Analysis of transverse momentum correlations in hadronic Z decays
In a recent paper, evidence was presented for a significant, positive correlation between the total transverse momenta of particles on opposite hemispheres of hadronic events. A new, model independent analysis of the data has been made. Two components can be distinguished in the correlation, and quantitative estimates of each are given. The results form a significant test of Monte Carlo models and some of the physics behind them.

title: Search for neutrino-induced charged current coherent pion production with carbon in a 1.3 GeV wide band muon neutrino beam
abstract: The search for charged-current coherent pion production induced by neutrinos with a mean energy of 1.3 GeV is discussed. The data are collected with a fully active scintillator detector in the K2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. No evidence for coherent pion production is observed and an upper limit of 0.60 × 10−2 is set on the cross section ratio of coherent pion production to the total charged current interaction at the 90% confidence level.

title: Mass limit for the lightest neutralino
abstract: AbstractIndirect limits on the mass of the lightest neutralino are derived from the results of searches for charginos, neutralinos, and sleptons performed with data taken by the ALEPH Collaboration at centre-of-mass energies near the Z peak and at 130 and 136 GeV. Within the context of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and when
$$M_{\tilde \nu } \geqslant 200 GeV/c^2 $$
, the boundMx> 12.8 GeV/c2 at the 95% confidence level applies for any tanβ. The impact of lighter sneutrinos is presented in the framework of SUSY grand unified theories; a massless neutralino is allowed only for a narrow range of tanβ,μ, and the scalar mass parameterm0. Finally, by including Higgs mass constraints and requiring that radiative electroweak symmetry breaking occur, more stringent bounds onMx as a function of tanβ are derived.

title: Measurement of triple gauge-boson couplings at 172 GeV
abstract: The triple gauge-boson couplings, αWΦ, αW and αBΦ, have been measured using 34 semileptonically and 54 hadronically decaying W+W− candidate events. The events were selected in the data recorded during 1996 with the ALEPH detector at 172 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb−1. The triple gauge-boson couplings have been measured using optimal observables constructed from kinematic information of W+W− events. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.

title: Architecture of the HERA-B data acquisition system
abstract: The HERA-B experiment was dedicated for the measurement of CP-violation in decays of neutral B-mesons and for investigating the physics of charmed particles. One of the experimental requirements is a highly selective on-line filtering of data due to high interaction rates and a low signal-to-background ratio. This demands a hierarchical trigger and a high bandwidth data acquisition system. The challenge for the DAQ system is a readout free of deadtime, which requires an unprecedent speed of storing and processing the data. In this paper we will outline the general architecture and hardware implementation of the HERA-B DAQ.

title: Improved measurement of the $\bar{B}^0$ and $B^{-}$ meson lifetimes

title: Measuring the transition to homogeneity with photometric redshift surveys
abstract: We study the possibility of detecting the transition to homogeneity using photometric redshift catalogs. Our method is based on measuring the fractality of the projected galaxy distribution, using angular distances, and relies only on observable quantites. It thus provides a way to test the Cosmological Principle in a model-independent unbiased way. We have tested our method on dierent synthetic inhomogeneous catalogs, and shown that it is capable of discriminating some fractal models with relatively large fractal dimensions, in spite of the loss of information due to the radial projection. We have also studied the inuence of the redshift bin width, photometric redshift errors, bias, non-linear clustering, and surveyed area, on the angular homogeneity index H2( ) in a CDM cosmology. The level to which an upcoming galaxy survey will be able to constrain the transition to homogeneity will depend mainly on the total surveyed area and the compactness of the surveyed region. In particular, a Dark Energy Survey (DES)-like survey should be able to easily discriminate certain fractal models with fractal dimensions as large as D2 = 2:95. We believe that this method will have relevant applications for upcoming large photometric redshift surveys, such as DES or the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).

title: Star Formation and Molecular Gas in AGN
abstract: We present initial results from a survey of nearby AGN using the near infrared adaptive optics integral field spectrograph SINFONI. These data enable us to probe the distribution and kinematics of the gas and stars at spatial resolutions as small as 0.085arcsec, corresponding in some cases to less than 10pc. In this contribution we present results concerning (1) the molecular gas in the nucleus of NGC1068 and its relation to the obscuring torus; and (2) the stars which exist on spatial scales of a few tens of parsecs around the AGN, the evidence for their remarkably young age and extreme intensities, and their relation to the AGN.

title: MOLECULAR GAS STREAMERS FEEDING AND OBSCURING THE ACTIVE NUCLEUS OF NGC 1068
abstract: We report the first direct observations of neutral, molecular gas streaming in the nucleus of NGC 1068 on scales of <30 pc using SINFONI near-infrared integral field spectroscopy. At a resolution of 0075, the flux map of 2.12 μm 1-0 S(1) molecular hydrogen emission around the nucleus in the central arcsec reveals two prominent linear structures leading to the active galactic nucleus from the north and south. The kinematics of the gas in these features are dominated by noncircular motions and indicate that material streams toward the nucleus on highly elliptical or parabolic trajectories, whose orientations are compatible with that of the disk plane of the galaxy. We interpret the data as evidence for fueling of gas to the central region. The radial transport rate from ~30 pc to a few parsecs from the nucleus is ~15 M ☉ yr–1. One of the infalling clouds lies directly in front of the central engine. We interpret it as a tidally disrupted streamer that forms the optically thick outer part of an amorphous clumpy molecular/dusty structure which contributes to the nuclear obscuration.

title: The star-forming torus and stellar dynamical black hole mass in the Seyfert 1 nucleus of NGC 3227
abstract: We report R ~ 4300 VLT SINFONI adaptive optics integral field K-band spectroscopy of the nucleus of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3227 at a spatial resolution of 0085 (7 pc). We present the morphologies and kinematics of emission lines and absorption features and give the first derivation of a black hole mass in a Seyfert 1 nucleus from stellar dynamics (marginally resolving the black hole's sphere of influence). We show that the gas in the nucleus has a mean column density of order 1024 cm-2 and that it is geometrically thick, in agreement with the standard "molecular torus" scenario. We discuss possible heating processes responsible for maintaining the vertical height of the torus. We also resolve the nuclear stellar distribution and find that within a few parsecs of the AGN there has been an intense starburst, the most recent episode of which began ~40 Myr ago but has now ceased. The current luminosity of stars within 30 pc of the AGN, ~3 × 109 L☉, is comparable to that of the AGN. We argue that the star formation has been occurring in the obscuring material. Finally, we apply Schwarzschild orbit superposition models to our full two-dimensional data and derive the mass of the black hole, paying careful attention to the input parameters, which are often uncertain. Our models yield a 1 σ range for the black hole mass of MBH = 7 × 106-2 × 107 M☉.

title: Eddington-limited starbursts in the central 10 pc of AGN and the Torus in NGC1068
abstract: We present results from a survey of nearby AGN using the near infrared adaptive optics integral field spectrograph SINFONI. These data enable us to probe the distribution and kinematics of the gas and stars at spatial resolutions as small as 0.085arcsec. We find strong evidence for recent but short lived starbursts residing in very dense nuclear disks. On scales of less than 10pc these would have reached Eddington-limited luminosities when active, perhaps accounting for their short duration. In addition, for NGC1068 at a resolution of 6pc, we present direct observations of molecular gas close around the AGN which we identify with the obscuring torus.