42506346
Search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons at LEP
The four LEP collaborations, ALEPH, DELPHI, L3 and OPAL, have searched for the neutral Higgs bosons which are predicted by the Minimal Supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). The data of the four collaborations are statistically combined and examined for their consistency with the background hypothesis and with a possible Higgs boson signal. The combined LEP data show no significant excess of events which would indicate the production of Higgs bosons. The search results are used to set upper bounds on the cross-sections of various Higgs-like event topologies. The results are interpreted within the MSSM in a number of “benchmark” models, including CP-conserving and CP-violating scenarios. These interpretations lead in all cases to large exclusions in the MSSM parameter space. Absolute limits are set on the parameter cosβ and, in some scenarios, on the masses of neutral Higgs bosons.
53511895
Measurement of the W mass in $e^+e^-$ collisions at production threshold
In June 1996, the LEP centre-of-mass energy was raised to 161 GeV. Pair production of W bosons in e+e− collisions was observed for the first time by the LEP experiments. An integrated luminosity of 11 pb−1 was recorded in the ALEPH detector, in which WW candidate events were observed. In 6 events both Ws decay leptonically. In 16 events, one W decays leptonically, the other into hadrons. In the channel where both Ws decay into hadrons, a signal was separated from the large background by means of several multi-variate analyses. The W pair cross-section is measured to be σWW = 4.23 ± 0.73 (stat.) ± 0.19 (syst.) pb. From this cross-section, the W mass is derived within the framework of the Standard Model: mW = 80.14 ± 0.34 (stat.) ± 0.09 (syst.) ± 0.03 (LEP energy) GeV/c2
123148086
Charm counting in b decays
The inclusive production of charmed particles in decays has been measured from the yield of D0, D+, Ds+ and Λc+ decays in a sample of events with high b purity collected with the ALEPH detector from 1992 to 1995. From these measurements, adding the charmonia production rate and an estimate of the charmed strange baryon contribution, the average number of charm quarks per b decay is determined to be nc = 1.230 ± 0.036 ± 0.038 ± 0.053, where the uncertainties are due to statistics, systematic effects and branching ratios, respectively.
144007210
A precise determination of the number of families with light neutrinos and of the Z boson partial widths
More extensive and precise results are reported on the parameters of Z decay. On the basis of 20 000 Z decays collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP we find Mz=91.182±0.026 (exp.) ±0.030 (beam) GeV, Γz=2.541±0.056 GeV and σhad0=41.4±0.8 nb. The partial widths for the hadronic and leptonic channels are Γhad=1804±44 MeV, Γe+e−=82.1±3.4 MeV, Γμ+μ−=87.9±6.0 MeV and Γτ+τ−=86.1±5.6 MeV, in good agreement with the standard model. On the basis of the average leptonic width Γl+l−=83.9±2.2 MeV, the effective weak mixing angle is found to be sin2θw(Mz)=0.231±0.008. Usin g the partial widths calculated in the standard model, the number of light neutrino families is Nν=3.01±0.15 (exp.)±0.05 (theor.).
15227858
Measurement of W pair production in e+ e- collisions at 183-GeV
Abstract The production of W + W − pairs is analysed in a data sample collected by ALEPH at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 182.7 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb −1 . Cross sections are given for different topologies of W decays into leptons or hadrons. Under Standard Model assumptions for the W-pair production and decay, the W-pair cross section is measured to be 15.57±0.62 (stat.) ±0.29 (syst.) pb . Using also the W-pair data samples collected by ALEPH at lower centre-of-mass energies, the decay branching ratio of the W boson into hadrons is measured to be B(W→hadrons) =68.93±1.21 (stat.) ±0.51 (syst.) % , allowing a determination of the CKM matrix element |V cs |=1.043±0.058 (stat.) ±0.026 (syst.) . The agreement of the cross sections with the Standard Model prediction allows a limit to be set on the W decay rate to undetectable final states.
