Search for WW and WZ production in lepton plus jets final state at CDF

We present a search for WW and WZ production in final states that contain a charged lepton (electron or muon) and at least two jets, produced in sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV ppbar collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron, using data corresponding to 1.2 fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the CDF II detector. Diboson production in this decay channel has yet to be observed at hadron colliders due to the large single W plus jets background. An artificial neural network has been developed to increase signal sensitivity, as compared with an event selection based on conventional cuts. We set a 95% confidence level upper limit of sigma_{WW}* BR(W->lnu,W->jets)+ sigma_{WZ}*BR(W->lnu,Z->jets)We present a search for WW and WZ production in final states that contain a charged lepton (electron or muon) and at least two jets, produced in √s=1.96  TeV pp̅ collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron, using data corresponding to 1.2  fb-1 of integrated luminosity collected with the CDF II detector. Diboson production in this decay channel has yet to be observed at hadron colliders due to the large single W plus jets background. An artificial neural network has been developed to increase signal sensitivity, as compared with an event selection based on conventional cuts. We set a 95% confidence level upper limit of σWW×BR(W→ℓνℓ,W→jets)+σWZ×BR(W→ℓνℓ,Z→jets)<2.88  pb, which is consistent with the standard model next-to-leading-order cross section calculation for this decay channel of 2.09±0.12  pb.Peer reviewe

A Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment Using J-PARC Neutrino Beam and Hyper-Kamiokande

Document submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresDocument submitted to 18th J-PARC PAC meeting in May 2014. 50 pages, 41 figuresHyper-Kamiokande will be a next generation underground water Cherenkov detector with a total (fiducial) mass of 0.99 (0.56) million metric tons, approximately 20 (25) times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. One of the main goals of Hyper-Kamiokande is the study of $CP$ asymmetry in the lepton sector using accelerator neutrino and anti-neutrino beams. In this document, the physics potential of a long baseline neutrino experiment using the Hyper-Kamiokande detector and a neutrino beam from the J-PARC proton synchrotron is presented. The analysis has been updated from the previous Letter of Intent [K. Abe et al., arXiv:1109.3262 [hep-ex]], based on the experience gained from the ongoing T2K experiment. With a total exposure of 7.5 MW $\times$ 10$^7$ sec integrated proton beam power (corresponding to $1.56\times10^{22}$ protons on target with a 30 GeV proton beam) to a $2.5$-degree off-axis neutrino beam produced by the J-PARC proton synchrotron, it is expected that the $CP$ phase $\delta_{CP}$ can be determined to better than 19 degrees for all possible values of $\delta_{CP}$, and $CP$ violation can be established with a statistical significance of more than $3\,\sigma$ ($5\,\sigma$) for $76$ ($58$) of the $\delta_{CP}$ parameter space

Searching the inclusive l γe T+b-quark signature for radiative top quark decay and non-standard-model processes

We compare the inclusive production of events containing a lepton (á), a photon (γ), significant transverse momentum imbalance (E T), and a jet identified as containing a b-quark, to SM predictions. The search uses data produced in proton-antiproton collisions at s=1.96TeV corresponding to 1.9fb-1 of integrated luminosity taken with the CDF detector. We find 28 áγbET events versus an expectation of 31.0-3.5+4.1 events. If we further require events to contain at least three jets and large total transverse energy, the largest SM source is radiative top-quark pair production, tt̄+γ. In the data we observe 16 tt̄γ candidate events versus an expectation from SM sources of 11.2-2.1+2.3. Assuming the difference between the observed number and the predicted non-top-quark total of 6.8-2.0+2.2 is due to SM top-quark production, we estimate the tt̄γ cross section to be 0.15±0.08pb. © 2009 The American Physical Society

