Search for anomalous semileptonic decay of heavy flavor hadrons produced in association with a W boson at CDF II
We present a search for anomalous semileptonic decays of heavy flavor hadrons produced in association with a $W$ boson, in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. We use 162 pb-1 of data collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We select events with one W boson and at least one jet with an identified secondary vertex. In the jets with a secondary vertex we look for a semileptonic decay to a muon. We compare the number of jets with both a secondary vertex and a semileptonic decay, and the kinematic properties of these jets, with the standard model expectation of W plus heavy flavor production and decay. No discrepancy is seen between the observation and the expectation, and we set limits on the production cross section of a B-like hadron with an anomalously high semileptonic branching ratio.

title: First results of the ISIS1 beam test
abstract: The in situ storage image sensor (ISIS) is a monolithic active pixel sensor with memory cells in each pixel. The memory cells are implemented as a CCD register. This and other features of the sensor make the ISIS an excellent device for detectors that will be used at the International linear collider (ILC), an electron-positron accelerator with a proposed centre-of-mass energy of around 500 GeV. The sensor can be made very thin while retaining a high signal-to-noise ratio. The memory cells can be read out between bunch trains at a relatively low clock speed, hence limiting power consumption. The actual signal charge is stored in potential wells and not on capacitors, minimizing the sensitivity to electromagnetic interference. This paper presents the results of the first beam test of the first ISIS prototype. The measurements made include the signal-to-noise ratio, position resolution and efficiency.

title: Precision measurement of the top quark mass from dilepton events at CDF II
abstract: We report a measurement of the top quark mass, M{sub t}, in the dilepton decay channel of t{bar t} {yields} b{ell}{prime}{sup +} {nu}{sub {ell}}, {bar b}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb{sup -1} of p{bar p} 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 M{sub t} = 164.5 {+-} 3.9(stat.)  3.9(syst.) GeV/c{sup 2}, the most precise measurement of M{sub t} in the dilepton channel.

title: Search for Neutral Charmless B-Decays at Lep
abstract: A search for rare charmless decays of B d 0 and B s 0 mesons has been performed in the exclusive channels B d(s) 0 → ηη , B d(s) 0 → ηπ 0 and B d(s) 0 → π 0 π 0 . The data sample consisted of three million hadronic Z decays collected by the L3 experiment at LEP from 1991 through 1994. No candidate event has been observed and the following upper limits at 90% confidence level on the branching ratios have been set: Br ( B () d → ηη ) x 10 −4 , Br ( B () s → ηη ) x 10 −3 , Br ( B () d → ηφ () ) x 10 −4 , Br ( B () s → ηphi ; () ) x 10 −3 , Br ( B () d → phi ; () phi ; () ) x 10 −5 , Br ( B () s → phi ; () phi ; () ) x 10 −4 . These are the first experimental limits on B d 0 →ηη and on the B s 0 neutral charmless modes.

title: Alignment of the CMS Silicon Tracker during Commissioning with Cosmic Rays
abstract: This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version of the Paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOP

title: The effect of dead-timeless silicon strip readout at CDF II
abstract: The Run IIa CDF Silicon Upgrade has recently finished installation. The detector uses revision D of the SVX3 readout IC. This final revision incorporated new features in order to improve the potential of dead-timeless operation. This paper describes measurements of dead-timeless effects on silicon strip readout on the test bench. This paper also describes tests of the dynamic pedestal subtraction circuitry, which is shown to improve greatly the dead-timeless performance of the silicon systems.

title: Imaging the Sunyaev Zel'dovich Effect using ACBAR on Viper
abstract: During 2001 and 2002, observations of several X-ray bright clusters of galaxies were conducted using the ACBAR Bolometer Array on the South Pole Viper telescope. A multi-frequency analysis of these clusters is currently underway. This multi-frequency analysis includes 150, 220 and 275 GHz data from ACBAR, X-ray imaging and spectroscopy from Chandra and XMM-Newton, and weak lensing data from the CTIO 4m Blanco telescope. We describe here how ACBAR can be used to create fully sampled cluster images and present such images for four of the clusters in our sample; Abell 3266, Abell 3827, Abell S1063 and 1E0657-56. In these images, the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect is clearly detected.

