NEW LIMITS FOR NEUTRINOLESS TAU DECAYS
Neutrinoless 3-prong tau lepton decays into a charged lepton and either two charged particles or one neutral meson have been searched for using 4.79fb^(-1) of data collected with the CLEO II detector at Cornell Electron Storage Ring. This analysis represents an update of a previous study and the addition of six decay channels. In all channels the numbers of events found are compatible with background estimates and branching fraction upper limits are set for 28 different decay modes. These limits are either more stringent than those set previously or represent the first attempt to find these decays.

title: Observation of radiative leptonic decay of the tau lepton
abstract: Using 4.68 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have studied tau radiative decays tau(-)-->nu(tau)&mgr;(-)nu;(&mgr;)gamma and tau(-)-->nu(tau)e(-)nu;(e)gamma. For a 10 MeV minimum photon energy in the tau rest frame, the branching fraction for radiative tau decay to a muon or electron is measured to be (3.61+/-0.16+/-0. 35)x10(-3) or (1.75+/-0.06+/-0.17)x10(-2), respectively. The branching fractions are in agreement with standard model theoretical predictions.

title: Search for B ---> K lepton+ lepton- and B ---> K* lepton+ lepton- decays

title: Measurement of Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the tau lepton.
abstract: Branching ratios for the dominant Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the [tau] lepton have been measured by CLEO II in [ital e][sup +][ital e][sup [minus]] annihilation at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring ([radical][ital s] [similar to]10.6 GeV) using kaons with momenta below 0.7 GeV/[ital c]. The inclusive branching ratio into one charged kaon is (1.60[plus minus]0.12[plus minus]0.19)%. For the exclusive decays, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]][nu][sub [tau]])=(0.66[plus minus]0.07[plus minus]0.09)%, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]][pi][sup 0][nu][sub [tau]])=(0.51 [plus minus]0.10[plus minus]0.07)%, and, based on three events, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]]2[pi][sup 0][nu][sub [tau]])[lt]0.3% at the 90% confidence level. These represent significant improvements over previous results. ) is measured for the first time with exclusive [pi][sup 0] reconstruction.

title: Limits on flavor changing neutral currents in D0 meson decays.
abstract: Using the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have searched for flavor changing neutral currents and lepton family number violations in D^0 meson decays. The upper limits on the branching fractions for D^0→l^+l^- and D^0→X^0l^+l^- are in the range 10^(-5) to 10^(-4), where X^0 can be a π^0, K_s^0, η, ρ^0, ω, K^(*0), or φ meson, and the l^+l^- pair can be e^+e^-, μ^+μ^-, or e^±μ^∓. Although these limits are above the theoretical predictions, most are new or an order of magnitude lower than previous limits.

title: Measurement of B (tau- ---> tau-neutrino K- K0) and b (tau- ---> tau-neutrino K- K0 pi0)

title: VERITAS: Status and Highlights
abstract: The VERITAS telescope array has been operating smoothly since 2007, and has detected gamma-ray emission above 100 GeV from 40 astrophysical sources. These include blazars, pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, gamma- ray binary systems, a starburst galaxy, a radio galaxy, the Crab pulsar, and gamma-ray sources whose origin remains unidentified. In 2009, the array was reconfigured, greatly im proving the sensitivity. We summarize the current status of the observatory, describe some of the scientific highlights since 2009, and outline plans for the future.

title: Veritas search for VHE gamma-ray emission from dwarf spheroidal galaxies
abstract: Indirect dark matter searches with ground-based gamma-ray observatories provide an alternative for identifying the particle nature of dark matter that is complementary to that of direct search or accelerator production experiments. We present the results of observations of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies Draco, Ursa Minor, Bo¨ 1, and Willman 1 conducted by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). These galaxies are nearby dark matter dominated objects located at a typical distance of several tens of kiloparsecs for which there are good measurements of the dark matter density profile from stellar velocity measurements. Since the conventional astrophysical background of very high energy gamma rays from these objects appears to be negligible, they are good targets to search for the secondary gamma-ray photons produced by interacting or decaying dark matter particles. No significant gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV was detected from these four dwarf galaxies for a typical exposure of ∼20 hr. The 95% confidence upper limits on the integral gamma-ray flux are in the range (0.4–2.2) × 10 −12 photons cm −2 s −1 . We interpret this limiting flux in the context of pair annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and derive constraints on the thermally averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the WIMPs (� σv � 10 −23 cm 3 s −1 for mχ 300 GeVc −2 ). This limit is obtained under conservative assumptions regarding the dark matter distribution in dwarf galaxies and is approximately 3 orders of magnitude above the generic theoretical prediction for WIMPs in the minimal supersymmetric standard model framework. However, significant uncertainty exists in the dark matter distribution as well as the neutralino cross sections which under favorable assumptions could further lower this limit.

title: Veritas observations of gamma-ray bursts detected by swift
abstract: We present the results of 16 Swift-triggered Gamma-ray burst (GRB) follow-up observations taken with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) telescope array from 2007 January to 2009 June. The median energy threshold and response time of these observations were 260 GeV and 320 s, respectively. Observations had an average duration of 90 minutes. Each burst is analyzed independently in two modes: over the whole duration of the observations and again over a shorter timescale determined by the maximum VERITAS sensitivity to a burst with a t –1.5 time profile. This temporal model is characteristic of GRB afterglows with high-energy, long-lived emission that have been detected by the Large Area Telescope on board the Fermi satellite. No significant very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray emission was detected and upper limits above the VERITAS threshold energy are calculated. The VERITAS upper limits are corrected for gamma-ray extinction by the extragalactic background light and interpreted in the context of the keV emission detected by Swift. For some bursts the VHE emission must have less power than the keV emission, placing constraints on inverse Compton models of VHE emission.

title: Study of exclusive charmless semileptonic decays of the B meson

title: A Search for Dark Matter Annihilation with the Whipple 10 m Telescope
abstract: We present observations of the dwarf galaxies Draco and Ursa Minor, the Local Group galaxies M32 and M33, and the globular cluster M15 conducted with the Whipple 10 m gamma-ray telescope to search for the gamma-ray signature of self-annihilating weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which may constitute astrophysical dark matter (DM). We review the motivations for selecting these sources based on their unique astrophysical environments and report the results of the data analysis that produced upper limits on the excess rate of gamma rays for each source. We consider models for the DM distribution in each source based on the available observational constraints and discuss possible scenarios for the enhancement of the gamma-ray luminosity. Limits on the thermally averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and velocity of the WIMP, -->?? , are derived using conservative estimates for the magnitude of the astrophysical contribution to the gamma-ray flux. Although these limits do not constrain predictions from the currently favored theoretical models of supersymmetry (SUSY), future observations with VERITAS will probe a larger region of the WIMP parameter phase space, -->?? , and WIMP particle mass ( -->m?).