Moments of the charged-particle multiplicity distribution in Z decays at LEP

The charged-particle multiplicity distribution and its moments have been measured, for all hadronic as well as for light-quark and b-quark events in e+e- collisions at the Z mass. The Hq moments derived from the charged-particle multiplicity distribution are known to exhibit quasi-oscillations when plotted versus the order of the moment. This behavior is predicted by the NNLLA of perturbative QCD for the parton level and, under the assumption of LPHD, also for the hadron level. Using the jet multiplicity distributions in order to vary the dependence on the LPHD hypothesis, we find, however, that at our energy the oscillations only appear for non-perturbative scales. In the absence of confirmation of pQCD, we investigate a more phenomenological answer in the possibility that the features seen in the Hq behavior could be due to the fact that the charged-particle multiplicity derives from a superposition of final states related to the topology of the events. Therefore, the analysis is repeated using charged-particle multiplicity distributions originating from 2-jet and 3-jet events for the full, light- and b-quark samples.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, Presented at the XXX International Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, October 9-15, 2000, Tihani, Hungar

Correlations in the Charged-Particle Multiplicity Distribution

In this thesis, we perform an analysis on e+e- hadronic Z decays recorded in 1994 and 1995 by the L3 detector of LEP at center-of-mass energy corresponding to the Z mass. The analysis is performed in parallel for all hadronic events and for selected b-quark and light-quark events. The distribution of two variables, the charged-particle multiplicity and the inclusive charged-particle momentum are measured, from which all the analysis is carried out. From the measurement of the charged-particle multiplicity distribution, it is possible to extract information concerning the dynamics of the interaction. Using moments, one can obtain informations on particle correlation. We measure the Hq moments of the charged-particle multiplicity distribution which give the relative amount of genuine q-particle correlation order q. An oscillatory pattern is observed when the H_q moments are plotted versus the order q. Comparisons with different theoretical approaches are discussed.Comment: PhD thesis, 151 pages, 162 figure

On the high order multiplicity moments

The description of multiplicity distributions in terms of the ratios of cumulants to factorial moments is analyzed both for data and for the Monte Carlo generated events. For the PYTHIA generated events the moments are investigated for the restricted range of phase-space and for the jets reconstructed from single particle momenta. The results cast doubts on the validity of extended local parton-hadron duality and suggest the possibility of more effective experimental investigations concerning the origin of the observed structure in the dependence of moments on their order.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; corrected version to be published in JP

Compressibility effects on Flat-Plates with Serrated Leading-Edges at a Low Reynolds Number

This study evaluates the influence of a serrated leading edge on flat-plate aerodynamics at low-Reynolds-number and subsonic high-Mach-number conditions. Forces are measured for a Mach number ranging from 0.2 to 0.64 at aReynolds number of (12,000 ± 1000). Pressure distributions are obtained under the same conditions using pressure sensitive paint (PSP) measurement. Three models are tested: a flat plate without serrations used as the baseline case and two flat plates with serrated leading edges of different wavelength-to-amplitude ratios. Results show that the aerodynamic performance of flat plates with serrations is slightly changed from the baseline case. The plate with short-wavelength serrations underperforms in terms of the lift-to-drag ratio under all the conditions compared to the baseline case while the plate with large-wavelength serrations slightly outperforms it at around the stall angle. The Mach number has little effect on the attached flow while the lift increases with the Mach number under deep stall conditions. Serrations maintain the lift even under high angle of attack conditions when Mach number varies. The twodimensional pressure distributions and the analyses of local chordwise pressure coefficient distributions at different spanwise locations and of periodicity of spanwise pressure coefficients allow categorisation of the complex flow structures into three types. These configurations feature different types of low pressure regions downstream of troughs. The periodicity of the pattern depends not only on the angle of attack but also on the Mach number

Probing Supersymmetry With Third-Generation Cascade Decays

The chiral structure of supersymmetric particle couplings involving third generation Standard Model fermions depends on left-right squark and slepton mixings as well as gaugino-higgsino mixings. The shapes and intercorrelations of invariant mass distributions of a first or second generation lepton with bottoms and taus arising from adjacent branches of SUSY cascade decays are shown to be a sensitive probe of this chiral structure. All possible cascade decays that can give rise to such correlations within the MSSM are considered. For bottom-lepton correlations the distinctive structure of the invariant mass distributions distinguishes between decays originating from stop or sbottom squarks through either an intermediate chargino or neutralino. For decay through a chargino the spins of the stop and chargino are established by the form of the distribution. When the bottom charge is signed through soft muon tagging, the structure of the same-sign and opposite-sign invariant mass distributions depends on a set function of left-right and gaugino-higgsino mixings, as well as establishes the spins of all the superpartners in the sequential two-body cascade decay. Tau-lepton and tau-tau invariant mass distributions arising from MSSM cascade decays are likewise systematically considered with particular attention to their dependence on tau polarization. All possible tau-lepton and tau-tau distributions are plotted using a semi-analytic model for hadronic one-prong taus. Algorithms for fitting tau-tau and tau-lepton distributions to data are suggested.Comment: 35 pages, 17 .eps figure

