The Arp Ring: Galactic or extragalactic?

The Arp Ring is a faint, loop-like structure around the northern end of M81 which becomes apparent only on deep optical photographs of the galaxy. The nature of the Ring and its proximity to M81 are uncertain. Is it simply foreground structure, part of this galaxy, or is it within the M81 system? Infrared Astronomy Satellite (IRAS) maps of the region show a far-infrared counterpart of the Ring. The infrared data are compared with previous optical and radio observations to try to ascertain its physical nature. The poor correlation found between the common infrared/optical structure and the distribution of extragalactic neutral hydrogen, and the fact that its infrared properties are indistinguishable from those of nearby galactic cirrus, imply that the Arp Ring is simply a ring structure in the galactic cirrus

A Prototype ROI Builder for the Second Level Trigger of ATLAS Implemented in FPGAs

The design and implementation of a Region of Interest (ROI) Builder connecting the ATLAS Level 1 Trigger to the Level 2 Trigger Supervisor is described. A highly parallel design implemented in high large, high-speed FPGA's is described and results of tests are presented

Global Positioning System constraints on fault slip rates in the Death Valley region, California and Nevada

We estimated horizontal velocities at 15 locations in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, from Global Positioning System surveys conducted between 1991 and 1996. We used these velocity estimates to infer slip rates on two major Quaternary faults within the eastern California shear zone (ECSZ), the Hunter Mountain and Death Valley faults. The sum of slip rates across the two faults is well determined at 5 ± 1 mm/yr (1-σ). Between 3 to 5 mm/yr of this motion appears to be accommodated along the Death Valley fault, implying 30–50 m of strain accumulation over the next 10,000 yr. If so, there is potential for 5 to 10 M_(w) 6.5–7.5 earthquakes during this period, a finding consistent with paleoseismological studies of the fault zone. Yucca Mountain, which lies 50 km east of the ECSZ, is the proposed location for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste in the United States

ATLAS TDAQ RoI Builder and the Level 2 Supervisor system

The ATLAS High Level Trigger (HLT) uses information from the hardware based Level 1 Trigger system to guide the retrieval of information from the readout system. The Level 1 Trigger elements (jet, electromagnetic, muon candidate, etc.) determine Regions of Interest (RoIs) that seed further trigger decisions. This paper describes the device - the RoI Builder (RoIB) - that collects these data from the Level 1 Trigger and the Level 2 Supervisors (L2SV) Farm that makes these data available to the HLT. The status of the system design and the results of the tests and integration into ATLAS TDAQ system are presented

Measurement of the angular distribution of electrons from W⃗ eν decays observed in pp-bar collisions at s√=1.8 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.63.072001.We present the first measurement of the electron angular distribution parameter α(2) in W⃗ eν events produced in proton-antiproton collisions as a function of the W boson transverse momentum. Our analysis is based on data collected using the DØ detector during the 1994–1995 Fermilab Tevatron run. We compare our results with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD, which predicts an angular distribution of (1±α(1c)osθ*+α(2)cos(2)θ*), where θ* is the polar angle of the electron in the Collins-Soper frame. In the presence of QCD corrections, the parameters α(1) and α(2) become functions of pWT, the W boson transverse momentum. This measurement provides a test of next-to-leading order QCD corrections which are a non-negligible contribution to the W boson mass measurement

Measurement of the top quark mass in the dilepton channel

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.60.052001

Studies of WW and WZ production and limits on anomalous WWγ and WWZ couplings

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.60.072002.Evidence of anomalous WW and WZ production was sought in pp-bar collisions at a center-of-mass energy of s√=1.8TeV. The final states WW(WZ)→μν jet jet+X, WZ⃗ μνee+X and WZ⃗ eνee+X were studied using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 90pb-1. No evidence of anomalous diboson production was found. Limits were set on anomalous WWγ and WWZ couplings and were combined with our previous results. The combined 95% confidence level anomalous coupling limits for Λ=2TeV are -0.25<~Δκ<~0.39 (λ=0) and -0.18<~λ<~0.19 (Δκ=0), assuming the WWγ couplings are equal to the WWZ couplings

Rb, Rc and Jet Distributions at the Tevatron in a Model with an extra vector boson

We show that the reported anomalies in $R_b$ and $R_c$ can be interpreted as the effect of a heavy vector boson \zprime\ universally coupled to $u$- and $d$-type quarks separately and nearly decoupled from leptons. This extra vector boson could then also naturally explain the apparent excess of the jet rate at large transverse momentum observed at CDF.Comment: 10 pages, latex, 4 eps figures. Revised version, including corrected typos in figures and formulas, and addendum on low energy neutral current data. To appear on Phys Lett

Search for dilepton signatures from minimal low-energy supergravity in pp-bar collisions at s√=1.8 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.63.091102.We report on a search for supersymmetry using the DØ detector. The 1994–1996 data sample of s√=1.8 TeV pp-bar collisions was analyzed for events containing two leptons (e or μ), two or more jets, and missing transverse energy. Assuming the minimal supergravity model, with A(0)=0 and μ<0, various thresholds were employed to optimize the search. No events were found beyond expectation from the background. We set a lower limit at the 95% C.L. of 255 GeV/c(2) for equal mass squarks and gluinos for tanβ=2, and present exclusion contours in the (m(0),m(1/2)) plane for tanβ=2–6