Professor Todd Huffman

Abstract:

The collection of a large number of B-hadron decays to hadronic final states at the CDF II Detector is possible due to the presence of a trigger that selects events based on track impact parameters. However, the nature of the selection requirements of the trigger introduces a large bias in the observed proper-decay-time distribution. A lifetime measurement must correct for this bias, and the conventional approach has been to use a Monte Carlo simulation. The leading sources of systematic uncertainty in the conventional approach are due to differences between the data and the Monte Carlo simulation. In this paper, we present an analytic method for bias correction without using simulation, thereby removing any uncertainty due to the differences between data and simulation. This method is presented in the form of a measurement of the lifetime of the B- using the mode B-→D0π -. The B- lifetime is measured as τB -=1.663±0.023±0.015ps, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. This new method results in a smaller systematic uncertainty in comparison to methods that use simulation to correct for the trigger bias. © 2011 American Physical Society.

Abstract:

The optical fibres that will be used in SLHC detectors will be exposed to high doses and low temperatures in the inner detectors. A number of single-Mode (sM) and Multi-Mode (MM) fibres have been tested for radiation hardness by exposure beyond a full SLHC dose to 500 kGy(Si) in the -25 °C operating temperatures expected in the upgraded inner detectors. From these measurements conservative estimates of the level of Radiation Induced Absorption (RIA) have been calculated for these fibres in realistic paths through an upgraded inner detector. Two SM fibres have been found whose total calculated RIAs were much lower than the budgeted 1 dB, despite the high dose rates used in the experiment. The RIAs for the DrakaElite Super RadHard Single-Mode Fiber and Fibre X were calculated to be 0.142 and 0.064 dB respectively. Another SM and a MM fibre showed high levels of RIA during the experiment, however they cannot be ruled out as candidate fibres due the the high dose rate of 27 kGy(Si)/hr used. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.