0000000000530379
AUTHOR
J. J. Aubert
Determination of the LEP centre-of-mass energy from Zγ events
Radiative returns to the Z resonance (Zgamma events) are used to determine the LEP2 centre-of-mass energy from the data collected with the ALEPH detector in 1997. The average centre-of-mass energy is measured to be: E_CM = 182.50 +- 0.19(stat) +- 0.08(syst) GeV in good agreement with the precise determination by the LEP energy working group of 182.652 +- 0.050 GeV. If applied to the measurement of the W mass, its precision translates into a systematic error on M_W which is smaller than the statistical error achieved from the corresponding dataset.
Four-jet final state production in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV
The four-jet final state is analyzed to search for hadronic decays of pair-produced heavy particles. The analysis uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP in November 1995 at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5.7 pb(-1). An excess of four-jet events is observed with respect to the standard model predictions. In addition, these events exhibit an enhancement in the sum of the two di-jet masses around 105 GeV/c(2). The properties of these events are studied and compared to the expectations from standard processes and to pair production hypotheses. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-…
Improved tau polarisation measurement
Using 22 pb−1 of data collected at LEP in 1992 on the peak of the Z resonance, the ALEPH collaboration has measured the polarisation of the tau leptons decaying into $$ev\bar v, \mu v\bar v$$ ,πν, ρν and a1 ν from their individual decay product distributions. The measurement of the tau polarisation as a function of the production polar angle yields the two parametersN τ andN e, where, in terms of the axial and vector couplingsg Al andg Vl,N l=2g Vl gAl/(g Vl 2 +g 2 ). This analysis follows to a large extent the methods devised for the 1990 and 1991 data but with improvements which bring a better understanding of the systematic uncertainties. Combining the 1992 measurements with our previous…
A fast algorithm for muon track reconstruction and its application to the ANTARES neutrino telescope.
An algorithm is presented, that provides a fast and robust reconstruction of neutrino induced upward-going muons and a discrimination of these events from downward-going atmospheric muon background in data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope. The algorithm consists of a hit merging and hit selection procedure followed by fitting steps for a track hypothesis and a point-like light source. It is particularly well-suited for real time applications such as online monitoring and fast triggering of optical follow-up observations for multi-messenger studies. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated with Monte Carlo simulations and various distributions are compared with that obtained …
Background light in potential sites for the ANTARES undersea neutrino telescope
The ANTARES collaboration has performed a series of {\em in situ} measurements to study the background light for a planned undersea neutrino telescope. Such background can be caused by $^{40}$K decays or by biological activity. We report on measurements at two sites in the Mediterranean Sea at depths of 2400~m and 2700~m, respectively. Three photomultiplier tubes were used to measure single counting rates and coincidence rates for pairs of tubes at various distances. The background rate is seen to consist of three components: a constant rate due to $^{40}$K decays, a continuum rate that varies on a time scale of several hours simultaneously over distances up to at least 40~m, and random bur…
The positioning system of the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope
The ANTARES neutrino telescope, located 40km off the coast of Toulon in the Mediterranean Sea at a mooring depth of about 2475m, consists of twelve detection lines equipped typically with 25 storeys. Every storey carries three optical modules that detect Cherenkov light induced by charged secondary particles (typically muons) coming from neutrino interactions. As these lines are flexible structures fixed to the sea bed and held taut by a buoy, sea currents cause the lines to move and the storeys to rotate. The knowledge of the position of the optical modules with a precision better than 10cm is essential for a good reconstruction of particle tracks. In this paper the ANTARES positioning sys…
Tau leptonic branching ratios
A sample of 62249 tau-pair events is selected from data taken with the ALEPH detector in 1991, 1992 and 1993. The measurement of the branching fractions for tau decays into electrons and muons is presented with emphasis on the study of systematic effects from selection, particle identification and decay classification. The results obtained are: B-e=17.79+/-0.12(stat)+/-0.06(syst)(%) and B-mu=17.31+/-0.11(stat)+/-0.05(syst)(%). Combined with the most recent ALEPH determination of the tau lifetime, these results provide a relative measurement of the leptonic couplings in the weak charged current for transverse W bosons: g(mu)/g(e)=1.0002+/-0.0051 and g(tau)/g(mu)=0.9943+/-0.0065. RI ANTONELLI…
Determination of sin2 θeff w using jet charge measurements in hadronic Z decays
