W Mass and its Uncertainty from Modelling the Hadronic Final State at LEP

From 1996 up to 2000 the LEP collider at CERN has operated at center of mass energies above the production threshold for W boson pairs of approximately 160 GeV. The obtained data are used to extract a preliminary W mass value of (80.450 +- 0.039) GeV by direct reconstruction. To a large extent the uncertainty is due to systematic effects especially in the fully hadronic decay channel W+W- --> qq' qq' that suffers most from ambiguities in modelling the hadronic final state. Methods to assess and reduce these uncertainties are the current main concern of the four LEP experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table (latex inc. moriond.sty), 3 figures (eps), to be published in the Proc. of the XXXVIIth Rencontres de Moriond "QCD and Hadronic interactions", Les Arcs, France, 200

Dijet azimuthal decorrelations for Δϕdijet<2π/3\Delta \phi_{\rm dijet} < 2\pi/3 in perturbative QCD

We point out an inconsistency in perturbative QCD predictions previously used for dijet azimuthal decorrelations for azimuthal angles of $\Delta\phi_{\rm dijet} < 2\pi/3$ between the two jets. We show how the inconsistency arises and how the calculations can be modified to provide more accurate results that exhibit a smaller scale dependence and give a better description of the data than the inconsistent results. We also explain how the quality of the predictions strongly depends on a perceivedly minor detail in the definition of the dijet phase space and give recommendations for future measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, submitted to JHE

Event Shapes and Power Corrections in ep DIS

Deep-inelastic ep scattering data, taken with the H1 detector at HERA, are used to study the event shape variables thrust, jet broadening, jet mass, C parameter, and two kinds of differential two-jet rates over a large range of ``relevant energy'' Q between 7 GeV and 100 GeV. The Q dependence of the mean values is fit to second order calculations of perturbative QCD applying power law corrections proportional to 1/Q^p to account for hadronization effects. The concept of these power corrections is tested by a systematic investigation in terms of a non-perturbative parameter alpha_{p-1} and the strong coupling constant.Comment: 3 pages, 1 table (latex, including npb.sty), 3 figures (eps), to be published in the Proc. of the DIS99 Workshop, Berlin, 199

Physics Analysis Expert PAX: First Applications

PAX (Physics Analysis Expert) is a novel, C++ based toolkit designed to assist teams in particle physics data analysis issues. The core of PAX are event interpretation containers, holding relevant information about and possible interpretations of a physics event. Providing this new level of abstraction beyond the results of the detector reconstruction programs, PAX facilitates the buildup and use of modern analysis factories. Class structure and user command syntax of PAX are set up to support expert teams as well as newcomers in preparing for the challenges expected to arise in the data analysis at future hadron colliders.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 7 pages, LaTeX, 10 eps figures. PSN THLT00

CMS Software Distribution on the LCG and OSG Grids

The efficient exploitation of worldwide distributed storage and computing resources available in the grids require a robust, transparent and fast deployment of experiment specific software. The approach followed by the CMS experiment at CERN in order to enable Monte-Carlo simulations, data analysis and software development in an international collaboration is presented. The current status and future improvement plans are described.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, latex with hyperref

Challenges of the LHC Computing Grid by the CMS experiment

This document summarises the status of the existing grid infrastructure and functionality for the high-energy physics experiment CMS and the expertise in operation attained during the so-called ”Computing, Software and Analysis Challenge” performed in 2006 (CSA06). This report is especially focused on the role of the participating computing centres in Germany located at Karlsruhe, Hamburg and Aachen

Economic growth in the post-socialist Russian Federation after 1991 : the role of institutions

The paper emphasizes the transition in Russia and the role institutions played before and during the process. In Russia, a ?big bang? approach was applied. That is to say, transition was conducted all of a sudden, omitting important underlying reforms. This practice should function as a shock therapy. Hence, the approach should leave no other chance than an abrupt adaption to the new free-market rules. These rules would then lead to fast economic growth and development, as they did in other places. However, since Russian GDP per capita and thereby living standards deteriorated dramatically in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the plan did not work. At any rate, since then Russian economic indicators recovered and partly achieved their pre-1991 levels at the end of the last decade. The paper depicts Russia?s reform efforts and the subsequent developments. The close ties among the political elite, the banking sector and the old nomenklatura are demonstrated. The patrimonial system that persisted for centuries is still observable at the state level. At any rate, Russia can neither evade its historical and institutional development path nor its societal structures that are based on networks and nepotism. Russia?s systemic lack of the rule of law and therewith of secure property, the character of the Russian political system with the patriarch as the head of state and the resulting necessity of corruption and bribes inhibit the realization of its full growth potential