Technical design report for the $\overline{{\rm{P}}}\mathrm{ANDA}$ Barrel DIRC detector

The $\overline{{\rm{P}}}\mathrm{ANDA}$ (anti-Proton ANnihiliation at DArmstadt) experiment will be one of the four flagship experiments at the new international accelerator complex FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research) in Darmstadt, Germany. $\overline{{\rm{P}}}\mathrm{ANDA}$ will address fundamental questions of hadron physics and quantum chromodynamics using high-intensity cooled antiproton beams with momenta between 1.5 and 15 GeV/c and a design luminosity of up to 2 × 1032 cm−2 s−1. Excellent particle identification (PID) is crucial to the success of the $\overline{{\rm{P}}}\mathrm{ANDA}$ physics program. Hadronic PID in the barrel region of the target spectrometer will be per…

Search for pair-production of long-lived heavy charged particles in e+e− annihilation

A search for pair-production of long-lived, heavy, singly-charged particles has been performed with data collected by the ALEPH detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 172 GeV. Data at \sqrt{s} = 161, 136, and 130 GeV are also included to improve the sensitivity to lower masses. No candidate is found in the data. A model-independent 95% confidence level upper limit on the production cross section at 172 GeV of 0.2-0.4pb is derived for masses between 45 and 86 GeV/c^2. This cross section limit implies, assuming the MSSM, a lower limit of 67 (69) GeV/c^2 on the mass of right- (left-) handed long-lived scalar taus or scalar muons and of 86 GeV/c^2 on the mass of long-lived charginos.

An upper limit for the τ neutrino mass from τ → 5π(π0)ντ decays

An upper limit for the tau-neutrino mass has been determined from the decay tau -> 5pi+- \nu_tau using data collected with the OPAL detector from 1991 to 1995 in e+e- collisions at \sqrt{s} ~ M_Z. A limit of 43.2 MeV at 95% CL is obtained using a two-dimensional method in the 5pi invariant mass and energy distribution from 22 selected events. Combining this result with OPAL's previously published measurement using tau+tau- -> 3h+- \bar{nu}_tau 3h-+ \nu_tau decays, a new combined limit of m_{nu_tau} < 27.6 MeV (95% CL) is obtained.

MEASUREMENT OF ALPHA(S) FROM SCALING VIOLATIONS IN FRAGMENTATION FUNCTIONS IN E(+)E(-) ANNIHILATION

A study of scaling violations in fragmentation functions performed by the ALEPH collaboration at LEP is presented. Data samples enriched in uds, c, b and gluon jets, respectively, together with measurements of the longitudinal and transverse inclusive cross sections are used to extract the fragmentation function for the gluon and for each flavour. The measurements are compared to data from experiments at energies between 22 GeV and 91 GeV and scaling violations consistent with QCD predictions are observed. From this, a measurement of the strong coupling constant alpha(s) (M(z)) = 0.126 +/- 0.009 is obtained.

A measurement of |Vcb| from

Abstract From approximately 3 million hadronic decays of Z bosons recorded with the aleph detector at lep , a sample of 410 ± 32 B 0 → D ∗+ l − ν l candidates is selected, where l is either an electron or a muon. The differential decay rate dΓ ( B 0 → D ∗+ l − ν l ) dω from this sample is fitted, yielding a value for the product of the CKM matrix element |Vcb| and the normalisation of the decay form factor at the point of zero recoil of the D∗+ meson F (ω = 1)|Vcb| = (31.4 ± 2.3stat ± 2.5syst) × 10−3. A value for |Vcb| is extracted using theoretical calculations of the form factor normalisation, with the result |Vcb| = (34.5 ± 2.5stat ± 2.7syst ± 1.5theory) × 10−3. From the integrated s the…

Trastuzumab therapy vs tetracycline controlled ERBB2 downregulation: influence on tumour development in an ERBB2-dependent mouse tumour model

Trastuzumab (Herceptin) has improved therapy of breast cancer. Only patients overexpressing ERBB2 are treated with trastuzumab, whereas its use in tumours without ERBB2 expression is useless. This led to the concept that the subgroup of trastuzumab-sensitive tumours is ‘ERBB2-dependent', meaning that ERBB2 signalling is indispensable for growth of these tumours. We used a mouse model that allows anhydrotetracycline (ATc)-controlled downregulation of ERBB2 in tumour tissue. ERBB2 mRNA and protein expression were downregulated below detection limit leading to a macroscopically complete tumour remission within 14 days. Tumour remission was accompanied by a strong decrease in proliferation, a m…

A study of D*+π- production in semileptonic B decay

Abstract In a sample of 1.5 million hadronic decays of the Z collected by the ALEPH detector, a search is carried out for the decays B → D 1 0 (2420)l − ν X and B → D 2 ∗0 (2460)l − ν X . The product branching ratio for D10 production is measured to be Br (b → B ) × Br( B → D 1 0 l − ν X) × Br(D 1 0 → D ∗+ π − ) = (2.04 ± 0.58 stat ± 0.34 syst ) × 10 −3 , and a 95% confidence level limit of Br(b → B ) × Br( B → D 2 ∗0 l − ν X) × Br(D 2 ∗0 → D ∗+ π − ) ≤ 0.81 × 10 −3 is obtained for D2∗0 production. A topological search sensitive to the processes above, but also to wide resonances that decay to D ∗+ π − and to non-resonant D ∗+ π − production is also carried out, yielding Br(b→ B ) ×Br( B →D…

