A Search for Z Boson Pair Production at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider

This dissertation describes a search for Z boson pair production decaying into four muon, four electron, and two muon two electron final states with approximately 1 fb^-1 of data at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. The small cross section times branching ratio for each channel mandated a thorough study of the acceptance and efficiencies. After optimization, 1.7 +- 0.1 events are expected for Standard Model production with a background of 0.13 +- 0.03 events. One event was found in the two muons two electron channel. A cross section limit of 4.4 pb is determined at a 95% confidence level for Standard Model production. Additionally, one parameter and two parameter 95% C.L. limits are found for the anomalous neutral trilinear gauge couplings ZZZ* and ZZgamma*. The one parameter 95% C.L. coupling limits with a form factor scale of 1.2~TeV are: -0.28 f_40^Z<0.28, -0.31<f_50^Z<0.29, -0.26<f_40^gamma<0.26, and -0.30<f_50^gamma<0.28

Diffraction line profile analysis of 3D wedge samples of Ti-6Al-4V fabricated using four different additive manufacturing processes

Wedge‐-shaped samples were manufactured by four different Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes, namely selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM), direct metal deposition (DMD), and wire and arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), using Ti‐-6Al‐-4V as the feed material. A high‐-resolution powder diffractometer was used to measure the diffraction patterns of the samples whilst rotated about two axes to collect detected neutrons from all possible lattice planes. The diffraction pattern of a LaB6 standard powder sample was also measured to characterize the instrumental broadening and peak shapes necessary for the Diffraction Line Profile Analysis. The line profile analysis was conducted using the extended Convolution Multiple Whole Profile (eCMWP) procedure. Once analyzed, it was found that there was significant variation in the dislocation densities between the SLMed and the EBMed samples, although having a similar manufacturing technique. While the samples fabricated via WAAM and the DMD processes showed almost similar dislocation densities, they were, however, different in comparison to the other two AM processes, as expected. The hexagonal (HCP) crystal structure of the predominant α‐-Ti phase allowed a breakdown of the percentage of the Burgers\u27 vectors possible for this crystal structure. All four techniques exhibited different combinations of the three possible Burgers\u27 vectors, and these differences were attributed to the variation in the cooling rates experienced by the parts fabricated using these AM processes

Student Composers Concert

Kennesaw State University School of Music presents the 2013 Student Composers Concert featuring Premieres of Newly Composed Works.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/1348/thumbnail.jp

Remodeling of Purinergic Receptor-Mediated Ca2+ Signaling as a Consequence of EGF-Induced Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer Cells

Background The microenvironment plays a pivotal role in tumor cell proliferation, survival and migration. Invasive cancer cells face a new set of environmental challenges as they breach the basement membrane and colonize distant organs during the process of metastasis. Phenotypic switching, such as that which occurs during epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), may be associated with a remodeling of cell surface receptors and thus altered responses to signals from the tumor microenvironment. Methodology/Principal Findings We assessed changes in intracellular Ca 2+ in cells loaded with Fluo-4 AM using a fluorometric imaging plate reader (FLIPR TETRA) and observed significant changes in the potency of ATP (EC 50 0.175 μM (-EGF) versus 1.731 μM (+EGF), P<0.05), and the nature of the ATP-induced Ca 2+ transient, corresponding with a 10-fold increase in the mesenchymal marker vimentin (P<0.05). We observed no change in the sensitivity to PAR2-mediated Ca 2+ signaling, indicating that these alterations are not simply a consequence of changes in global Ca 2+ homeostasis. To determine whether changes in ATP-mediated Ca 2+ signaling are preceded by alterations in the transcriptional profile of purinergic receptors, we analyzed the expression of a panel of P2X ionotropic and P2Y metabotropic purinergic receptors using real-time RT-PCR and found significant and specific alterations in the suite of ATP-activated purinergic receptors during EGF-induced EMT in breast cancer cells. Our studies are the first to show that P2X 5 ionotropic receptors are enriched in the mesenchymal phenotype and that silencing of P2X 5 leads to a significant reduction (25%, P<0.05) in EGF-induced vimentin protein expression. Conclusions The acquisition of a new suite of cell surface purinergic receptors is a feature of EGF-mediated EMT in MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells. Such changes may impart advantageous phenotypic traits and represent a novel mechanism for the targeting of cancer metastasis

