …

Two novel regenerated solvent extraction processes are examined. The first process has the potential to reduce the energy costs inherent in the recovery of low-volatility carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous solutions. The second process has the potential for reducing the energy costs required for separate recovery of ammonia and acid gases (e.g. CO{sub 2} and H{sub 2}S) from industrial sour waters. The recovery of carboxylic acids from dilute aqueous solution can be achieved by extraction with tertiary amines. An approach for regeneration and product recovery from such extracts is to back-extract the carboxylic acid with a water-soluble, volatile tertiary amine, such as trimethylamine. The resulting trimethylammonium carboxylate solution can be concentrated and thermally decomposed, yielding the product acid and the volatile amine for recycle. Experimental work was performed with lactic acid, succinic acid, and fumaric acid. Equilibrium data show near-stoichiometric recovery of the carboxylic acids from an organic solution of Alamine 336 into aqueous solutions of trimethylamine. For fumaric and succinic acids, partial evaporation of the aqueous back extract decomposes the carboxylate and yields the acid product in crystalline form. The decomposition of aqueous solutions of trimethylammonium lactates was not carried out to completion, due to the high water solubility …

The differential cross section for charge-exchange scattering of negative pions by hydrogen has been observed at 230, 260, 290, 317, and 371 Mev. The reaction was observed by detecting one gamma ray from the {pi}{sup 0} decay with a scintillation-counter telescope.

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The measurement of B{sub s}{sup 0} mixing is one of the flagship analyses for the Run II B physics program. The sensitivity of the measurement to the frequency of B{sub s}{sup 0} oscillations strongly depends on the number of reconstructed B{sub s}{sup 0} mesons. They present the measurement of the ratio of branching fractions Br(B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +})/Br(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}), which directly influences the number of B{sub s}{sup 0} events available for the measurement of B{sub s}{sup 0} mixing at CDF-II. They analyze 115 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF-II detector in p{bar p} collisions at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using a novel displaced track trigger. They reconstruct 78 {+-} 11 B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays at 1153 {+-} 45 B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays with good signal to background ratio. This is the world's largest sample of fully reconstructed B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} decays. They find the ratio of production fractions multiplied by the ratio of branching fractions to be: f{sub s}/f{sub d} {center_dot} Br(B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +})/Br(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}) = 0.325 {+-} …

This thesis presents two measurements of the top quark pair production cross section at {radical}s = 1:96 TeV using data from the D0 experiment. Both measurements are performed in the dilepton final state and make use of secondary vertex b-tagging.

The author presents the measurement of p{bar p} {yields} Z/{gamma}* {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -} + X inclusive differential cross section as a function of boson rapidity. The data, which correspond to an integrated luminosity of 0.4 fb{sup -1}, were collected with D0 detector at Tevatron p{bar p} collider. At the Run II energy of {radical}s = 1.96 TeV, Z bosons are produced with rapidity out to {+-} 3. The cross section is measured in a mass range between 71 to 111 GeV for the allowed kinematic range.

Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the gauge theory that governs the strong interactions between quarks and gluons inside hadrons like, for example, protons and neutrons. It shows two well established characteristics, related to the non-Abelian nature of the theory, that dominate its phenomenology: asymptotic freedom and color confinement. The dependence of the strong coupling, {alpha}{sub s}(Q{sup 2}), with the hard scale is such that it decreases with decreasing the distance between partons. This allows to perform precise theoretical calculations at large energy transfer (short distances) using perturbative QCD (pQCD). On the other hand, the strength of the interaction increases with the distance between partons and thus colored quarks and gluons are forced to be confined inside colorless hadrons.

The cross-section of p{bar p} {yields} Z{sup 0}{gamma} + X production at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV using the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron is measured using 202 pb{sup -1} of data from March 2002 to September 2003, collected with high P{sub T} lepton triggers. The number of events observed and their kinematic distributions are compared to the NLO Standard Model prediction in both the Z{sup 0} {yields} e{sup +}e{sup -} and Z{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} channels. For a minimum lepton-photon separation of {Delta}R{sub l{gamma}} > 0.7, E{sub T}{sup {gamma}} > 7 GeV and a dilepton invariant mass m(l,l) > 40 GeV/c{sup 2}, the cross-section times branching ratio is measured to be 4.6 {+-} 0.5(stat) {+-} 0.2(sys) {+-} 0.3(lumi) pb compared to the NLO Standard Model prediction of 4.5 {+-} 0.3(th) pb.

