Joint Student Recital:Tim Noonan, Percussion and Michael P. Dickson, Percussion

Cook Hall 212 Thursday Evening April 9, 1998 9:00 p.m

Measurement of the hadronic activity in events with a Z and two jets and extraction of the cross section for the electroweak production of a Z with two jets in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP10%282013%29062.The first measurement of the electroweak production cross section of a Z boson with two jets (Zjj) in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV is presented, based on a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 5 fb(−1). The cross section is measured for the ℓℓjj (ℓ = e, μ) final state in the kinematic region m(ℓℓ) > 50 GeV, m(jj) > 120 GeV, transverse momenta p(j)(T)>25 GeV and pseudorapidity |η(j)| < 4.0. The measurement, combining the muon and electron channels, yields σ = 154 ± 24 (stat.) ± 46 (exp. syst.) ± 27 (th. syst.) ± 3 (lum.) fb, in agreement with the theoretical cross section. The hadronic activity, in the rapidity interval between the jets, is also measured. These results establish an important foundation for the more general study of vector boson fusion processes, of relevance for Higgs boson searches and for measurements of electroweak gauge couplings and vector boson scattering

Antigenic landscapes on Staphylococcus aureus pore-forming toxins reveal insights into specificity and cross-neutralization

Staphylococcus aureus carries an exceptional repertoire of virulence factors that aid in immune evasion. Previous single-target approaches for S. aureus-specific vaccines and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have failed in clinical trials due to the multitude of virulence factors released during infection. Emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains demands a multi-target approach involving neutralization of different, non-overlapping pathogenic factors. Of the several pore-forming toxins that contribute to S. aureus pathogenesis, efforts have largely focused on mAbs that neutralize α-hemolysin (Hla) and target the receptor-binding site. Here, we isolated two anti-Hla and three anti-Panton-Valentine Leukocidin (LukSF-PV) mAbs, and used a combination of hydrogen deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and alanine scanning mutagenesis to delineate and validate the toxins’ epitope landscape. Our studies identified two novel, neutralizing epitopes targeted by 2B6 and CAN6 on Hla that provided protection from hemolytic activity in vitro and showed synergy in rodent pneumonia model against lethal challenge. Of the anti-LukF mAbs, SA02 and SA131 showed specific neutralization activity to LukSF-PV while SA185 showed cross-neutralization activity to LukSF-PV, γ-hemolysin HlgAB, and leukotoxin ED. We further compared these antigen-specific mAbs to two broadly neutralizing mAbs, H5 (targets Hla, LukSF-PV, HlgAB, HlgCB, and LukED) and SA185 (targeting LukSF-PV, HlgAB, and LukED), and identified molecular level markers for broad-spectrum reactivity among the pore-forming toxins by HDX-MS. To further underscore the need to target the cross-reactive epitopes on leukocidins for the development of broad-spectrum therapies, we annotated Hla sequences isolated from patients in multiple countries for genomic variations within the perspective of our defined epitopes

Search in leptonic channels for heavy resonances decaying to long-lived neutral particles

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP02%282013%29085.A search is performed for heavy resonances decaying to two long-lived massive neutral particles, each decaying to leptons. The experimental signature is a distinctive topology consisting of a pair of oppositely charged leptons originating at a separated secondary vertex. Events were collected by the CMS detector at the LHC during pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, and selected from data samples corresponding to 4.1 (5.1) fb(−1) of integrated luminosity in the electron (muon) channel. No significant excess is observed above standard model expectations, and an upper limit is set with 95% confidence level on the production cross section times the branching fraction to leptons, as a function of the long-lived massive neutral particle lifetime

Measurement of the Λ(0)(b) lifetime in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP07%282013%29163.A measurement of the Λ(0)(b) lifetime using the decay Λ(0)(b)→J/ψΛ in protonproton collisions at s√=7 TeV is presented. The data set, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 5 fb(−1), was recorded with the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using triggers that selected dimuon events in the J/ψ mass region. The Λ(0)(b) lifetime is measured to be 1.503 ± 0.052 (stat.) ± 0.031 (syst.) ps

Search for Top Squarks in R-Parity-Violating Supersymmetry Using Three or More Leptons and b-Tagged Jets

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.221801.A search for anomalous production of events with three or more isolated leptons and bottom-quark jets produced in pp collisions at s√=8  TeV is presented. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5  fb(−1) collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2012. No excess above the standard model expectations is observed. The results are interpreted in the context of supersymmetric models with signatures that have low missing transverse energy arising from light top-squark pair production with R-parity-violating decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle. In two models with different R-parity-violating couplings, top squarks are excluded below masses of 1020 GeV and 820 GeV when the lightest supersymmetric particle has a mass of 200 GeV

Measurement of the production cross section for Zγ→ν(ν-bar)γ in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV and limits on ZZγ and Zγγ triple gauge boson couplings

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP10%282013%29164.A measurement of the Zγ→ν(ν-bar)γ cross section in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV is presented, using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb(−1) collected with the CMS detector. This measurement is based on the observation of events with an imbalance of transverse energy in excess of 130 GeV and a single photon in the absolute pseudorapidity range |η| < 1.4 with transverse energy above 145 GeV. The Zγ→ν(ν-bar)γ production cross section is measured to be 21.1 ± 4.2 (stat.) ± 4.3 (syst.) ± 0.5 (lum.) fb, which agrees with the standard model prediction of 21.9 ± 1.1 fb. The results are combined with the CMS measurement of Zγ production in the ℓ (+) ℓ (−) γ final state (where ℓ is an electron or a muon) to yield the most stringent limits to date on triple gauge boson couplings: ∣∣h(Z)(3)∣∣<2.7×10(−3) , ∣∣h(Z)(4)∣∣<1.3×10(−5) for ZZγ and ∣∣h(γ)(3)∣∣<2.9×10(−3) , ∣∣h(γ)(4)∣∣<1.5×10(−5) for Zγγ couplings

Search for new physics in events with same-sign dileptons and b jets in pp collisions at s√=8 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP03%282013%29037.A search for new physics is performed using events with isolated same-sign leptons and at least two bottom-quark jets in the final state. Results are based on a sample of proton-proton collisions collected at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the CMS detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.5 fb(−1). No excess above the standard model background is observed. Upper limits are set on the number of events from non-standard-model sources and are used to constrain a number of new physics models. Information on acceptance and efficiencies is also provided so that the results can be used to confront an even broader class of new physics models