Study of the Higgs boson discovery potential, produced by the vector boson fusion with the ATLAS detector and commissioning of calorimetric transverse missing energy.

The subject of this thesis is the evaluation of the discovery potential of the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider for the Standard Model Higgs boson in vector boson fusion (VBF) production and a subsequent decay into a $au$-lepton pair (H to tau tau). This is one of the most promising discovery channels in the low mass range, which is the mass range favored from precision measurements of the electroweak interaction. The decay modes where both $au$ leptons decay leptonically and where one $au$ lepton decays leptonically and the other one hadronically were studied. The characteristic vector boson fusion topology, which consists of two jets in the forward regions of the detector and the Higgs boson decay products in the central region, provides a unique signature allowing the suppression of background. In addition, since vector boson fusion is a purely electroweak process, no QCD activity is expected and thus no central jets are expected for signal events. This allows the central jet veto cut application to further reject background processes. A cut-oriented analysis was used, focusing on the central jet veto cut optimization. The main objective was to investigate the Higgs boson ATLAS discovery potential with an integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$ in the mass range 115~GeV$le$mH$le$140~GeV, for an LHC energy at the center of mass $sqrt{s}$=14~TeV. After the application of all cuts, an excess above 5$sigma$ of sign al significance was found for the mass range 115~GeV$le$mH$le$125~GeV. %A maximum signal significance of 5.4$sigma$ was achieved for a Higgs mass of 120~GeV. In H to tau tau decay channel, transverse missing energy (EtMiss) resolution is of high importance since it affects directly the resolution of the Higgs boson mass. This was the initial motivation for performing and presenting in this thesis a calorimetric commissioning study based on EtMiss quantities, focused on the electronics noise etmiss ~contribution, measured with cosmics data of the period fall 2008. A Gaussian behavior of noise in all liquid argon calorimeters was found, whereas a region of non-Gaussian tails in scintillating tile calorimeter was high-lighted. For the latter, a new noise model was tested using a double Gaussian parameterization resulting in a more realistic description. Finally, this analysis provided a useful calorimeter commissioning tool, which allowed the observation and the correction of several features in the ATLAS calorimeter behavior

Localization for Involutions in Floer Cohomology

We consider Lagrangian Floer cohomology for a pair of Lagrangian submanifolds in a symplectic manifold M. Suppose that M carries a symplectic involution, which preserves both submanifolds. Under various topological hypotheses, we prove a localization theorem for Floer cohomology, which implies a Smith-type inequality for the Floer cohomology groups in M and its fixed point set. Two applications to symplectic Khovanov cohomology are included.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant DMS-0405516)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant DMS-065260)European Research Council (grant ERC-2007-StG-205349

Hadron beam test of a scintillating fibre tracker system for elastic scattering and luminosity measurement in ATLAS

A scintillating fibre tracker is proposed to measure elastic proton scattering at very small angles in the ATLAS experiment at CERN. The tracker will be located in so-called Roman Pot units at a distance of 240 m on each side of the ATLAS interaction point. An initial validation of the design choices was achieved in a beam test at DESY in a relatively low energy electron beam and using slow off-the-shelf electronics. Here we report on the results from a second beam test experiment carried out at CERN, where new detector prototypes were tested in a high energy hadron beam, using the first version of the custom designed front-end electronics. The results show an adequate tracking performance under conditions which are similar to the situation at the LHC. In addition, the alignment method using so-called overlap detectors was studied and shown to have the expected precision.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Journal of Instrumentation (JINST

A theorem of Tits type for compact Kahler manifolds

We prove a theorem of Tits type about automorphism groups for compact Kahler manifolds, which has been conjectured in the paper [KOZ].Comment: Inventiones Mathematicae (to appear), 11 page

Inclusive search for same-sign dilepton signatures in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

An inclusive search is presented for new physics in events with two isolated leptons (e or mu) having the same electric charge. The data are selected from events collected from p p collisions at root s = 7 TeV by the ATLAS detector and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb(-1). The spectra in dilepton invariant mass, missing transverse momentum and jet multiplicity are presented and compared to Standard Model predictions. In this event sample, no evidence is found for contributions beyond those of the Standard Model. Limits are set on the cross-section in a fiducial region for new sources of same-sign high-mass dilepton events in the ee, e mu and mu mu channels. Four models predicting same-sign dilepton signals are constrained: two descriptions of Majorana neutrinos, a cascade topology similar to supersymmetry or universal extra dimensions, and fourth generation d-type quarks. Assuming a new physics scale of 1 TeV, Majorana neutrinos produced by an effective operator V with masses below 460 GeV are excluded at 95% confidence level. A lower limit of 290 GeV is set at 95% confidence level on the mass of fourth generation d-type quarks

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde

Measurement of the production of a W boson in association with a charm quark in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The production of a W boson in association with a single charm quark is studied using 4.6 fb−1 of pp collision data at s√ = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. In events in which a W boson decays to an electron or muon, the charm quark is tagged either by its semileptonic decay to a muon or by the presence of a charmed meson. The integrated and differential cross sections as a function of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay are measured. Results are compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD calculations obtained from various parton distribution function parameterisations. The ratio of the strange-to-down sea-quark distributions is determined to be 0.96+0.26−0.30 at Q 2 = 1.9 GeV2, which supports the hypothesis of an SU(3)-symmetric composition of the light-quark sea. Additionally, the cross-section ratio σ(W + +c¯¯)/σ(W − + c) is compared to the predictions obtained using parton distribution function parameterisations with different assumptions about the s−s¯¯¯ quark asymmetry

Evidence for the h_b(1P) meson in the decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P)

Using a sample of 122 million Upsilon(3S) events recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we search for the $h_b(1P)$ spin-singlet partner of the P-wave chi_{bJ}(1P) states in the sequential decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P), h_b(1P) --> gamma eta_b(1S). We observe an excess of events above background in the distribution of the recoil mass against the pi0 at mass 9902 +/- 4(stat.) +/- 2(syst.) MeV/c^2. The width of the observed signal is consistent with experimental resolution, and its significance is 3.1sigma, including systematic uncertainties. We obtain the value (4.3 +/- 1.1(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.)) x 10^{-4} for the product branching fraction BF(Upsilon(3S)-->pi0 h_b) x BF(h_b-->gamma eta_b).Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns