U-Pb Ages of Secondary Silica at Yucca Mountain, Nevada: Implications for the Paleohydrology of the Unsaturated Zone

U, Th, and Pb isotopes were analyzed in layers of opal and chalcedony from individual millimeter- to centimeter-thick calcite and silica coatings at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, USA, a site that is being evaluated for a potential high-level nuclear waste repository. These calcite and silica coatings on fractures and in lithophysal cavities in Miocene-age tuffs in the unsaturated zone (UZ) precipitated from descending water and record a long history of percolation through the UZ. Opal and chalcedony have high concentrations of U (10 to 780 ppm) and low concentrations of common Pb as indicated by large values of {sup 206}Pb/{sup 204}Pb (up to 53,806), thus making them suitable for U-Pb age determinations. Interpretations of U-Pb isotopes in opal samples at Yucca Mountain are complicated by the incorporation of excess {sup 234}U at the time of mineral formation, resulting in reverse discordance of U-Pb ages. However, the {sup 207}Pb/{sup 235}U ages are much less affected by deviation from initial secular equilibrium and provide reliable ages of most silica deposits between 0.6 and 9.8 Ma. For chalcedony subsamples showing normal age discordance, these ages may represent minimum times of deposition. Typically, {sup 207}Pb/{sup 235}U ages are consistent with the microstratigraphy in the mineral coating samples, such that the youngest ages are for subsamples from outer layers, intermediate ages are from inner layers, and oldest ages are from innermost layers. {sup 234}U and {sup 230}Th in most silica layers deeper in the coatings are in secular equilibrium with {sup 238}U, which is consistent with their old age and closed system behavior during the past 0.5 m.y. U-Pb ages for subsamples of silica layers from different microstratigraphic positions in individual calcite and silica coating samples collected from lithophysal cavities in the welded part of the Topopah Spring Tuff yield slow long-term average depositional rates of 1 to 5 mm/m.y. These data imply that the deeper parts of the UZ at Yucca Mountain maintained long-term hydrologic stability over the past 10 m.y. despite significant climate variations. U-Pb ages for subsamples of silica layers from different microstratigraphic positions in individual calcite and silica coating samples collected from fractures in the welded part of the overlying Tiva Canyon Tuff indicate larger long-term average depositional rates up to 23 mm/m.y. and an absence of recently deposited materials (ages of outermost layers are 3-5 Ma). These differences between the characteristics of the coatings for samples from the shallower and deeper parts of the UZ may indicate that the nonwelded tuffs (PTn), located between the welded parts of the Tiva Canyon and Topopah Spring Tuffs, play an important role in moderating UZ flow

Isotopic tracers of gold deposition in Paleozoic limestones, Southern Nevada

Strontium isotopic analyses of barren and mineralized Paleozoic carbonate rocks show that hydrothermal fluids added radiogenic strontium ({sup 87}Sr) to the mineralized zones. At Bare Mountain, samples collected from mineralized areas have {delta}{sup 87}Sr{sub t} values ranging from +3.0 to +23.0, whereas unmineralized carbonate rocks have {delta}{sup 87}Sr, values of {minus}0.6 to +2.9. In other ranges, {delta}{sup 87}Sr, values of the unmineralized carbonate rocks are even lower and virtually indistinguishable from primary marine values. This correlation of elevated {delta}{sup 87}Sr{sub t} values with mineralized zones provides a useful technique for assessing the mineral potential of the Paleozoic basement beneath Yucca Mountain, and may find broader use in mineral exploration in the Basin and Range province as a whole

Relating Physical Observables in QCD without Scale-Scheme Ambiguity

We discuss the St\"uckelberg-Peterman extended renormalization group equations in perturbative QCD, which express the invariance of physical observables under renormalization-scale and scheme-parameter transformations. We introduce a universal coupling function that covers all possible choices of scale and scheme. Any perturbative series in QCD is shown to be equivalent to a particular point in this function. This function can be computed from a set of first-order differential equations involving the extended beta functions. We propose the use of these evolution equations instead of perturbative series for numerical evaluation of physical observables. This formalism is free of scale-scheme ambiguity and allows a reliable error analysis of higher-order corrections. It also provides a precise definition for $\Lambda_{\overline{\rm MS}}$ as the pole in the associated 't Hooft scheme. A concrete application to $R(e^+e^- \to {\rm hadrons})$ is presented.Comment: Plain TEX, 4 figures (available upon request), 22 pages, DOE/ER/40322-17

