2205566
Search for gravitational-wave bursts in LIGO's third science run
We report on a search for gravitational-wave bursts in data from the three LIGO interferometric detectors during their third science run. The search targets sub-second bursts in the frequency range 100–1100 Hz for which no waveform model is assumed and has a sensitivity in terms of the root-sum-square (rss) strain amplitude of hrss ~ 10−20 Hz−1/2. No gravitational-wave signals were detected in the eight days of analysed data.
34604877
Measurement of Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the tau lepton.
Branching ratios for the dominant Cabibbo-suppressed decays of the [tau] lepton have been measured by CLEO II in [ital e][sup +][ital e][sup [minus]] annihilation at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring ([radical][ital s] [similar to]10.6 GeV) using kaons with momenta below 0.7 GeV/[ital c]. The inclusive branching ratio into one charged kaon is (1.60[plus minus]0.12[plus minus]0.19)%. For the exclusive decays, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]][nu][sub [tau]])=(0.66[plus minus]0.07[plus minus]0.09)%, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]][pi][sup 0][nu][sub [tau]])=(0.51 [plus minus]0.10[plus minus]0.07)%, and, based on three events, [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]]2[pi][sup 0][nu][sub [tau]])[lt]0.3% at the 90% confidence level. These represent significant improvements over previous results. [ital B]([tau][sup [minus]][r arrow][ital K][sup [minus]][pi][sup 0][nu][sub [tau]]) is measured for the first time with exclusive [pi][sup 0] reconstruction.
12584275
Study of charmless hadronic B meson decays to pseudoscalar-vector final states.
We report results of searches for charmless hadronic B meson decays to pseudoscalar( pi(+/-), K+/-, pi(0), or K(0)(S))-vector( rho, K(*), or omega) final states. By using 9.7x10(6) BB pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we report the first observation of B(-)--->pi(-)rho(0), B(0)-->pi(+/-)rho(-/+), and B(-)-->pi(-)omega, which are expected to be dominated by hadronic b-->u transitions. The measured branching fractions are (10.4(+3.3)(-3.4)+/-2.1)x10(-6), (27.6(+8.4)(-7.4)+/-4.2)x10(-6), and (11.3(+3.3)(-2.9)+/-1. 4)x10(-6), respectively. Branching fraction upper limits are set for all of the other decay modes investigated.
181671081
Search for B ---> K lepton+ lepton- and B ---> K* lepton+ lepton- decays
117035924
Measurement of B (tau- ---> tau-neutrino K- K0) and b (tau- ---> tau-neutrino K- K0 pi0)
16089528
Observation of radiative leptonic decay of the tau lepton
Using 4.68 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have studied tau radiative decays tau(-)-->nu(tau)&mgr;(-)nu;(&mgr;)gamma and tau(-)-->nu(tau)e(-)nu;(e)gamma. For a 10 MeV minimum photon energy in the tau rest frame, the branching fraction for radiative tau decay to a muon or electron is measured to be (3.61+/-0.16+/-0. 35)x10(-3) or (1.75+/-0.06+/-0.17)x10(-2), respectively. The branching fractions are in agreement with standard model theoretical predictions.
120027079
Results from the first two years of VERITAS observations
Abstract The VERITAS observatory is an imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope array located in southern Arizona and covers an energy range between 100 GeV and 30 TeV. The VERITAS collaboration pursues a rigorous observing program that targets a range of key science objectives in astrophysics and particle physics; the understanding of the origin of cosmic rays, the search for supersymmetric dark matter self-annihilation, illuminating the connection between black holes and relativistic jets and constraints to the cosmological diffuse infrared background. We provide a summary of results from the first two years of observations with the full 4-telecope array reported at RICAP09.
29052022
The search for millicharged particles at SLAC
Quantization of electric charge has been probed to a high degree of precision using a variety of experimental techniques. However, the theoretical underpinning of charge quantization has yet to be determined, leaving open the possibility that quantization is not a fundamental law of nature, and that free particles with fractional electric charge may one day be encountered. This dissertation describes a search for particles with very small (10{sup -3}e or below) electric charge, carried out at an electron accelerator (SLAC). The particles sought were assumed to be long lived or stable and to participate primarily in electromagnetic interactions. The search relied upon a large (1.3-meter) scintillation counter to detect low levels of ionization generated by relativistic fractionally charged particles produced in the collision of a 29.5-GeV electron beam with a six radiation length tungsten target. The data reveal no evidence of fractional charge, and allow for the exclusion of a portion of charge-mass parameter space spanning roughly 10{sup -7} to 10{sup 2} MeV/c{sup 2} and 10{sup -2} to 10{sup -5} e.
43517373
Veritas search for VHE gamma-ray emission from dwarf spheroidal galaxies
Indirect dark matter searches with ground-based gamma-ray observatories provide an alternative for identifying the particle nature of dark matter that is complementary to that of direct search or accelerator production experiments. We present the results of observations of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies Draco, Ursa Minor, Bo¨ 1, and Willman 1 conducted by the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS). These galaxies are nearby dark matter dominated objects located at a typical distance of several tens of kiloparsecs for which there are good measurements of the dark matter density profile from stellar velocity measurements. Since the conventional astrophysical background of very high energy gamma rays from these objects appears to be negligible, they are good targets to search for the secondary gamma-ray photons produced by interacting or decaying dark matter particles. No significant gamma-ray flux above 200 GeV was detected from these four dwarf galaxies for a typical exposure of ∼20 hr. The 95% confidence upper limits on the integral gamma-ray flux are in the range (0.4–2.2) × 10 −12 photons cm −2 s −1 . We interpret this limiting flux in the context of pair annihilation of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and derive constraints on the thermally averaged product of the total self-annihilation cross section and the relative velocity of the WIMPs (� σv � 10 −23 cm 3 s −1 for mχ 300 GeVc −2 ). This limit is obtained under conservative assumptions regarding the dark matter distribution in dwarf galaxies and is approximately 3 orders of magnitude above the generic theoretical prediction for WIMPs in the minimal supersymmetric standard model framework. However, significant uncertainty exists in the dark matter distribution as well as the neutralino cross sections which under favorable assumptions could further lower this limit.
53548901
VERITAS OBSERVATIONS OF THE UNUSUAL EXTRAGALACTIC TRANSIENT SWIFT J164449.3+573451
We report on very high energy (>100 GeV) gamma-ray observations of Swift J164449.3+573451, an unusual transient object first detected by the Swift Observatory and later detected by multiple radio, optical, and X-ray observatories. A total exposure of 28 hr was obtained on Swift J164449.3+573451 with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) during 2011 March 28-April 15. We do not detect the source and place a differential upper limit on the emission at 500 GeV during these observations of 1.4 × 10–12 erg cm–2 s–1 (99% confidence level). We also present time-resolved upper limits and use a flux limit averaged over the X-ray flaring period to constrain various emission scenarios that can accommodate both the radio-through-X-ray emission detected from the source and the lack of detection by VERITAS.
61111420
A valiant little terminal: A VLT user's manual
This report is a manual for the valiant little terminal. Information covered in this report is as follow: an introduction to VLT; installation; starting up; text screen menus; graphics screen menus; introduction to VLT's scripting facility; quick reference section; and troubleshooting.