The Q-weak experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (USA) will make a precision determination of the proton weak charge with approximately 4% combined statistical and systematic uncertainties via a measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at very low momentum transfer and forward angle. This will allow an extraction of the weak mixing angle at Q^2=0.026 (GeV/c)^2 to approximately 0.3%. The weak mixing angle is a fundamental parameter in the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. At the proposed accuracy, a measured deviation of this parameter from the predicted value would indicate new physics beyond what is currently described in the Standard Model. Without deviation from the predicted value, this measurement would place stringent limits on possible extensions to the Standard Model and constitute the most precise measurement of the proton's weak charge to date. The key experimental apparatus include a liquid hydrogen target, a toroidal magnetic spectrometer and a set of eight Cerenkov detectors. The Cerenkov detectors form the main detector system for the Q-weak experiment and are used to measure the parity violating asymmetry during the primary Q-weak production runs. The Cerenkov detectors form the main subject of this thesis. Following a brief introduction to the experiment, the design, development, construction, installation, and testing of this detector system will be discussed in detail. This is followed by a detailed discussion of detector diagnostic data analysis and the corresponding detector performance. The experiment has been successfully constructed and commissioned, and is currently taking data. The thesis will conclude with a discussion of the preliminary analysis of a small portion of the liquid hydrogen data.

The goal of the Q-weak experiment is to make a measurement of the proton's weak charge ($Q^p_W = 1-4\sin^2\theta_W$) to an accuracy of ~4%. This would represent a ~0.3% determination of the weak mixing angle ($\sin^2\theta_W$) at low energy. The measurement may be used for a precision test of the Standard Model (SM) prediction on the running of $\sin^2\theta_W$ with energy scale. The Q-weak experiment operates at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). The experiment determines the proton's weak charge by measuring the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at low momentum transfer $Q^2 = 0.026 (GeV/c)^2$ and forward angles (~8 degree). The anticipated size of the asymmetry, based on the SM, is about 230 parts per billion (ppb). With the proposed accuracy, the experiment may probe new physics beyond Standard Model at the TeV scale. This thesis focuses on my contributions to the experiment, including track reconstruction for momentum transfer determination of the scattering process, and the focal plane scanner, a detector I designed and built to measure the flux profile of scattered electrons on the focal plane of the Q-weak spectrometer to assist in the extrapolation of low beam current tracking results to high beam current. Preliminary results from the commissioning and the first run period of the Q-weak experiment are reported and discussed.

Double Chooz is a short-baseline experiment, located at the Chooz power plant, designed to observe the neutrino oscillation signal controlled by the θ13 mixing angle. Part of my scientific research, as a graduate student, was directed towards the development of the software needed for the calibration of the Double Chooz Inner Veto and the analysis of the data associated with this task. I was responsible for the quality tests performed in every photomultiplier prior to its installation. I completed all the necessary measurements and analysed the data, extracting the first set of gains and determining the nominal high voltage values needed to be applied in all photomultipliers. All this information served as valuable input to the detector configuration. I was also responsible for the Inner Veto photomultiplier gain analysis during the first months of data taking. I was also very actively involved in data analysis and the estimations of the various sources of background. I initiated a number of methods to isolate and study the cosmic muon events that activate the detector. Additionally I worked on the estimation of the fast neutron rate registered in the detector. The techniques I put forward played a key role and were used in the first Double Chooz publication. Finally, I developed a set of algorithms to identify and reject an instrumental background, relevant for the Double Chooz detector using topological information of the deposited charge.

