In this thesis, I’m working from the premise that postmodernism hitherto has been associated with the left. The next line of argument is, however, that this relation is contingent and that there is no necessity in postmodernisms association with left-wing ideas and political ambitions. To challenge this assumption, I intend to demonstrate that the Alt-Right, a far-right movement, at least in some respects can be considered as postmodern. If there is indeed cause to think of the Alt-Right as postmodern, then we would have to rethink postmodernisms political inclination. I intend to operationalize this by looking at the Alt-Right’s views on the changeability of politics and the social world, and pop culture, through the lens of a set of postmodern ideas. In particular, postmodern ideas concerning language, discourse and culture, and in doing so get a grip on whether it is correct to view the Alt-Right as postmodern or not. If a connection between the Alt-Right and postmodernism indeed exists, then we would have to rethink the necessity in the left-wing nature of postmodernism.

Eine Suche nach dem Zerfall B → π τ ν wird vorgestellt. Die Suche wird auf dem vollständigen Belle Datensatz durchgeführt, der 772E6 B anti-B Paare beinhaltet, die auf der Y(4s) Resonanz mit Belle Detektor am asymmetrischen e+e- KEKB Beschleuniger gesammelt wurden. Das τ Lepton wird in den Zerfallskanälen τ → e ν ν, τ → μ ν ν, τ → π ν und τ → ρ ν rekonstruiert. Eines der beiden B Mesonen, das Btag, wird mittels eines auf NeuroBayes beruhenden Algorithmus vollständig in einem hadronischen Zerfallskanal rekonstruiert. Der Rest des Kollisionsereignisses beinhaltet genau zwei geladene Spuren im Falle eines Signalzerfalls. Die weitere Trennung zwischen Signal und Untergrund wird mithilfe von Boosted Decision Trees durchgeführt. Ein Fit wird in der Verteilung der Extra Energie im elektromagnetischen Kalorimeter ECL, welche definiert ist als alle Energie die weder vom Btag noch von der rekonstruierten Signalseite stammt, durchgeführt. Kein signifikantes Signal wird beobachtet und ein oberes Limit von Br( B → π τ ν ) < 2.5E-4 basierend auf einem Vertrauensintervall von 90% wird bestimmt. Das Ergebnis ist in guter Übereinstimmung mit der Vorhersage des Standard Modells.

Master of Science / An analysis of B to pi0 l nu and B to eta l nu decays using the neutrino reconstruction technique is presented. The dataset consists of 535 million BB pairs in 492 fb^−1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e− collider. The measured B to pi0 l nu and B to eta l nu branching fractions are B(B to pi0 l nu) = (0.68 ± 0.09 ± 0.11 ± 0.04)×10^−4 and B(B to eta l nu) = (0.42 ± 0.13)×10^−4. The errors on the pi0 measurement are statistical, experimental systematic, and due to b to u l nu modelling, respectively; that on the eta is statistical only. The B to pi0 l nu branching fraction is measured in three q^2 bins: q^2 < 8 GeV^2, 8 GeV^2 ≤ q^2 < 16 GeV^2, and 16 GeV^2 ≤ q^2. The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark-mixing matrix element |Vub| is extracted from the B to pi0 l nu branching fraction using a Light-Cone Sum Rules form factor extrapolated to the full q^2 range, and is found to be |Vub| = (3.29 ± 0.23 ± 0.27 ± 0.05)×10^−3, where the errors are statistical, experimental systematic, and theoretical, respectively.

Master of Science / An analysis of B to pi0 l nu and B to eta l nu decays using the neutrino reconstruction technique is presented. The dataset consists of 535 million BB pairs in 492 fb^−1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e− collider. The measured B to pi0 l nu and B to eta l nu branching fractions are B(B to pi0 l nu) = (0.68 ± 0.09 ± 0.11 ± 0.04)×10^−4 and B(B to eta l nu) = (0.42 ± 0.13)×10^−4. The errors on the pi0 measurement are statistical, experimental systematic, and due to b to u l nu modelling, respectively; that on the eta is statistical only. The B to pi0 l nu branching fraction is measured in three q^2 bins: q^2 < 8 GeV^2, 8 GeV^2 ≤ q^2 < 16 GeV^2, and 16 GeV^2 ≤ q^2. The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark-mixing matrix element |Vub| is extracted from the B to pi0 l nu branching fraction using a Light-Cone Sum Rules form factor extrapolated to the full q^2 range, and is found to be |Vub| = (3.29 ± 0.23 ± 0.27 ± 0.05)×10^−3, where the errors are statistical, experimental systematic, and theoretical, respectively.

A new measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) is being developed at TRIUMF, where a high density source of ultra cold neutrons (UCN) is currently under construction. A fast, high-efficiency UCN detector is needed for the experiment, and a 6-Li doped glass scintillation detector is being explored for this purpose. In this work, simulations and test measurements were carried out to optimize the light guide design for the new UCN detector. Acrylic and air-core light guides, the latter with two different reflecting surfaces, were considered. Three prototype light guides were constructed and tested, and results were compared with simulations. The best solution was found to be an acrylic guide, wrapped with mylar foil. For a guide 12 cm in length as required by the experimental layout, a lower limit of approximately 25 photoelectrons per neutron capture was established for the proposed geometry and photomultiplier configuration. / May 2016