This dissertation documents a study of very rare B-meson decays at the LHCb experiment, using data taken during the first experiment run of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and during the second experiment run until September 2016. The LHCb experiment was designed to test the Standard Model of particle physics and to search for New Physics effects that go beyond the scope of the Standard Model through the decay of b hadrons produced in high energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The measurements described in this dissertation are made using data samples of proton-proton collisions with integrated luminosities of 1.0, 2.0 and 1.4fb⁻¹, collected at centre-of-mass energies of 7, 8 and 13 TeV, respectively. All results are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model.

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In this thesis we present the work we have done to further the understanding of neutral pion photoproduction from the proton. Our work used heavy-baryon chiral perturbation theory to fourth order, and we explicitly include the ∆(1232) resonance using the delta power-counting scheme. We also test the effects of including and excluding D-waves, partial waves with orbital angular momentum quantum number of 2. We begin our discussion in chapter 1 with a brief history of nuclear physics before showing how current algebras and the partial-conservation of the axial-vector current (PCAC) can be used to describe low-energy hadronic interactions. To improve upon PCAC results, one can make use of chiral effective field theories, taking advantage of the chiral symmetry that is present in the limit of massless quarks. We formally introduce chiral perturbation theory (χPT) in chapter 2, discussing the power-counting problem that arises once baryons are included, and present two different approaches to overcome this. We conclude chapter 2 showing how the theory can be extended to include the ∆(1232) resonance. In chapter 3 we describe the model-independent framework of pion photoproduction needed to describe both theory and experiment. We discuss the various recent efforts to describe pion photoproduction within χPT in the latter half of chapter 3. We lay out the framework we have developed in chapter 4 and present our results in chapter 5. We have compared our work to the recent experimental data released by the A2 and CB-TAPS collaborations at the Mainz Microtron. Our results show that we can accurately describe the data from threshold up to an in-coming laboratory photon energy of approximately 260 MeV, a clear improvement on previous studies. We find that including the ∆ is necessary to describe the data beyond E γ ≈ 200 MeV, but the case for D-waves is not so clear. We cannot pinpoint an energy where their inclusion is necessary but we do find evidence suggesting they are important to improve the stability of the fit. Our best results require the inclusion of both the ∆ and D-waves. Finally, in chapter 6, we present our concluding remarks from what has been achieved over the last four years of study and what forms possible extensions of our work could take.

Tese de mestrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Área de especialização de Informática e Automação). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2006

Estágio realizado no CERN, Suiça e orientado pelo Eng.º Ronny Billen e Chris Roderick / Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informátca e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2008

A search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson decaying to two muons in proton-proton collisions with the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is performed. Building on top of the success of previous CMS analyses (CMS Run I campaign), results are presented using 35.9 fb−1 of data collected over the course of 2016 (CMS Run II campaign) at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV. During the Long Shutdown 1 of the Large Hadron Collider, the CMS detector underwent substantial hardware changes. The second topic discusses the process of calibration of the CMS Hadron Forward Calorimeter in preparation for collisions after LS1. The final chapter discusses the process of building simulations of calorimeter systems. Walking through all the steps from geometry specification to readout definition the results for two standalone calorimeters are presented that have been proposed as potential replacements for respective CMS components.

