Study of CP violation in Dalitz-plot analyses of B0 --> K+K-KS, B+ --> K+K-K+, and B+ --> KSKSK+

We perform amplitude analyses of the decays $B^0 \to K^+K^-K^0_S$, $B^+ \rightarrow K^+K^-K^+$, and $B^+ \to K^0_S K^0_S K^+$, and measure CP-violating parameters and partial branching fractions. The results are based on a data sample of approximately $470\times 10^6$ $B\bar{B}$ decays, collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy $B$ factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. For $B^+ \to K^+K^-K^+$, we find a direct CP asymmetry in $B^+ \to \phi(1020)K^+$ of $A_{CP}= (12.8\pm 4.4 \pm 1.3)$, which differs from zero by $2.8 \sigma$. For $B^0 \to K^+K^-K^0_S$, we measure the CP-violating phase $\beta_{\rm eff} (\phi(1020)K^0_S) = (21\pm 6 \pm 2)^\circ$. For $B^+ \to K^0_S K^0_S K^+$, we measure an overall direct CP asymmetry of $A_{CP} = (4 ^{+4}_{-5} \pm 2)$. We also perform an angular-moment analysis of the three channels, and determine that the $f_X(1500)$ state can be described well by the sum of the resonances $f_0(1500)$, $f_2^{\prime}(1525)$, and $f_0(1710)$.Comment: 35 pages, 68 postscript figures. v3 - minor modifications to agree with published versio

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Mysterious Dust-emitting Object Orbiting TIC 400799224

We report the discovery of a unique object of uncertain nature - but quite possibly a disintegrating asteroid or minor planet - orbiting one star of the widely separated binary TIC 400799224. We initially identified the system in data from TESS Sector 10 via an abnormally shaped fading event in the light curve (hereafter "dips"). Follow-up speckle imaging determined that TIC 400799224 is actually two stars of similar brightness at 0.″62 separation, forming a likely bound binary with projected separation of ∼300 au. We cannot yet determine which star in the binary is host to the dips in flux. ASAS-SN and Evryscope archival data show that there is a strong periodicity of the dips at ∼19.77 days, leading us to believe that an occulting object is orbiting the host star, though the duration, depth, and shape of the dips vary substantially. Statistical analysis of the ASAS-SN data shows that the dips only occur sporadically at a detectable threshold in approximately one out of every three to five transits, lending credence to the possibility that the occulter is a sporadically emitted dust cloud. The cloud is also fairly optically thick, blocking up to 37% or 75% of the light from the host star, depending on the true host. Further observations may allow for greater detail to be gleaned as to the origin and composition of the occulter, as well as to a determination of which of the two stars comprising TIC 400799224 is the true host star of the dips

Experimental tests of CPT symmetry and quantum mechanics at CPLEAR

We review a phenomenological parametrization of an open quantum-mechanical formalism for CPT violation in the neutral kaon system, and constrain the parameters using fits to recent CPLEAR data.We review a phenomenological parametrization of an open quantum-mechanical formalism for CPT violation in the neutral kaon system, and constrain the parameters using fits to recent CPLEAR data

Experimental tests of CPT symmetry and quantum mechanics at CPLEAR

We review a phenomenological parametrization of an open quantum-mechanical formalism for CPT violation in the neutral kaon system, and constrain the parameters using fits to recent CPLEAR data

Modeling Host Genetic Regulation of Influenza Pathogenesis in the Collaborative Cross

Genetic variation contributes to host responses and outcomes following infection by influenza A virus or other viral infections. Yet narrow windows of disease symptoms and confounding environmental factors have made it difficult to identify polymorphic genes that contribute to differential disease outcomes in human populations. Therefore, to control for these confounding environmental variables in a system that models the levels of genetic diversity found in outbred populations such as humans, we used incipient lines of the highly genetically diverse Collaborative Cross (CC) recombinant inbred (RI) panel (the pre-CC population) to study how genetic variation impacts influenza associated disease across a genetically diverse population. A wide range of variation in influenza disease related phenotypes including virus replication, virus-induced inflammation, and weight loss was observed. Many of the disease associated phenotypes were correlated, with viral replication and virus-induced inflammation being predictors of virus-induced weight loss. Despite these correlations, pre-CC mice with unique and novel disease phenotype combinations were observed. We also identified sets of transcripts (modules) that were correlated with aspects of disease. In order to identify how host genetic polymorphisms contribute to the observed variation in disease, we conducted quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping. We identified several QTL contributing to specific aspects of the host response including virus-induced weight loss, titer, pulmonary edema, neutrophil recruitment to the airways, and transcriptional expression. Existing whole-genome sequence data was applied to identify high priority candidate genes within QTL regions. A key host response QTL was located at the site of the known anti-influenza Mx1 gene. We sequenced the coding regions of Mx1 in the eight CC founder strains, and identified a novel Mx1 allele that showed reduced ability to inhibit viral replication, while maintaining protection from weight loss

Determination of the Form Factors for the Decay B0 --> D*-l+nu_l and of the CKM Matrix Element |Vcb|

We present a combined measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element $|V_{cb}|$ and of the parameters $\rho^2$, $R_1$, and $R_2$, which fully characterize the form factors of the $B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^{+}\nu_\ell$ decay in the framework of HQET, based on a sample of about 52,800 $B^0 \to D^{*-}\ell^{+}\nu_\ell$ decays recorded by the BABAR detector. The kinematical information of the fully reconstructed decay is used to extract the following values for the parameters (where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic): $\rho^2 = 1.156 \pm 0.094 \pm 0.028$, $R_1 = 1.329 \pm 0.131 \pm 0.044$, $R_2 = 0.859 \pm 0.077 \pm 0.022$, $\mathcal{F}(1)|V_{cb}| = (35.03 \pm 0.39 \pm 1.15) \times 10^{-3}$. By combining these measurements with the previous BABAR measurements of the form factors which employs a different technique on a partial sample of the data, we improve the statistical accuracy of the measurement, obtaining: $\rho^2 = 1.179 \pm 0.048 \pm 0.028, R_1 = 1.417 \pm 0.061 \pm 0.044, R_2 = 0.836 \pm 0.037 \pm 0.022,$ and $\mathcal{F}(1)|V_{cb}| = (34.68 \pm 0.32 \pm 1.15) \times 10^{-3}.$ Using the lattice calculations for the axial form factor $\mathcal{F}(1)$, we extract $|V_{cb}| =(37.74 \pm 0.35 \pm 1.25 \pm ^{1.23}_{1.44}) \times 10^{-3}$, where the third error is due to the uncertainty in $\mathcal{F}(1)$

Study of the Exclusive Initial-State Radiation Production of the DDˉD \bar D System

A study of exclusive production of the $D \bar D$ system through initial-state r adiation is performed in a search for charmonium states, where $D=D^0$ or $D^+$. The $D^0$ mesons are reconstructed in the $D^0 \to K^- \pi^+$, $D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^0$, and $D^0 \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+ \pi^-$ decay modes. The $D^+$ is reconstructed through the $D^+ \to K^- \pi^+ \pi^+$ decay mode. The analysis makes use of an integrated luminosity of 288.5 fb$^{-1}$ collected by the BaBar experiment. The $D \bar D$ mass spectrum shows a clear $\psi(3770)$ signal. Further structures appear in the 3.9 and 4.1 GeV/$c^2$ regions. No evidence is found for Y(4260) decays to $D \bar D$, implying an up per limit \frac{\BR(Y(4260)\to D \bar D)}{\BR(Y(4260)\to J/\psi \pi^+ \pi^-)} < 7.6 (95 % confidence level)