Measurement of B_s Oscillations and CP Violation Results from D0

We present a measurement of the B{sub s}{sup 0} - B{sub s}{sup 0} oscillation frequency, {Delta}m{sub s}, using a combination of semi-leptonic and hadronic B{sub s} decay candidates selected from data collected by the D0 Experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron. We also present several results on CP violation, including an improved measurement of the B{sub s} CP-violating phase from a flavor-tagged analysis of B{sub s}{sup 0} {yields} J/{psi} + {phi} decays

Status of CKM angle measurements, a report from BaBar and Belle

I will review the latest developments in determining the CP-violating phases of the CKM matrix elements from measurements by the BaBar and BELLE experiments at the high-luminosity B factories (PEP-II and KEKB). The emphasis will be on the angle {gamma}/{phi}{sub 3} of the Unitarity Triangle, which is the relative phase arg(-V{sub ud}V*{sub ub}/V{sub cd}V*{sub cb}), or the CP-violating phase of the b {yields} u transition in the commonly used Wolfenstein convention

Single Top Quarks at the Tevatron

After many years searching for electroweak production of top quarks, the Tevatron collider experiments have now moved from obtaining first evidence for single top quark production to an impressive array of measurements that test the standard model in several directions. This paper describes measurements of the single top quark cross sections, limits set on the CKM matrix element |Vtb|, searches for production of single top quarks produced via flavor-changing neutral currents and from heavy W-prime and H+ boson resonances, and studies of anomalous Wtb couplings. It concludes with projections for future expected significance as the analyzed datasets grow

Upper Bound on the First Star Formation History

Our understanding of the nature of the extragalactic background light (EBL) has improved with the recent development of gamma-ray observation techniques. An open subject in the context of the EBL is the reionization epoch, which is an important probe of the formation history of first stars, the so-called Population III (Pop III) stars. Although the mechanisms for the formation of Pop III stars are rather well understood on theoretical grounds, their formation history is still veiled in mystery because of their faintness. To shed light into this matter, we study jointly the gamma-ray opacity of distant objects and the reionization constraints from studies of intergalactic gas. By combining these studies, we obtain a sensitive upper bound on the Pop III star formation rate density as $\dot\rho_{*}(z)<0.01[(1+z)/{(1+7.0)}]^{3.4}({f_{\rm esc}}/{0.2})^{-1}({C}/{3.0})\ {\rm M}_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}\ {\rm Mpc}^{-3}$ at $z\ge7$, where $f_{\rm esc}$ and $C$ are the escape fraction of ionizing photons from galaxies and the clumping factor of the intergalactic hydrogen gas. This limit is a $\sim10$ times tighter constraint compared with previous studies that take into account gamma-ray opacity constraints only. Even if we do not include the current gamma-ray constraints, the results do not change. This is because the detected gamma-ray sources are still at $z\le4.35$ where the reionization has already finished.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

On the influence of the cosmological constant on gravitational lensing in small systems

The cosmological constant Lambda affects gravitational lensing phenomena. The contribution of Lambda to the observable angular positions of multiple images and to their amplification and time delay is here computed through a study in the weak deflection limit of the equations of motion in the Schwarzschild-de Sitter metric. Due to Lambda the unresolved images are slightly demagnified, the radius of the Einstein ring decreases and the time delay increases. The effect is however negligible for near lenses. In the case of null cosmological constant, we provide some updated results on lensing by a Schwarzschild black hole.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; v2: extended discussion on the lens equation, references added, results unchanged, in press on PR

W / Z + heavy flavor production and the standard model Higgs searches at the Tevatron

Searches for the Standard Model Higgs in WH and H {yields} WW channels by CDF and D0 collaborations are presented. The preliminary results are based on &lt; 180 pb{sup -1} of data analyzed by each experiment. Important backgrounds to Higgs searches, such as heavy flavor production in association with massive vector bosons (W and Z) are studied in the process