Measurement of resonance parameters of orbitally excited narrow B0 mesons

We report a measurement of resonance parameters of the orbitally excited (L=1) narrow B0 mesons in decays to B(*)+Ï€- using 1.7fb-1 of data collected by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The mass and width of the B2*0 state are measured to be m(B2*0)=5740.2-1.8+1. 7(stat)-0.8+0.9(syst)MeV/c2 and Î (B2*0)=22.7-3.2+3.8(stat)-10. 2+3.2(syst)MeV/c2. The mass difference between the B2*0 and B10 states is measured to be 14.9-2.5+2.2(stat)-1.4+1.2(syst)MeV/c2, resulting in a B10 mass of 5725.3-2.2+1.6(stat)-1.5+1.4(syst)MeV/c2. This is currently the most precise measurement of the masses of these states and the first measurement of the B2*0 width. © 2009 The American Physical Society

Impact of early life exposures to geohelminth infections on the development of vaccine immunity, allergic sensitization, and allergic inflammatory diseases in children living in tropical Ecuador: the ECUAVIDA birth cohort study.

Background Geohelminth infections are highly prevalent infectious diseases of childhood in many regions of the Tropics, and are associated with significant morbidity especially among pre-school and school-age children. There is growing concern that geohelminth infections, particularly exposures occurring during early life in utero through maternal infections or during infancy, may affect vaccine immunogenicity in populations among whom these infections are endemic. Further, the low prevalence of allergic disease in the rural Tropics has been attributed to the immune modulatory effects of these infections and there is concern that widespread use of anthelmintic treatment in high-risk groups may be associated with an increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases. Because the most widely used vaccines are administered during the first year of life and the antecedents of allergic disease are considered to occur in early childhood, the present study has been designed to investigate the impact of early exposures to geohelminths on the development of protective immunity to vaccines, allergic sensitization, and allergic disease. Methods/Design A cohort of 2,403 neonates followed up to 8 years of age. Primary exposures are infections with geohelminth parasites during the last trimester of pregnancy and the first 2 years of life. Primary study outcomes are the development of protective immunity to common childhood vaccines (i.e. rotavirus, Haemophilus influenzae type B, Hepatitis B, tetanus toxoid, and oral poliovirus type 3) during the first 5 years of life, the development of eczema by 3 years of age, the development of allergen skin test reactivity at 5 years of age, and the development of asthma at 5 and 8 years of age. Potential immunological mechanisms by which geohelminth infections may affect the study outcomes will be investigated also. Discussion The study will provide information on the potential effects of early exposures to geohelminths (during pregnancy and the first 2 years of life) on the development of vaccine immunity and allergy. The data will inform an ongoing debate of potential effects of geohelminths on child health and will contribute to policy decisions on new interventions designed to improve vaccine immunogenicity and protect against the development of allergic diseases

Oral Health Status, Knowledge, and Practices in an Amish Population

This study was conducted in the summer of 1985 to assess the oral health status, knowledge, and practices of an Amish population in southwest Michigan. Dental caries experience, periodontal health, and oral hygiene status were recorded using decayed, missing, and filled surfaces (DMFS), periodontal index (PI), and simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S). Data on oral health knowledge and practices were collected by interviews using a structured questionnaire. Results showed significantly lower levels of disease among Amish. DMFS scores for 5–17-year-old Amish children were almost half that of the US general population (NIDR 1979–80). PI score of all ages combined was 2.0, which was 3.6 times lower than a national sample (1971–74). Lower levels of disease in Amish could be related to their way of life and dietary patterns. A relatively higher level of unmet need for prosthodontic care, inadequate oral health knowledge, and barriers to dental care in the study population emphasize the need for dental public health and health education programs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65488/1/j.1752-7325.1988.tb03184.x.pd

Cardiometabolic risk and the MTHFR C677T variant in children treated with second-generation antipsychotics