91183149
Measurement of the tau lepton lifetime
The mean lifetime of the lepton is measured in a sample of 25700 pairs collected in 1992 with the ALEPH detector at LEP. A new analysis of the 1-1 topology events is introduced. In this analysis, the dependence of the impact parameter sum distribution on the daughter track momenta is taken into account, yielding improved precision compared to other impact parameter sum methods. Three other analyses of the oneand three-prong decays are updated with increased statistics. The measured lifetime is 293:5 3:1 1:7 fs. Including previous (1989{1991) ALEPH measurements, the combined lifetime is 293:7 2:7 1:6 fs. (Submitted to Physics Letters B) See the following pages for the list of authors. The ALEPH Collaboration D. Buskulic, D. Casper, I. De Bonis, D. Decamp, P. Ghez, C. Goy, J.-P. Lees, A. Lucotte, M.-N. Minard, P. Odier, B. Pietrzyk Laboratoire de Physique des Particules (LAPP), INP-CNRS, 74019 Annecy-le-Vieux Cedex, France F. Ariztizabal, M. Chmeissani, J.M. Crespo, I. Efthymiopoulos, E. Fernandez, M. Fernandez-Bosman, V. Gaitan, Ll. Garrido, M. Martinez, S. Orteu, A. Pacheco, C. Padilla, F. Palla, A. Pascual, J.A. Perlas, F. Sanchez, F. Teubert Institut de Fisica d'Altes Energies, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain A. Colaleo, D. Creanza, M. de Palma, A. Farilla, G. Gelao, M. Girone, G. Iaselli, G. Maggi, M. Maggi, N. Marinelli, S. Natali, S. Nuzzo, A. Ranieri, G. Raso, F. Romano, F. Ruggieri, G. Selvaggi, L. Silvestris, P. Tempesta, G. Zito Dipartimento di Fisica, INFN Sezione di Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy X. Huang, J. Lin, Q. Ouyang, T. Wang, Y. Xie, R. Xu, S. Xue, J. Zhang, L. Zhang, W. Zhao Institute of High-Energy Physics, Academia Sinica, Beijing, The People's Republic of China G. Bonvicini, M. Cattaneo, P. Comas, P. Coyle, H. Drevermann, A. Engelhardt, R.W. Forty, M. Frank, R. Hagelberg, J. Harvey, R. Jacobsen, P. Janot, B. Jost, E. Kneringer, J. Knobloch, I. Lehraus, C. Markou, E.B. Martin, P. Mato, A. Minten, R. Miquel, T. Oest, P. Palazzi, J.R. Pater, J.F. Pusztaszeri, F. Ranjard, P. Rensing, L. Rolandi, D. Schlatter, M. Schmelling, O. Schneider, W. Tejessy, I.R. Tomalin, A. Venturi, H. Wachsmuth, W. Wiedenmann, T. Wildish, W. Witzeling, J. Wotschack European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland Z. Ajaltouni, M. Bardadin-Otwinowska, A. Barres, C. Boyer, A. Falvard, P. Gay, C. Guicheney, P. Henrard, J. Jousset, B. Michel, S. Monteil, J-C. Montret, D. Pallin, P. Perret, F. Podlyski, J. Proriol, J.-M. Rossignol, F. Saadi Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, Universit e Blaise Pascal, INP-CNRS, Clermont-Ferrand, 63177 Aubi ere, France T. Fearnley, J.B. Hansen, J.D. Hansen, J.R. Hansen, P.H. Hansen, B.S. Nilsson Niels Bohr Institute, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark A. Kyriakis, E. Simopoulou, I. Siotis, A. Vayaki, K. Zachariadou Nuclear Research Center Demokritos (NRCD), Athens, Greece A. Blondel, G. Bonneaud, J.C. Brient, P. Bourdon, L. Passalacqua, A. Roug e, M. Rumpf, R. Tanaka, A. Valassi, M. Verderi, H. Videau Laboratoire de Physique Nucl eaire et des Hautes Energies, Ecole Polytechnique, INP-CNRS, 91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France D.J. Candlin, M.I. Parsons Department of Physics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ, United Kingdom E. Focardi, G. Parrini Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit a di Firenze, INFN Sezione di Firenze, 50125 Firenze, Italy M. Corden, M. Del