The Q-weak experiment at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (USA) will make a precision determination of the proton weak charge with approximately 4% combined statistical and systematic uncertainties via a measurement of the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at very low momentum transfer and forward angle. This will allow an extraction of the weak mixing angle at Q^2=0.026 (GeV/c)^2 to approximately 0.3%. The weak mixing angle is a fundamental parameter in the Standard Model of electroweak interactions. At the proposed accuracy, a measured deviation of this parameter from the predicted value would indicate new physics beyond what is currently described in the Standard Model. Without deviation from the predicted value, this measurement would place stringent limits on possible extensions to the Standard Model and constitute the most precise measurement of the proton's weak charge to date. The key experimental apparatus include a liquid hydrogen target, a toroidal magnetic spectrometer and a set of eight Cerenkov detectors. The Cerenkov detectors form the main detector system for the Q-weak experiment and are used to measure the parity violating asymmetry during the primary Q-weak production runs. The Cerenkov detectors form the main subject of this thesis. Following a brief introduction to the experiment, the design, development, construction, installation, and testing of this detector system will be discussed in detail. This is followed by a detailed discussion of detector diagnostic data analysis and the corresponding detector performance. The experiment has been successfully constructed and commissioned, and is currently taking data. The thesis will conclude with a discussion of the preliminary analysis of a small portion of the liquid hydrogen data.

The goal of the Q-weak experiment is to make a measurement of the proton's weak charge ($Q^p_W = 1-4\sin^2\theta_W$) to an accuracy of ~4%. This would represent a ~0.3% determination of the weak mixing angle ($\sin^2\theta_W$) at low energy. The measurement may be used for a precision test of the Standard Model (SM) prediction on the running of $\sin^2\theta_W$ with energy scale. The Q-weak experiment operates at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). The experiment determines the proton's weak charge by measuring the parity violating asymmetry in elastic electron-proton scattering at low momentum transfer $Q^2 = 0.026 (GeV/c)^2$ and forward angles (~8 degree). The anticipated size of the asymmetry, based on the SM, is about 230 parts per billion (ppb). With the proposed accuracy, the experiment may probe new physics beyond Standard Model at the TeV scale. This thesis focuses on my contributions to the experiment, including track reconstruction for momentum transfer determination of the scattering process, and the focal plane scanner, a detector I designed and built to measure the flux profile of scattered electrons on the focal plane of the Q-weak spectrometer to assist in the extrapolation of low beam current tracking results to high beam current. Preliminary results from the commissioning and the first run period of the Q-weak experiment are reported and discussed.

Double Chooz est une expérience de type «court ligne de base», auprès des réacteurs nucléaires de Chooz, qui a été conçue pour observer les oscillations des neutrinos associées à l’angle de mélange θ13. Une partie de ma recherche était axée sur le développement du logiciel requis pour l'étalonnage de l’Inner Veto de Double Chooz et à l'analyse des données qui y sont associées. J'ai été responsable des tests de qualité effectués sur tous les photomultiplicateurs avant leur installation. J'ai fait toutes les mesures nécessaires et j'ai analysé la majorité des données. Grâce à ce travail, j'ai extrait les premières valeurs des gains et j’ai déterminé les valeurs nominales des hautes tensions nécessaires pour les photomultiplicateurs. Toutes ces données nous ont aidé dans la mise au point du détecteur. Aussi j'ai été le responsable de l'analyse de l’extraction et stabilité des gains pendant l’expérience. J'ai travaillé très activement sur l'analyse des données et en particulier sur l'évaluation des différentes sources de bruit de fond. J'ai développé plusieurs techniques pour isoler et étudier les muons cosmiques qui activent le détecteur Double Chooz. J'ai également travaillé sur l'estimation du taux de neutrons rapides. Les techniques que j'ai présentées ont été utilisées dans la première publication de Double Chooz. Finalement, j'ai étudié un bruit de fond instrumental important pour le détecteur Double Chooz. J'ai développé un nouvel ensemble d'algorithmes pour identifier et rejeter ces événements pathologiques utilisant l'orientation géométrique de la charge à l'intérieur du détecteur. / Double Chooz is a short-baseline experiment, located at the Chooz power plant, designed to observe the neutrino oscillation signal controlled by the θ13 mixing angle. Part of my scientific research, as a graduate student, was directed towards the development of the software needed for the calibration of the Double Chooz Inner Veto and the analysis of the data associated with this task. I was responsible for the quality tests performed in every photomultiplier prior to its installation. I completed all the necessary measurements and analysed the data, extracting the first set of gains and determining the nominal high voltage values needed to be applied in all photomultipliers. All this information served as valuable input to the detector configuration. I was also responsible for the Inner Veto photomultiplier gain analysis during the first months of data taking. I was also very actively involved in data analysis and the estimations of the various sources of background. I initiated a number of methods to isolate and study the cosmic muon events that activate the detector. Additionally I worked on the estimation of the fast neutron rate registered in the detector. The techniques I put forward played a key role and were used in the first Double Chooz publication. Finally, I developed a set of algorithms to identify and reject an instrumental background, relevant for the Double Chooz detector using topological information of the deposited charge.