The electroweak mixing angle is determined with high precision from measurements of the mean difference between forward and backward hemisphere charges in hadronic decays of the Z. A data sample of 2.5 million hadronic Z decays recorded over the period 1990 to 1994 in the ALEPH detector at LEP is used. The mean charge separation between event hemispheres containing the original quark and antiquark is measured for bb̄ and cc̄ events in subsamples selected by their long lifetimes or using fast D*'s. The corresponding average charge separation for light quarks is measured in an inclusive sample from the anticorrelation between charges of opposite hemispheres and agrees with predictions of hadr…
The ANTARES Optical Beacon System
ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirabl…
Studies of QCD in ${\rm e^+ e^-}\to $ hadrons at $E_{\rm cm} = 130$ and 136 GeV
Studies of QCD in $\mbox{e}^+\mbox{e}^- \rightarrow$ Hadrons at $E_{cm} = $} 130 and 136 GeV The ALEPH Collaboration An analysis of the properties of hadronic final states produced in electron-positron annihilation at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV is presented. The measurements are based on a data sample of 5.7 $\mbox{pb}^{-1}$ collected in November 1995 with the \Aleph detector at LEP. Inclusive charged particle distributions, jet rates and event-shape distributions are measured and the results are compared with the predictions of QCD-based models. From the measured distributions quantities are determined for which the dependence on the centre-of-mass energy can be predicted b…
Measurement of Prompt Photon Production In Hadronic-z Decays
The production of isolated photons in hadronic Z decays is measured with the ALEPH detector at LEP using a sample of 450 000 hadronic events. The corrected rate is given for several values of the minimum invariant mass squared cut between the photon and the jets. This measurement of final state radiation from the quarks is compared with the predictions of parton shower models JETSET, ARIADNE and HERWIG as well as with the predictions of QCD matrix element calculations. RI Perrier, Frederic/A-5953-2011; ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Buttar, Craig/D-3706-2011; Stahl, Achim/E-8846-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-2012; St.Denis, Richard/C-8997-2012; Forti, Franc…
SEARCHES FOR POINT-LIKE AND EXTENDED NEUTRINO SOURCES CLOSE TO THE GALACTIC CENTER USING THE ANTARES NEUTRINO TELESCOPE
A search for cosmic neutrino sources using six years of data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope has been performed. Clusters of muon neutrinos over the expected atmospheric background have been looked for. No clear signal has been found. The most signal-like accumulation of events is located at equatorial coordinates R.A. = -46º.8 and decl. = -64º.9 and corresponds to a 2.2 sigma background fluctuation. In addition, upper limits on the flux normalization of an E-2 muon neutrino energy spectrum have been set for 50 pre-selected astrophysical objects. Finally, motivated by an accumulation of seven events relatively close to the Galactic Center in the recently reported neutrino sample…
Inclusive production of neutral vector mesons in hadronic Z decays
Data on the inclusive production of the neutral vector mesons rho(0)(770), omega(782), K*(0)(892), and phi (1020) in hadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP are presented and compared to Monte Carlo model predictions. Bose-Einstein effects are found to be important in extracting a reliable value for the p(0) production rate. An average p(0) multiplicity of 1.45 +/- 0.21 per event is obtained. The omega is detected via its three pion decay mode omega --> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0) and has a total rate of 1.07 +/- 0.14 per event. The multiplicity of the K*(0) is 0.83 +/- 0.09, whilst that of the phi is 0.122 +/- 0.009, both measured using their charged decay modes. The measurements pro…
Four-fermion production in $e^+e^-$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV
Four-fermion events have been selected in a data sample of 5.8 pb(-1) collected with the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV. The final states l(+)l(-), l(+)l(-)l(+)l(-), , and <l(+)l(-) have been examined Five events are observed in the data, in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of 6.67 +/- 0.38 events from four-fermion processes and 0.14(-0.05)(+0.19) from background processes. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-2012; Sanchez, Federico/F-5809-2012; Ferrante, Isidoro/F-1017-2012
First results of the Instrumentation Line for the deep-sea ANTARES neutrino telescope
In 2005, the ANTARES Collaboration deployed and operated at a depth of 2500 m a so-called Mini Instrumentation Line equipped with Optical Modules (MILOM) at the ANTARES site. The various data acquired during the continuous operation from April to December 2005 of the MILOM confirm the satisfactory performance of the Optical Modules, their front-end electronics and readout system, as well as the calibration devices of the detector. The in-situ measurement of the Optical Module time response yields a resolution better than 0.5 ns. The performance of the acoustic positioning system, which enables the spatial reconstruction of the ANTARES detector with a precision of about 10 cm, is verified. T…
Measurement of the hadronic photon structure function at LEP 1 for 〈Q2〉 values between 9.9 and 284 GeV2
Inclusive γ*γ interactions to hadronic final states where one scattered electron or positron is detected in the electromagnetic calorimeters have been studied in the LEP 1 data taken by ALEPH from 1991 to 1995. The event sample has been used to measure the hadronic structure function of the photon F2γ in three bins with of 9.9, 20.7 and 284 GeV2.
