Professor Daniela Bortoletto

Abstract:

A measurement of the underlying activity in scattering processes with pT scale in the GeV region is performed in proton-proton collisions at √ = 0.9 TeV, using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. Charged particle production is studied with reference to the direction of a leading object, either a charged particle or a set of charged particles forming a jet. Predictions of several QCD-inspired models as implemented in PYTHIA are compared, after full detector simulation, to the data. The models generally predict too little production of charged particles with pseudorapidity {pipe}η{pipe} < 2, pT > 0.5 GeV/c, and azimuthal direction transverse to that of the leading object. © 2010 CERN for benefit of the CMS collaboration.

Abstract:

Commissioning studies of the CMS hadron calorimeter have identified sporadic uncharacteristic noise and a small number of malfunctioning calorimeter channels. Algorithms have been developed to identify and address these problems in the data. The methods have been tested on cosmic ray muon data, calorimeter noise data, and single beam data collected with CMS in 2008. The noise rejection algorithms can be applied to LHC collision data at the trigger level or in the offline analysis. The application of the algorithms at the trigger level is shown to remove 90% of noise events with fake missing transverse energy above 100 GeV, which is sufficient for the CMS physics trigger operation. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.

Abstract:

We present a measurement of the ratio of positive to negative muon fluxes from cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere, using data collected by the CMS detector both at ground level and in the underground experimental cavern at the CERN LHC. Muons were detected in the momentum range from 5 GeV/. c to 1 TeV/. c. The surface flux ratio is measured to be 1.2766±0.0032(stat.)±0.0032(syst.), independent of the muon momentum, below 100 GeV/. c. This is the most precise measurement to date. At higher momenta the data are consistent with an increase of the charge ratio, in agreement with cosmic ray shower models and compatible with previous measurements by deep-underground experiments. © 2010.

Abstract:

A large sample of cosmic ray events collected by the CMS detector is exploited to measure the specific energy loss of muons in the lead tungstate (PbWO4) of the electromagnetic calorimeter. The measurement spans a momentum range from 5 GeV/c to 1 TeV/c. The results are consistent with the expectations over the entire range. The calorimeter energy scale, set with 120 GeV/c electrons, is validated down to the sub-GeV region using energy deposits, of order 100 MeV, associated with low-momentum muons. The muon critical energy in PbWO4 is measured to be 160+5-68 GeV, in agreement with expectations. This is the first experimental determination of muon critical energy. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.

Abstract:

Results on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 0.9, 2.36, and 7TeV are presented, using data collected with the CMS detector over a broad range of pseudorapidity (η) and azimuthal angle (φ). Short-range correlations in Δη, which are studied in minimum bias events, are characterized using a simple "independent cluster" parametrization in order to quantify their strength (cluster size) and their extent in η (cluster decay width). Long-range azimuthal correlations are studied differentially as a function of charged particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum using a 980 nb-1 data set at 7TeV. In high multiplicity events, a pronounced structure emerges in the two-dimensional correlation function for particle pairs with intermediate px of 1-3 GeV/c, 2.0 < |Δη| < 4.8 and Δφ ≈0. This is the first observation of such a long-range, near-side feature in two-particle correlation functions in pp or pp̄ collisions. © SISSA 2010.