The ANTARES optical module
The ANTARES collaboration is building a deep sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. This detector will cover a sensitive area of typically 0.1 km-squared and will be equipped with about 1000 optical modules. Each of these optical modules consists of a large area photomultiplier and its associated electronics housed in a pressure resistant glass sphere. The design of the ANTARES optical module, which is a key element of the detector, has been finalized following extensive R & D studies and is reviewed here in detail.

title: Progress report from the UK Dark Matter search at Boulby Mine
abstract: The UK Dark Matter Collaboration is currently running a series of scintillation devices at the Boulby mine in North Yorkshire to search for the neutralino, the hypothetical WIMP solution to the dark matter problem. Results of the current NaI(T1) detector array will be discussed, illustrating a population of events of unknown origin. Diagnostic tests performed to investigate the origin of these anomalous events will be outlined, including alpha, beta and neutron calibrations.

title: The potential of liquid xenon for WIMP search: the ZEPLIN diagnostic array
abstract: A Liquid Xenon based WIMP detector diagnostic array is currently developed by the UKDMC with the help of international collaborators. After a brief reminder on the detection principle in Liquid Xenon, the individual detectors will be described. ZEPLIN I, a detector with a 4 kg fiducial mass with a background discrimination based on Pulse Shape Analysis, is already underground and starting operation. Two setups with improved background discrimination tools (as the ionisation is also recorded) are designed and scheduled to move underground in the second half of 2001. Both of them, ZEPLIN II and ZEPLIN III, are predicted to be sensitive to rate of 0.1–0.01 events/kg/day within 2 years of data taking. Furthermore, new ideas for lower background readout devices are studied, in order to avoid the use of PhotoMultiplier Tubes (PMTs).

title: Muon-induced background in the EDELWEISS dark matter search
abstract: A dedicated analysis of the muon-induced background in the EDELWEISS dark matter search has been performed on a data set acquired in 2009 and 2010. The total muon flux underground in the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) was measured to be Φ μ = ( 5.4 ± 0.2 - 0.9 + 0.5 )  muons/m 2 /d. The modular design of the μ -veto system allows the reconstruction of the muon trajectory and hence the determination of the angular dependent muon flux in LSM. The results are in good agreement with both MC simulations and earlier measurements. Synchronization of the μ -veto system with the phonon and ionization signals of the Ge detector array allowed identification of muon-induced events. Rates for all muon-induced events Γ μ = ( 0.172 ± 0.012 ) evts / ( kg d ) and of WIMP-like events Γ μ – n = 0.008 - 0.004 + 0.005 evts / ( kg d ) were extracted. After vetoing, the remaining rate of accepted muon-induced neutrons in the EDELWEISS-II dark matter search was determined to be Γ irred μ – n 6 · 10 - 4 evts / ( kg d ) at 90% C.L. Based on these results, the muon-induced background expectation for an anticipated exposure of 3000 kg d for EDELWEISS-III is N 3000 kg d μ – n 0.6 events.

title: The ZEPLIN-III dark matter detector: Performance study using an end-to-end simulation tool
abstract: We present results from a GEANT4-based Monte Carlo tool for end-to-end simulations of the ZEPLIN-III dark matter experiment. ZEPLIN-III is a two-phase detector which measures both the scintillation light and the ionisation charge generated in liquid xenon by interacting particles and radiation. The software models the instrument response to radioactive backgrounds and calibration sources, including the generation, ray-tracing and detection of the primary and secondary scintillations in liquid and gaseous xenon, and subsequent processing by data acquisition electronics. A flexible user interface allows easy modification of detector parameters at run time. Realistic datasets can be produced to help with data analysis, an example of which is the position reconstruction algorithm developed from simulated data. We present a range of simulation results confirming the original design sensitivity of a few times 10−8 pb to the WIMP-nucleon cross-section.

title: Particle polarization in inclusive reactions

title: Production of high-energy muons in extensive air showers from primary el rays
abstract: The primary mechanism for the production of high-energy muons (E/sub / > 5 TeV) in extensive air showers from primary el rays is the production of muon pairs by shower photons in the field of a nucleus.

title: Observation of the decay $B_c \rightarrow J/\psi K^+ K^- \pi^+ $
abstract: The decay $B_c\rightarrow J/\psi K^+ K^- \pi^+$ is observed for the first time, using proton-proton collisions collected with the LHCb detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3fb$^{-1}$. A signal yield of $78\pm14$ decays is reported with a significance of 6.2 standard deviations. The ratio of the branching fraction of $\B_c \rightarrow J/\psi K^+ K^- \pi^+$ decays to that of $B_c \rightarrow J/\psi \pi^+$ decays is measured to be $0.53\pm 0.10\pm0.05$, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

title: Observation of Z production in proton-lead collisions at LHCb
abstract: A bstractThe first observation of Z boson production in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per proton-nucleon pair of sNN$$ \sqrt{s_{N\;N}} $$ = 5 TeV is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 1.6 nb−1 collected with the LHCb detector. The Z candidates are reconstructed from pairs of oppositely charged muons with pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and transverse momenta above 20 GeV/c. The invariant dimuon mass is restricted to the range 60 − 120 GeV/c. The Z production cross-section is measured to be
σZ→μ+μ−fwd=13.5−4.0+5.4stat.±1.2syst.nb$$ {\sigma_Z}_{\to {\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}}\left(\mathrm{fwd}\right)={13.5}_{-4.0}^{+5.4}\left(\mathrm{stat}.\right)\pm 1.2\left(\mathrm{syst}.\right)\mathrm{nb} $$
 in the direction of the proton beam and
σZ→μ+μ−bwd=10.7−5.1+8.4stat.±1.0syst.nb$$ {\sigma}_{Z\to {\mu}^{+}{\mu}^{-}}\left(\mathrm{bwd}\right)={10.7}_{-5.1}^{+8.4}\left(\mathrm{stat}.\right)\pm 1.0\left(\mathrm{syst}.\right)\mathrm{nb} $$
 in the direction of the lead beam, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.

title: New superconformal string

title: First observation of the decays $\bar{B}^0_{(s)}\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\bar{B}^0_s\to D_{s1}(2536)^+\pi^-$
abstract: The first observation of the decays $\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\bar{B}^0\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ are reported using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{-1}$ recorded by the LHCb experiment. The branching fractions, normalized with respect to $\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ and $\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$, respectively, are measured to be {\br(\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-)\over\br(\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-)} &= (5.2\pm0.5\pm0.3)\times10^{-2}, {\br(\bar{B}^0\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-)\over\br(\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+K^-^\pi^+\pi^-)} &= 0.54\pm0.07\pm0.07, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The $\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-$ decay is of particular interest as it can be used to measure the weak phase $\gamma$. First observation of the $\bar{B}^0_s\to D_{s1}(2536)^+\pi^-, D_{s1}^+\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+$ decay is also presented, and its branching fraction relative to $\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-$ is found to be {\br(\bar{B}^0_s\to D_{s1}(2536)^+\pi^-, D_{s1}^+\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+)\over\br(\bar{B}^0_{s}\to D_s^+\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-)} &= (4.0\pm1.0\pm0.4)\times10^{-3}.