The NNBAR experiment for the European Spallation Source will search for free neutrons converting to antineutrons with an expected sensitivity improvement of three orders of magnitude compared to the ...last such search. This paper describes both the simulations of a key component for the experiment, the neutron optical reflector and the expected gains in sensitivity.
We determine the fraction of tt events with spin correlation, assuming that the spin of the top quark is either correlated with the spin of the top antiquark as predicted by the standard model or is ...uncorrelated. For the first time we use a matrix-element-based approach to study tt spin correlation. We use tt → W+ b W- b → ℓ+ νbℓ- ν b final states produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV, where ℓ denotes an electron or a muon. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb(-1) and were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The result agrees with the standard model prediction. We exclude the hypothesis that the spins of the tt are uncorrelated at the 97.7% C.L.
The observation of neutrons turning into antineutrons would constitute a discovery of fundamental importance for particle physics and cosmology. Observing the n–n̄ transition would show that baryon ...number (B) is violated by two units and that matter containing neutrons is unstable. It would provide a clue to how the matter in our universe might have evolved from the B=0 early universe. If seen at rates observable in foreseeable next-generation experiments, it might well help us understand the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe. A demonstration of the violation of B–L by 2 units would have a profound impact on our understanding of phenomena beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.
Slow neutrons have kinetic energies of a few meV. By exploiting new slow neutron sources and optics technology developed for materials research, an optimized search for oscillations using free neutrons from a slow neutron moderator could improve existing limits on the free oscillation probability by at least three orders of magnitude. Such an experiment would deliver a slow neutron beam through a magnetically-shielded vacuum chamber to a thin annihilation target surrounded by a low-background antineutron annihilation detector. Antineutron annihilation in a target downstream of a free neutron beam is such a spectacular experimental signature that an essentially background-free search is possible. An authentic positive signal can be extinguished by a very small change in the ambient magnetic field in such an experiment. It is also possible to improve the sensitivity of neutron oscillation searches in nuclei using large underground detectors built mainly to search for proton decay and detect neutrinos.
This paper summarizes the relevant theoretical developments, outlines some ideas to improve experimental searches for free neutron oscillations, and suggests avenues both for theoretical investigation and for future improvement in the experimental sensitivity.
During their exposure, nuclear emulsion sheets detect both tracks from experiment-related particles, as well as a considerable amount of background tracks, mainly due to cosmic rays. Unless the ...exposure has been fairly short, it is therefore fairly likely that a fraction of the tracks that have been identified as belonging to the particles the experiment is interested in, are really due to background. A method, which allows measurement of this fraction reliably directly from the data, is described.
We present a measurement of the ratio of top quark branching fractions R=B(t→Wb)/B(t→Wq), where q can be a d, s, or b quark, in the lepton+jets and dilepton tt final states. The measurement uses data ...from 5.4 fb(-1) of pp collisions collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We measure R=0.90±0.04, and we extract the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix element |V(tb)| as |V(tb)|=0.95±0.02, assuming unitarity of the 3×3 CKM matrix.
We present a search for pair production of a fourth generation t' quark and its antiparticle, followed by their decays to a W boson and a jet, based on an integrated luminosity of 5.3 fb(-1) of ...proton-antiproton collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV collected by the D0 Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We set upper limits on the t' ̄t' production cross section that exclude at the 95% C.L. a t' quark that decays exclusively to W+jet with a mass below 285 GeV. We observe a small excess in the μ+jets channel which reduces the mass range excluded compared to the expected limit of 320 GeV in the absence of a signal.
We present a study of the dijet invariant mass spectrum in events with two jets produced in association with a W boson in data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.3 fb(-1) collected with ...the D0 detector at √s = 1.96 TeV. We find no evidence for anomalous resonant dijet production and derive upper limits on the production cross section of an anomalous dijet resonance recently reported by the CDF Collaboration, investigating the range of dijet invariant mass from 110 to 170 GeV/c(2). The probability of the D0 data being consistent with the presence of a dijet resonance with 4 pb production cross section at 145 GeV/c(2) is 8×10(-6).
We present the report of the hadronic working group of the BOOST2010 workshop held at the University of Oxford in June 2010. The first part contains a review of the potential of hadronic decays of ...highly boosted particles as an aid for discovery at the LHC and a discussion of the status of tools developed to meet the challenge of reconstructing and isolating these topologies. In the second part, we present new results comparing the performance of jet grooming techniques and top tagging algorithms on a common set of benchmark channels. We also study the sensitivity of jet substructure observables to the uncertainties in Monte Carlo predictions.