Flavour physics at the Tevatron

The Tevatron heavy flavor physics program is in full swing. The rapid increase in the size of data samples is allowing significant improvements of previous results, and opens the doors to new possibilities. A further doubling of the current integrated luminosity is expected in the next couple of years. This report summarizes the main current results and future prospects.Comment: Proceedings of invited plenary talk at the Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Krakov, Poland, July 16-22, 2009 (EPS-HEP 2009). LaTeX 13 pages, 7 fig

Sensitivity of searches for new signals and its optimization

A frequentist definition of sensitivity of a search for new phenomena is discussed, that has several useful properties. It is based on completely standard concepts, is generally applicable, and has a very clear interpretation. It is particularly suitable for optimization, being independent of a-priori expectations about the presence of a signal, thus allowing the determination of a single set of cuts that is optimal both for setting limits and for making a discovery. Simple approximate formulas are given for the common problem of Poisson counts with background.Comment: Talk from PhyStat2003, Stanford, Ca, USA, September 2003, PSN MODT002. 5 pages, LaTeX, 6 eps figures. Reformatted according to conference style, small improvements in text and figure

B->h+h'- modes at CDF

We review CDF results and prospects on decays of B hadrons in two charged charmless hadrons.Comment: Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on the CKM Unitarity Triangle (CKM 2006) 12-16 Dec. 2006, Nagoya, Japan.(4 pages, 2 figures

Ordering Algorithms and Confidence Intervals in the Presence of Nuisance Parameters

We discuss some issues arising in the evaluation of confidence intervals in the presence of nuisance parameters (systematic uncertainties) by means of direct Neyman construction in multi-dimensional space. While this kind of procedure provides rigorous coverage, it may be affected by large overcoverage, and/or produce results with counterintuitive behavior with respect to the uncertainty on the nuisance parameters, or other undesirable properties. We describe a choice of ordering algorithm that provides results with good general properties, the correct behavior for small uncertainties, and limited overcoverage.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of PhyStat2005, Oxford, UK, Sept 2005, Imperial College Pres

Branching fractions and CP asymmetries in B --> h+ h'-

Relative branching fractions of Bd,Bs --> h+ h'- decays (where h,h'= K or pi) and direct CP asymmetry in Bd --> K+ pi- have been measured with 180 pb-1 of data collected by the CDFII detector at the Tevatron collider. This includes the first BR measurement of a charmless Bs-->PP decay (Bs --> K+K-).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 32nd International Conference on High-Energy Physics (ICHEP 04), Beijing, China, 16-22 Aug 2004. 5 pages, 2 figures, minor typo fi

Bias-Free Estimation in Multicomponent Maximum Likelihood Fits with Component-Dependent Templates

The possibility of strong biases in a multicomponent Maximum Likelihood fits with component-dependent templates has been demonstrated in some toy problems. We discuss here in detail a problem of practical interest, particle identification based on time-of-flight or dE/dx information. We show that large biases can occur in estimating particle fractions in a sample if differences between the momentum spectra of particles are ignored, and we present a more robust fit technique, allowing bias-free estimation even when the particle spectra in the sample are unknown.Comment: May 2006, 4 pages, 6 figures To appear in the proceedings of PHYSTATO5: Statistical Problems in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Oxford, England, United Kingdom, 12-15 Sep 200

Housing market and current account imbalances in the international economy

This paper presents a two-sector, two-country model showing that inflation in the housing market, a low personal savings rate, and a construction investment boom can contribute to a large current account deficit. In the model, demand by a group of households in the domestic country is constrained by the availability of collateral. This implies more procyclical debt capacity because constrained households can borrow against the increase in the value of their houses during an expansion. A higher degree of financial liberalization and development helps constrained households reach higher loan-to-value ratios, thus relaxing their borrowing constraints. The resulting higher net worth and lower need for savings imply a worsening current account.housing market; current account; international economy