First test of Lorentz violation with a reactor-based antineutrino experiment
We present a search for Lorentz violation with 8249 candidate electron antineutrino events taken by the Double Chooz experiment in 227.9 live days of running. This analysis, featuring a search for a sidereal time dependence of the events, is the first test of Lorentz invariance using a reactor-based antineutrino source. No sidereal variation is present in the data and the disappearance results are consistent with sidereal time independent oscillations. Under the Standard-Model Extension (SME), we set the first limits on fourteen Lorentz violating coefficients associated with transitions between electron and tau flavor, and set two competitive limits associated with transitions between electron and muon flavor.

title: Low Mass WIMP Searches with a Neutrino Experiment: A Proposal for Further MiniBooNE Running
abstract: A proposal submitted to the FNAL PAC is described to search for light sub-GeV WIMP dark matter at MiniBooNE. The possibility to steer the beam past the target and into an absorber leads to a significant reduction in neutrino background, allowing for a sensitive search for elastic scattering of WIMPs off nucleons or electrons in the detector. Dark matter models involving a vector mediator can be probed in a parameter region consistent with the required thermal relic density, and which overlaps the region in which these models can resolve the muon g-2 discrepancy. Estimates of signal significance are presented for various operational modes and parameter points. The experimental approach outlined for applying MiniBooNE to a light WIMP search may also be applicable to other neutrino facilities.

title: A Combined Three-Phase Signal Extraction of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Data Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Technique
abstract: Neutrino physics has entered an era of precision, after proving that the Standard Solar Model is a viable theory and going beyond the current Standard Model of particle physics by proving that neutrinos possess nonzero masses. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment, along with other experiments, has restricted neutrino mixing angle (θ12) and the mass square difference (∆m21) to lie within the large mixing solution area. SNO, located 2 km underground in Sudbury, Canada, was an ultraclean heavy-water (D2O) imaging detector for observing neutrinos produced by fusion reactions in the Sun. Neutrino interactions with heavy water resulted in flashes of light called C̆erenkov radiation which was detected by an array of photomultiplier tubes. SNO took data from November 1999 to November 2006, totalling 1082 days of data taking. This work describes an improved measurement of the mixing parameters from a combined fit of all the data. For the signal extraction fit on the data consisting of 4 observable of an event – radial position, recoil electron energy, direction relative to the Sun and event isotropy – Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method based on Metropolis algorithm was employed. The nuisance parameters (systematics), weighted by external constraints, were allowed to vary in the fit. The goal of the thesis was to extract the survival probabilities of electron neutrinos and determine the total flux of active-flavour neutrinos from B decay in the Sun measured through the neutral current interactions of neutrinos on deuterium. The B flux from the fit is (5.24 ± 0.02) × 10 cm−2 s−1; uncertainty from statistics and systematics is 3.56%. Along with B flux, the fit extracted energy spectra of charged current interactions of neutrinos on deuterium and elastic scattering interactions of neutrinos on electrons. The fit described the energy-dependent day survival probability of solar neutrinos as a quadratic equation and asymmetry on the day survival probability as a linear equation. Four polynomial coefficients of the survival probability were extracted from the fit: constant coefficient as 0.3206± 0.0197, linear coefficient as 0.005± 0.008 and quadratic coefficient as −0.0014± 0.0033. There are two coefficients on the day-night asymmetry: constant coefficient as 0.0496 ± 0.0347 and the linear coefficient as −0.018 ± 0.028. The day-night asymmetry (0.0496) observed is 1.4σ away from zero. Using these findings, the oscillation space in terms of ∆m21 and θ12 will be further constrained. Compared to the previous published SNO results, the uncertainty on B went down from 3.83% to 3.56% and average B νe survival probability (p0) went down from 6.57% to 6.14%. If the data were analysed with the same assumptions, the decrease in uncertainties would have been approximately twice as big; however, more conservative systematic uncertainties were assigned in some cases.

