A Fast Track towards the `Higgs' Spin and Parity

The LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS have discovered a new boson that resembles the long-sought Higgs boson: it cannot have spin one, and has couplings to other particles that increase with their masses, but the spin and parity remain to be determined. We show here that the `Higgs' + gauge boson invariant-mass distribution in `Higgs'-strahlung events at the Tevatron or the LHC would be very different under the J^P = 0+, 0- and 2+ hypotheses, and could provide a fast-track indicator of the `Higgs' spin and parity. Our analysis is based on simulations of the experimental event selections and cuts using PYTHIA and Delphes, and incorporates statistical samples of `toy' experiments.Comment: 18 pages, 9 pdf figure

Measurements of the Production, Decay and Properties of the Top Quark: A Review

With the full Tevatron Run II and early LHC data samples, the opportunity for furthering our understanding of the properties of the top quark has never been more promising. Although the current knowledge of the top quark comes largely from Tevatron measurements, the experiments at the LHC are poised to probe top-quark production and decay in unprecedented regimes. Although no current top quark measurements conclusively contradict predictions from the standard model, the precision of most measurements remains statistically limited. Additionally, some measurements, most notably the forward-backward asymmetry in top quark pair production, show tantalizing hints of beyond-the-Standard-Model dynamics. The top quark sample is growing rapidly at the LHC, with initial results now public. This review examines the current status of top quark measurements in the particular light of searching for evidence of new physics, either through direct searches for beyond the standard model phenomena or indirectly via precise measurements of standard model top quark properties

Prompt Decays of General Neutralino NLSPs at the Tevatron

Recent theoretical developments have shown that gauge mediation has a much larger parameter space of possible spectra and mixings than previously considered. Motivated by this, we explore the collider phenomenology of gauge mediation models where a general neutralino is the lightest MSSM superpartner (the NLSP), focusing on the potential reach from existing and future Tevatron searches. Promptly decaying general neutralino NLSPs can give rise to final states involving missing energy plus photons, Zs, Ws and/or Higgses. We survey the final states and determine those where the Tevatron should have the most sensitivity. We then estimate the reach of existing Tevatron searches in these final states and discuss new searches (or optimizations of existing ones) that should improve the reach. Finally we comment on the potential for discovery at the LHC.Comment: 41 pages, minor changes, added refs and discussion of previous literatur

Affordability of medicines from the pharmaceutical system perspective : Comparative analysis of Finland and New Zealand

Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin lääkekorvausjärjestelmien lääkkeiden saatavuuteen vaikuttavia piirteitä, erityisesti korvattavuuden ehtoja, disinsentiivejä, korvattavaa valikoimaa ja universalismia, suhteessa lääkeomavastuiden jakautumiseen ja hoitojen käyttämättä jättämiseen kustannussyistä. Aineistoina käytettiin tuote- ja hinnastotietoja, kulutustutkimusaineistoa, postikyselyaineistoa ja apteekkien ostorekistereitä. Yhtäläisyydet liittyivät universalismiin ja korvattavuuden ehtoihin. Korvauksia kohdennettiin molemmissa maissa tarpeeseen liittyvillä mekanismeilla, omavastuukaton avulla sekä korvattavuusrajoituksilla. Erot liittyivät valikoimaan ja disinsentiiveihin. Suomessa korvattiin enemmän hoidollisesti toisiaan lähellä olevia vaihtoehtoja ja uusien lääke­innovaatioiden määrä markkinoilla oli laajempi, mutta omavastuutaso korkeampi. Uudessa-Seelannissa kokonaan korvattavia lääkkeitä oli saatavissa useimpiin terveysongelmiin. Korvattava valikoima oli kuitenkin kontrolloidumpi ja sisälsi enemmän vanhempia lääkkeitä. Suomessa omavastuilla oli regressiivisiä vaikutuksia. Pienemmät tulot ja huonompi terveydentila olivat yhteydessä palveluiden käyttämättä jättämiseen kustannussyistä, mikä vastasi aiemmassa kirjallisuudessa Uudesta-Seelannista julkaistuja tuloksia. Omavastuiden jakautumisen perusteella Uudessa-Seelannissa ikääntyneet henkilöt käyttivät vain harvoin muita kuin kokonaan korvattavia lääkkeitä eivätkä korkeat omavastuut olleet yhteydessä potilaan sosioekonomiseen asemaan. Korkeammasta sairastavuudestaan huolimatta maoreilla (alkuperäiskansa) kuitenkin korkeat omavastuut olivat harvinaisempia, ja he myös ostivat vähemmän lääkkeitä eurooppalaistaustaisiin nähden. Kumpikin järjestelmä sisältää riittävyyteen liittyviä heikkouksia ja vahvuuksia eikä kumpikaan kykene täysin suojaamaan potilaita omavastuiden haitallisilta vaikutuksilta. Sosioekonomisten ja etnisten lääkkeiden käyttöön liittyvien erojen syiden ja seurausten selvittäminen vaatii vielä lisää tutkimusta. - Englanninkielinen julkaisu.30,00 euro