Design, Performance, and Calibration of CMS Hadron-Barrel Calorimeter Wedges

Extensive measurements have been made with pions, electrons and muons on four production wedges of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) hadron barrel (HB) calorimeter in the H2 beam line at CERN with particle momenta varying from 20 to 300 GeV/c. Data were taken both with and without a prototype electromagnetic lead tungstate crystal calorimeter (EB) in front of the hadron calorimeter. The time structure of the events was measured with the full chain of preproduction front-end electronics running at 34 MHz. Moving-wire radioactive source data were also collected for all scintillator layers in the HB. These measurements set the absolute calibration of the HB prior to first pp collisions to approximately 4%

Energy Response and Longitudinal Shower Profiles Measured in CMS HCAL and Comparison With Geant4

The response of the CMS combined electromagnetic and hadron calorimeter to beams of pions with momenta in the range 5-300 GeV/c has been measured in the H2 test beam at CERN. The raw response with the electromagnetic compartment calibrated to electrons and the hadron compartment calibrated to 300 GeV pions may be represented by sigma = (1.2) sqrt{E} oplus (0.095) E. The fraction of energy visible in the calorimeter ranges from 0.72 at 5 GeV to 0.95 at 300 GeV, indicating a substantial nonlinearity. The intrinsic electron to hadron ratios are fit as a function of energy and found to be in the range 1.3-2.7 for the electromagnetic compartment and 1.4-1.8 for the hadronic compartment. The fits are used to correct the non-linearity of the e pi response to 5% over the entire measured range resulting in a substantially improved resolution at low energy. Longitudinal shower profile have been measured in detail and compared to Geant4 models, LHEP-3.7 and QGSP-2.8. At energies below 30 GeV, the data, LHEP and QGSP are in agreement. Above 30 GeV, LHEP gives a more accurate simulation of the longitudinal shower profile

Synchronization and Timing in CMS HCAL

The synchronization and timing of the hadron calorimeter (HCAL) for the Compact Muon Solenoid has been extensively studied with test beams at CERN during the period 2003-4, including runs with 40 MHz structured beam. The relative phases of the signals from different calorimeter segments are timed to 1 ns accuracy using a laser and equalized using programmable delay settings in the front-end electronics. The beam was used to verify the timing and to map out the entire range of pulse shapes over the 25 ns interval between beam crossings. These data were used to make detailed measurements of energy-dependent time slewing effects and to tune the electronics for optimal performance

Design, Performance and Calibration of the CMS Forward Calorimeter Wedges

We report on the test beam results and calibration methods using charged particles of the CMS Forward Calorimeter (HF). The HF calorimeter covers a large pseudorapidity region (3\l |\eta| \le 5), and is essential for large number of physics channels with missing transverse energy. It is also expected to play a prominent role in the measurement of forward tagging jets in weak boson fusion channels. The HF calorimeter is based on steel absorber with embedded fused-silica-core optical fibers where Cherenkov radiation forms the basis of signal generation. Thus, the detector is essentially sensitive only to the electromagnetic shower core and is highly non-compensating (e/h \approx 5). This feature is also manifest in narrow and relatively short showers compared to similar calorimeters based on ionization. The choice of fused-silica optical fibers as active material is dictated by its exceptional radiation hardness. The electromagnetic energy resolution is dominated by photoelectron statistics and can be expressed in the customary form as a/\sqrt{E} + b. The stochastic term a is 198% and the constant term b is 9%. The hadronic energy resolution is largely determined by the fluctuations in the neutral pion production in showers, and when it is expressed as in the electromagnetic case, a = 280% and b = 11%