title: Search for Excited Electrons in ep Collisions at HERA
abstract: A search for excited electrons is performed using the full e±p data sample collected by the H1 experiment at HERA, corresponding to a total luminosity of 475 pb−1. The electroweak decays of excited electrons e*→eγ, e*→eZ and e*→νW with subsequent hadronic or leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons are considered. No evidence for excited electron production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits on e* production cross sections and on the ratio f/Λ of the coupling to the compositeness scale are derived within gauge mediated models. These limits extend the excluded region compared to previous excited electron searches. The e* production via contact interactions is also addressed for the first time in ep collisions.

title: The Coyote Universe Extended: Precision Emulation of the Matter Power Spectrum
abstract: Modern sky surveys are returning precision measurements of cosmological statistics such as weak lensing shear correlations, the distribution of galaxies, and cluster abundance. To fully exploit these observations, theorists must provide predictions that are at least as accurate as the measurements, as well as robust estimates of systematic errors that are inherent to the modeling process. In the nonlinear regime of structure formation, this challenge can only be overcome by developing a large-scale, multi-physics simulation capability covering a range of cosmological models and astrophysical processes. As a first step to achieving this goal, we have recently developed a prediction scheme for the matter power spectrum (a so-called emulator), accurate at the 1% level out to k ~ 1 Mpc–1 and z = 1 for wCDM cosmologies based on a set of high-accuracy N-body simulations. It is highly desirable to increase the range in both redshift and wavenumber and to extend the reach in cosmological parameter space. To make progress in this direction, while minimizing computational cost, we present a strategy that maximally reuses the original simulations. We demonstrate improvement over the original spatial dynamic range by an order of magnitude, reaching k ~ 10 h Mpc–1, a four-fold increase in redshift coverage, to z = 4, and now include the Hubble parameter as a new independent variable. To further the range in k and z, a new set of nested simulations run at modest cost is added to the original set. The extension in h is performed by including perturbation theory results within a multi-scale procedure for building the emulator. This economical methodology still gives excellent error control, ~5% near the edges of the domain of applicability of the emulator. A public domain code for the new emulator is released as part of the work presented in this paper.

title: Search for First Generation Leptoquarks in ep Collisions at HERA
abstract: A search for first generation scalar and vector leptoquarks produced in ep collisions is performed by the H1 experiment at HERA. The full H1 data sample is used in the analysis, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 446 pb(-1). No evidence for the production of leptoquarks is observed in final states with a large transverse momentum electron or with large missing transverse momentum, and constraints on leptoquark models are derived. For leptoquark couplings of electromagnetic strength lambda = 0.3, first generation leptoquarks with masses up to 800 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level.

title: SciDAC advances and applications in computational beam dynamics
abstract: SciDAC has had a major impact on computational beam dynamics and the design of particle accelerators. Particle accelerators -- which account for half of the facilities in the DOE Office of Science Facilities for the Future of Science 20 Year Outlook -- are crucial for US scientific, industrial, and economic competitiveness. Thanks to SciDAC, accelerator design calculations that were once thought impossible are now carried routinely, and new challenging and important calculations are within reach. SciDAC accelerator modeling codes are being used to get the most science out of existing facilities, to produce optimal designs for future facilities, and to explore advanced accelerator concepts that may hold the key to qualitatively new ways of accelerating charged particle beams. In this poster we present highlights from the SciDAC Accelerator Science and Technology (AST) project Beam Dynamics focus area in regard to algorithm development, software development, and applications.

title: Measurement of beauty photoproduction near threshold using di-electron events with the H1 detector at HERA
abstract: The cross section for $ep \rightarrow e\, b\bar{b} X$ in photoproduction is measured with the H1 detector at the ep-collider HERA. The decay channel $b\bar{b} \rightarrow ee X'$ is selected by identifying the semi-electronic decays of the b-quarks. The total production cross section is measured in the kinematic range given by the photon virtuality Q2≤1 GeV2, the inelasticity 0.05≤y≤0.65 and the pseudorapidity of the b-quarks $|\eta(b)|, |\eta(\bar{b})|\leq2$. The differential production cross section is measured as a function of the average transverse momentum of the beauty quarks 〈PT(b)〉 down to the threshold. The results are compared to next-to-leading-order QCD predictions.