Diffractive open charm production in deep-inelastic scattering and photoproduction at HERA
Measurements are presented of diffractive open charm production at HERA. The event topology is given by ep→eXY where the system X contains at least one charmed hadron and is well separated by a large rapidity gap from a leading low-mass proton remnant system Y. Two analysis techniques are used for the cross section measurements. In the first, the charm quark is tagged by the reconstruction of a D*±(2010) meson. This technique is used in deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) and photoproduction (γp). In the second, a method based on the displacement of tracks from the primary vertex is used to measure the open charm contribution to the inclusive diffractive cross section in DIS. The measurements are compared with next-to-leading order QCD predictions based on diffractive parton density functions previously obtained from a QCD analysis of the inclusive diffractive cross section at H1. A good agreement is observed in the full kinematic regime, which supports the validity of QCD factorization for open charm production in diffractive DIS and γp.

title: Measurement of the single-top-quark t-channel cross section in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV
abstract: A bstractA measurement of the single-top-quark t-channel production cross section in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC is presented. Two different and complementary approaches have been followed. The first approach exploits the distributions of the pseudorapidity of the recoil jet and reconstructed top-quark mass using background estimates determined from control samples in data. The second approach is based on multivariate analysis techniques that probe the compatibility of the candidate events with the signal. Data have been collected for the muon and electron final states, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 1.17 and 1.56 fb−1, respectively. The single-top-quark production cross section in the t-channel is measured to be 67.2±6.1 pb, in agreement with the approximate next-to-next-to-leading-order standard model prediction. Using the standard model electroweak couplings, the CKM matrix element |Vtb| is measured to be 1.020 ± 0.046 (meas.) ± 0.017 (theor.).

title: Search for Excited Electrons in ep Collisions at HERA
abstract: A search for excited electrons is performed using the full e±p data sample collected by the H1 experiment at HERA, corresponding to a total luminosity of 475 pb−1. The electroweak decays of excited electrons e*→eγ, e*→eZ and e*→νW with subsequent hadronic or leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons are considered. No evidence for excited electron production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits on e* production cross sections and on the ratio f/Λ of the coupling to the compositeness scale are derived within gauge mediated models. These limits extend the excluded region compared to previous excited electron searches. The e* production via contact interactions is also addressed for the first time in ep collisions.

title: Search for third-generation leptoquarks and scalar bottom quarks in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7\;TeV $
abstract: A bstractResults are presented from a search for third-generation leptoquarks and scalar bottom quarks in a sample of proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7\;TeV $ collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb−1. A scenario where the new particles are pair produced and each decays to a b quark plus a tau neutrino or neutralino is considered. The number of observed events is found to be in agreement with the standard model prediction. Upper limits are set at 95% confidence level on the production cross sections. Leptoquarks with masses below ~450 GeV are excluded. Upper limits in the mass plane of the scalar quark and neutralino are set such that scalar bottom quark masses up to 410 GeV are excluded for neutralino masses of 50 GeV.

title: Search for dark matter and large extra dimensions in monojet events in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = {7} $ TeV
abstract: A bstractA search has been made for events containing an energetic jet and an imbalance in transverse momentum using a data sample of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. This signature is common to both dark matter and extra dimensions models. The data were collected by the CMS detector at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb−1. The number of observed events is consistent with the standard model expectation. Constraints on the dark matter-nucleon scattering cross sections are determined for both spin-independent and spin-dependent interaction models. For the spin-independent model, these are the most constraining limits for a dark matter particle with mass below 3.5 GeV/c2, a region unexplored by direct detection experiments. For the spin-dependent model, these are the most stringent constraints over the 0.1–200 GeV/c2 mass range. The constraints on the Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos, and Dvali model parameter MD determined as a function of the number of extra dimensions are also an improvement over the previous results.

title: Search for new physics in events with same-sign dileptons and b-tagged jets in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 7 $ TeV
abstract: A bstractA search for new physics is performed using isolated same-sign dileptons with at least two b-quark jets in the final state. Results are based on a 4.98 fb−1 sample of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV collected by the CMS detector. No excess above the standard model background is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the number of events from non-standard-model sources. These limits are used to set constraints on a number of new physics models. Information on acceptance and efficiencies are also provided so that the results can be used to confront additional models in an approximate way.