Multiplicities, fluctuations and QCD: Interplay between soft and hard physics?

Multiplicity fluctuations are studied both globaly (in terms of high-order moments) and locally (in terms of small phase-space intervals). The ratio of cumulant factorial to factorial moments of the charged-particle multiplicity distribution shows a quasi-oscillatory behaviour similar to that predicted by the NNLLA of perturbative QCD. However, an analysis of the sub-jet multiplicity distribution at perturbative scales shows that these oscillations cannot be related to the NNLLA prediction. We investigate how it is possible to reproduce the oscillations within the framework of Monte-Carlo models. Furthermore, local multiplicity fluctuations in angular phase-space intervals are compared with Monte-Carlo models and with first-order QCD predictions. While JETSET reproduces the experimental data very well, the predictions of the Double Leading Log Approximations and estimates obtained in Modified Leading Log Approximations deviate significantly from the data.Comment: 11 pages, 11 eps figures, Presented at the XXVII Symposium on Multiparticle Dynamics, September 8-12, 1997 Frascati-Rome, Ital

Length-dependent disassembly maintains four different flagellar lengths in Giardia.

With eight flagella of four different lengths, the parasitic protist Giardia is an ideal model to evaluate flagellar assembly and length regulation. To determine how four different flagellar lengths are maintained, we used live-cell quantitative imaging and mathematical modeling of conserved components of intraflagellar transport (IFT)-mediated assembly and kinesin-13-mediated disassembly in different flagellar pairs. Each axoneme has a long cytoplasmic region extending from the basal body, and transitions to a canonical membrane-bound flagellum at the 'flagellar pore'. We determined that each flagellar pore is the site of IFT accumulation and injection, defining a diffusion barrier functionally analogous to the transition zone. IFT-mediated assembly is length-independent, as train size, speed, and injection frequencies are similar for all flagella. We demonstrate that kinesin-13 localization to the flagellar tips is inversely correlated to flagellar length. Therefore, we propose a model where a length-dependent disassembly mechanism controls multiple flagellar lengths within the same cell

Holographic optical tweezers combined with back-focal-plane displacement detection

A major problem with holographic optical tweezers (HOTs) is their incompatibility with laser-based position detection methods, such as back-focal-plane interferometry (BFPI). The alternatives generally used with HOTs, like high-speed video tracking, do not offer the same spatial and temporal bandwidths. This has limited the use of this technique in precise quantitative experiments. In this paper, we present an optical trap design that combines digital holography and back-focal-plane displacement detection. We show that, with a particularly simple setup, it is possible to generate a set of multiple holographic traps and an additional static non-holographic trap with orthogonal polarizations and that they can be, therefore, easily separated for measuring positions and forces with the high positional and temporal resolutions of laser-based detection. We prove that measurements from both polarizations contain less than 1% crosstalk and that traps in our setup are harmonic within the typical range. We further tested the instrument in a DNA stretching experiment and we discuss an interesting property of this configuration: the small drift of the differential signal between traps

Measurement of W Polarisation at LEP

The three different helicity states of W bosons produced in the reaction e+ e- -> W+ W- -> l nu q q~ at LEP are studied using leptonic and hadronic W decays. Data at centre-of-mass energies \sqrt s = 183-209 GeV are used to measure the polarisation of W bosons, and its dependence on the W boson production angle. The fraction of longitudinally polarised W bosons is measured to be 0.218 \pm 0.027 \pm 0.016 where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation

Bose-Einstein Correlations of Neutral and Charged Pions in Hadronic Z Decays

Bose-Einstein correlations of both neutral and like-sign charged pion pairs are measured in a sample of 2 million hadronic Z decays collected with the L3 detector at LEP. The analysis is performed in the four-momentum difference range 300 MeV < Q < 2 GeV. The radius of the neutral pion source is found to be smaller than that of charged pions. This result is in qualitative agreement with the string fragmentation model