Precision measurements of the top quark mass from the Tevatron in the pre-LHC era

The top quark is the heaviest of the six quarks of the Standard Model. Precise knowledge of its mass is important for imposing constraints on a number of physics processes, including interactions of the as yet unobserved Higgs boson. The Higgs boson is the only missing particle of the Standard Model, central to the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism and generation of particle masses. In this Review, experimental measurements of the top quark mass accomplished at the Tevatron, a proton-antiproton collider located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, are described. Topologies of top quark events and methods used to separate signal events from background sources are discussed. Data analysis techniques used to extract information about the top mass value are reviewed. The combination of several most precise measurements performed with the two Tevatron particle detectors, CDF and \D0, yields a value of \Mt = 173.2 \pm 0.9 GeV/$c^2$.Comment: This version contains the most up-to-date top quark mass averag

Scalar-mediated ttˉt\bar t forward-backward asymmetry

A large forward-backward asymmetry in $t\bar t$ production, for large invariant mass of the $t\bar t$ system, has been recently observed by the CDF collaboration. Among the scalar mediated mechanisms that can explain such a large asymmetry, only the t-channel exchange of a color-singlet weak-doublet scalar is consistent with both differential and integrated $t\bar t$ cross section measurements. Constraints from flavor changing processes dictate a very specific structure for the Yukawa couplings of such a new scalar. No sizable deviation in the differential or integrated $t\bar t$ production cross section is expected at the LHC.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure and 2 tables. v2: Corrected Eqs.(50,51,74), adapted Fig.1, Tab.1 and relevant discussions. Extended discussion of top decay and single to

Patient injuries in operative rhinology during a ten-year period : Review of national patient insurance charts

Objectives: To assess factors contributing to patient injuries in operative rhinology. Design: Data of the accepted patient injury claims involving operative rhinology, between the years 2001 and 2011, were obtained from the Finnish Patient Insurance Centre registry. Two senior otolaryngologists analysed and evaluated the injury mechanisms. Main outcome measures: Analysis and classification of factors contributing to patient injuries. Results: During the ten-year study period, there were 67 patient injuries in operative rhinology, comprising 36% of all patient injuries in otorhinolaryngologic surgery. The majority (78%) of patients were treated in university or central hospitals and almost all (90%) by fully trained otolaryngology specialists. The factors contributing to the injuries were errors in surgical technique, like lesions to the orbit, skull base and meninges, and adjacent nerves, as well as mistakes with removable packings left in situ. Nearly half of the patients had undergone endoscopic sinus surgery. One patient died because of bleeding from the intracranial artery. Fourteen patients (21%) needed a re-operation due to the injury. Conclusions: Patient injuries in rhinology were caused by typical complications of common operations performed by otorhinolaryngology specialists. The increased volume of endoscopic sinus surgery was evident also in patient injuries.Peer reviewe

Matching Tree-Level Matrix Elements with Interleaved Showers

We present an implementation of the so-called CKKW-L merging scheme for combining multi-jet tree-level matrix elements with parton showers. The implementation uses the transverse-momentum-ordered shower with interleaved multiple interactions as implemented in PYTHIA8. We validate our procedure using e+e--annihilation into jets and vector boson production in hadronic collisions, with special attention to details in the algorithm which are formally sub-leading in character, but may have visible effects in some observables. We find substantial merging scale dependencies induced by the enforced rapidity ordering in the default PYTHIA8 shower. If this rapidity ordering is removed the merging scale dependence is almost negligible. We then also find that the shower does a surprisingly good job of describing the hardness of multi-jet events, as long as the hardest couple of jets are given by the matrix elements. The effects of using interleaved multiple interactions as compared to more simplistic ways of adding underlying-event effects in vector boson production are shown to be negligible except in a few sensitive observables. To illustrate the generality of our implementation, we also give some example results from di-boson production and pure QCD jet production in hadronic collisions.Comment: 44 pages, 23 figures, as published in JHEP, including all changes recommended by the refere

Top quark and Electroweak measurements at the Tevatron

We present recent preliminary measurements at the Tevatron of t-tbar and single top production cross section, top quark mass and width, top pair spin correlations and forward-backward asymmetry. In the electroweak sector, we present the Tevatron average of the W boson width, and preliminary measurements of the W and Z forward-backward asymmetries and WZ, ZZ diboson production cross sections. All measurements are based on larger amount of collision data than previously used and are in agreement with the standard model.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures; In proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology, Valencia (Spain) 201