ANTARES constrains a blazar origin of two IceCube PeV neutrino events
Abstract Context. The source(s) of the neutrino excess reported by the IceCube Collaboration is unknown. The TANAMI Collaboration recently reported on the multiwavelength emission of six bright, variable blazars which are positionally coincident with two of the most energetic IceCube events. Objects like these are prime candidates to be the source of the highest-energy cosmic rays, and thus of associated neutrino emission. Aims. We present an analysis of neutrino emission from the six blazars using observations with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Methods. The standard methods of the ANTARES candidate list search are applied to six years of data to search for an excess of muons and hence th…
Study of D0– mixing and D0 doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays
Abstract Using a sample of four million hadronic Z events collected in ALEPH from 1991 to 1995, the decays D ∗+ → D 0 π s + , with D0 decaying to K−π+ or to K+π−, are studied. The relative branching ratio B(D0→K+π−)/B(D0→K−π+) is measured to be 1.84±0.59( stat. ) ±0.34( syst. ) %. The two possible contributions to the D0→K+π− decay, doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays and D0– D 0 mixing, are disentangled by measuring the proper-time distribution of the reconstructed D0's. Assuming no interference between the two processes, the upper limit obtained on the mixing rate is 0.92% at 95% CL . The possible effect of interference between the two amplitudes is also assessed.
Performance of the front-end electronics of the ANTARES neutrino telescope
ANTARES is a high-energy neutrino telescope installed in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 2475 m. It consists of a three-dimensional array of optical modules, each containing a large photomultiplier tube. A total of 2700 front-end ASICs named Analogue Ring Samplers (ARS) process the phototube signals, measure their arrival time, amplitude and shape as well as perform monitoring and calibration tasks. The ARS chip processes the analogue signals from the optical modules and converts information into digital data. All the information is transmitted to shore through further multiplexing electronics and an optical link. This paper describes the performance of the ARS chip; results from the fu…
Search for a diffuse flux of high-energy ¿µ with the ANTARES neutrino telescope
A search for a diffuse flux of astrophysical muon neutrinos, using data collected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope is presented. A $(0.83\times 2\pi)$ sr sky was monitored for a total of 334 days of equivalent live time. The searched signal corresponds to an excess of events, produced by astrophysical sources, over the expected atmospheric neutrino background. The observed number of events is found compatible with the background expectation. Assuming an $E^{-2}$ flux spectrum, a 90% c.l. upper limit on the diffuse $\nu_\mu$ flux of $E^2\Phi_{90%} = 5.3 \times 10^{-8} \ \mathrm{GeV\ cm^{-2}\ s^{-1}\ sr^{-1}} $ in the energy range 20 TeV - 2.5 PeV is obtained. Other signal models with differ…
SEARCH FOR A CORRELATION BETWEEN ANTARES NEUTRINOS AND PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY UHECRs ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS
A multimessenger analysis optimized for a correlation of arrival directions of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) and neutrinos is presented and applied to 2190 neutrino candidate events detected in 2007-2008 by the ANTARES telescope and 69 UHECRs observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory between 2004 January 1 and 2009 December 31. No significant correlation is observed. Assuming an equal neutrino flux (E-2 energy spectrum) from all UHECR directions, a 90% CL upper limit on the neutrino flux of 5.0 x 10(-8) GeV cm(-2) s(-1) per source is derived.
