Ph. D.

Le plasma de quarks et de gluons (QGP) est un état de la matière nucléaire apparaissant à hautedensité d’énergie. En laboratoire, il est possible de reproduire de telles conditions grâce aux collisionsd’ions lourds aux énergies ultra-relativistes. ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) estl’expérience du LHC dédiée à la mise en évidence du QGP.Différentes signatures ont été proposées et étudiées expérimentalement comme manifestations duQGP. Parmi celles-ci, le méson J/ψ joue un rôle central. Il fait partie de la famille des quarkonia,états mésoniques (Q¯Q) formées d’un quark lourd c ou b et de son anti-quark, liés par un potentield’interaction forte. En 1986, Matsui et Satz proposèrent la suppression des charmonia (états liés cc)et notamment du J/ψ comme signature de la formation du plasma de quarks et de gluons.ALICE peut détecter le J/ψ à grande rapidité (2.5 < y < 4) via le canal de désintégration en deuxmuons. Cette thèse porte sur la mesure de la production du J/ψ, via le canal muonique, dans lescollisions pp à une énergie dans le centre de masse de 2.76 et 7 TeV. Elle a exploité les donnéesacquises en 2010 et 2011 auprès du collisionneur LHC.Tenter d’appréhender le mécanisme de production du J/ψ (et plus généralement du quarkonium)dans les collisions pp est un préalable nécessaire avant d’aborder le degré de complexité suivantque constitue le cas des collisions noyau-noyau. Il est également un test important pour la QuantumChromo Dynamics (QCD), la théorie de l’interaction forte, aux énergies très élevées du LHC. / Quarkonia are meson states whose constituents are a charm or bottom quark and its correspondingantiquark (Q¯Q). The study of the production of such bound states in high-energy hadron collisionsrepresents an important test for the Quantum Chromo-Dynamics. Despite the fact that the quarkoniumsaga has already a 40-year history, the quarkonium production mechanism is still an open issue.Therefore, measurements at the new CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) energy regimes are extremelyinteresting.In this thesis, the study of inclusive J/ψ production in proton-proton (pp) collisions at √s = 2.76and 7 TeV, obtained with the ALICE experiment, is presented. J/ψ mesons are measured at forwardrapidity (2.5 < y < 4), down to zero pT, via their decay into muon pairs (μ+μ−).Quarkonium resonances also play an important role in probing the properties of the stronglyinteracting hadronic matter created, at high energy densities, in heavy-ion collisions. Under suchextreme conditions, the created system, according to QCD, undergoes a phase transition from ordinaryhadronic matter to a new state of deconfined quarks and gluons, called Quark Gluon Plasma(QGP). The ALICE experiment at CERN LHC has been specifically designed to study this state ofmatter. Quarkonia, among other probes, represents one of the most promising tools to prove the QGPformation. In order to correctly interpret the measurements of quarkonium production in heavy-ioncollisions, a solid baseline is provided by the analogous results obtained in pp collisions.Hence, the work discussed in this thesis, concerning the inclusive J/ψ production in pp collisions,also provides the necessary reference for the corresponding measurements performed in Pb-Pb collisionswhich were collected, by the ALICE experiment, at the very same center-of-mass energy pernucleon pair (√sNN = 2.76 TeV).

Thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Physics at the University of the Witwatersrand School of Physics, University of the Witwatersrand, 2015. / A search for the pseudoscalar A boson, which is predicted by in many models with an extended Higgs sector, gives a gateway to searches for physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). This thesis presents the results of a search for gluon-fusion produced A in the decay to Zh, with a final state of two electrons or muons and two τ leptons, in 20.3 fb−1of proton-proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV. Each tau lepton is allowed to dacay either leptonically, τlep, or hadronically,τhad, giving rise to three final states, τlepτlep, τlepτhad and τhadτhad. Focus is placed on the methodology and results of the fully hadronic channel. No evidence for the existence of an A boson is found in the scanned range of 220 ≤ mA ≤ 1000 GeV and 95% CL upper limits are placed on the gluon-fusion cross section times branching ratio, σ × BR(A → Zh) × BR(h → ℓℓττ). The results are combined with a complementing A → Zh search, where h → b¯b, and interpreted in view of two-Higgs-Doublet-Models (2HDMs), where exclusion limits are placed on large sections of phasepace.

