In this dissertation results are presented from a search for the pair production of heavy colored particles (gluinos, squarks) in R-parity conserving supersymmetric models, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle is a stable and neutral object. The search was performed for events with at least two tau leptons, two highly energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in the final state on a data sample of proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV. The data sample was collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011, and it corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5fb^−1. The tau isolation variable was optimized for this search. The number of events corresponding to standard model processes in the final selection was estimated to be 7.49 ± 0.74 using background estimation techniques based on data. Nine observed events are found to be in agreement with the standard model prediction, and exclusion limits on gluino mass are obtained in the context of supersymmetric models at the 95% confidence level.

The Dark matter Experiment using Argon Pulse-shape discrimination will be a tonne scale liquid argon experiment to detect scintillation light produced by interactions with weakly interacting massive particles, leading dark matter candidates. The detector will be constructed out of acrylic and use a spherical array of 266 photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) to count photons produced by an event and will use properties of liquid argon to discriminate signals from background events. There is currently a smaller prototype in operation underground at SNOLAB an underground laboratory in eastern Canada. The goal of the prototype detector is to understand the sources of background signals in a detector of our design and to validate our method of distinguishing different types of background radiation. The work presented herein is a series of studies with the common goal of understanding the source of background signals, and improving the resolution and efficiency of the detector.

The origin, nature and distribution of dark matter in the universe form some of the biggest questions in modern astrophysics. Dark matter is distributed on a wide range of scales in the universe. This thesis concentrates on galactic scales, attempting to lower the veil and probe the structure of dark matter in galaxies. (For complete abstract open document)

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, September 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Howard Baer, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Physics. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 24, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xxi, 172 p.; also includes graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 162-172). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Departments of Physics, June 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, June 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 156-167).