title: First Results From an X-Ray, Weak Lensing and Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect Survey of Nearby Clusters: Abell 3266.
abstract: As part of a combined Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE), X-ray and weak lensing survey of low redshift (z<0.1) X-ray clusters, we present SZE images of the z=0.059 X-ray cluster Abell 3266 at three observing frequencies (150, 220, 275 GHz) and after the spectral subtraction of primary Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. These images were generated using the ACBAR bolometer array operated on the Viper telescope at the South Pole. The multi-frequency data from ACBAR should allow us to overcome one of the main obstacles facing the analysis of SZE observations of nearby clusters, i.e. contamination from primary Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies.

title: First results from the arcminute cosmology bolometer array receiver
abstract: We review the first science results from the Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR); a multi-frequency millimeter-wave receiver optimized for observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and the Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (SZ) effect in clusters of galaxies. ACBAR was installed on the 2 m Viper telescope at the South Pole in January 2001 and the results presented here incorporate data through July 2002. We present the power spectrum of the CMB at 150 GHz over the range l=150–3000 measured by ACBAR as well as estimates for the values of the cosmological parameters within the context of ΛCDM models. We find that the inclusion of Ω Λ greatly improves the fit to the power spectrum. We also observe a slight excess of small-scale anisotropy at 150 GHz; if interpreted as power from the SZ effect of unresolved clusters, the measured signal is consistent with CBI and BIMA within the context of the SZ power spectrum models tested.

title: Improved Measurements of the CMB Power Spectrum with ACBAR
abstract: We report improved measurements of temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation made with the Arcminute Cosmology Bolometer Array Receiver (ACBAR). In this paper, we use a new analysis technique and include 30% more data from the 2001 and 2002 observing seasons than the first release to derive a new set of band-power measurements with significantly smaller uncertainties. The planet-based calibration used previously has been replaced by comparing the flux of RCW 38 as measured by ACBAR and BOOMERANG to transfer the WMAP-based BOOMERANG calibration to ACBAR. The resulting power spectrum is consistent with the theoretical predictions for a spatially flat, dark energy-dominated ΛCDM cosmology, including the effects of gravitational lensing. Despite the exponential damping on small angular scales, the primary CMB fluctuations are detected with a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 4, up to multipoles of l = 2000. This increase in the precision of the fine-scale CMB power spectrum leads to only a modest decrease in the uncertainties on the parameters of the standard cosmological model. At high angular resolution, secondary anisotropies are predicted to be a significant contribution to the measured anisotropy. A joint analysis of the ACBAR results at 150 GHz and the CBI results at 30 GHz in the multipole range 2000 < l < 3000 shows that the power, reported by CBI in excess of the predicted primary anisotropy, has a frequency spectrum consistent with the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect and inconsistent with primary CMB. The results reported here are derived from a subset of the total ACBAR data set; the final ACBAR power spectrum at 150 GHz will include 3.7 times more effective integration time and 6.5 times more sky coverage than is used here.

title: The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA survey III: H I source catalog of the northern Virgo cluster region
abstract: We present the first installment of H I sources extracted from the Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) extragalactic survey, initiated in 2005. Sources have been extracted from three-dimensional spectral data cubes exploiting a matched filtering technique and then examined interactively to yield global H I parameters. A total of 730 H I detections are cataloged within the solid angle 11h44m 6.5, (2) high-velocity clouds in the Milky Way or its periphery, and (3) signals of lower S/N (to ~4.5) which coincide spatially with an optical object of known similar redshift. Although this region of the sky has been heavily surveyed by previous targeted observations based on optical flux- or size-limited samples, 69% of the extracted sources are newly reported H I detections. The resulting positional accuracy of H I sources is dependent on S/N: it averages 24'' (20'' median) for all sources with S/N > 6.5 and is of order ~17'' (14'' median) for signals with S/N > 12. The median redshift of the sample is ~7000 km s-1, and its distribution reflects the known local large-scale structure including the Virgo Cluster and the void behind it, the A1367-Coma supercluster at cz ~ 7000 km s-1, and a third, more distant overdensity at cz ~ 13,000 km s-1. Distance uncertainties in and around the Virgo Cluster perturb the derived H I mass distribution. Specifically, an apparent deficiency of the lowest H I mass objects can be attributed, at least in part, to the incorrect assignment of some foreground objects to the cluster distance. Several extended H I features are found in the vicinity of the Virgo Cluster. A small percentage (6%) of H I detections have no identifiable optical counterpart, more than half of which are high-velocity clouds in the Milky Way vicinity; the remaining 17 objects do not appear connected to or associated with any known galaxy. Based on these initial results, ALFALFA is expected to fulfill, and even exceed, its predicted performance objectives in terms of the number and quality of H I detections.