title: SEARCHES FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY VARIATIONS IN THE 8B SOLAR NEUTRINO FLUX AT THE SUDBURY NEUTRINO OBSERVATORY
abstract: We have performed three searches for high-frequency signals in the solar neutrino flux measured by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, motivated by the possibility that solar g-mode oscillations could affect the production or propagation of solar 8B neutrinos. The first search looked for any significant peak in the frequency range 1-144 day–1, with a sensitivity to sinusoidal signals with amplitudes of 12% or greater. The second search focused on regions in which g-mode signals have been claimed by experiments aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite, and was sensitive to signals with amplitudes of 10% or greater. The third search looked for extra power across the entire frequency band. No statistically significant signal was detected in any of the three searches.

title: The Case for Deep, Wide-Field Cosmology
abstract: Much of the science case for the next generation of deep, wide-field optical/infrared surveys has been driven by the further study of dark energy. This is a laudable goal (and the subject of a companion white paper by Zhan et al.). However, one of the most important lessons of the current generation of surveys is that the interesting science questions at the end of the survey are quite different than they were when the surveys were being planned. The current surveys succeeded in this evolving terrain by being very general tools that could be applied to a number of very fundamental measurements. Likewise, the accessibility of the data enabled the broader cosmological and astronomical community to generate more science than the survey collaborations could alone. With that in mind, we should consider some of the basic physical and cosmological questions that surveys like LSST and JDEM-Wide will be able to address.

title: Independent measurement of the total active 8B solar neutrino flux using an array of 3He proportional counters at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.
abstract: The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) used an array of 3He proportional counters to measure the rate of neutral-current interactions in heavy water and precisely determined the total active (nu_x) 8B solar neutrino flux. This technique is independent of previous methods employed by SNO. The total flux is found to be 5.54_-0.31;+0.33(stat)-0.34+0.36(syst)x10(6) cm(-2) s(-1), in agreement with previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino results yields Deltam2=7.59_-0.21;+0.19x10(-5) eV2 and theta=34.4_-1.2;+1.3 degrees. The uncertainty on the mixing angle has been reduced from SNO's previous results.

title: Virial scaling of massive dark matter halos: why clusters prefer a high normalization cosmology
abstract: We present a precise estimate of the bulk virial scaling relation of halos formed via hierarchical clustering in an ensemble of simulated cold dark matter cosmologies. The result is insensitive to cosmological parameters; the presence of a trace, dissipationless gas component; and numerical resolution down to a limit of ~1000 particles. The dark matter velocity dispersion scales with total mass as log [?DM(M,z)] = = log(1082.9 ? 4.0 km s?1) + (0.3361 ? 0.0026)log[h(z)M200/1015 M?], with h(z) being the dimensionless Hubble parameter. At fixed mass, the velocity dispersion likelihood is nearly lognormal, with scatter ?ln ? = 0.0426 ? 0.015, except for a tail with higher dispersions containing 10% of the population that are merger transients. We combine this relation with the halo mass function in ?CDM models and show that a low normalization condition, S8 = ?8(?m/0.3)0.35 = 0.69, favored by recent WMAP and SDSS analysis requires that galaxy and gas-specific energies in rich clusters be 50% larger than that of the underlying dark matter. Such large energetic biases are in conflict with the current generation of direct simulations of cluster formation. A higher normalization, S8 = 0.80, alleviates this tension and implies that the hot gas fraction within r500 is , a value consistent with recent Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations.

title: Nonparametric reconstruction of the dark energy equation of state from diverse data sets
abstract: The cause of the accelerated expansion of the Universe poses one of the most fundamental questions in physics today. In the absence of a compelling theory to explain the observations, a first task is to develop a robust phenomenological approach: If the acceleration is driven by some form of dark energy, then the phenomenology is determined by the form of the dark energy equation of state w(z) as a function of redshift. A major aim of ongoing and upcoming cosmological surveys is to measure w and its evolution at high accuracy. Since w(z) is not directly accessible to measurement, powerful reconstruction methods are needed to extract it reliably from observations. We have recently introduced a new reconstruction method for w(z) based on Gaussian process modeling. This method can capture nontrivial w(z) dependences and, most importantly, it yields controlled and unbiased error estimates. In this paper we extend the method to include a diverse set of measurements: baryon acoustic oscillations, cosmic microwave background measurements, and supernova data. We analyze currently available data sets and present the resulting constraints on w(z), finding that current observations are in very good agreement with a cosmological constant. In addition, we explore how well our methodmore » captures nontrivial behavior of w(z) by analyzing simulated data assuming high-quality observations from future surveys. We find that the baryon acoustic oscillation measurements by themselves already lead to remarkably good reconstruction results and that the combination of different high-quality probes allows us to reconstruct w(z) very reliably with small error bounds.« less