0000000001116206
AUTHOR
V. M. Ghete
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.
Search for γγ→ηb in e+e− collisions at LEP 2
A search for the pseudoscalar meson eta_b is performed in two-photon interactions at LEP~2 with an integrated luminosity of 699 pb^-1 collected at e+e- centre-of-mass energies from 181 GeV to 209 GeV. One candidate event is found in the six-charged-particle final state and none in the four-charged-particle final state, in agreement with the total expected background of about one event. Upper limits of Gamma_gammagamma(eta_b) * BR(eta_b -> 4 charged particles) 6 charged particles) < 132 eV are obtained at 95% confidence level, which correspond to 95% confidence level upper limits of 9.0% and 25% on these branching ratios.
Deployment of the ATLAS high level trigger
The ATLAS combined test beam in the second half of 2004 saw the first deployment of the ATLAS high-level triggers (HLT). The next steps are deployment on the pre-series farms in the experimental area during 2005, commissioning and cosmics tests in 2006 and collisions in 2007. This paper reviews the experience gained in the test beam, describes the current status and discusses the further enhancements to be made. We address issues related to the dataflow, selection algorithms, testing, software distribution, installation and improvements
Measurement of Z-pair production in e(+)e(-) collisions and constraints on anomalous neutral gauge couplings
The ZZ production cross section is measured from a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 452 pb−1, collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies from 192 to 209 GeV. Individual cross sections, extracted at six centre-of-mass energies, are found to be in agreement with Standard Model calculations. The results are used to set limits on anomalous neutral gauge couplings. The ZZ production cross section is measured from a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 452 pb−1 , collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies from 192 to 209 GeV. Individual cross sections, extracted at six centre-of-mass energies, …
Search for $\gamma\gamma$ decays of a Higgs boson produced in association with a fermion pair in $e^+ e^-$ collisions at LEP
A serach for gamma gamma decays of Higgs boson is performed in the data sample collected at LEP with the ALEPH detector between 1991 and 1999. This corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 672 pb-1 centre-of-mass energies ranging from 88 to 202 GeV. The search is based on topologies arising from a Higgs boson produced in association with a fermion pair via the Higgs-strahlung process e+e- -> Hffbar, with ffbar = nunubar, e+e-, mu+mu-, tau+tau- or qqbar... (CERN)
Overview of the high-level trigger electron and photon selection for the ATLAS experiment at the LHC
texte intégral : http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/846438; The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will face the challenge of efficiently selecting interesting candidate events in$pp$collisions at 14 TeV center-of-mass energy, whilst rejecting the enormous number of background events. The High-Level Trigger (HLT$=$second level trigger and Event Filter), which is a software based trigger will need to reduce the level-1 output rate of$approx75$kHz to$approx200$Hz written out to mass storage. In this talk an overview of the current physics and system performance of the HLT selection for electrons and photons is given. The performance has been evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations …
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 192 to 202 GeV
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons are performed with the 237 pb-1 of data collected in 1999 by the ALEPH detector at LEP, for centre-of-mass energies between 191.6 and 201.6 GeV. These searches apply to Higgs bosons within the context of the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension (MSSM) as well as to invisibly decaying Higgs bosons. No evidence of a signal is seen. A lower limit on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson of 107.7 GeV/c2 at 95% confidence level is set. In the MSSM, lower limits of 91.2 and 91.6 GeV/c2 are derived for the masses of the neutral Higgs bosons h and A, respectively. For a Higgs boson decaying invisibly and produced with the Standard Model cros…
A flavour-independent Higgs boson search in e+e- collisions at sqrt(s) up to 209GeV
A search for the Higgsstrahlung process e+e- → HZ is carried out, covering decays of the Higgs boson into any quark pair, a gluon pair or a tau pair. The analysis is based on the 630 pb-1 of data collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV. A 95% C.L. lower mass limit of 109.1 GeV/c2 is obtained for a Higgs boson cross section equal to that expected from the Standard Model if the Higgs boson decays exclusively into hadrons and/or taus, irrespective of the relative branching fractions. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Measurement of W-pair production in $e^+ e^-$ collisions at 189 GeV
The production of W-pairs is analysed in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 174.2 pb^-1. Cross sections are given for different topologies of W decays into leptons or hadrons. Combining all final states and assuming Standard Model branching fractions, the total W-pair cross section is measured to be 15.71 +- 0.34 (stat) +- 0.18 (syst) pb. Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lower centre-of-mass energies, the decay branching fraction of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be BR (W > hadrons) = 66.97 +- 0.65 (stat) +- 0.32 (syst) %, allowing a determination of the CKM matrix el…
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.