Second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are increasingly being used to treat children with a variety of psychiatric illnesses. Metabolic syndrome (MetS), a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is a side-effect of SGA-treatment. We conducted a cross-sectional study and assessed the association of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T variant with features of MetS in SGA-treated (n=105) and SGA–naïve (n=112) children. We targeted the MTHFR C677T variant, because it is associated with risk for cardiovascular disease, and features of MetS in adults without psychiatric illness. MetS in children is based on the presence of any three of the following: waist circumference ⩾90th percentile for age and sex; plasma triglyceride ⩾1.24 mmol l−1; plasma high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol ⩽1.03 mmol l−1; systolic or diastolic blood pressure ⩾90th percentile for age, sex, and height; and fasting glucose ⩾5.6 mmol l−1. We found that 15% of SGA-treated children had MetS compared with 2% of SGA-naïve children (OR 8.113, P<0.05). No effect of the MTHFR C677T variant on psychiatric diagnosis was observed. The MTHFR 677T allele was associated (P<0.05) with MetS (OR 5.75, 95% CI= 1.18–28.12) in SGA-treated children. Models adjusted for duration of SGA treatment, ethnicity, sex, age and use of other medications revealed a positive relationship between the MTHFR 677T allele and diastolic blood pressure Z-scores (P=0.001) and fasting plasma glucose (P<0.05) in SGA-treated children. These findings illustrate the high prevalence of MetS in SGA-treated children and suggest metabolic alterations associated with the MTHFR C677T variant may have a role in the development of MetS features in SGA-treated children

Measurement of the top quark mass at CDF using the `neutrino phi weighting' template method on a lepton plus isolated track sample

We present a measurement of the top quark mass with t{bar t} dilepton events produced in p{bar p} collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron ({radical}s = 1.96 TeV) and collected by the CDF II detector. A sample of 328 events with a charged electron or muon and an isolated track, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.9 fb{sup -1}, are selected as t{bar t} candidates. To account for the unconstrained event kinematics, we scan over the phase space of the azimuthal angles ({phi}{sub {nu}1}, {phi}{sub {nu}2}) of neutrinos and reconstruct the top quark mass for each {phi}{sub {nu}1}, {phi}{sub {nu}2} pair by minimizing a {chi}{sup 2} function in the t{bar t} dilepton hypothesis. We assign {chi}{sup 2}-dependent weights to the solutions in order to build a preferred mass for each event. Preferred mass distributions (templates) are built from simulated t{bar t} and background events, and parameterized in order to provide continuous probability density functions. A likelihood fit to the mass distribution in data as a weighted sum of signal and background probability density functions gives a top quark mass of 165.5{sub -3.3}{sup +3.4}(stat.){+-}3.1(syst.) GeV/c{sup 2}

Search for new physics in the mu mu+e/mu + is not an element of T channel with a low-pT lepton threshold at the Collider Detector at Fermilab

A search for new physics using three-lepton (trilepton) data collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 976 pb(-1) is presented. The standard model predicts a low rate of trilepton events, which makes some supersymmetric processes, such as chargino-neutralino production, measurable in this channel. The mu mu + l signature is investigated, where l is an electron or a muon, with the additional requirement of large missing transverse energy. In this analysis, the lepton transverse momenta with respect to the beam direction (p(T)) are as low as 5 GeV/c, a selection that improves the sensitivity to particles that are light as well as to ones that result in leptonically decaying tau leptons. At the same time, this low-p(T) selection presents additional challenges due to the non-negligible heavy-quark background at low lepton momenta. This background is measured with an innovative technique using experimental data. Several dimuon and trilepton control regions are investigated, and good agreement between experimental results and standard-model predictions is observed. In the signal region, we observe one three-muon event and expect 0.4 +/- 0.1 mu mu + l events from standard-model processes.We thank the Fermilab staff and the technical staffs of the participating institutions for their vital contributions. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation; the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; the National Science Council of the Republic of China; the Swiss National Science Foundation; the A.P. Sloan Foundation; the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, Germany; the Korean Science and Engineering Foundation and the Korean Research Foundation; the Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Royal Society, UK; the Institut National de Physique Nucleaire et Physique des Particules/CNRS; the Russian Foundation for Basic Research; the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, Spain; the Slovak R&D Agency; and the Academy of Finland.Peer reviewe