no, C. Georgiopoulos, D.E. Ja e Supercomputer Computations Research Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 323064052, USA 13;14 A. Antonelli, G. Bencivenni, G. Bologna, F. Bossi, P. Campana, G. Capon, V. Chiarella, G. Felici, P. Laurelli, G. Mannocchi, F. Murtas, G.P. Murtas, M. Pepe-Altarelli Laboratori Nazionali dell'INFN (LNF-INFN), 00044 Frascati, Italy S.J. Dorris, A.W. Halley, I. ten Have, I.G. Knowles, J.G. Lynch, W.T. Morton, V. O'Shea, C. Raine, P. Reeves, J.M. Scarr, K. Smith, M.G. Smith, A.S. Thompson, F. Thomson, S. Thorn, R.M. Turnbull Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ,United Kingdom U. Becker, O. Braun, C. Geweniger, G. Graefe, P. Hanke, V. Hepp, E.E. Kluge, A. Putzer, B. Rensch, M. Schmidt, J. Sommer, H. Stenzel, K. Tittel, S. Werner, M. Wunsch Institut f ur Hochenergiephysik, Universitat Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Fed. Rep. of Germany R. Beuselinck, D.M. Binnie, W. Cameron, D.J. Colling, P.J. Dornan, N. Konstantinidis, L. Moneta, A. Moutoussi, J. Nash, G. San Martin, J.K. Sedgbeer, A.M. Stacey Department of Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2BZ, United Kingdom G. Dissertori, P. Girtler, D. Kuhn, G. Rudolph Institut f ur Experimentalphysik, Universitat Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria C.K. Bowdery, T.J. Brodbeck, P. Colrain, G. Crawford, A.J. Finch, F. Foster, G. Hughes, T. Sloan, E.P. Whelan, M.I. Williams Department of Physics, University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YB, United Kingdom A. Galla, A.M. Greene, K. Kleinknecht, G. Quast, J. Raab, B. Renk, H.-G. Sander, R. Wanke, P. van Gemmeren C. Zeitnitz Institut f ur Physik, Universitat Mainz, 55099 Mainz, Fed. Rep. of Germany J.J. Aubert, A.M. Bencheikh, C. Benchouk, A. Bonissent, G. Bujosa, D. Calvet, J. Carr, C. Diaconu, F. Etienne, M. Thulasidas, D. Nicod, P. Payre, D. Rousseau, M. Talby Centre de Physique des Particules, Facult e des Sciences de Luminy, INP-CNRS, 13288 Marseille, France I. Abt, R. Assmann, C. Bauer, W. Blum, D. Brown, H. Dietl, F. Dydak, G. Ganis, C. Gotzhein, K. Jakobs, H. Kroha, G. L utjens, G. Lutz, W. M anner, H.-G. Moser, R. Richter, A. Rosado-Schlosser, S. Schael, R. Settles, H. Seywerd, R. St. Denis, G. Wolf Max-Planck-Institut f ur Physik, Werner-Heisenberg-Institut, 80805 M unchen, Fed. Rep. of Germany R. Alemany, J. Boucrot, O. Callot, A. Cordier, F. Courault, M. Davier, L. Du ot, J.-F. Grivaz, Ph. Heusse, M. Jacquet, D.W. Kim, F. Le Diberder, J. Lefran cois, A.-M. Lutz, G. Musolino, I. Nikolic, H.J. Park, I.C. Park, M.-H. Schune, S. Simion, J.-J. Veillet, I. Videau Laboratoire de l'Acc el erateur Lin eaire, Universit e de Paris-Sud, INP-CNRS, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France D. Abbaneo, P. Azzurri, G. Bagliesi, G. Batignani, S. Bettarini, C. Bozzi, G. Calderini, M. Carpinelli, M.A. Ciocci, V. Ciulli, R. Dell'Orso, R. Fantechi, I. Ferrante, F. Fidecaro, L. Fo a, F. Forti, A. Giassi, M.A. Giorgi, A. Gregorio, F. Ligabue, A. Lusiani, P.S. Marrocchesi, A. Messineo, G. Rizzo, G. Sanguinetti, A. Sciab a, P. Spagnolo, J. Steinberger, R. Tenchini, G. Tonelli, G. Triggiani, C. Vannini, P.G. Verdini, J. Walsh Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universit a, INFN Sezione di Pisa, e Scuola Normale Superiore, 56010 Pisa, Italy A.P. Betteridge, G.A. Blair, L.M. Bryant, F. Cerutti, Y. Gao, M.G. Green, D.L. Johnson, T. Medcalf, Ll.M. Mir, P. Perrodo, J.A. Strong Department of Physics, Royal Holloway & Bedford New College, University of London, Surrey TW20 OEX, United Kingdom V. Bertin, D.R. Botterill, R.W. Cli t, T.R. Edgecock, S. Haywood, M. Edwards, P. Maley, P.R. Norton, J.C. Thompson Particle Physics Dept., Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon OX11 OQX, United Kingdom B. Bloch-Devaux, P. Colas, S. Emery, W. Kozanecki, E. Lan con, M.C. Lemaire, E. Locci, B. Marx, P. Perez, J. Rander, J.