Search for neutrino emission from gamma-ray flaring blazars with the ANTARES telescope
The ANTARES telescope observes a full hemisphere of the sky all the time with a duty cycle close to 100%. This makes it well suited for an extensive observation of neutrinos produced in astrophysical transient sources. In the surrounding medium of blazars, i.e. active galactic nuclei with their jets pointing almost directly towards the observer, neutrinos may be produced together with gamma-rays by hadronic interactions, so a strong correlation between neutrinos and gamma-rays emissions is expected. The time variability information of the studied source can be obtained by the gamma-ray light curves measured by the LAT instrument on-board the Fermi satellite. If the expected neutrino flux ob…
First results on dark matter annihilation in the Sun using the ANTARES neutrino telescope
A search for high-energy neutrinos coming from the direction of the Sun has been performed using the data recorded by the ANTARES neutrino telescope during 2007 and 2008. The neutrino selection criteria have been chosen to maximize the selection of possible signals produced by the self-annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles accumulated in the centre of the Sun with respect to the atmospheric background. After data unblinding, the number of neutrinos observed towards the Sun was found to be compatible with background expectations. The 90% CL upper limits in terms of spin-dependent and spin-independent WIMP-proton cross-sections are derived and compared to predictions of two sup…
Time calibration of the ANTARES neutrino telescope
The ANTARES deep-sea neutrino telescope comprises a three-dimensional array of photomultipliers to detect the Cherenkov light induced by upgoing relativistic charged particles originating from neutrino interactions in the vicinity of the detector. The large scattering length of light in the deep sea facilitates an angular resolution of a few tenths of a degree for neutrino energies exceeding 10 TeV. In order to achieve this optimal performance, the time calibration procedures should ensure a relative time calibration between the photomultipliers at the level of ~1 ns. The methods developed to attain this level of precision are described.
First measurement of the quark-to-photon fragmentation function
Earlier measurements at LEP of isolated hard photons in hadronic Z decays, attributed to radiation from primary quark pairs, have been extended in the ALEPH experiment to include hard photon production inside hadron jets. Events are selected where all particles combine democratically to form hadron jets, one of which contains a photon with a fractional energy z greater than or equal to 0.7. After statistical subtraction of non-prompt photons, the quark-to-photon fragmentation function, D(z), is extracted directly from the measured 2-jet rate. By taking into account the perturbative contributions to D(z) obtained from an O(alpha alpha(s)) QCD calculation, the unknown non-perturbative compone…
Production of orbitally excited charm mesons in semileptonic B decays
A sample of 3.6 million hadronic Z decays recorded between 1991 and 1995 with the ALEPH detector at LEP is used to investigate semileptonic decays of B mesons into final states involving orbitally excited charm mesons. Topological vertex criteria are used to search for decays involving narrow D** states as well as wide D** resonances and non-resonant D(*)pi final states. The sum of the branching ratios for these processes is measured to be Br((B) over bar --> D pi l(-)(v) over bar) + Br((B) over bar --> D*pi l(-)(v) over bar) = (2.26 +/-t 0.29(stat) +/- 0.33(syst))%, which accounts for a significant fraction of the deficit between inclusive measurements and the sum of exclusive semileptonic…
Improved measurement of theB 0 andB + meson lifetimes
The lifetimes of the B 0 and B + mesons have been measured with the Aleph detector at LEP, using approximately 3 million hadronic Z decays collected in the period 1991 1994. In the first of three methods, semileptonic decays of B 0 and B + mesons were partially reconstructed by identifying events containing a lepton with an associated D*- orbar D^0 meson. The second method used fully reconstructed B 0 and B + mesons. The third method, used to measure the B 0 lifetime, employed a partial reconstruction technique to identify B 0→ D*- π + X decays. The combined results are begin{gathered} tau _0 = 1.55 ± 0.06 ± 0.03 ps, \ tau _ + = 1.58 ± 0.09 ± 0.03 ps, \ tfrac{{tau _ + }}{{tau _0 }} = 1.03 ±…
Inclusive π±, K± and(p,p¯) differential cross-sections at the Z resonance
Inclusive π±, K± and $$(p,\bar p)$$ differential cross-sections in hadronic decays of the Z have been measured as a function ofz=P hadron/P beam, the scaled momentum. The results are based on approximately 520 000 events measured by the ALEPH detector at LEP during 1992. Charged particles are identified by their rate of ionization energy loss in the ALEPH Time Projection Chamber. The position, ξ*, of the peak in the ln(1/z) distribution is determined, and the evolution of the peak position with centre-of-mass energy is compared with the prediction of QCD.
