Part I Proposed Experimental Tests of the Right-handed Weak Current All possible experiments which test the SU(2)_L x U(1)_R x U(1)_B-L model and SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_B-L model using the LEP e⁺e⁻ collider and HERA e⁻p collider are calculated and the most sensitive experiments are examined. Part II Semi-Phenomenological Theory of (Qq̅) System The (QQ̅) and (Qq̅) mesons are calculated using a QCD motivated potential model. It is discovered that by including a long distance relativistic correction term derived by Grome, the Coulomb + Linear potential works not only for c and b quarks, but s quark as well. The leptonic decay constants of various (Qq̅) mesons together with their masses are predicted. The topponium states are also discussed. / Ph. D.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Physics, December 2000. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

The spin of the proton is thought to be produced by several constituents including quarks, antiquarks, and gluons. It has been the goal of the spin physics program at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) to measure the contribution from gluons and various sea quarks to the proton spin. The Forward GEM Tracker (FGT) is a detector in STAR (Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC), which is one of two large experiments and is located at the RHIC collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The FGT serves to locate the position of forward-going charged particles, and it will be instrumental in observing the trajectories of decay leptons from W bosons, created by the interaction of the quark of one proton and the antiquark of another in a proton-proton collision. This position information will be helpful in determining the contribution of the quarks and antiquarks to the spin of the proton. This analysis investigates the initial performance of the FGT. Studies were conducted using cosmic-ray test data collected during the detector’s construction and more recent data from polarized-proton collisions within STAR. The goals of these studies were: to see if the detector works, see how well it works, check for any odd behavior, and optimize the performance of the detector. / Department of Physics and Astronomy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2004. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 254-261). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.