Measurement technique for the determination of antenna directivity

Measurement of great circle patterns requires rotation in azimuth with discrete rotation in elevation. This technique eliminates a set of slip-rings and rotary joints and permits the use of larger models since only continuous azimuth rotation is required

Gauge boson fusion as a probe of inverted hierarchies in supersymmetry

Supersymmetric scenarios with inverted mass hierarchy can be hard to observe at a hadron collider, particularly for the non-strongly interacting sector. We show how the production of stau-pairs via gauge boson fusion, along with hard jets in the high rapidity region, can be instrumental in uncovering the signatures of such scenarios. We demonstrate this both in a model-independent way and with reference to some specific, well-motivated models.Comment: RevTeX4, 4 pages, 2 figures. Final version to appear in Phys.Rev.D Changes in context, figures modified. References added. Conclusions unchange

Robust LHC Higgs Search in Weak Boson Fusion

We demonstrate that an LHC Higgs search in weak boson fusion production with subsequent decay to weak boson pairs is robust against extensions of the Standard Model or MSSM involving a large number of Higgs doublets. We also show that the transverse mass distribution provides unambiguous discrimination of a continuum Higgs signal from the Standard Model.Comment: 12p, 2 figs., additional comments on backgrounds, version to appear in PR

LTV beta-bremsstrahlung spectrometer for Gemini 12 Final report

Design and operation of combination bremsstrahlung spectrometer and data processor for radiation monitoring during Gemini 7 fligh

Next-to-leading order jet distributions for Higgs boson production via weak-boson fusion

The weak-boson fusion process is expected to provide crucial information on Higgs boson couplings at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The achievable statistical accuracy demands comparison with next-to-leading order QCD calculations, which are presented here in the form of a fully flexible parton Monte Carlo program. QCD corrections are determined for jet distributions and are shown to be modest, of order 5 to 10% in most cases, but reaching 30% occasionally. Remaining scale uncertainties range from order 5% or less for distributions to below +-2% for the Higgs boson cross section in typical weak-boson fusion search regions.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Determining the Structure of Higgs Couplings at the LHC

Higgs boson production via weak boson fusion at the CERN Large Hadron Collider has the capability to determine the dominant CP nature of a Higgs boson, via the tensor structure of its coupling to weak bosons. This information is contained in the azimuthal angle distribution of the two outgoing forward tagging jets. The technique is independent of both the Higgs boson mass and the observed decay channel.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, version accepted for publication in PR

Top Background Extrapolation for H -> WW Searches at the LHC

A leading order (LO) analysis is presented that demonstrates that key top backgrounds to H -> W^+W^- -> l^\pm l^\mp \sla{p}_T decays in weak boson fusion (WBF) and gluon fusion (GF) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider can be extrapolated from experimental data with an accuracy of order 5% to 10%. If LO scale variation is accepted as proxy for the theoretical error, parton level results indicate that the tt~j background to the H -> WW search in WBF can be determined with a theoretical error of about 5%, while the tt~ background to the H -> WW search in GF can be determined with a theoretical error of better than 1%. Uncertainties in the parton distribution functions contribute an estimated 3% to 10% to the total error.Comment: 17 pages, 9 tables, 4 figures; LO caveat emphasized, version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Signals of neutralinos and charginos from gauge boson fusion at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

We point out that interesting signals of the non-strongly interacting sector of the supersymmetric standard model arise from the production of charginos and neutralinos via vector boson fusion (VBF) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). In particular, if R-parity is violated, the hadronically quiet signals of charginos and neutralinos through direct production get considerably suppressed. We show that in such cases, the VBF channel can be useful in identifying this sector through clean and background-free final states.Comment: 10 pages Latex, 8 figures, minor changes in text and few references added, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Measuring Higgs boson couplings at the LHC

For an intermediate mass Higgs boson with SM-like couplings the LHC allows observation of a variety of decay channels in production by gluon fusion and weak boson fusion. Cross section ratios provide measurements of various ratios of Higgs couplings, with accuracies of order 15% for 100 fb^{-1} of data in each of the two LHC experiments. For Higgs masses above 120 GeV, minimal assumptions on the Higgs sector allow for an indirect measurement of the total Higgs boson width with an accuracy of 10 to 20%, and of the H-->WW partial width with an accuracy of about 10%.Comment: 25 pages, Revtex, 1 figur

Predictors and immunological correlates of sublethal mercury exposure in vampire bats

Mercury (Hg) is a pervasive heavy metal that often enters the environment from anthropogenic sources such as gold mining and agriculture. Chronic exposure to Hg can impair immune function, reducing the ability of animals to resist or recover from infections. How Hg influences immunity and susceptibility remains unknown for bats, which appear immunologically distinct from other mammals and are reservoir hosts of many pathogens of importance to human and animal health. We here quantify total Hg (THg) in hair collected from common vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus), which feed on blood and are the main reservoir hosts of rabies virus in Latin America. We examine how diet, sampling site and year, and bat demography influence THg and test the consequences of this variation for eight immune measures. In two populations from Belize, THg concentrations in bats were best explained by an interaction between long-term diet inferred from stable isotopes and year. Bats that foraged more consistently on domestic animals exhibited higher THg. However, relationships between diet and THg were evident only in 2015 but not in 2014, which could reflect recent environmental perturbations associated with agriculture. THg concentrations were low relative to values previously observed in other bat species but still correlated with bat immunity. Bats with higher THg had more neutrophils, weaker bacterial killing ability and impaired innate immunity. These patterns suggest that temporal variation in Hg exposure may impair bat innate immunity and increase susceptibility to pathogens such as bacteria. Unexpected associations between low-level Hg exposure and immune function underscore the need to better understand the environmental sources of Hg exposure in bats and the consequences for bat immunity and susceptibility