Measurements of Six-Body Hadronic Decays of the D^0 Charmed Meson

Using data collected by the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we report the discovery of the decay modes D^0 --> K- pi+ pi+ pi+ pi- pi- and D^0 --> pi+ pi+ pi+ pi- pi- pi-. With a sample of 48 +/- 10 reconstructed D^0 --> K- pi+ pi+ pi+ pi- pi- decays and 149 +/- 17 reconstructed D^0 --> pi+ pi+ pi+ pi- pi- pi- decays, we measure the following relative branching ratios: ${\Gamma (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^-) / \Gamma (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^-)} = (2.70 \pm 0.58 \pm 0.38) \times 10^{-3}$ ${\Gamma (D^0 \to \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^- \pi^-) / \Gamma (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^-)} = (5.23 \pm 0.59 \pm 1.35) \times 10^{-3}$ ${\Gamma (D^0 \to \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^- \pi^-) / \Gamma (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^-)} = 1.93 \pm 0.47 \pm 0.48$ The first errors are statistical and the second are systematic. The branching fraction of the Cabibbo suppressed six-body decay mode is measured to be a factor of two higher than the branching fraction of the Cabibbo favored six-body decay mode.Comment: To be submitted to Phys. Lett.

Measurement of the Ratio of the Vector to Pseudoscalar Charm Semileptonic Decay Rate \Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K*0 mu+ nu)/\Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K0 mu+ nu)

Using a high statistics sample of photo-produced charm particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we report on the measurement of the ratio of semileptonic rates \Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K pi mu+ nu)/\Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K0 mu+ nu)= 0.625 +/- 0.045 +/- 0.034. Allowing for the K pi S-wave interference measured previously by FOCUS, we extract the vector to pseudoscalar ratio \Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K*0 mu+ nu)/\Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K0 mu+ nu)= 0.594 +/- 0.043 +/- 0.033 and the ratio \Gamma(D+ > ANTI-K0 mu+ nu)/\Gamma(D+ > K- pi+ pi+)= 1.019 +/- 0.076 +/- 0.065. Our results show a lower ratio for \Gamma(D > K* \ell nu})/\Gamma(D > K \ell nu) than has been reported recently and indicate the current world average branching fractions for the decays D+ >ANTI-K0(mu+, e+) nu are low. Using the PDG world average for B(D+ > K- pi+ pi+) we extract B(D+ > ANIT-K0 mu+ nu)=(9.27 +/- 0.69 +/- 0.59 +/- 0.61)%.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Study of the doubly and singly Cabibbo suppressed decays D+ --> K+ pi+ pi- and Ds+ --> K+ pi+ pi-

Using data collected by the high energy photoproduction experiment FOCUS at Fermilab we study the doubly and singly Cabibbo suppressed decays D+ and Ds+ --> K+ pi+ pi-. Branching ratios and Dalitz plot analyses are performed.Comment: 14 pages, paper to be submitted to Phys.Lett.

Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study

A41 Use of SMS texts for facilitating access to online alcohol interventions: a feasibility study In: Addiction Science & Clinical Practice 2017, 12(Suppl 1): A4

Size Doesn't Matter: Towards a More Inclusive Philosophy of Biology

notes: As the primary author, O’Malley drafted the paper, and gathered and analysed data (scientific papers and talks). Conceptual analysis was conducted by both authors.publication-status: Publishedtypes: ArticlePhilosophers of biology, along with everyone else, generally perceive life to fall into two broad categories, the microbes and macrobes, and then pay most of their attention to the latter. ‘Macrobe’ is the word we propose for larger life forms, and we use it as part of an argument for microbial equality. We suggest that taking more notice of microbes – the dominant life form on the planet, both now and throughout evolutionary history – will transform some of the philosophy of biology’s standard ideas on ontology, evolution, taxonomy and biodiversity. We set out a number of recent developments in microbiology – including biofilm formation, chemotaxis, quorum sensing and gene transfer – that highlight microbial capacities for cooperation and communication and break down conventional thinking that microbes are solely or primarily single-celled organisms. These insights also bring new perspectives to the levels of selection debate, as well as to discussions of the evolution and nature of multicellularity, and to neo-Darwinian understandings of evolutionary mechanisms. We show how these revisions lead to further complications for microbial classification and the philosophies of systematics and biodiversity. Incorporating microbial insights into the philosophy of biology will challenge many of its assumptions, but also give greater scope and depth to its investigations

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

Search for TeV-scale gravity signatures in high-mass final states with leptons and jets with the ATLAS detector at sqrt [ s ] = 13TeV

A search for physics beyond the Standard Model, in final states with at least one high transverse momentum charged lepton (electron or muon) and two additional high transverse momentum leptons or jets, is performed using 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 at √s = 13 TeV. The upper end of the distribution of the scalar sum of the transverse momenta of leptons and jets is sensitive to the production of high-mass objects. No excess of events beyond Standard Model predictions is observed. Exclusion limits are set for models of microscopic black holes with two to six extra dimensions

Search for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying vector boson in pp collisions at sqrt (s) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collisions at View the MathML sources=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with a hadronic jet compatible with a W or Z boson and with large missing transverse momentum are analysed. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and are interpreted in terms of both an effective field theory and a simplified model containing dark matter