Top quark mass measurement in the lepton + jets channel using a matrix element method and in situ jet energy calibration.
A precision measurement of the top quark mass m(t) is obtained using a sample of tt events from pp collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron with the CDF II detector. Selected events require an electron or muon, large missing transverse energy, and exactly four high-energy jets, at least one of which is tagged as coming from a b quark. A likelihood is calculated using a matrix element method with quasi-Monte Carlo integration taking into account finite detector resolution and jet mass effects. The event likelihood is a function of m(t) and a parameter Δ(JES) used to calibrate the jet energy scale in situ. Using a total of 1087 events in 5.6 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, a value of m(t)=173.0 ± 1.2 GeV/c(2) is measured.

title: Search for Higgs bosons predicted in two-Higgs-doublet models via decays to tau lepton pairs in 1.96 TeV pp collisions.
abstract: We present the results of a search for Higgs bosons predicted in two-Higgs-doublet models, in the case where the Higgs bosons decay to tau lepton pairs, using 1.8 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity of pp collisions recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. Studying the mass distribution in events where one or both tau leptons decay leptonically, no evidence for a Higgs boson signal is observed. The result is used to infer exclusion limits in the two-dimensional space of tanbeta versus m(A) (the ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the two Higgs doublets and the mass of the pseudoscalar boson, respectively).

title: Measurement of the WW + WZ production cross section using the lepton + jets final state at CDF II.
abstract: We report two complementary measurements of the WW + WZ cross section in the final state consisting of an electron or muon, missing transverse energy, and jets, performed using pp collision data at square root of s = 1.96 TeV collected by the CDF II detector. The first method uses the dijet invariant mass distribution while the second more sensitive method uses matrix-element calculations. The result from the second method has a signal significance of 5.4sigma and is the first observation of WW + WZ production using this signature. Combining the results gives sigma(WW + WZ) = 16.0 +/- 3.3 pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction.

title: Operational Experience with the CDF Run II Silicon Detector
abstract: The CDF Run II Silicon Detector is the largest operating silicon detector in High Energy Physics. Its 722,000 channels spread over 7 m 2 of silicon micro-strip sensors allow precision tracking and vertexing. The CDF silicon detector played a critical role in the discovery of B s mixing and is used extensively for the current Higgs Boson searches. Over the last 7 years, the detector efficiency has remained stable at 95% after the Run II commissioning period. The infrastructure (cooling, power supplies) problems dealt with are discussed.

title: Improved determination of the sample composition of dimuon events produced in $p\bar{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV
abstract: We use a new method to estimate with 5% accuracy the contribution of pion and kaon in-flight-decays to the dimuon data set acquired with the CDF detector. Based on this improved estimate, we show that the total number and the properties of the collected dimuon events are not yet accounted for by ordinary sources of dimuons which also include the contributions, as measured in the data, of heavy flavor, ϒ, and Drell–Yan production in addition to muons mimicked by hadronic punchthrough. The number of unaccounted events corresponds to (12.8±3.2)% of the $b\bar{b}$ production. We find that (23±6)% of the unaccounted events contain additional muon candidates. For comparison, this fraction is (6.9±0.4)% for events due to $b\bar{b}$ production.

title: Inclusive search for standard model Higgs boson production in the WW decay channel using the CDF II detector.
abstract: We present a search for standard model (SM) Higgs boson production using pp collision data at square root(s) = 1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb(-1). We search for Higgs bosons produced in all processes with a significant production rate and decaying to two W bosons. We find no evidence for SM Higgs boson production and place upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the SM production cross section (sigma(H)) for values of the Higgs boson mass (sigma(H)) in the range from 110 to 200 GeV. These limits are the most stringent for m(H) > 130 GeV and are 1.29 above the predicted value of sigma(H) for c = 165 GeV.

title: The S(3) flavour symmetry: Quarks, leptons and Higgs sectors

title: Finiteness and the Higgs mass prediction
abstract: Finite Unified Theories (FUTs) are N=1 supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) which can be made finite to all-loop orders, leading to a drastic reduction in the number of free parameters. By confronting the predictions of SU(5) FUTs with the top and bottom quark masses we are able to discriminate among different models. Including further low-energy phenomenology constraints, such as B physics observables, the bound on the SM Higgs mass and the cold dark matter density, we derive predictions for the lightest Higgs boson mass and the sparticle spectrum.

title: Finite unified theories and the top quark mass
abstract: We present results of a study of two phenomenologically interesting SU (5) supersymmetric Grand Unified models, which are finite to all-loops before spontaneous symmetry breaking. The finiteness conditions provide us with relationships among the Yukawa and gauge couplings at the unification point, which in turn predict a heavy top quark mass (∼ 175 – 190 GeV).