Search for the Higgs boson in events with missing transverse energy and b quark jets produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV

We search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with an electroweak vector boson in events with no identified charged leptons, large imbalance in transverse momentum, and two jets where at least one contains a secondary vertex consistent with the decay of b hadrons. We use ~1 fb-1 integrated luminosity of proton-antiproton collisions at s**(1/2)=1.96 TeV recorded by the CDF II experiment at the Tevatron. We find 268 (16) single (double) b-tagged candidate events, where 248 +/- 43 (14.4 +/- 2.7) are expected from standard model background processes. We place 95% confidence level upper limits on the Higgs boson production cross section for several Higgs boson masses ranging from 110 GeV/c2 to 140 GeV/c2. For a mass of 115 GeV/c2 the observed (expected) limit is 20.4 (14.2) times the standard model prediction.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Measurement of the Lifetime Difference Between B_s Mass Eigenstates

We present measurements of the lifetimes and polarization amplitudes for B_s --> J/psi phi and B_d --> J/psi K*0 decays. Lifetimes of the heavy (H) and light (L) mass eigenstates in the B_s system are separately measured for the first time by determining the relative contributions of amplitudes with definite CP as a function of the decay time. Using 203 +/- 15 B_s decays, we obtain tau_L = (1.05 +{0.16}/-{0.13} +/- 0.02) ps and tau_H = (2.07 +{0.58}/-{0.46} +/- 0.03) ps. Expressed in terms of the difference DeltaGamma_s and average Gamma_s, of the decay rates of the two eigenstates, the results are DeltaGamma_s/Gamma_s = (65 +{25}/-{33} +/- 1)%, and DeltaGamma_s = (0.47 +{0.19}/-{0.24} +/- 0.01) inverse ps.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; as published in Physical Review Letters on 16 March 2005; revisions are for length and typesetting only, no changes in results or conclusion

Measurement and Interpretation of Fermion-Pair Production at LEP energies above the Z Resonance

This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the e+e- -> ffbar process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z resonance, from sqrt(s) ~ 130 - 207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of models including the S-Matrix ansatz for e+e- -> ffbar scattering and several models which include physics beyond the Standard Model: the exchange of Z' bosons, contact interactions between fermions, the exchange of gravitons in large extra dimensions and the exchange of sneutrino in R-parity violating supersymmetry.Comment: 79 pages, 16 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Determination of the b quark mass at the M_Z scale with the DELPHI detector at LEP

An experimental study of the normalized three-jet rate of b quark events with respect to light quarks events (light= \ell \equiv u,d,s) has been performed using the CAMBRIDGE and DURHAM jet algorithms. The data used were collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP on the Z peak from 1994 to 2000. The results are found to agree with theoretical predictions treating mass corrections at next-to-leading order. Measurements of the b quark mass have also been performed for both the b pole mass: M_b and the b running mass: m_b(M_Z). Data are found to be better described when using the running mass. The measurement yields: m_b(M_Z) = 2.85 +/- 0.18 (stat) +/- 0.13 (exp) +/- 0.19 (had) +/- 0.12 (theo) GeV/c^2 for the CAMBRIDGE algorithm. This result is the most precise measurement of the b mass derived from a high energy process. When compared to other b mass determinations by experiments at lower energy scales, this value agrees with the prediction of Quantum Chromodynamics for the energy evolution of the running mass. The mass measurement is equivalent to a test of the flavour independence of the strong coupling constant with an accuracy of 7 permil.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

A Determination of the Centre-of-Mass Energy at LEP2 using Radiative 2-fermion Events

Using e+e- -> mu+mu-(gamma) and e+e- -> qqbar(gamma) events radiative to the Z pole, DELPHI has determined the centre-of-mass energy, sqrt{s}, using energy and momentum constraint methods. The results are expressed as deviations from the nominal LEP centre-of-mass energy, measured using other techniques. The results are found to be compatible with the LEP Energy Working Group estimates for a combination of the 1997 to 2000 data sets.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Measurement of Ratios of Fragmentation Fractions for Bottom Hadrons in p-pbar Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

