No description available.

No description available.

This thesis presents two measurements of the top quark using 230 pb-1 of data taken with the D0 detector at the Tevatron accelerator. The first measurement determines the top pair production cross section at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV in proton-antiproton collisions. In the standard model of particle physics the top quark decays almost exclusively into a W boson and a b quark. Candidate events are selected by requiring that at least one jet in the event is tagged with the secondary vertex algorithm. The measured top pair production cross section is: 8.6 +1.6-1.5 (stat. + syst.) +- 0.6 (lumi.) pb. The second measurement uses the observed and predicted number of events with 0, 1 and 2 b-tagged jets to estimate the ratio R: R = B(t->Wb) / B(t->Wq) where q stands for any down-type quark. The measured value is R = 1.03 +0.19-0.17 (stat. + syst.) in good agreement with the standard model prediction of R=1. The result can be used to obtain a lower limit for R: R > 0.61 (95% C.L.).

<p>This thesis is based on work done in two different experimental projects. </p><p>The first project, the Tau RICH, is a previously proposed τ-neutrino appearance experiment for the CERN neutrino beam at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy. The proposed experimental concept is based on the use of focusing RICH detectors with liquid radiator (C₆F₁₄). Simulations made with a Geant4 code show that in the proposed experimental set-up, Cherenkov light from delta electrons will constitute a severe background that in practice would render the experiment unfeasible.</p><p>The second project, ATLAS, is a general purpose detector at the CERN 14 TeV proton-proton collider LHC which will start operation in 2007. To make the reconstruction and selection of the events in ATLAS more accurate, complete and up-to-date information on the interaction of the produced particles with the detector is needed. A service program code, the Material Integration Service (MIS), has been developed which makes use of the detector descriptions already available in a Geant4 code and which uses a novel algorithm, based on line integrals evaluated within small volume elements that build up the detector. This code is demonstrated to constitute a practically useful tool of satisfactory performance and accuracy.</p><p>The charged Higgs boson production in the gluon-bottom quark mode, gb → tH^±, followed by charged Higgs decays into a chargino and a neutralino, is studied for a specific choice of values for the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) parameters. It is shown, using a Monte Carlo code to simulate the ATLAS detector and the assumed MSSM physics model, that for an integrated luminosity of 300 fb^-1, in the intermediate region 4 < tanβ < 10 where H^± decays to SM particles cannot be used for H^± discovery, charged Higgs decays to non-SM particles can be used for Higgs discovery at the 5 σ significance level.</p>

This thesis is based on work done in two different experimental projects. The first project, the Tau RICH, is a previously proposed τ-neutrino appearance experiment for the CERN neutrino beam at the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy. The proposed experimental concept is based on the use of focusing RICH detectors with liquid radiator (C6F14). Simulations made with a Geant4 code show that in the proposed experimental set-up, Cherenkov light from delta electrons will constitute a severe background that in practice would render the experiment unfeasible. The second project, ATLAS, is a general purpose detector at the CERN 14 TeV proton-proton collider LHC which will start operation in 2007. To make the reconstruction and selection of the events in ATLAS more accurate, complete and up-to-date information on the interaction of the produced particles with the detector is needed. A service program code, the Material Integration Service (MIS), has been developed which makes use of the detector descriptions already available in a Geant4 code and which uses a novel algorithm, based on line integrals evaluated within small volume elements that build up the detector. This code is demonstrated to constitute a practically useful tool of satisfactory performance and accuracy. The charged Higgs boson production in the gluon-bottom quark mode, gb → tH±, followed by charged Higgs decays into a chargino and a neutralino, is studied for a specific choice of values for the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) parameters. It is shown, using a Monte Carlo code to simulate the ATLAS detector and the assumed MSSM physics model, that for an integrated luminosity of 300 fb-1, in the intermediate region 4 &lt; tanβ &lt; 10 where H± decays to SM particles cannot be used for H± discovery, charged Higgs decays to non-SM particles can be used for Higgs discovery at the 5 σ significance level.

Nessa tese procuramos o decaimento radioativo raro - -. É um dos resultados da experiência E761 realizada no Proton Center do Fermilab, usando o feixe de híperons carregados com momento de 377 GeV/c. Medimos a fração deste feixe que é constituída de -, sendo esta (3,9 ±0,3)X10-5. Não encontramos sinal do decaimento radiativo - - e determinamos um novo limite superior de 7,5X 10-4 (90% CL). / In this thesis we have searched for the rare hyperon radiative decay - -. It is one of the results of E761 experiment which was realized at Fermilab Proton Center using a 377 GevIc charged hyperon beam. We measure the - beam fraction, which is (3.9 ± 0.3)x10-5 at the start of the decay region. No signal for the radiative decay was found and we determine a new upper limit of 7.5 x 10-4 at 90% CL for the - - branching ratio.

Nessa tese procuramos o decaimento radioativo raro - -. É um dos resultados da experiência E761 realizada no Proton Center do Fermilab, usando o feixe de híperons carregados com momento de 377 GeV/c. Medimos a fração deste feixe que é constituída de -, sendo esta (3,9 ±0,3)X10-5. Não encontramos sinal do decaimento radiativo - - e determinamos um novo limite superior de 7,5X 10-4 (90% CL). / In this thesis we have searched for the rare hyperon radiative decay - -. It is one of the results of E761 experiment which was realized at Fermilab Proton Center using a 377 GevIc charged hyperon beam. We measure the - beam fraction, which is (3.9 ± 0.3)x10-5 at the start of the decay region. No signal for the radiative decay was found and we determine a new upper limit of 7.5 x 10-4 at 90% CL for the - - branching ratio.

<p>Next-to-minimal super-symmetric extensions of the Standard Model (SM) predict the existence of several non-SM like Higgs bosons. The process pp→a₁h^±→4b+W involves the production and the decay of a spin-0 charged Higgs boson and a CP-odd Higgs boson a₁ which can have a sizable cross section in the NMSSM. The invariant masses of these intermediate bosons can be reconstructed from the four momenta of the final state particles using mass minimization algorithms. This thesis presents a cut-based analysis of two mass scenarios and specialized algorithms that are capable of recovering the signal in a large background arising from Standard Model processes such as ttbar. The analysis is tested with a realistic ATLAS detector simulation investigating trigger efficiencies and probing several jet reconstruction algorithms.</p>

<p>A generator-level study of dilepton ttbar events to search for light charged Higgs bosons at the LHC is presented with the aim of finding a new variable to discriminate between charged Higgs signals and Standard Model signatures. The spin effects in leptonic decays of H^± and W bosons are studied and a new angular distribution is identified as a discriminating variable. Studies are performed for different charged Higgs masses at two different center ofmass energies. Monte Carlo samples of Z+jets production are also used to test the analysis.</p>

A generator-level study of dilepton ttbar events to search for light charged Higgs bosons at the LHC is presented with the aim of finding a new variable to discriminate between charged Higgs signals and Standard Model signatures. The spin effects in leptonic decays of H± and W bosons are studied and a new angular distribution is identified as a discriminating variable. Studies are performed for different charged Higgs masses at two different center ofmass energies. Monte Carlo samples of Z+jets production are also used to test the analysis.