Determination of application times-to-solution for large-scale clustered computers continues to be a difficult problem in high-end computing, which will only become more challenging as multi-core consumer machines become more prevalent in the market. Both researchers and consumers of these multi-core systems desire reasonable estimates of how long their programs will take to run (time-to-solution, or TTS), and how many resources will be consumed in the execution. Currently there are few methods of determining these values, and those that do exist are either overly simplistic in their assumptions or require great amounts of effort to parameterize and understand. One previously untried method is queuing network modeling (QNM), which is easy to parameterize and solve, and produces results that typically fall within 10 to 30% of the actual TTS for our test cases. Using characteristics of the computer network (bandwidth, latency) and communication patterns (number of messages, message length, time spent in communication), the QNM model of the NAS-PB CG application was applied to MCR and ALC, supercomputers at LLNL, and the Keck Cluster at USF, with average errors of 2.41%, 3.61%, and -10.73%, respectively, compared to the actual TTS observed. While additional work is necessary to improve the predictive capabilities of …

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In this thesis they report the measurement of ratios of branching fractions: {Beta}(B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} D{sub s}{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -})/{Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}D{sub s}{sup +})/{Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} D{sup -}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}), using 355 pb{sup -1} of data collected by CDF detector at the Tevatron p{bar p} collider at {radical}s = 1.96 TeV.

Microscopic quantum phenomena such as interference or phase coherence between different quantum states are rarely manifest in macroscopic systems due to a lack of significant correlation between different states. An exciton system is one candidate for observation of possible quantum collective effects. In the dilute limit, excitons in semiconductors behave as bosons and are expected to undergo Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) at a temperature several orders of magnitude higher than for atomic BEC because of their light mass. Furthermore, well-developed modern semiconductor technologies offer flexible manipulations of an exciton system. Realization of BEC in solid-state systems can thus provide new opportunities for macroscopic quantum coherence research. In semiconductor coupled quantum wells (CQW) under across-well static electric field, excitons exist as separately confined electron-hole pairs. These spatially indirect excitons exhibit a radiative recombination time much longer than their thermal relaxation time a unique feature in direct band gap semiconductor based structures. Their mutual repulsive dipole interaction further stabilizes the exciton system at low temperature and screens in-plane disorder more effectively. All these features make indirect excitons in CQW a promising system to search for quantum collective effects. Properties of indirect excitons in CQW have been analyzed and investigated extensively. The experimental results …

A new measurement of the inclusive and differential production cross sections of J/{psi} mesons and b-hadrons in proton-antiproton collisions at {radical}s = 1960 GeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 39.7 pb{sup -1} collected by the CDF Run II detector. The integrated cross section for inclusive J/{psi} production for all transverse momenta from 0 to 20 GeV/c in the rapidity range |y| < 0.6 is found to be 4.08 {+-} 0.02(stat){sub -0.33}{sup +0.36}(syst) {mu}b. The fraction of J/{psi} events from the decay of the long-lived b-hadrons is separated by using the lifetime distribution in all events with p{sub T}(J/{psi}) > 1.25 GeV/c. The total cross section for b-hadrons, including both hadrons and anti-hadrons, decaying to J/{psi} with transverse momenta greater than 1.25 GeV/c in the rapidity range |y(J/{psi})| < 0.6, is found to be 0.330 {+-} 0.005(stat){sub -0.033}{sup +0.036}(syst) {mu}b. Using a Monte Carlo simulation of the decay kinematics of b-hadrons to all final states containing a J/{psi}, the first measurement of the total single b-hadron cross section down to zero transverse momentum is extracted at sqrts = 1960 GeV. The total single b-hadron cross section integrated over all transverse momenta for b-hadrons in the rapidity …

