Discovery of an active galactic nucleus driven molecular outflow in the local early-type galaxy NGC 1266
Astrophysical Journal 735:2 (2011)
Abstract:
We report the discovery of a powerful molecular wind from the nucleus of the non-interacting nearby S0 field galaxy NGC 1266. The single-dish CO profile exhibits emission to 400kms-1 and requires a nested Gaussian fit to be properly described. Interferometric observations reveal a massive, centrally concentrated molecular component with a mass of 1.1 × 109 M and a molecular outflow with a molecular mass of 2.4 × 107 M . The molecular gas close to the systemic velocity consists of a rotating, compact nucleus with a mass of about 4.1 × 108 M within a radius of 60pc. This compact molecular nucleus has a surface density of 2.7 × 104 M pc-2, more than two orders of magnitude larger than that of giant molecular clouds in the disk of the Milky Way, and it appears to sit on the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation despite its extreme kinematics and energetic activity. We interpret this nucleus as a disk that confines the outflowing wind. A mass outflow rate of 13 M yr-1 leads to a depletion timescale of ≲85 Myr. The star formation in NGC 1266 is insufficient to drive the outflow, and thus it is likely driven by the active galactic nucleus. The concentration of the majority of the molecular gas in the central 100pc requires an extraordinary loss of angular momentum, but no obvious companion or interacting galaxy is present to enable the transfer. NGC 1266 is the first known outflowing molecular system that does not show any evidence of a recent interaction. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..Measurement of the polarization of w bosons with large transverse momenta in W+jets events at the LHC
Physical Review Letters 107:2 (2011)
Abstract:
A first measurement of the polarization of W bosons with large transverse momenta in pp collisions is presented. The measurement is based on 36pb⊃-1 of data recorded at √s=7TeV by the CMS detector at the LHC. The left-handed, right-handed, and longitudinal polarization fractions (f L, fR, and f0, respectively) of W bosons with transverse momenta larger than 50GeV are determined by using decays to both electrons and muons. The muon final state yields the most precise measurement: (fL-fR)⊃-=0.240±0.036(stat)±0.031(syst) and f0-=0.183±0.087(stat)±0.123(syst) for negatively charged W bosons and (fL-fR)⊃+=0.310±0.036(stat) ±0.017(syst) and f0+=0.171±0.085(stat)±0.099(syst) for positively charged W bosons. This establishes, for the first time, that W bosons produced in pp collisions with large transverse momenta are predominantly left-handed, as expected in the standard model. © 2011 American Physical Society.Search for a W' boson decaying to a muon and a neutrino in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV
Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics 701:2 (2011) 160-179
Abstract:
A new heavy gauge boson, W', decaying to a muon and a neutrino, is searched for in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The data, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1. No significant excess of events above the standard model expectation is found in the transverse mass distribution of the muon-neutrino system. Masses below 1.40 TeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level for a sequential standard-model-like W'. The W' mass lower limit increases to 1.58 TeV when the present analysis is combined with the CMS result for the electron channel. © 2011 CERN.Measurement of the tt̄ production cross section in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using the kinematic properties of events with leptons and jets
European Physical Journal C 71:9 (2011) 1-27
Abstract:
A measurement of the tt̄ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been performed at the LHC with the CMS detector. The analysis uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb-1and is based on the reconstruction of the final state with one isolated, high transverse-momentum electron or muon and three or more hadronic jets. The kinematic properties of the events are used to separate the tt̄ signal from W+jets and QCD multijet background events. The measured cross section is 173+39-32(stat. + syst.) pb, consistent with standard model expectations. © 2011 CERN for the benefit of the CMS collaboration.Search for an excess of events with an identical flavour lepton pair and significant missing transverse momentum in √s = TeV proton-proton collisions with the ATLAS detector
European Physical Journal C 71:7 (2011) 1-18