Für verschiedene Richtgrößen, die untersucht werden, um Hinweise auf Neue Physik jenseits des Standardmodells der Teilchenphysik zu finden, stellt die Gitter-QCD stellt derzeit den einzigen Ab-initio-Zugang für die Berechnung von nichtperturbativen hadronischen Beiträgen dar. Zu diesen Observablen gehören die anomalen magnetischen Momenten der Leptonen und das Laufen der elektroschwachen Kopplungskonstanten. Wir bestimmen den führenden QCD-Beitrag zum anomalen magnetischen Moment des Myons mit Hilfe einer Gitter-QCD-Rechnung auf Ensemblen, die Nf=2+1+1 dynamische Twisted-Mass-Fermionen berücksichtigen. Durch die Betrachtung aktiver up, down, strange and charm Quarks können erstmalig Gitter-QCD-Daten für die Myonanomalie direkt mit phänomenologischen Resultaten verglichen werden, da letztere bei der derzeitigen Genauigkeit sensitiv auf die ersten beiden Quarkgenerationen sind. Unlängst wurde darauf hingewiesen, dass es auch möglich sein könnte Beiträge Neuer Physik durch verbesserte Messungen der anomalen magnetischen Momente des Elektrons und des Tauons nachzuweisen. Aus diesem Grund berechnen wir auch deren führende QCD-Beiträge, was gleichzeitig eine Überprüfung des Wertes für das Myon liefert. Zusätzlich nutzen wir die gewonnenen Daten, um den führenden hadronischen Beitrag zum Laufen der Feinstrukturkonstante zu berechnen. Darüber hinaus zeigen wir, dass sogar für den schwachen Mischungswinkel der führende QCD-Beitrag mit Hilfe dieser Daten berechnet werden kann. Dadurch identifizieren wir eine neue grundlegende Observable für die Suche nach Neuer Physik, deren hadronische Beiträge mit Hilfe der Gitter-QCD beschafft werden können. Mit den Resultaten dieser Arbeit ist es uns gelungen ungeeignete Herangehensweisen der phänomenologisch notwendigen Flavourseparation auszuschließen und somit direkt die derzeit präziseren phänomenologischen Bestimmungen dieser bedeutsamen physikalischen Größe zu unterstützen. / For several benchmark quantities investigated to detect signs for new physics beyond the standard model of elementary particle physics, lattice QCD currently constitutes the only ab initio approach available at small momentum transfers for the computation of non-perturbative hadronic contributions. Among those observables are the lepton anomalous magnetic moments and the running of the electroweak coupling constants. We compute the leading QCD contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment by performing lattice QCD calculations on ensembles incorporating Nf=2+1+1 dynamical twisted mass fermions. Considering active up, down, strange, and charm quarks, admits for the first time a direct comparison of the lattice data for the muon anomaly with phenomenological results because both the latter as well as the experimentally obtained values are sensitive to the complete first two generations of quarks at the current level of precision. Recently, it has been noted that improved measurements of the electron and tau anomalous magnetic moments might also provide ways of detecting new physics contributions. Therefore, we also compute their leading QCD contributions, which simultaneously serve as cross-checks of the value obtained for the muon. Additionally, we utilise the obtained data to compute the leading hadronic contribution to the running of the fine structure constant, which enters all perturbative QED calculations. Furthermore, we show that even for the weak mixing angle the leading QCD contribution can be computed from this data. In this way, we identify a new prime observable in the search for new physics whose hadronic contributions can be obtained from lattice QCD. With the results obtained in this thesis, we are able to exclude unsuitable phenomenologically necessary flavour separations and thus directly assist the presently more precise phenomenological determinations of this eminent quantity.

