This thesis presents the results for two searches for new physics performed with the ATLAS experiment. The first, a search for the rare B-meson decay Bs → μμ and measurement of its branching ratio, uses 25 fb⁻¹ of √s = 7 and 8 TeV data recorded during 2011 and 2012. After observing a small number of these decays, a branching ratio of B(Bs → μμ) = (0.9⁺¹·¹₋₀.₈) x 10⁻⁹ is measured, assuming non-negative event yields. This is compatible with the Standard Model at the 2σ level. The second, a search for direct pair production of the supersymmetric top quark partner, is performed using 36.07 fb⁻¹ of √s = 13 TeV data recorded during 2015 and 2016. Final states with a high jet multiplicity, no leptons and large missing transverse momentum are selected to target these decays, with several signal regions designed to cover a wide range of particle masses. No excess is observed, with all signal regions being compatible with the Standard Model within 2σ. Limits are set on the stop mass, excluding up to mt̃1 = 940 GeV for values of mx̃⁰₁ below 160 GeV, assuming a 100% branching fraction to t̃1 → tX̃⁰₁ decays. In addition two reinterpretations of this data are presented, for a gluino-mediated stop production scenario and a direct dark matter production scenario. No excess is observed for either model, and limits are set on the mass of the relevant particles. Finally a viability study into using machine learning techniques to improve on existing SUSY search methods has been performed, with the initial results proving promising.

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-50). / In this thesis I explore the identification of [tau] leptons from simulated reconstructed data that will be collected by the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The two components of particle identification, efficiencies of [tau] identification from generator level information, along with fake rates of the current default algorithm have been determined and analyzed for a photon plus jets background sample and QCD background sample. I propose a new [tau] lepton identification algorithm that employs a signal cone parametrized with respect to the 7 transverse energy, and an isolation cone parametrized with respect to charged particle density surrounding the [tau] jet. Using the default algorithm an efficiency of 27.7% is achieved along with a photon plus jets fake rate of 1.96%. Using the proposed algorithm and matching the efficiency of the default algorithm, an efficiency of 26.9% and a fake rate of 0.44% is achieved. Approximately matching fake rates, an efficiency of 37.4% is achieved with a fake rate of 2.36%. / by by Philip James Ilten. / S.B.

Exotic mesons are mesons that cannot be described as a quark-antiquark pair. The number of exotic mesons has been growing every year in the charm sector and the theoretical understanding of them is often conflicted amongst the community. Some possible explanations include hybrid mesons where the quark-antiquark pair is coupled to a gluonic excitation, compact tetraquarks where four quarks are bound into a localised state and molecules which consist of pairs of extended mesons. To study exotic mesons from first principles, lattice QCD provides the framework to perform spectroscopy calculations numerically. I will give a review and describe the relevant techniques used in this thesis. After doing so, I will calculate masses of charmonium with angular momentum up to four. The results show QCD permits states with exotic quantum numbers that are not accessible by a quark-antiquark pair. I will identify states that are consistent with the quark-antiquark picture and then show that the remaining states in the extracted spectra can be interpreted to be the lightest and first excited hybrid meson supermultiplet. Whilst the mass is one quantity that can be computed, hadron spectroscopy is also concerned with the calculation of the unstable properties of resonances which can decay into meson-meson states. These meson-meson states have four quarks and could also mix with tetraquarks. I will describe how to correctly extract the energies of four quark states within lattice QCD by reviewing operators resembling meson-mesons and then constructing a general class of operators resembling tetraquarks. I will then calculate a variety of spectra in the isospin-1 hidden charm sector and the doubly charmed sector. No evidence of a bound state or narrow resonance is found in these channels. Having described how to include multi-meson states in lattice QCD, I will describe how to relate the lattice QCD spectrum to the scattering amplitudes and perform a calculation of elastic $DK$ scattering amplitudes which is relevant for the exotic $D_{s0}(2317)$. By analytically continuing the scattering amplitudes into the complex plane, I find a bound state pole near threshold which is in good agreement with what is found experimentally.

Estágio realizado no CERN e orientado pelo Doutor Paulo Rodrigues Simões Moreira / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Major Telecomunicações). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2009

<p>This diploma thesis presents a preliminary study of the ratio of branching ratio r = BR(η → 3π⁰) / BR(η → π⁺ π^-π⁰). The experimental data used is collected by WASA-at-COSY which is a 4π sr detector optimised to detect light mesons and their decay products and is situated in Jülich, Germany.The focus of the work is to see how different reconstruction methods for the detected particles can alter both the measured values of the  branching ratios and the luminosity dependence of these branching ratios. The results show that for some of the methods, the measured branching ratios have a clear luminosity dependence. Depending on method, the extracted branching ratios vary differently. A few different methods have been studied, so the results provides a qualitative understanding of the behaviour of the measured branching ratios for different luminosities.</p>

This diploma thesis presents a preliminary study of the ratio of branching ratio r = BR(η → 3π0) / BR(η → π+ π- π0). The experimental data used is collected by WASA-at-COSY which is a 4π sr detector optimised to detect light mesons and their decay products and is situated in Jülich, Germany.The focus of the work is to see how different reconstruction methods for the detected particles can alter both the measured values of the  branching ratios and the luminosity dependence of these branching ratios. The results show that for some of the methods, the measured branching ratios have a clear luminosity dependence. Depending on method, the extracted branching ratios vary differently. A few different methods have been studied, so the results provides a qualitative understanding of the behaviour of the measured branching ratios for different luminosities.

Graduate

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