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.
Deployment of the ATLAS High-Level Trigger
The ATLAS combined test beam in the second half of 2004 saw the first deployment of the ATLAS High-Level Trigger (HLT). The next steps are deployment on the pre-series farms in the experimental area during 2005, commissioning and cosmics tests with the full detector in 2006 and collisions in 2007. This paper reviews the experience gained in the test beam, describes the current status and discusses the further enhancements to be made. We address issues related to the dataflow, integration of selection algorithms, testing, software distribution, installation and improvements.
Fermion pair production in e+e- collisions at 189-209 GeV and constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model
Cross sections, angular distributions and forward-backward asymmetries are presented, of two-fermion events produced in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP, measured with the ALEPH detector. Results for e+e-, mu+mu-, tau+tau-, qq, bb and cc production are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Constraints are set on scenarios of new physics such as four-fermion contact interactions, leptoquarks, Z' bosons, TeV-scale quantum gravity and R-parity violating squarks and sneutrinos.
Improved search for $B_{s}^{0} - \overline{B}_{s}^{0}$ oscillations
An improved search for Bs oscillations is performed in the ALEPH data sample collected during the first phase of LEP, and reprocessed in 1998. Three analyses based on complementary event selections are presented. First, decays of Bs mesons into hadronic flavour eigenstates are fully reconstructed. This selection yields a small sample of candidates with excellent decay length and momentum resolution and high average Bs purity. Semileptonic decays with a reconstructed Ds- meson provide a second sample with larger statistics, high average Bs purity, but a poorer momentum and decay length resolution due to the partial decay reconstruction. Finally, semileptonic b-hadron decays are inclusively s…
Search for charged Higgs bosons in $e^+ e^-$ collisions at energies up to $\sqrt{s}$ = 189 GeV
The data collected at centre-of-mass energies of 188.6 GeV by ALEPH at LEP, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 176.2 pb-1, are analysed in a search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons H+/-. Three analyses are employed to select the taunutaunu, taunucs and cscs final states. No evidence for a signal is found. Upper limits are set on the production cross section as a function of the branching fraction BR(H+ to tau nu) and of the mass M(H+), assuming that the sum of the branching ratios is equal to one. In the framework of a two-Higgs-doublet model, charged Higgs bosons with masses below 65.4 GeV/c2 are excluded at 95% confidence level independently of the decay mode.
Search for a scalar top almost degenerate with the lightest neutralino e(+)e(-) collisions at root s up to 202 GeV
Data collected at centre-of-mass energies from 189 GeV to 202 GeV by the ALEPH detector at LEP corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 411 pb(-1), are analysed in a search for the scalar top in the decay channels (t) over tilde --> c/u chi for small mass differences between the stop and the lightest neutralino. No evidence for deviations from the Standard Model expectation is found and a lower limit of 59 GeV/c(2) is set for the stop mass, independent of the stop to neutralino mass difference and of the stop lifetime. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Search forBs0→μ+μ−andB0→μ+μ−Decays with CDF II
A search has been performed for B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} and B{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -} decays using 7 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity collected by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The observed number of B{sup 0} candidates is consistent with background-only expectations and yields an upper limit on the branching fraction of {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{mu}{sup -}) < 6.0 x 10{sup -9} at 95% confidence level. We observe an excess of B{sub s}{sup 0} candidates. The probability that the background processes alone could produce such an excess or larger is 0.27%. The probability that the combination of background and the expe…
Measurement of thett¯production cross section inpp¯collisions ats=1.96 TeVusing soft electronb-tagging
The authors present a measurement of the t{bar t} production cross section using events with one charged lepton and jets from p{bar p} collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV. A b-tagging algorithm based on the probability of displaced tracks coming from the event interaction vertex is applied to identify b quarks from top decay. Using 318 pb{sup -1} of data collected with the CDF II detector, they measure the t{bar t} production cross section in events with at least one restrictive (tight) b-tagged jet and obtain 8.9{sub -1.0}{sup +1.0}(stat.){sub -1.0}{sup +1.1}(syst.) pb. The cross section value assumes a top quark mass of m{sub t} is presented in the paper. This result is cons…
Search for pentaquarks states in Z decays
Exotic hadrons made of five quarks (pentaquarks) are searched for in hadronic Z decays collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP. No significant signal is observed. At 95% C.L. upper limits are set on the production rates N of such particles and their charge-conjugate state per Z decay: N Θ(1535)+·BR(Θ(1535)+→pK S0)<6.2×10-4, N Ε(1862)-·BR(Ε(1862)-→Ε -π-)<4.5×10-4, N Ε(1862)0·BR(Ε(1862)0→Ε -π+)<8.9×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D*-p)<6.3×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D-p)<31×10-4. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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.