-F. Renardy, A. Roussarie, J.-P. Schuller, J. Schwindling, A. Trabelsi, B. Vallage CEA, DAPNIA/Service de Physique des Particules, CE-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France R.P. Johnson, H.Y. Kim, A.M. Litke, M.A. McNeil, G. Taylor Institute for Particle Physics, University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA A. Beddall, C.N. Booth, R. Boswell, S. Cartwright, F. Combley, I. Dawson, A. Koksal, M. Letho, W.M. Newton, C. Rankin, L.F. Thompson Department of Physics, University of She eld, She eld S3 7RH, United Kingdom A. Bohrer, S. Brandt, G. Cowan, E. Feigl, C. Grupen, G. Lutters, J. Minguet-Rodriguez, F. Rivera, P. Saraiva, L. Smolik, F. Stephan, Fachbereich Physik, Universitat Siegen, 57068 Siegen, Fed. Rep. of Germany M. Apollonio, L. Bosisio, R. Della Marina, G. Giannini, B. Gobbo, F. Ragusa Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit a di Trieste e INFN Sezione di Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy J. Rothberg, S. Wasserbaech Experimental Elementary Particle Physics, University of Washington, WA 98195 Seattle, U.S.A. S.R. Armstrong, L. Bellantoni, P. Elmer, Z. Feng, D.P.S. Ferguson, Y.S. Gao, S. Gonz alez, J. Grahl, J.L. Harton, O.J. Hayes, H. Hu, P.A. McNamara III, J.M. Nachtman, W. Orejudos, Y.B. Pan, Y. Saadi, M. Schmitt, I.J. Scott, V. Sharma, J.D. Turk, A.M. Walsh, Sau Lan Wu, X. Wu, J.M. Yamartino, M. Zheng, G. Zobernig Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA Now at CERN, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland. Deceased. Now at Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit a di Lecce, 73100 Lecce, Italy. Also Istituto di Fisica Generale, Universit a di Torino, Torino, Italy. Also Istituto di Cosmo-Geo sica del C.N.R., Torino, Italy. Supported by the Commission of the European Communities, contract ERBCHBICT941234. Supported by CICYT, Spain. Supported by the National Science Foundation of China. Supported by the Danish Natural Science Research Council. Supported by the UK Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. Supported by the US Department of Energy, grant DE-FG0295-ER40896. On leave from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Supported by the US Department of Energy, contract DE-FG05-92ER40742. Supported by the US Department of Energy, contract DE-FC05-85ER250000. Permanent address: Universitat de Barcelona, 08208 Barcelona, Spain. Supported by the Bundesministerium f ur Forschung und Technologie, Fed. Rep. of Germany. Supported by the Direction des Sciences de la Mati ere, C.E.A. Supported by Fonds zur F orderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Austria. Permanent address: Kangnung National University, Kangnung, Korea. Now at Dipartimento di Fisica, Universit a di Milano, Milano, Italy. Also at CERN, 1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland. Supported by the US Department of Energy, grant DE-FG0
119159605
PULSARS: GIGANTIC NUCLEI