O formalismo de reações quase-livres (p,2p) com prótons incidentes polarizados, sugere a possibilidade de medir o acoplamento spin-órbita dos prótons nucleares. A idéia se apóia na existência de uma polarização efetiva dos prótons nucleares devido ao acoplamento spin-órbita e na forte dependência das secções de choque próton-próton livres, a médias energias, com respeito à orientação relativa dos spins das partículas. Uma avaliação quantitativa baseada num modelo simples para reações quase-livres coplanares e assimétricas no 16O, com prótons incidentes polarizados a 215 MeV, confirma essa expectativa. São obtidas polarizações efetivas, distribuições de momentum distorcidas e secções de choque de correlação para os estados 1p1/2 , 1p3/2 e 1s1/2 do 16O, usando prótons incidentes totalmente polarizados nos dois sentidos perpendiculares ao plano de espalhamento. Para determinar as grandezas acima, são utilizadas funções de onda geradas por potenciais oscilador harmônico e poço quadrado, sendo os potenciais óticos puramente imaginários e independentes de spin. Os resultados confirmam a possibilidade de investigar o acoplamento spin-órbita dos prótons nucleares, bem como permitem propor alguns testes para as aproximações envolvidas no formalismo, como a aproximação de impulso com ondas distorcidas. Acreditamos que, embora nesse trabalho os potenciais óticos levem em consideração apenas a absorção, tornou-se claro que as reações quase-livres com prótons polarizados poderão, num futuro próximo, dar informações sobre o acoplamento spin-órbita, que é praticamente desconhecido para as camadas mais internas. / The formalism of quasi-free (p,2p) reactions with polarized protons suggests the possibility of measuring the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons. The idea is to make use of the strong effective polarization of the knocked-out proton by the spin-orbit coupling and of the strong dependence of the free, medium energy, proton-proton cross section on the relative orientation of the proton spins. This possibility is confirmed by a quantitative evaluation, based on a simple model for spin-free coplanar and asymmetric reactions in 16O, for 215 MeV incoming polarized protons. Effective polarizations, momentum distributions and correlation cross sections have been calculated for the 1p 1/2 , 1p3/2 and 1s1/2 states in 16O, using protons totally polarized orthogonal to the scattering plane. Harmonic oscillator and square wells have been used to generate the bound state wave functions, whereas the optical potentials have been taken spin-independent and purely imaginary. The results confirm the possibility to investigate the spin-orbit coupling of nuclear protons, as well as allow for certain tests of the involved approximations of the formalism, as the distorted wave impulse approximation. We believe that, although in this work the optical potentials are only absorptive, it has become clear that quasi-free scattering with polarized protons could in the near future give information on the spin-orbit coupling, which is practically unknown for inner shells.

Predições teóricas, experimentalente confirmadas, mostraram que o núcleon ejetado em um processo quase-livre encontrava-se, em geral, polarizado no núcleo.