Search for γγ decays of a Higgs boson in e+e- collisions at √s up to 209 GeV
A search for events with a photon pair arising from the decay of a Higgs boson produced in association with a fermion pair, is performed in 893 pb-1 of data recorded by the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV. No excess of such events is found over the expected background, An upper limit is derived on the product of the e+e- → HZ cross section and the H → γγ branching fraction as a function of the Higgs boson mass. A fermiophobic Higgs boson produced with the Standard Model cross section is excluded at 95% confidence level for all masses below 105.4 GeV/c2. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Implementation and performance of the third level muon trigger of the ATLAS experiment at LHC
The trigger system of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC aims at a high selectivity in order to keep the full physics potential while reducing the 40 MHz initial event rate imposed by the LHC bunch crossing down to /spl sim/100 Hz, as required by the data acquisition system. Algorithms working in the final stage of the trigger environment (Event Filter) are implemented to run both in a "wrapped" mode (reconstructing tracks in the entire Muon Spectrometer) and in a "seeded" mode (according to a dedicated strategy that performs pattern recognition only in regions of the detector where trigger hypotheses have been produced at earlier stages). The working principles of the offline muon reconstruct…
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 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…
Search for Higgs bosons decaying to WW in e(+)e(-) stope collisions at LEP
A search for Higgs bosons produced in association with a fermion pair, and decaying to WW, is performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 191 to 209 GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 453.2 pb^-1. Thirteen exclusive selections are developed according to the different final state topologies. No statistically significant evidence for a Higgs boson decaying into a WW pair has been found. An upper limit is derived, as a function of the Higgs boson mass, on the product of the e+e- -> Hff cross section and the H -> WW branching ratio. The data on the search for H -> WW are combined with previously published ALEPH re…
Search for charginos nearly mass degenerate with the lightest neutralino in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV
A search for charginos nearly mass degenerate with the lightest neutralino is performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP, at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 628 pb-1. The analysis is based on the detection of isolated and energetic initial state radiation photons, produced in association with chargino pairs whose decay products have little visible energy. The number of candidate events observed is in agreement with that expected from Standard Model background sources. These results are combined with those of other direct searches for charginos, and a lower limit of 88 GeV/c2 at 95 % confidence level is derived…
Bose-Einstein correlations in W-pair decays
Bose-Einstein correlations are studied in semileptonic (WW --> q (q) over bar lv) and fully hadronic (WW --> q (q) over bar q (q) over bar) W-pair decays with the ALEPH detector at LEP at centre-of-mass energies of 172, 183 and 189 GeV. They are compared with those made at the Z peak after correction for the different flavour compositions. A Monte Carlo model of Bose-Einstein correlations based on the JETSET hadronization scheme was tuned to the Z data and reproduces the correlations in the WW --> q (q) over bar lv events. The same Monte Carlo reproduces the correlations in the WW --> q (q) over bar q (q) over bar channel assuming independent fragmentation of the two W's. A variant of this …
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.
Exclusive production of pion and kaon meson pairs in two photon collisions at LEP
Exclusive production of pi and K meson pairs in two photon collisions is measured with ALEPH data collected between 1992 and 2000. Cross-sections are presented as a function of cos theta* and invariant mass, for \ cos theta* \ < 0.6 and invariant masses between 2.0 and 6.0 GeV/c(2) (2.25 and 4.0 GeV/c(2)) for pions (kaons). The shape of the distributions are found to be well described by QCD predictions but the data have a significantly higher normalization. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decays
A measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decay is presented, using four million hadronic events collected by the ALEPH detector from 1991 to 1995. Electrons and muons are selected opposite to b-tagged hemispheres. Two different methods are explored to distinguish the contributions from direct $\bl$ and cascade $\bcl$ decays to the total lepton yield. One is based on the lepton transverse momentum spectrum, the other makes use of the correlation between the charge of the lepton and charge estimators built from tracks in the opposite hemisphere of the event. The latter method reduces the dependence on the modelling of semileptonic b decays. The r…
Observation of an excess in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson at ALEPH
A search has been performed for the Standard Model Higgs boson in the data sample collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP, at centre-of-mass energies up to 209GeV. An excess of 3sigma beyond the background expectation is found, consistent with the production of the Higgs boson with a mass near 114GeV/c2. Much of this excess is seen in the four-jet analyses, where three high purity events are selected.