This dissertation dicusses two topics; the cross section measurement of ϓ(1S) meson pair production [1] and simulation studies of High Granularity Calorimetry (HGCal). The first part of the dissertation is dedicated for the analysis of ϓ(1S) meson pair production and measurement of its cross section. The data for this analysis were collected by the CMS experiment at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.7 fb −1 . Simultaneous production of two ϓ(1S) mesons is observed for the first time with 38 events, corresponding to a local significance exceeding five standard deviations from the expected combinatorial background b-quark decays. Both ϓ(1S) candidates are fully reconstructed via their decays to μ + μ − . The fiducial acceptance of the detector is measured from the simulation and is defined by an absolute Υ(1S) rapidity smaller than 2.0. To minimize the model-dependence, the acceptance and efficiency corrections are calculated on an event-by-event basis using measured ϓ meson and muon momenta. The fiducial cross section of ϓ(1S) meson production, assuming both ϓ(1S) mesons decay isotropically, is measured to be 68.8 ± 12.7 (stat) ± 7.4 (syst) ± 2.8 (B) pb, where the third uncertainty comes from the uncertainty in the branching fraction of ϓ(1S) decays to μ + μ − . Different assumptions about ϓ productions imply modifications to the cross section ranging from −38% to +36%. Cross section measurement of ϓ pair production will provide better understanding of the parton vstructure of proton and enhance precision of existing particle production models. LHC is planning to increase luminosity and energy of colliding protons. Due to accumulated radiation damage and to improve detector performance CMS experiment is expected to undergo upgrade plans. Hadron calorimeter is among them, and it is planned to be replaced with better performance high granularity calorimetry (HGCal). HGCal needs to be integrated with existing components of CMS and its smooth functioning is essential. The second part of the dissertation describes simulation studies performed to validate readiness of HGCal for the Phase II upgrade.

In dieser Arbeit untersuchen wir die Produktion von Neutrinos in astrophysikalischen Quellen. Bei der Beschreibung der Wechselwirkung betrachten wir resonante, direkte und Multipion-Produktion. Zusätzlich berücksichtigen wir die Produktion von Neutronen und positiv geladenen Kaonen. Wir beachten explizit die Energieverluste der Sekundärteilchen - Pionen, Myonen und Kaonen - auf Grund von Synchrotronstrahlung derselben und adiabatischer Expansion. In Bezug auf den Neutrinofluss berücksichtigen wir Flavor-Mischungen der Neutrinos auf dem Weg zum Beobachter. Zunächst führen wir eine Analyse basierend auf einem generischen Quellmodell durch, in der wir den Einfluss von Magnetfeld und Größe der Quelle auf die Neutrinospektren und das Verhältnis der verschiedenen Neutrino-Flavor untersuchen. Es stellt sich heraus, dass man im Rahmen dieses generischen Modells verschiedene Regionen im Parameterraum anhand des Flavor-Verhältnisses, das für hohe Magnetfelder von dem zumeist angenommenen Verhältnis (nu_e:nu_mu:nu_tau)=(1:2:0) abweicht, klassifizieren kann. In einer zweiten Analyse bestimmen wir die erwarteten Neutrinospektren von Gammablitzen im Rahmen des Feuerball-Modells aus beobachteten Photonspektren. Es zeigt sich, dass auf Grund grober Abschätzungen in der Literatur, der Neutrinofluss zumeist um etwa eine Größenordnung überschätzt wird. Deshalb berechnen wir den erwarteten Neutrinofluss der Gammablitze neu, die während der 40-Leinen-Konfiguration des IceCube-Detektors gemessen wurden, und folgern, dass entgegen der Behauptung der IceCube-Kollaboration, das Feuerball-Modell noch nicht ausgeschlossen ist. Des Weiteren quantifizieren wir systematische und astrophysikalische Unsicherheiten in dem vorhergesagten Neutrinofluss. / In this work we investigate the photohadronic neutrino production within astrophysical environments. In the description of the photohadronic interactions we consider resonant, direct and multipion production. In addition we include the production of neutrons and positiv charged kaons. For the secondaries - pions, muons, kaons - we take into account the effects of energy losses due to synchrotron radiation and adiabatic expansion. We also consider flavor effects on the neutrino flux. In a first analysis we define a generic model for a neutrino source and investigate the effect of the magnetic field and the size of the source on the neutrino flux and flavor ratio. We find that within the model we can classify different regions in the parameter space by the flavor ratio which for higher magnetic field differs from the often used assumption of (nu_e:nu_mu:nu_tau)=(1:2:0). In a second analysis we recompute the expected neutrino flux expected from gamma-ray bursts in the fireball model and see that the neutrino flux in the literature typically overestimates the flux by one order of magnitude due to rough approximations. We therefore reconsider the expected neutrino flux from the gamma-ray bursts measured during the 40-string-configuration of IceCube. As a result we conclude that against the claim of the IceCube collaboration the fireball model is not excluded yet. Furthermore we quantify the systematical and astrophysical uncertainties on the neutrino flux prediction.