In der Z-Boson-Resonanzphysik sind mehrere Präzisionsobservablen in einem perfekten Zustand, bei dem die theoretische Unsicherheit niedriger ist als die gegenwärtige experimentelle Unsicherheit. Das Konzept für den zukünftigen Teilchenbeschleuniger Future Circular Collider (FCC), will eine Verbesserung der Messungen für die Präzisionsobservablen um ein bis zwei signifikante Stellen erreichen. Damit werden die Vorhersagen des elektroschwachen Standardmodells in eine Situation versetzt, in der vollständige Zweischleifenkorrekturen zusammen mit den führenden Dreischleifenkorrekturen obligatorisch werden. 2016 wurden die vollständigen Zweischleifenkorrekturen für den effektiven schwachen Mischungswinkel für die bottom Quarks sin^2/theta/^b_eff berechnet, indem die fehlenden bosonischen Zweischleifenkorrekturen bereitgestellt wurden. Dabei liegt die Schwierigkeit in der Berechnung der entsprechenden Zwei-Schleifen Vertex-Feynman-Integrale, die mehrere massive Teilchen einschließen. Gegenwärtig ist die analytische Rechnung der meisten dieser Integrale schwierig und deswegen werden rein numerische Techniken, mittels Sektorzerlegungsansatz und der Integralansatz nach Mellin-Barnes, angewandt. Es war bis vor kurzem nicht bekannt, wie Mellin-Barnes-Integraldarstellungen in den minkowskischen Integrationsgebieten numerisch behandelt werden können. Um dieses Problem anzugehen, stellen wir eine Vielzahl von ein- und mehrdimensionaler Techniken vor, die ein Teil des neuen Programms MBnumerics.m sind, welches in dieser Dissertation entwickelt wurde. Der Sektorzerlegungsansatz und der Integralansatz nach Mellin-Barnes sind zusammen ausreichend, um elektroschwache Zweischleifenkorrekturen für die Präzisionsobservablen der Annihilation von e^+e^- in zwei Fermionen in der Z-Bosonresonanz auszurechnen. Aktuell führt dies zu der genauesten Vorhersage für den effektiven elektroschwachen Mischungswinkel für bottom Quarks sin^2/theta/^b_eff = 0.232312. / In the Z-boson resonance physics several precision observables are in a perfect state, where the theory uncertainty is lower than the present experimental uncertainty. The ambitious concepts for the future collider, Future Circular Collider (FCC), aim for an improvement of measurements for the precision observables by one to two significant digits. This will put the Electroweak Standard Model predictions in a situation where complete two-loop corrections together with the leading three-loop corrections will become mandatory. The complete two-loop corrections for effective weak mixing angle for bottom quarks sin^2/theta/^b_eff were reported recently, by providing the missing bosonic two-loop corrections. The difficult task in this computation is the calculation of the corresponding two-loop vertex Feynman integrals which include several massive particles. At present the analytic evaluation for most of these integrals is out of reach and purely numerical techniques were applied. Only two methods, sector decomposition approach and the Mellin-Barnes integral approach, are known to extract infrared and ultraviolet singularities in a systematic way for a general Feynman integral with fully automatized algorithms. It was not known until recently how to treat Mellin-Barnes integral representations in Minkowskian regions numerically. To address this problem we introduce and discuss in detail a variety of one- and multi-dimensional techniques, which are part of a new program MBnumerics.m developed in this thesis work. Two techniques, sector decomposition and Mellin-Barnes integral approach, are together sufficient to treat electroweak two-loop corrections to the precision observables for the e^+e^- annihilation into two fermions at the Z-boson resonance. This leads to the most precise prediction at present for the effective weak mixing angle for bottom quarks: sin^2/theta/^b_eff=0.232312.