Production of excited beauty states in Z decays
A data sample of about 3.0 million hadronicZ decays collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP in the years 1991 through 1994 is used to make an inclusive selection of B hadron events. In this event sample 4227±140±252B* mesons in the decayB*→Bγ and 1944±108±161B** u,d mesons decaying into a B meson and a charged pion are reconstructed. Here and in the followingB** u,d denotes the eightL=1(bū) and (bd) states and their charge conjugate. For the well establishedB* meson the following quantities are obtained:ΔM=M B*−MB=(45.30±0.35±0.87) MeV/c2 andN B*/(N B+N B*)=(77.1±2.6±7.0)%. The angular distribution of the photons in theB* rest frame is used to measure the relative contribution of longitudi…
Zenith distribution and flux of atmospheric muons measured with the 5-line ANTARES detector
The ANTARES high energy neutrino telescope is a three-dimensional array of about 900 photomultipliers distributed over 12 mooring lines installed in the Mediterranean Sea. Between February and November 2007 it acquired data in a 5-line configuration. The zenith angular distribution of the atmospheric muon flux and the associated depth-intensity relation are measured and compared with previous measurements and Monte Carlo expectations. An evaluation of the systematic effects due to uncertainties on environmental and detector parameters is presented.
A search for neutrino emission from the Fermi bubbles with the ANTARES telescope
Adrián-Martínez, S. et al.
The topology dependence of charged particle multiplicities in three-jet events
A study of individual jet and whole-event charged particle multiplicities in three-jet events measured in e(+)e(-) annihilation at the Z reveals a significant topology dependence. Mean jet multiplicities are inadequately described by jet energies; interjet angles must also be specified. Quantitative tests suggest that it is necessary to use transverse-momentum-like scales to describe the data. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-2012; St.Denis, Richard/C-8997-2012; Sanchez, Federico/F-5809-2012; Forti, Francesco/H-3035-2011; Ferrante, Isidoro/F-1017-2012
Determination of sin^2(theta(eff)(w)) using jet charge measurements in hadronic Z decays
The electroweak mixing angle is determined with high precision from measurements of the mean difference between forward and backward hemisphere charges in hadronic decays of the Z. A data sample of 2.5 million hadronic Z decays recorded over the period 1990 to 1994 in the ALEPH detector at LEP is used. The mean charge separation between event hemispheres containing the original quark and antiquark is measured for b (b) over bar and c (c) over bar events in subsamples selected by their long lifetimes or using fast D*'s. The corresponding average charge separation for light quarks is measured in an inclusive sample from the anticorrelation between charges of opposite hemispheres and agrees wi…
Acoustic and optical variations during rapid downward motion episodes in the deep north-western Mediterranean Sea
An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was moored at the deep-sea site of the ANTARES neutrino telescope near Toulon, France, thus providing a unique opportunity to compare high-resolution acoustic and optical observations between 70 and 170 m above the sea bed at 2475 m. The ADCP measured downward vertical currents of magnitudes up to 0.03 m s-1 in late winter and early spring 2006. In the same period, observations were made of enhanced levels of acoustic reflection, interpreted as suspended particles including zooplankton, by a factor of about 10 and of horizontal currents reaching 0.35 m s-1. These observations coincided with high light levels detected by the telescope, interpreted …
Search for sleptons in e(+)e(-) collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 184 GeV
The data collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies around 183 GeV are analysed to search for sleptons, the partners of leptons in supersymmetric theories. The previously published search for acoplanar leptons and missing energy has been updated. New searches have been developed to cover a wider range of slepton signals. These include single electrons, acoplanar leptons accompanied by two photons plus missing energy as well as particles with lifetime. No evidence for the production of any such particles is found. Slepton mass limits are reported within gravity mediated and gauge mediated SUSY breaking scenarios. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
AMADEUS-The acoustic neutrino detection test system of the ANTARES deep-sea neutrino telescope
The AMADEUS (ANTARES Modules for the Acoustic Detection Under the Sea) system which is described in this article aims at the investigation of techniques for acoustic detection of neutrinos in the deep sea. It is integrated into the ANTARES neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. Its acoustic sensors, installed at water depths between 2050 and 2300 m, employ piezo-electric elements for the broad-band recording of signals with frequencies ranging up to 125 kHz. The typical sensitivity of the sensors is around - 145 dB re 1 V/mu Pa (including preamplifier). Completed in May 2008, AMADEUS consists of six "acoustic clusters", each comprising six acoustic sensors that are arranged at distanc…
Measurement of triple gauge-boson couplings at 172 GeV
The triple gauge-boson couplings, αWΦ, αW and αBΦ, have been measured using 34 semileptonically and 54 hadronically decaying W+W- candidate events. The events were selected in the data recorded during 1996 with the ALEPH detector at 172 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb-1. The triple gauge-boson couplings have been measured using optimal observables constructed from kinematic information of W+W- events. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.
