Sedimentation and fouling of optical surfaces at the ANTARES site
ANTARES is a project leading towards the construction and deployment of a neutrino telescope in the deep Mediterranean Sea. The telescope will use an array of photomultiplier tubes to detect the Cherenkov light emitted by muons resulting from the interaction with matter of high energy neutrinos. In the vicinity of the deployment site the ANTARES collaboration has performed a series of in-situ measurements to study the change in light transmission through glass surfaces during immersions of several months. The average loss of light transmission is estimated to be only ~2% at the equator of a glass sphere one year after deployment. It decreases with increasing zenith angle, and tends to saturate with time. The transmission loss, therefore, is expected to remain small for the several year lifetime of the ANTARES detector whose optical modules are oriented downwards. The measurements were complemented by the analysis of the ^{210}Pb activity profile in sediment cores and the study of biofouling on glass plates. Despite a significant sedimentation rate at the site, in the 0.02 - 0.05 cm.yr^{-1} range, the sediments adhere loosely to the glass surfaces and can be washed off by water currents. Further, fouling by deposits of light-absorbing particulates is only significant for surfaces facing upwards.

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: 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: 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: Particle polarization in inclusive reactions

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: Study of forward Z + jet production in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 7 TeV
abstract: A bstractA measurement of the Z(→ μ+μ−) + jet production cross-section in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy $ \sqrt{s} $ = 7 TeV is presented. The analysis is based on an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 recorded by the LHCb experiment. Results are shown with two jet transverse momentum thresholds, 10 and 20 GeV, for both the overall cross-section within the fiducial volume, and for six differential cross-section measurements. The fiducial volume requires that both the jet and the muons from the Z boson decay are produced in the forward direction (2.0 < η < 4.5). The results show good agreement with theoretical predictions at the second-order expansion in the coupling of the strong interaction.

title: Quasi-stable states in the physical spectrum of the Neveu-Schwarz dual model
abstract: A certain class of states, comprising most of the spectrum for large mass M, is distinguished in the spectum of physical states predicted by the Neveu-Schwarz dual model with intercepts ..cap alpha../sub rho/(0) =1 and ..cap alpha../sub ..pi../(0) =1/2. The massive particles with large spins in this class are quasi-stable. Their couplings with all the other states are of order M/sup -1/ in comparison with the ordinary vertices. For the critical dimensions D=10 these states coincide with the zero-norm spurions. For the anomalous dimensions D=9 some of the quasi-stable states become new zero-norm spurion states.

title: Observation of $B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi$ decay and study of $B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1,2}K^{*0}$ decays
abstract: The first observation of the decay $B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi$ and a study of $B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1,2}K^{*0}$ decays are presented. The analysis is performed using a dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb$^{-1}$, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: \begin{equation*} \begin{array}{lll} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0_s\rightarrow\chi_{c1}\phi)}{\cal{B}(B^0_s\rightarrow J/\psi\phi)} &=& (18.9 \pm1.8\,(stat)\pm1.3\,(syst)\pm0.8\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c1}K^{*0})}{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow J/\psiK^{*0})} &=& (19.8 \pm1.1\,(stat)\pm1.2\,(syst)\pm0.9\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \dfrac{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c2}K^{*0})}{\cal{B}(B^0\rightarrow\chi_{c 1}K^{*0})} &=& (17.1 \pm5.0\,(stat)\pm1.7\,(syst)\pm1.1\,(\cal{B})) \times 10^{-2}, \nonumber \\ \noalign{\vskip 3pt} \end{array} \end{equation*} \noindent where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of ${\chi_{c}\rightarrow J/\psi \gamma}$ modes.

title: Search for the doubly charmed baryon $$\Xi_{cc}^+$$
abstract: A search for the doubly charmed baryon \(\Xi_{cc}^+\) is performed through its decay to the \(\Lambda_c^ + {K^ -}{\pi ^ +}\) final state, using proton-proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV. The data correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1. No significant signal is observed in the mass range from 3.4 to 3.8 GeV/c2. Upper limits are set at 95% credibility level on the ratio of the \(\Xi_{cc}^+\) production cross-section times the branching fraction to that of \(\Lambda_c^ + \) and \(\Xi_{cc}^{+ +}\) baryons. The limits are determined as functions of the \(\Xi_{cc}^+\) mass for different lifetime hypotheses, in the rapidity range from 2.0 to 4.5 and the transverse momentum range from 4 to 15 GeV/c.

title: Are there any sister trajectories in the Veneziano model
abstract: The question of the existence of ''sister'' Regge trajectories in the Veneziano dual model is discussed. It is shown that the arguments of Hoyer, Toernqvist, and Webber, favoring the contribution of a ''sister'' trajectory with half the slope of the ordinary Regge trajectory to the asymptotic 6-particle Veneziano amplitude, are unfounded.