Our physics objective is to search for the neutral on using events containing a like-sign dilepton pair in the following reaction: q{bar q} {yields} W{sup {+-}} H {yields} W{sup {+-}} W*W* {yields} {ell}{sup {+-}}{ell}{sup {+-}} + X. The relevant Higgs boson mass region is above 160 GeV/c{sup 2} for the Standard Model Higgs boson where the branching fraction of H {yields} W*W* supersedes that of H {yields} b{bar b}. The search for this signature in the region at low mass (less than 135 GeV/c{sup 2}) is, however, still important because we need to investigate various Higgs boson couplings as an essential test to convince that signals are attributed to the Higgs boson production. This channel also covers the case beyond the Standard Model that the Higgs boson couples only to the gauge bosons, which is referred to as the bosophilic or fermiophobic Higgs boson. The corresponding mass region suitable to our signature is above 110 GeV/c{sup 2} where the branching fraction of H {yields} {gamma}{gamma} is overtaken by this channel. On the experimental side, the like-sign dilepton event is one of the cleanest signature in hadron collisions. This analysis exploiting such a distinctive signature is therefore expected to have a …

A measurement of the asymmetry between the strange and antistrange quark distributions, from a next to leading order QCD analysis of dimuon events measured by the NuTeV experiment at Fermilab is presented. Neutrino charged current events with two muons in the final state provide a direct means for studying charm production and measuring the strange sea. NuTeV's sign selected beam allows independent measurement of the strange and antistrange seas. An improved measurement of the neutrino and antineutrino forward dimuon cross section tables, using the complete charged current event sample for normalization is performed. These tables are then analyzed at NLO to measure the strange and antistrange seas. Detector acceptance is modeled using an NLO charm cross section differential in all variables required. The strange quark distribution is found to have an integrated momentum weighted asymmetry of +0.00196 {+-} 0.00046(stat) {+-} 0.00045(syst) {+-} 0.00182(external). The charm mass is found to be 1.41 {+-} 0.10(stat) {+-} 0.08(syst) {+-} 0.12(external) GeV.

The main topic of this thesis is the measurement of b-quark jet shapes at CDF. CDF is an experiment located at Fermilab, in the United States, which studies proton-antiproton collisions at a center of mass energy of 1.96TeV. To reach this energy, the particles are accelerated using the Tevatron accelerator which is currently the highest energy collider in operation. The data used for this analysis were taken between February 2002 and September 2004 and represent an integrated luminosity of about 300 pb{sup -1}. This is the first time that b-quark jet shapes have been measured at hadron colliders. The basis of this measurement lies in the possibility of enhancing the b-quark jet content of jet samples by requiring the jets to be identified as having a displaced vertex inside the jet cone. Such jets are called tagged. This enhances the b-quark jet fraction from about 5% before tagging to 20-40% after tagging, depending on the transverse momentum of the jets. I verified that it is possible to apply this secondary vertex tagging algorithm to different cone jet algorithms (MidPoint and JetClu) and different cone sizes (0.4 and 0.7). I found that the performance of the algorithm does not change significantly, …

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To determine the nature of the interactions between antinucleons and nucleons, it has been necessary to do an experiment in which the elastic, inelastic, and charge-exchange interactions could be measured. Improvements in the 6-Bev Bevatron have permitted production of a considerably larger flux of antiprotons, than was available in earlier studies. With the use of strong-focusing magnetic quadrupoles, a crossed electric- and magnetic-field spectrometer, and time-of-flight scintillation counters it has been possible to detect approximately 30 antiprotons per minute. By means of a system of 4{pi} solid-angle scintillation counters, it has been possible to measure these cross sections, including the angular distribution of elastic scattering. These cross sections have been measured for antiprotons scattered from hydrogen, beryllium, and carbon in the energy range from 133 to 333 Mev. Ball and Chew have assumed that pion exchange is responsible for the nucleon-nucleon interaction, and have used field theory to calculate the antinucleon-nucleon interaction. They have assumed that the pionic charge of the antinucleon is opposite that of the nucleon; thus, the exchange of an odd number of pions should change the sign of the potential. Outside the hard core, the exchange is assumed to be due to two pions, and the …