Fermi-Dirac correlations in Lambda pairs in hadronic Z decays
Two-particle correlations of Lambda Lambda and pairs have been studied in multihadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP in the years from 1992 to 1995. The correlations were measured as a function of the four-momentum difference Q of the pair. A depletion of events is observed in the region Q 2 GeV the fraction of pairs with spin one is consistent with the value of 0.75 expected for a statistical spin mixture, whilst for Q pairs, where no Fermi-Dirac correlations are expected, the spin one fraction is measured to be consistent with 0.75 over the entire analysed Q range. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Measurement ofD s + meson production inZ decays and of theB s 0 lifetime
D + mesons produced inZ 0→bb events were separated from theZ 0→cc component using a lifetime tag. Using a sample of 1.5 million hadronicZ decays collected with theAleph detector theB 0 andD s + yields have been measured: $$\begin{gathered} \hfill B(b \to \bar B_s^0 )B(\bar B_s^0 \to D_s^ + ) = 0.088 \pm 0.020(stat.) \\ \hfill \pm 0.020(stat.) \\ \hfill B(c \to D_s^ + ) = 0.088 \pm 0.020(stat.)_{ - 0.016}^{ + 0.019} (syst.) \\ \end{gathered} $$ TheB 0 lifetime was measured in aB 0 enriched sample reconstructing the decay length from the vertex of theD + with a hadron from theB 0 decay. The result obtained is: $$\tau _{B_s } = 1.61_{ - 0.29}^{ + 0.30} (stat.)_{ - 0.016}^{ + 0.018} (syst.)$$ p…
Searches for the neutral Higgs bosons of the MSSM in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 181–184 GeV
The data collected by ALEPH at LEP at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 181 to 184 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb(-1), are analysed to search for pair-produced neutral Higgs bosons h and A, in the b (b) over bar b (b) over bar and tau(+)tau(-)b (b) over bar final states. Two events are found in the data with 2.5 expected from standard model processes. When combined with the lower energy data collected by ALEPH and with earlier reported searches for associated hZ production, these analyses are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM). For standard choices of MSSM parameter sets, this combination results in 95%…
Measurement of the
A new method is presented for the measurement of the mean $\tau$ lepton lifetime using events in which $\tau$'s are pair-produced and both $\tau$'s decay to hadrons and $\nu_\tau$. Based on the correlation between the two $\tau$'s produced at a symmetric $e^+ e^-$ collider, the 3DIP method relies on the three-dimensional information from a double-sided vertex detector and on kinematic constraints for the precise measurement of the $\tau$ decay angles. Using the data collected from 1992 to 1994 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a $\tau$ lifetime of $288.0 \pm 3.1 \pm 1.3 $\fs is obtained from the sample in which both $\tau$'s decay to one charged track, and $292.8 \pm 5.6 \pm 3.0 $\fs from the…
First search for neutrinos in correlation with gamma-ray bursts with the ANTARES neutrino telescope
A search for neutrino-induced muons in correlation with a selection of 40 gamma-ray bursts that occurred in 2007 has been performed with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. During that period, the detector consisted of 5 detection lines. The ANTARES neutrino telescope is sensitive to TeV-PeV neutrinos that are predicted from gamma-ray bursts. No events were found in correlation with the prompt photon emission of the gamma-ray bursts and upper limits have been placed on the flux and fluence of neutrinos for different models.
