A signature-based search for delayed photons in exclusive photon plus missing transverse energy events from $p \bar{p}$ collisions with $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV
ArXiv 1307.0474 (2013)
Abstract:
We present the first signature-based search for delayed photons using an exclusive photon plus missing transverse energy final state. Events are reconstructed in a data sample from the CDF II detector corresponding to $6.3 \text{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity from $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV proton-antiproton collisions. Candidate events are selected if they contain a photon with an arrival time in the detector larger than expected from a promptly-produced photon. The mean number of events from standard model sources predicted by the data-driven background model based on the photon timing distribution is $286 \pm 24$. A total of 322 events are observed. A $p$-value of 12% is obtained, showing consistency of the data with standard model predictions.Background studies for the EDELWEISS dark matter experiment
Astroparticle Physics 47 (2013) 1-9
Abstract:
The EDELWEISS-II collaboration has completed a direct search for WIMP dark matter using cryogenic Ge detectors (400 g each) and 384 kg × days of effective exposure. A cross-section of 4.4×10-8 pb is excluded at 90% C. L. for a WIMP mass of 85 GeV. The next phase, EDELWEISS-III, aims to probe spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross-sections down to a few ×10 -9 pb. We present here the study of gamma and neutron background coming from radioactive decays in the set-up and shielding materials. We have carried out Monte Carlo simulations for the completed EDELWEISS-II setup with GEANT4 and normalised the expected background rates to the measured radioactivity levels (or their upper limits) of all materials and components. The expected gamma-ray event rate in EDELWEISS-II at 20-200 keV agrees with the observed rate of 82 events/kg/day within the uncertainties in the measured concentrations. The calculated neutron rate from radioactivity of 1.0-3.1 events (90% C. L.) at 20-200 keV in the EDELWEISS-II data together with the expected upper limit on the misidentified gamma-ray events (≤0.9), surface betas (≤0.3), and muon-induced neutrons (≤0.7), do not contradict five observed events in nuclear recoil band. We have then extended the simulation framework to the EDELWEISS-III configuration with 800 g crystals, better material purity and additional neutron shielding inside the cryostat. The gamma-ray and neutron backgrounds in 24 kg fiducial mass of EDELWEISS-III have been calculated as 14-44 events/kg/day and 0.7-1.4 events per year, respectively. The results of the background studies performed in the present work have helped to select better purity components and improve shielding in EDELWEISS-III to further reduce the expected rate of background events in the next phase of the experiment. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fast tracker performance using the new “variable resolution associative memory” for ATLAS
2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2013) 1392-1395
Measurement of masses in the tt̄ system by kinematic endpoints in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV
European Physical Journal C 73:7 (2013) 1-28
Abstract:
A simultaneous measurement of the top-quark, W-boson, and neutrino masses is reported for tt̄ events selected in the dilepton final state from a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb-1 collected by the CMS experiment in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. The analysis is based on endpoint determinations in kinematic distributions. When the neutrino and W-boson masses are constrained to their world-average values, a top-quark mass value of Mt = 173.9 ± 0.9 (stat)+1.7-2.1(syst.) GeV is obtained. When such constraints are not used, the three particle masses are obtained in a simultaneous fit. In this unconstrained mode the study serves as a test of mass determination methods that may be used in beyond standard model physics scenarios where several masses in a decay chain may be unknown and undetected particles lead to underconstrained kinematics. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the CMS collaboration.Search for physics beyond the standard model in events with τ leptons, jets, and large transverse momentum imbalance in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV
European Physical Journal C 73:7 (2013) 1-26