The results of two analyses searching for supersymmetry (SUSY) in data of the ATLAS experiment are presented in this thesis. The data were recorded in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 at a centre of mass energy of \(\sqrt{s}\)=8 TeV and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb\(^{−1}\). The first search is performed in signatures containing an opposite-sign electron or muon pair, which is compatible with originating from a Z boson decay, in addition to jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis targets the production of squarks and gluinos in R-parity conserving (RPC) models with SUSY breaking via General Gauge Mediation (GGM). The main Standard Model (SM) backgrounds are \(t\overline t\), WW, W+t and Z to \(\tau \tau\) processes which are entirely estimated from data using different-flavour events. Besides that, the SM production of Z bosons in association with jets and large fake missing momentum from mismeasurements plays a role and is predicted with the data-driven jet smearing method. Backgrounds from events with fake leptons are estimated with the data-driven matrix method. WZ/ZZ production as well as smaller background contributions are determined from Monte-Carlo simulations. The search observes an excess of data over the SM prediction with a local significance of 3.0 \(\sigma\) in the electron channel, 1.7 \(\sigma\) in the muon channel and 3.0 \(\sigma\) when the two channels are added together. The results are used to constrain the parameters of the GGM model. The second analysis uses the already published results of an ATLAS search for SUSY in events with one isolated electron or muon, jets and missing transverse momentum to reinterpret them in the context of squark and gluino production in SUSY models with R-parity violating (RPV) \(LQ\overline D\)-operators. In contrast to RPC models, the lightest SUSY particle (LSP) is not stable but decays into SM particles. "Standard" analyses often do not consider SUSY models with RPV although they are in principle sensitive to them. The exclusion limits on the squark and gluino mass obtained from the reinterpretation extend up to 1200 GeV. These are the first results by any ATLAS SUSY search which systematically cover a wide range of RPV couplings in the case of prompt LSP decays. However, the analysis is not sensitive to the full parameter space of the \(LQ\overline D\)-model and reveals gaps in the ATLAS SUSY program which have to be closed by dedicated search strategies in the future. / In dieser Arbeit werden die Ergebnisse von zwei Suchen nach Supersymmetrie (SUSY) in Daten des ATLAS-Experiments präsentiert. Die Messdaten wurden im Jahr 2012 in Proton-Proton-Kollisionen am Large Hadron Collider bei einer Schwerpunktsenergie von \(\sqrt{s}\) = 8 TeV gewonnen und entsprechen einer integrierten Luminosität von 20,3 fb\(^{−1}\). Die erste Suche verwendet Signaturen mit Jets, großem fehlenden Transversalimpuls sowie einem Elektron- oder Myonpaar mit entgegengesetzter Ladung, dessen Eigenschaften mit einem Leptonpaar aus dem Zerfall eines Z-Bosons vereinbar sind. Die Analyse zielt auf die Untersuchung von Squark- und Gluinoproduktion im Rahmen R-paritätserhaltender (RPC) Modelle mit SUSY-Brechung durch General Gauge Mediation (GGM) ab. Die Hauptuntergründe des Standardmodells (SM) sind \(t\overline t\), WW, W+t und Z nach \(\tau \tau\) Prozesse. Diese werden komplett aus den Daten selbst unter Verwendung von Ereignissen mit Leptonpaaren unterschiedlichen Flavours abgeschätzt. Daneben spielt der Untergrund aus der SM-Produktion von Z-Bosonen in Verbindung mit Jets und großem fehlenden Impuls, der durch Fehlmessungen fälschlicherweise rekonstruiert wird, ein Rolle. Dieser wird mit der datengestützten Jet-Smearing-Methode abgeschätzt. Der Hintergrundbeitrag von Ereignissen mit fehlidentifizierten Leptonen wird mit der datengestützten Matrix-Methode bestimmt, während die Produktion von WZ/ZZ-Paaren sowie kleinere Untergrundprozesse mit Hilfe von Monte-Carlo-Simulationen abgeschätzt werden. Die Suche beobachtet einen Überschuss an Daten über der SM-Vorhersage mit einer lokalen Signifikanz von 3,0 \(\sigma\) im Elektronkanal, 1,7 \(\sigma\) im Myonkanal und 3,0 \(\sigma\), wenn beide Kanäle zusammengezählt werden. Mit den Ergebnissen lassen sich die Parameter des GGM-Modells einschränken. Die zweite Analyse interpretiert die bereits veröffentlichten Ergebnisse einer ATLAS SUSY-Suche in Ereignissen mit einem isolierten Elektron oder Myon, Jets und fehlendem Transversalimpuls im Rahmen von Squark- und Gluinoproduktion in SUSY-Modellen, in denen die R-Parität durch \(LQ\overline D\)-Operatoren verletzt wird. Im Gegensatz zu RPC-Modellen ist das leichteste SUSY-Teilchen (LSP) dort nicht stabil, sondern zerfällt in SM-Teilchen. R-paritätsverletzende (RPV) SUSY-Modelle werden von "Standardanalysen" oft vernachlässigt, obwohl diese prinzipiell sensitiv auf RPV SUSY sind. Die Ausschlussgrenzen auf die Squark- und Gluinomasse, die sich aus der Reinterpretation ergeben, reichen bis zu 1200 GeV. Dies sind die ersten derartigen Ergebnisse einer ATLAS SUSY-Suche, die einen großen Bereich möglicher RPV-Kopplungen für den Fall prompter LSP-Zerfälle auf systematische Art und Weise abdecken. Allerdings ist die Analyse nicht im gesamten Parameterraum des \(LQ\overline D\)-Modells sensitiv und deckt somit Lücken im ATLAS SUSY-Programm auf. Diese sollten in Zukunft durch speziell optimierte Suchstrategien geschlossen werden.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1997--Gießen.

Techn. Universiẗat, Diss., 2002--Dresden.

University, Diss., 2003--Köln.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2005--Bonn.