This paper describes the first measurement of b-quark fragmentation fractions into bottom hadrons in Run II of the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab. The result is based on a 360 pb-1 sample of data collected with the CDF II detector in p-pbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. Semileptonic decays of B0, B+, and B_s mesons, as well as Lambda_b baryons, are reconstructed. For an effective bottom hadron p_T threshold of 7 GeV/c, the fragmentation fractions are measured to be f_u/f_d=1.054 +/- 0.018 (stat) +0.025-0.045(sys) +/- 0.058 (Br), f_s/(f_u+f_d)=0.160 +/- 0.005 (stat) +0.011-0.010 (sys) +0.057-0.034 (Br), and f_{Lambda_b}/(f_u+f_d)=0.281\pm0.012 (stat) +0.058-0.056 (sys) +0.128-0.086 (Br), where the uncertainty (Br) is due to uncertainties on measured branching ratios. The value of f_s/(f_u+f_d) agrees within one standard deviation with previous CDF measurements and the world average of this quantity, which is dominated by LEP measurements. However, the ratio f_{Lambda_b}/(f_u+f_d) is approximately twice the value previously measured at LEP. The approximately 2 sigma discrepancy is examined in terms of kinematic differences between the two production environments.Comment: Submitted to PRD, 54 pages, 53 plot

Measurement of WγW\gamma and ZγZ\gamma Production in ppˉp\bar{p} Collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

The Standard Model predictions for $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ production are tested using an integrated luminosity of 200 pb$^{-1}$ of \ppbar collision data collected at the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The cross sections are measured selecting leptonic decays of the $W$ and $Z$ bosons, and photons with transverse energy $E_T>7$ GeV that are well separated from leptons. The production cross sections and kinematic distributions for the $W\gamma$ and $Z\gamma$ are compared to SM predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR

Polarizations of J/psi and psi(2S) Mesons Produced in ppbar Collisions at 1.96 TeV

We have measured the polarizations of \jpsi and \psiprime mesons as functions of their transverse momentum \pt when they are produced promptly in the rapidity range $|y|<0.6$ with \pt \geq 5 \pgev. The analysis is performed using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of about 800 \ipb collected by the CDF II detector. For both vector mesons, we find that the polarizations become increasingly longitudinal as \pt increases from 5 to 30 \pgev. These results are compared to the predictions of nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics and other contemporary models. The effective polarizations of \jpsi and \psiprime mesons from $B$-hadron decays are also reported.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, published in Physical Review Letter

Observation and Mass Measurement of the Baryon Ξb−\Xi^-_b

We report the observation and measurement of the mass of the bottom, strange baryon $\Xi^-_b$ through the decay chain $\Xi^-_b \to J/\psi \Xi^-$, where $J/\psi \to \mu^+ \mu^-$, $\Xi^- \to \Lambda \pi^-$, and $\Lambda \to p \pi^-$. Evidence for observation is based on a signal whose probability of arising from the estimated background is 6.6 x 10^{-15}, or 7.7 Gaussian standard deviations. The $\Xi^-_b$ mass is measured to be $5792.9\pm 2.5$ (stat.) $\pm 1.7$ (syst.) MeV/$c^2$.Comment: Minor text changes for the second version. Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Two-Particle Momentum Correlations in Jets Produced in ppbar Collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV

We present the first measurement of two-particle momentum correlations in jets produced in $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV. Results are obtained for charged particles within a restricted cone with an opening angle of 0.5 radians around the jet axis and for events with dijet masses between 66 and 563 GeV/c$^{2}$. A comparison of the experimental data to theoretical predictions obtained for partons within the framework of resummed perturbative QCD in the next-to-leading log approximation (NLLA) shows that the parton momentum correlations survive the hadronization stage of jet fragmentation, giving further support to the hypothesis of local parton-hadron duality. The extracted value of the NLLA parton shower cutoff scale $Q_\mathit{eff}$ set equal to $\Lambda_\mathit{QCD}$ is found to be $(1.4^{+0.9}_{-0.7})\times 100$ MeV.Comment: Submitted to Phys.Rev.