What is the real nature of pulsars? This is essentially a question of the fundamental strong interaction between quarks at low-energy scale and hence of the non-perturbative quantum chromo-dynamics, the solution of which would certainly be meaningful for us to understand one of the seven millennium prize problems (i.e., "Yang-Mills Theory") named by the Clay Mathematical Institute. After a historical note, it is argued here that a pulsar is very similar to an extremely big nucleus, but is a little bit different from the gigantic nucleus speculated 80 years ago by L. Landau. The paper demonstrates the similarity between pulsars and gigantic nuclei from both points of view: the different manifestations of compact stars and the general behavior of the strong interaction.
18669638
Possible re-acceleration regions above the inner gap and pulsar gamma-ray emission
We propose that the violent breakdown of the Ruderman-Sutherland type vacuum gap above the pulsar polar cap region may produce copious primary particles and make the charge density above the gap in excess of the Goldreich-Julian density. Such an excess residue of charge density may arise some re-acceleration regions above the gap due to the space-charge-limited flow mechanism. Such re-acceleration regions, if exist, may accelerate particles to carry away more spin-down energy, and may have some implications for pulsar $\gamma$-ray emission.
14371244
Kompaneets equation for resonant cyclotron scattering and its application to isolated neutron stars
Resonant cyclotron scattering (RCS) in pulsar magnetospheres is considered. The photon diffusion equation (Kompaneets equation) for RCS is derived. After some deductions, a generalized form of Kompaneets equation is obtained. The numerical calculations show that there exist not only up scattering but also down scattering of RCS, depending on the parameter space. Its possible applications to magnetar soft X-ray emission and isolated neutron stars (INSs) are point out. The optical/UV excess of the INSs may be due to down scattering of RCS. The calculations for RX J1856.5-3754 and RX J0720.4-3125 are presented and compared with their observational data. In our model, the INSs are generally proposed to be normal neutron stars, although the quark star hypothesis is still possible. The low pulsation amplitude of the INSs is a natural consequence in the RCS model.
15116927
Quakes in solid quark stars
A starquake mechanism for pulsar glitches is developed in the solid quark star model. It is found that the general glitch natures (i.e., the glitch amplitudes and the time intervals) could be reproduced if solid quark matter, with high baryon density but low temperature, has properties of shear modulus mu(c) = 10(30-34) erg/cm(3) and critical stress sigma(c) = 10(18similar to24) erg/cm(3). The post-glitch behavior may represent a kind of damped oscillations. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
16103181
To probe into pulsar's interior through gravitational waves
The gravitational radiation from compact pulsar-like stars depends on the state of dense matter at supranuclear densities, i.e., the nature of pulsar (e.g., either normal neutron stars or quark stars). The solid quark star model is focused for the nature of pulsar-like compact objects. Possible gravitational emission of quark stars (either fluid or solid) during the birth and later lifetime is discussed. Several observational features to distinguish various models for pulsar-like stars are proposed. It is suggested that the gravitational wave behaviors should be mass-dependent. Based on the data from the second LIGO science run, the upper limits of R  ·  θ 1/5 and thus M  ·  θ 3/5 ( M : mass, R : radius, and θ : wobble angle) are provided for those targets of millisecond pulsars.