Electroweak tests of the Standard Model

Electroweak precision tests of the Standard Model of the fundamental interactions are reviewed ranging from the lowest to the highest energy experiments. Results from global fits are presented with particular emphasis on the extraction of fundamental parameters such as the Fermi constant, the strong coupling constant, the electroweak mixing angle, and the mass of the Higgs boson. Constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model are also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, plenary talk presented at the Eleventh Conference on the Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2012), St. Petersburg, FL, May 29-June 3, 201

Low Energy Tests of the Standard Model with Spin Degrees of Freedom

After briefly reviewing the status of the standard model, I will focus mainly on polarized electron scattering and other tests of the weak neutral current. I will also address other low energy tests in which polarization degrees of freedom play a crucial role, including precision muon physics and searches for electric dipole moments.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; plenary talk presented at the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN 2006), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, Oct. 2-7, 2006; 1 reference adde

Supersymmetry in Open Superstring Field Theory

We realize the 16 unbroken supersymmetries on a BPS D-brane as invariances of the action of the corresponding open superstring field theory. We work in the small Hilbert space approach, where a symmetry of the action translates into a symmetry of the associated cyclic $A_\infty$ structure. We compute the supersymmetry algebra, being careful to disentangle the components which produce a translation, a gauge transformation, and a symmetry transformation which vanishes on-shell. Via the minimal model theorem, we illustrate how supersymmetry of the action implies supersymmetry of the tree level open string scattering amplitudes.Comment: 37 page

On the Combination Procedure of Correlated Errors

When averages of different experimental determinations of the same quantity are computed, each with statistical and systematic error components, then frequently the statistical and systematic components of the combined error are quoted explicitly. These are important pieces of information since statistical errors scale differently and often more favorably with the sample size than most systematical or theoretical errors. In this communication we describe a transparent procedure by which the statistical and systematic error components of the combination uncertainty can be obtained. We develop a general method and derive a general formula for the case of Gaussian errors with or without correlations. The method can easily be applied to other error distributions, as well. For the case of two measurements, we also define disparity and misalignment angles, and discuss their relation to the combination weight factors.Comment: 11 page