Accelerator Neutrinos

Abstract:

We present the first observation of exclusive e+e- production in hadron-hadron collisions, using pp̄ collision data at s=1.96TeV taken by the run II Collider Detector at Fermilab, and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 532pb-1. We require the absence of any particle signatures in the detector except for an electron and a positron candidate, each with transverse energy ET>5GeV and pseudorapidity |η|<2. With these criteria, 16 events are observed compared to a background expectation of 1.9±0.3 events. These events are consistent in cross section and properties with the QED process pp̄→p+e+e-+p̄ through two-photon exchange. The measured cross section is 1.6-0.3+0.5(stat)±0.3(syst)pb. This agrees with the theoretical prediction of 1.71±0.01pb. © 2007 The American Physical Society.

Abstract:

The particle identification (PID) methods used for the calculation of secondary pion yields with the HARP forward spectrometer are presented. Information from time of flight and Cherenkov detectors is combined using likelihood techniques. The efficiencies and purities associated with the different PID selection criteria are obtained from the data. For the proton-aluminium interactions at 12.9 GeV/c incident momentum, the PID efficiencies for positive pions are 86 % in the momentum range below 2 GeV/c, 92 % between 2 and 3 GeV/c and 98 % in the momentum range above 3 GeV/c. The purity of the selection is better than 92 % for all momenta. Special emphasis has been put on understanding the main error sources. The final PID uncertainty on the pion yield is 3.3 %. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The new data on pion production in p+C interactions from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS are used for a detailed study of hadronization in the collision of protons with light nuclei. The comparison to the extensive set of data from p+p collisions obtained with the same detector allows for the separation and extraction of the projectile and target contributions to the pion yield both in longitudinal and in transverse momentum. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.

Abstract:

The production of charged pions in minimum bias p+C interactions is studied using a sample of 377000 inelastic events obtained with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS at 158 GeV/c beam momentum. The data cover a phase space area ranging from 0 to 1.8 GeV/c in transverse momentum and from -0.1 to 0.5 in Feynman xF. Inclusive invariant cross sections are given on a grid of 270 bins per charge, thus offering for the first time a dense coverage of the projectile hemisphere and of the cross-over region into the target fragmentation zone. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.

Abstract:

We report a measurement of the top-quark mass, Mt, in the dilepton decay channel of tt̄→b ′+ν ′b̄ -ν̄ using an integrated luminosity of 1.0fb-1 of pp̄ collisions collected with the CDF II detector. We apply a method that convolutes a leading-order matrix element with detector resolution functions to form event-by-event likelihoods; we have enhanced the leading-order description to describe the effects of initial-state radiation. The joint likelihood is the product of the likelihoods from 78 candidate events in this sample, which yields a measurement of Mt=164.5±3.9(stat.)±3.9(syst.)GeV/c2, the most precise measurement of Mt in the dilepton channel. © 2007 The American Physical Society.