Cosmological Constant, Conical Defect and Classical Tests of General Relativity

We investigate the perihelion shift of the planetary motion and the bending of starlight in the Schwarzschild field modified by the presence of a $\Lambda$-term plus a conical defect. This analysis generalizes an earlier result obtained by Islam (Phys. Lett. A 97, 239, 1983) to the case of a pure cosmological constant. By using the experimental data we obtain that the parameter $\epsilon$ characterizing the conical defect is less than $10^{-9}$ and $10^{-7}$, respectively, on the length scales associated with such phenomena. In particular, if the defect is generated by a cosmic string, these values correspond to limits on the linear mass densities of $10^{19}g/cm$ and $10^{21}g/cm$, respectively.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, revte

Atividade educacional utilizando realidade aumentada para o ensino de física no ensino superior : Educational activity using Augmented Reality for Teaching Physics in Higher Education

O uso de recursos de Realidade Aumentada em dispositivos móveis para a Educação tem sido explorado nos últimos anos de forma mais significativa. Desta forma, o objetivo deste artigo foi avaliar a qualidade de uma abordagem educacional neste contexto em termos de Usabilidade, Engajamento, Motivação e Aprendizagem. Um estudo voltado para o processo de ensino e aprendizagem de Física foi conduzido com 27 alunos de uma universidade federal, sendo aplicado o questionário MAREEA para avaliar a abordagem. Os resultados obtidos foram satisfatórios e instigadores, em que as quatro dimensões foram avaliadas positivamente, havendo também um importante feedback dos participantes para as melhorias nos recursos educacionais em realidade aumentada.The use of Augmented Reality features in mobile devices for Education has been explored in recent years in a more meaningful way. In this way, the objective of this article was to evaluate the quality of an educational approach in this context in terms of Usability, Engagement, Motivation, and Learning. A study focused on the teaching and learning process of Physics was conducted with 27 students from a federal university, using the MAREEA questionnaire to evaluate the approach. The results were satisfactory and instigators, in which the four dimensions were evaluated positively, and there was also significant feedback from the participants for improvements in educational resources in augmented reality.Facultad de Informátic

Performance of the first prototype of the CALICE scintillator strip electromagnetic calorimeter

A first prototype of a scintillator strip-based electromagnetic calorimeter was built, consisting of 26 layers of tungsten absorber plates interleaved with planes of 45x10x3 mm3 plastic scintillator strips. Data were collected using a positron test beam at DESY with momenta between 1 and 6 GeV/c. The prototype's performance is presented in terms of the linearity and resolution of the energy measurement. These results represent an important milestone in the development of highly granular calorimeters using scintillator strip technology. This technology is being developed for a future linear collider experiment, aiming at the precise measurement of jet energies using particle flow techniques

Pion and proton showers in the CALICE scintillator-steel analogue hadron calorimeter

Showers produced by positive hadrons in the highly granular CALICE scintillator-steel analogue hadron calorimeter were studied. The experimental data were collected at CERN and FNAL for single particles with initial momenta from 10 to 80 GeV/c. The calorimeter response and resolution and spatial characteristics of shower development for proton- and pion-induced showers for test beam data and simulations using Geant4 version 9.6 are compared.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures, JINST style, changes in the author list, typos corrected, new section added, figures regrouped. Accepted for publication in JINS

Simultaneous measurement of the ratio B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq) and the top quark pair production cross section with the D0 detector at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present the first simultaneous measurement of the ratio of branching fractions, R=B(t->Wb)/B(t->Wq), with q being a d, s, or b quark, and the top quark pair production cross section sigma_ttbar in the lepton plus jets channel using 0.9 fb-1 of ppbar collision data at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV collected with the D0 detector. We extract R and sigma_ttbar by analyzing samples of events with 0, 1 and >= 2 identified b jets. We measure R = 0.97 +0.09-0.08 (stat+syst) and sigma_ttbar = 8.18 +0.90-0.84 (stat+syst)} +/-0.50 (lumi) pb, in agreement with the standard model prediction.Comment: submitted to Phys.Rev.Letter

Search for right-handed W bosons in top quark decay

We present a measurement of the fraction f+ of right-handed W bosons produced in top quark decays, based on a candidate sample of $t\bar{t}$ events in the lepton+jets decay mode. These data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 230pb^-1, collected by the DO detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV. We use a constrained fit to reconstruct the kinematics of the $t\bar{t}$ and decay products, which allows for the measurement of the leptonic decay angle $\theta^*$ for each event. By comparing the $\cos\theta^*$ distribution from the data with those for the expected background and signal for various values of f+, we find f+=0.00+-0.13(stat)+-0.07(syst). This measurement is consistent with the standard model prediction of f+=3.6x10^-4.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review D Rapid Communications 7 pages, 3 figure

Search for Large extra spatial dimensions in the dielectron and diphoton channels in ppˉ\bm{p\bar{p}} collisions at s=\bm{\sqrt{s}=}1.96 TeV

We report on a search for large extra spatial dimensions in the dielectron and diphoton channels using a data sample of 1.05 \invfb of \ppb collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The invariant mass spectrum of the data agrees well with the prediction of the standard model. We find 95% C.L. lower limits on the effective Planck scale between 2.1 and 1.3 TeV for 2 to 7 extra dimensions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Multivariate searches for single top quark production with the D0 detector

We present a search for electroweak production of single top quarks in the s-channel (p-pbar -> t bbar + X) and t-channel (p-pbar -> tq bbar + X) modes. We have analyzed 230 pb^(-1) of data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. Two separate analysis methods are used: neural networks and a cut-based analysis. No evidence for a single top quark signal is found. We set 95% confidence level upper limits on the production cross sections using Bayesian statistics, based on event counts and binned likelihoods formed from the neural network output. The limits from the neural network (cut-based) analysis are 6.4 pb (10.6 pb) in the s-channel and 5.0 pb (11.3 pb) in the t-channel.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. D, Fermilab preprint Fermilab-Pub-06/069-

Measurement of the B0_s semileptonic branching ratio to an orbitally excited D_s** state, Br(B0_s -> Ds1(2536) mu nu)

In a data sample of approximately 1.3 fb-1 collected with the D0 detector between 2002 and 2006, the orbitally excited charm state D_s1(2536) has been observed with a measured mass of 2535.7 +/- 0.6 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst) MeV via the decay mode B0_s -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X. A first measurement is made of the branching ratio product Br(b(bar) -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X).Br(D_s1(2536)->D* K0_S). Assuming that D_s1(2536) production in semileptonic decay is entirely from B0_s, an extraction of the semileptonic branching ratio Br(B0_s -> D_s1(2536) mu nu X) is made.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, version with minor changes as accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Search for charged massive long-lived particles with the D0 detector

We search for charged massive long-lived particles using 1.1 fb$^{-1}$ of data collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ Collider. Time-of-flight information is used to search for pair produced long-lived tau sleptons, gaugino-like charginos, and higgsino-like charginos. We find no evidence of a signal and set 95% C.L. cross section upper limits for staus, which vary from 0.31pb to 0.04pb for stau masses between 60 GeV and 300 GeV. We also set lower mass limits of 206 GeV (171 GeV) for pair produced charged gauginos (higgsinos).Comment: To be submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters, V2: updated the figures and references, V3: final version submitted to PRL and changes in title and abstracts from "stable" to "long-lived