Measurement of W-Boson Polarization in Top-quark Decay using the Full CDF Run II Data Set
We measure the polarization of W bosons from top-quark (t) decays into final states with a charged lepton and jets, tt --> WbWb --> lvbqqb, using the full Run II data set collected by the CDF II detector. A model-independent method simultaneously determines the fraction of longitudinal (f_0) and right-handed (f_+) W bosons to yield f_0 = 0.726 +/- 0.066 (stat) +/- 0.067 (syst) and f_+ = -0.045 +/- 0.044 (stat) +/- 0.058 (syst) with a correlation coefficient of -0.69. Additional results are presented under various standard model assumptions. No significant discrepencies with the standard model are observed.

title: ATLAS measurements of the properties of jets for boosted particle searches
abstract: Measurements are presented of the properties of high transverse momentum jets, produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb(-1) and were collected with the ATLAS detector in 2010. Jet mass, width, eccentricity, planar flow and angularity are measured for jets reconstructed using the anti-k(t) algorithm with distance parameters R 0: 6 and 1.0, with transverse momentum p(T) > 300 GeV and pseudorapidity vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2. The measurements are compared to the expectations of Monte Carlo generators that match leading-logarithmic parton showers to leading-order, or next-to-leading-order, matrix elements. The generators describe the general features of the jets, although discrepancies are observed in some distributions.

title: The performance of the CDF luminosity monitor
abstract: We describe the initial performance of the detector used for the luminosity measurement in the CDF experiment in Run II at the Tevatron. The detector consists of low-mass gaseous Cherenkov counters with high light yield (∼100 photoelectrons) and monitors the process of inelastic p p scattering. It allows for several methods of precise luminosity measurements at peak instantaneous luminosities of 2×10 32 cm −2 s −1 , corresponding to an average of six p p interactions per bunch crossing.

title: Combination of the top-quark mass measurements from the Tevatron collider
abstract: We thank the Fermilab staff and technical staffs of the 
participating institutions for their vital contributions and 
acknowledge support from the DOE and NSF (USA), ARC 
(Australia), CNPq, FAPERJ, FAPESP, and FUNDUNESP 
(Brazil), NSERC (Canada), NSC, CAS, and CNSF 
(China), Colciencias (Colombia), MSMT and GACR 
(Czech Republic), the Academy of Finland, CEA, and 
CNRS/IN2P3 (France), BMBF and DFG (Germany), 
DAE and DST (India), SFI (Ireland), INFN (Italy), 
MEXT (Japan), the Korean World Class University 
Program and NRF (Korea), CONACyT (Mexico), FOM 
(Netherlands), MON, NRC KI, and RFBR (Russia), the 
Slovak R&D Agency, the Ministerio de Ciencia e 
Innovacio´n, and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010 
(Spain), The Swedish Research Council (Sweden), SNSF 
(Switzerland), STFC and the Royal Society (United 
Kingdom), and the A. P. Sloan Foundation (USA).

title: Updated search for the standard model Higgs boson in events with jets and missing transverse energy using the full CDF data set
abstract: We present an updated search for the Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson in the final state with missing transverse energy and two jets. We use the full CDF data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45 fb−1 at a proton-antiproton center-of-mass energy of s√=1.96 TeV. New to this analysis is the inclusion of a b-jet identification algorithm specifically optimized for H→bb¯ searches. Across the Higgs boson mass range 90≤mH≤150 GeV/c2, the expected 95% credibility level upper limits on the VH production cross section times the H→bb¯ branching fraction are improved by an average of 14% relative to the previous analysis. At a Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV/c2, the observed (expected) limit is 3.06 (3.33) times the standard model prediction, corresponding to one of the most sensitive searches to date in this final state.

title: Measurement of branching ratio and $B_s^0$ lifetime in the decay $B_s^0 \rightarrow J/\psi f_0(980)$ at CDF
abstract: We present a study of Bs0 decays to the CP-odd final state J/ψ f0(980) with J/ψ → µ+µ- and f0(980) → π+π-. Using pp collision data with an integrated luminosity of 3.8 fb-1 collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron we measure a Bs0 lifetime of τ(B0s → J/ψ f0(980)) = 1.70-0.11+0.12(stat) ± 0.03(syst) ps. This is the first measurement of the Bs0} lifetime in a decay to a CP eigenstate and corresponds in the standard model to the lifetime of the heavy Bs0 eigenstate. We also measure the product of branching fractions of B0s → J/ψ f0(980) and f0(980) → π+π- relative to the product of branching fractions of B0s → J/ψφ and φ→K+K- to be Rf0/ψ = 0.257 ± 0.020(stat) ± 0.014(syst), which is the most precise determination of this quantity to date.