Measurement of the Bs0 lifetime and production rate with Ds−ℓ+ combinations in Z decays

Abstract The lifetime of the Bs0 meson is measured in approximately 3 million hadronic Z decays accumulated using the ALEPH detector at LEP from 1991 to 1994. Seven different Ds− decay modes were reconstructed and combined with an opposite sign lepton as evidence of semileptonic Bs0 decays. Two hundred and eight Ds−l+ candidates satisfy selection criteria designed to ensure precise proper time reconstruction and yield a measured Bs0 lifetime of τ(Bs0) = 1.59−0.15+0.17 (stat) ±0.03 (syst) ps. Using a larger, less constrained sample of events, the product branching ratio is measured to be Br ( b → B s 0 ) · Br(B s 0 → D s − l + νX) = 0.82 ± 0.09 (stat) −0.14+0.13 (syst) %.

Two-particle transverse momentum correlations in pp and p-Pb collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Two-particle transverse momentum differential correlators, recently measured in Pb--Pb collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), provide an additional tool to gain insights into particle production mechanisms and infer transport properties, such as the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density, of the medium created in Pb-Pb collisions. The longitudinal long-range correlations and the large azimuthal anisotropy measured at low transverse momenta in small collision systems, namely pp and p-Pb, at LHC energies resemble manifestations of collective behaviour. This suggests that locally equilibrated matter may be produced in these small collision systems, simil…

CYP2D6 genotype and adjuvant tamoxifen: meta-analysis of heterogeneous study populations.

The International Tamoxifen Pharmacogenomics Consortium was established to address the controversy regarding cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) status and clinical outcomes in tamoxifen therapy. We performed a meta-analysis on data from 4,973 tamoxifen-treated patients (12 globally distributed sites). Using strict eligibility requirements (postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, receiving 20 mg/day tamoxifen for 5 years, criterion 1); CYP2D6 poor metabolizer status was associated with poorer invasive disease-free survival (IDFS: hazard ratio = 1.25; 95% confidence interval = 1.06, 1.47; P = 0.009). However, CYP2D6 status was not statistically significant when tamoxifen…

Study of the four-fermion final state at the Z resonance

The process e+e−→, where l is a charged or a neutral lepton and f any charged fermion, is analyzed. The study uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP from 1989 to 1993 at centre-of-mass energies between 88 and 95 GeV, corresponding to almost two million hadronic Z decays and to a total integrated luminosity of 79 pb−1. For all channels, the data agree well with the standard model expectation both in shape and normalization. The indication of an excess in the\(e^ + e^ - \to \tau ^ + \tau ^ - f\bar f\) channel, reported by ALEPH in 1991, is not confirmed.

Z production cross sections and lepton pair forward-backward asymmetries

Precise values of the Z resonance cross sections and lepton pair forward-backward asymmetries are measured from a sample of 1.3 million Z decays into hadrons and charged leptons taken with the ALEPH detector at LEP. A silicon-tungsten luminosity calorimeter was installed in ALEPH in 1992, permitting the determination of the absolute luminosity to a systematic precision of 0.15% (experimental) and 0.25% (theoretical). This is combined with a better understanding of the hadronic event selection and an improved tau pair selection. Including the ALEPH results of the past three years one obtains sigma(h)0 = (41.60 +/- 0.16) nb, and R(l) = 20.69 +/- 0.09. The corresponding number of light neutrin…

A measurement of Rb using mutually exclusive tags

A measurement of R-b using five mutually exclusive hemisphere tags has been performed by ALEPH using the full LEP1 statistics. Three tags are designed to select the decay of the Z(0) to b quarks, while the remaining two select Z(0) decays to c and light quarks, and are used to measure the tagging efficiencies. The result, R-b = 0.2159 +/- 0.0009(stat) +/-0.0011(syst), is in agreement with the electroweak theory prediction of 0.2158 +/- 0.0003. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-2012; St.Denis, Richard/C-8997-2012; Forti, Francesco/H-3035-2011; Ferrante, Isidoro/F-1017-2012

Identification and analysis of tumor-associated antigens in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC)

Search for supersymmetric particles with R-parity violation in Z decays

Searches for supersymmetric particles produced in e(+)e(-) interactions at the Z peak have been performed under the assumptions that R-parity is not conserved, that the dominant R-parity violating coupling involves only leptonic fields, and that the lifetime of the lightest supersymmetric particle can be neglected. In a data sample collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP up to 1993, and corresponding to almost two million hadronic Z decays, no signal was observed. As a result, supersymmetric particle masses and couplings are at least as well constrained as under the usual assumption of R-parity conservation.

Measurement of the transverse spin correlations in the decay Z → τ+τ-

For tau leptons produced in e(+)e(-) --> tau(+)tau(-) interactions there are, in addition to the longitudinal spin correlations, two independent transverse spin correlations associated with the transverse (within the production plane) and normal (to the production plane) polarization components. A measurement of the transverse-transverse and transverse-normal tau spin correlations in the decay Z --> tau(+)tau(-), C-TT and C-TN, is presented based on the aplanarity angle of the decay products of both tau leptons. Using 80 pb(-1) of data collected by ALEPH on the peak of the Z resonance, the results are C-TT = 1.06 +/- 0.13(stat) +/- 0.05(syst), and C-TN = 0.08 +/- 0.13(stat) +/- 0.04(syst). …