Measurement of the W mass by direct reconstruction in e+e- collisions at 172 GeV
The mass of the W boson is obtained from reconstructed invariant mass distributions in W-pair events. The sample of W pairs is selected from 10.65 pb(-1) collected with the ALEPH detector at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 172.09 GeV. The invariant mass distribution of simulated events are fitted to the experimental; distributions and the following W masses are obtained: WW --> , m(W) = 81.30 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> l nu (l=e,mu), m(W) = 80.54 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> tau nu, m(W) = 79.56 +/- 1.08(stat.) +/- 0.23(syst.) GeV/c(2). The statistical errors are the expected errors for Monte Carlo samples of the same integrated luminosity as the data…
Measurement of the group velocity of light in sea water at the ANTARES site
The group velocity of light has been measured at eight different wavelengths between 385 nm and 532 nm in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of about 2.2 km with the ANTARES optical beacon systems. A parametrisation of the dependence of the refractive index on wavelength based on the salinity, pressure and temperature of the sea water at the ANTARES site is in good agreement with these measurements.
A measurement of the QCD colour factors and a limit on the light gluino
Using data collected from 1992 to 1995 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a measurement of the colour factor ratios C-A/C-F and T-F/C-F and the strong coupling constant = C-F alpha(s), (M-Z)/(2 pi) has been performed by fitting theoretical predictions simultaneously to the measured differential two-jet rate and angular distributions in four-jet events. The result is found to be in excellent agreement with QCD. C-A/C-F = 2.20 +/- 0.09 (stat) +/- 0.13 (syst), T-F/C-F = 0.29 +/- 0.05 (stat) +/- 0.06 (syst). Fixing C-A/C-F and T-F/C-F to the QCD values permits a determination of alpha(s) (M-Z) and n(f), the number of active flavours. With this measurement the existence of a gluino with mass below …
ANTARES: The first undersea neutrino telescope
The ANTARES Neutrino Telescope was completed in May 2008 and is the first operational Neutrino Telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The main purpose of the detector is to perform neutrino astronomy and the apparatus also offers facilities for marine and Earth sciences. This paper describes the design, the construction and the installation of the telescope in the deep sea, offshore from Toulon in France. An illustration of the detector performance is given. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Constraining the neutrino emission of gravitationally lensed Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasars with ANTARES data
This paper proposes to exploit gravitational lensing effects to improve the sensitivity of neutrino telescopes to the intrinsic neutrino emission of distant blazar populations. This strategy is illustrated with a search for cosmic neutrinos in the direction of four distant and gravitationally lensed Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasars. The magnification factor is estimated for each system assuming a singular isothermal profile for the lens. Based on data collected from 2007 to 2012 by the ANTARES neutrino telescope, the strongest constraint is obtained from the lensed quasar B0218+357, providing a limit on the total neutrino luminosity of this source of 1.08×10^46 erg s-1. This limit is about one o…
Measurement of the e+e- → ZZ production cross section at centre-of-mass energies of 183 and 189 GeV
The ee -> ZZ cross section at sqrt(s)=182.7 and 188.6 GeV has been measured using the ALEPH detector. The analysis covers all of the visible ZZ final states and yields cross section measurements of sigma_ZZ(182.7 GeV) = 0.11 +- (0.16,0.11) (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb and sigma_ZZ(188.6 GeV) = 0.67 +- 0.13 (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb consistent with the Standard Model expectations.
Performance of the First ANTARES Detector Line
In this paper we report on the data recorded with the first Antares detector line. The line was deployed on the 14th of February 2006 and was connected to the readout two weeks later. Environmental data for one and a half years of running are shown. Measurements of atmospheric muons from data taken from selected runs during the first six months of operation are presented. Performance figures in terms of time residuals and angular resolution are given. Finally the angular distribution of atmospheric muons is presented and from this the depth profile of the muon intensity is derived.