title: Metal abundance and kinematical properties of the M81 globular cluster system
abstract: We present metal abundance properties of 144 globular clusters associated with M81. These globulars represent the largest globular cluster sample in M81 till now. Our main results are: the distribution of metallicities is bimodal, with metallicity peaks at [Fe/H] ≈ −1.51 and −0.58, and the metal-poor globular clusters tend to be less spatially concentrated than the metal-rich ones; the metal-rich globular clusters in M81 do not demonstrate a centrally concentrated spatial distribution like the metal-rich ones in M31 do; like our Galaxy and M31, the globular clusters in M81 have a small radial metallicity gradient. These results are consistent with those obtained from a small sample of M81 globular clusters. In addition, this paper shows that there is evidence that a strong rotation of the M81 globular cluster system around the minor axis exists, and that rotation is present in the metal-rich globular cluster subsample, but the metal-poor globular cluster subsample shows no evidence of rotation. The most significant difference between the rotation of the metal-rich and metal-poor globular clusters occurs at intermediate projected galactocentric radii. Our results confirm the conclusion of Schroder et al. that M81’s metal-rich globular clusters at intermediate projected radii are associated with a thick disk of M81.

title: Nonequilibrium Phenomena in Quantum Field Theory: From Linear Response to Dynamical Renormalization Group
abstract: This thesis is devoted to studying aspects of real-time nonequilibrium dynamics in quantum field theory by implementing an initial value formulation of quantum field theory. The main focus is on the linear relaxation of mean fields and quantum kinetics in nonequilibrium multiparticle quantum systems with potential applications to ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions, cosmological phase transitions and condensed matter systems. We first study the damping of fermion mean fields in a fermion-scalar plasma with a view towards understanding baryon transport phenomena during electroweak baryogenesis. Secondly, we apply and extend the renormalization group method to study nonequilibrium dynamics with the goals of constructing a quantum kinetic description that goes beyond usual Boltzmann kinetics and understanding anomalous relaxation associated with infrared phenomena. The final part of this thesis presents a real-time kinetic analysis of direct photon production from a quark-gluon plasma created in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. We show that the direct photon yield is significantly enhanced by the lowest order energy-nonconserving processes originated in the transient lifetime of the quark-gluon plasma.

title: Probing cosmic acceleration by using the SNLS3 SNIa dataset
abstract: We probe the cosmic acceleration by using the recently released SNLS3 sample of 472 type Ia supernovae. Combining this type Ia supernovae dataset with the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the Hubble constant measurement from the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope, we measure the dark energy equation of state w and the deceleration parameter q as functions of redshift by using the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrization. Our result is consistent with a cosmological constant at 1σ confidence level, without evidence for the recent slowing down of the cosmic acceleration. Furthermore, we consider three binned parametrizations (w is piecewise constant in redshift z) based on different binning methods. The similar results are obtained, i.e., the ΛCDM model is still nicely compatible with current observations.

title: Testing modified gravity models with recent cosmological observations
abstract: We explore the cosmological implications of five modified gravity (MG) models by using the recent cosmological observational data, including the recently released SNLS3 type Ia supernovae sample, the cosmic microwave background anisotropy data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 7-yr observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release 7, and the latest Hubble constant measurement utilizing the Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The MG models considered include the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model, two f (R) models, and two f (T) models. We find that compared with the ΛCDM model, MG models can not lead to an appreciable reduction of the χmin2. The analysis of AIC and BIC shows that the simplest cosmological constant model (ΛCDM) is still the most preferred by the current data, and the DGP model is strongly disfavored. In addition, from the observational constraints, we also reconstruct the evolutions of the growth factor in these models. We find that the current available growth factor data are not enough to distinguish these MG models from the ΛCDM model.

title: X-ray emission from betatron motion in a plasma wiggler.
abstract: The successful utilization of an ion channel in a plasma to wiggle a 28.5-GeV electron beam to obtain broadband x-ray radiation is reported. The ion channel is induced by the electron bunch as it propagates through an underdense 1.4-meter-long lithium plasma. The quadratic density dependence of the spontaneously emitted betatron x-ray radiation and the divergence angle of approximately (1-3)x10(-4) radian of the forward-emitted x-rays as a consequence of betatron motion in the ion channel are in good agreement with theory. The absolute photon yield and the peak spectral brightness at 14.2-keV photon energy are estimated.