Geochemistry of Vein Calcites Hosted in the Troodos Pillow Lavas and Their Implications for the Timing and Physicochemical Environment of Fracturing, Fluid Circulation, and Vein Mineral Growth

Calcite veins hosted in pillow lavas of the Late Cretaceous Troodos suprasubduction zone ophiolite provide insights into the timing and physicochemical environment of postmagmatic fracturing and fluid circulation through oceanic crust. This study presents rare earth element and yttrium (REE+Y) concentrations, δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr, and clumped isotopic (Δ47) compositions of vein calcites in order to investigate their fluid sources, formation temperatures, and precipitation ages. These geochemical data are combined with microtextural analyses. Intersections of 87Sr/86Sr ratios of vein calcites with the Sr isotope seawater curve suggest two distinct calcite veining phases. Major calcite veining within an interval of ~10 Myr after crust formation is characterized by microtextures that point to extensional fracturing related to crack and sealing, host rock brecciation, and advective fluid flow. These vein calcites show REE+Y characteristics, 87Sr/86Sr ratios, and clumped isotopic compositions indicative of precipitation from seawater at <50 °C. Extended fluid residence times intensified fluid‐rock interactions and lowered Y/Ho ratios of some blocky vein calcites, whereas crack and sealing resulted in pristine seawater signatures. Low 87Sr/86Sr ratios of localized high‐temperature blocky vein calcites point to the involvement of hydrothermal fluids. These calcites show Mn‐controlled oscillatory growth zonations that probably developed in a closed system out of equilibrium. Later calcite veining (<75 Ma) may have coincided with rotation and/or uplift of the Troodos ophiolite. Microtextures of these vein calcites indicate fluid diffusion and fracture‐independent crystallization pressure‐driven veining. Their variably modified seawater signatures resulted from diffusion‐related fluid interaction with hydrothermal sediments

Search for Baryon and Lepton Number Violating Decays of the τ\tau Lepton

We have searched for five decay modes of the tau lepton that simultaneously violate lepton and baryon number: tau -> anti-proton gamma, tau -> anti-proton pi0, tau -> anti-proton eta, tau -> anti-proton 2pi0, and tau -> anti-proton pi0eta. The data used in the search were collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring (CESR). The integrated luminosity of the data sample is 4.7 fb^{-1}, corresponding to the production of 4.3 x 10^6 tau+tau- events. No evidence is found for any of the decays, resulting in much improved upper limits on the branching fractions for the two-body decays and first upper limits for the three-body decays.Comment: 8 pages, postscript file also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Search for anomalous t t-bar production in the highly-boosted all-hadronic final state

A search is presented for a massive particle, generically referred to as a Z', decaying into a t t-bar pair. The search focuses on Z' resonances that are sufficiently massive to produce highly Lorentz-boosted top quarks, which yield collimated decay products that are partially or fully merged into single jets. The analysis uses new methods to analyze jet substructure, providing suppression of the non-top multijet backgrounds. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns. Upper limits in the range of 1 pb are set on the product of the production cross section and branching fraction for a topcolor Z' modeled for several widths, as well as for a Randall--Sundrum Kaluza--Klein gluon. In addition, the results constrain any enhancement in t t-bar production beyond expectations of the standard model for t t-bar invariant masses larger than 1 TeV.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics; this version includes a minor typo correction that will be submitted as an erratu

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the t t-bar production cross section in the dilepton channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The t t-bar production cross section (sigma[t t-bar]) is measured in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV in data collected by the CMS experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The measurement is performed in events with two leptons (electrons or muons) in the final state, at least two jets identified as jets originating from b quarks, and the presence of an imbalance in transverse momentum. The measured value of sigma[t t-bar] for a top-quark mass of 172.5 GeV is 161.9 +/- 2.5 (stat.) +5.1/-5.0 (syst.) +/- 3.6(lumi.) pb, consistent with the prediction of the standard model.Comment: Replaced with published version. Included journal reference and DO