Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 324-331). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Abstract Cosmic rays are energetic particles traversing space that bombard Earth's atmosphere frequently and produce vast particle showers while interacting with air nuclei. The origin and composition of high-energy cosmic rays in the knee region (1015 - 1016 eV) of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum remain unclear despite of novel detection and analysis methods used in various surface and underground experiments. The understanding of the knee has improved from its first detection but still there is notable deviation in results between experiments depending on the used detection methods. The aim of the underground cosmic-ray experiment EMMA (Experiment with Multi-Muon Array) is to shed more light on the origin of the knee. EMMA is based on the idea to measure the lateral shape of high-energy muon component produced in cosmic-ray initiated particle showers on an event-by-event basis, that is, separately for each shower, offering a unique way to study the composition of cosmic rays in the knee region. The present work comprises the design, development and implementation of a comprehensive set of analysis tools for the EMMA experiment. It includes the development of the simulation program to generate realistic event data, the track reconstruction program ETANA to reconstruct hits and tracks in detector stations, the visualisation program EmmaEve to scan events, the graphical monitoring program EmmaDiagnosticsGUI to control the functionality of detectors on-line, the efficiency monitoring program to control chamber efficiencies in three-layer stations and the design of the EMMA database to store reconstruction results. Especially the design and tests of ETANA form the backbone of the present work as its optimised performance is crucial for the analysis of EMMA data. Furthermore, in the present work the influence of rock overburden above EMMA on the properties of high-energy muons is investigated by detailed simulations. The reconstruction of hits in drift chambers is studied with measured data including the estimation of the quality of reconstructed hits, the functionality of hit formation procedure and the influence of afterpulses on hit reconstruction. The validity of simulated data that are generated by the EMMA event generation program is evaluated by comparing simulated and measured data with each other. Finally, synergy benefits between the EMMA and ALICE experiments are discussed, which are both underground experiments but different in nature.

Includes bibliographical references. / The origin of the experimentally observed density dependence of the effective muon alpha sticking fraction will in muon catalyzed deuterium- tritium fusion has been comprehensively reanalyzed with the particular emphasis put on the density dependence of the stopping power in dense hydrogen. The main technical details and improvements in this work are: The (aμ)+ 2s and 2p states are treated independently and are assigned individual reaction rates. The essential muonic excitation rates have been recalculated taking into account finite nuclear mass effects. The stopping power for a charged projectile in liquid heavy hydrogen is modified to account for dynamic screening effects and a density dependent effective ionization potential. It is shown that the medium dependent stopping power for the (aμ)+ ion is the crucial entity controlling the density dependance of the effective sticking fraction. It is also pointed out that the muonic helium Ka X-ray yield and the sticking fraction at high density can not be simultaneously brought into agreement with the experimental results without invoking novel mechanisms suppressing Stark mixing in the (Heμ) L-shell.

Includes bibliographical references. / A Monte Carlo code MUGLU has been, written for the simulation of experiments to measure alpha-muon sticking in muon catalysed deuterium-tritium fusion. The experiments simulated are those which measure the ratio of αμ to α from fusion in a low density gas target by detecting collinear alpha-neutron coincidences and relying on the differing stopping powers of the α and αμ ions. The Monte Carlo simulations provide estimates of geometrical and detection efficiency factors required for the calculation of the sticking coefficient from the experimental measurements. Simulations have been made of alternative experimental geometries in order to investigate the α-neutron coincidence signature and other characteristics of existing and proposed systems. The characteristics of a neutron detector used in, one of the current sticking experiments (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) have been studied experimentally, as well as simulated, using the T(d,n)α reaction to emulate the fusion source. The results obtained show that the dependence of the neutron detection efficiency on the position and angle of neutron incidence on the detector is significant and should be taken into account when determining sticking coefficients from alpha-neutron coincidence measurements.

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Le sujet principal de la thèse est la mesure de la section efficace de production du boson de Higgs se décomposant en deux bosons Z dans l'état final à quatre leptons (H → ZZ * → 4l, l = e, μ), en utilisant 36.1 fb-1 de données collectées en 2015 et 2016 par l'expérience ATLAS au Grand Collisionneur de Hadrons (LHC) au CERN. La section efficace inclusive dans la chaîne de décomposition H → ZZ * → 4l est mesurée à 3.62 ±0.53 (stat) ± 0.25 (syst) fb, en accord avec la prédiction du Modèle Standard, de 2.91 ± 0.13 fb. Plusieurs sections efficaces fiducielles différentielles sont mesurées en fonction d'observables sensibles aux modes de production et de décomposition du boson de Higgs, incluant les variables cinématiques des jets produits avec le boson de Higgs. Les données et les prédictions du Modèle Standard sont en bon accord. Les sections efficaces extraites sont aussi utilisées pour contraindre des interactions anormales du boson de Higgs avec des particules du Modèle Standard.La deuxième partie de la thèse concerne l'isolation des muons. Les variables sont construites à partir des informations du tracker (isolation de trace) et des calorimètres (isolation calorimétrique). Elles mesurent l'activité ambiante autour de la trajectoire de la particule dans les détecteurs et constituent un outil puissant pour rejeter le bruit de fond. Avec les données collectées par ATLAS en 2015 et 2016,les distributions des variables sont comparées entre données et simulation. Des points de fonctionnement correspondant à des ensembles de coupures sur ces variables sont alors définis. En utilisant la décomposition du boson Z en deux muons, les efficacités du signal sont mesurées. Des facteurs d'échelle correspondant aux ratios entre données et simulation sont alors calculés. Le bon accord conduit à des facteurs d'échelle proches de l'unité. / The main subject of the thesis is the measurement of the production cross section of the Higgs boson decaying to two Z bosons in the four-lepton final state (H →ZZ * → 4l, l = e, μ), using 36.1 fb- 1 of data recorded during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS experiment installed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The inclusive fiducial cross section in the H → ZZ * → 4l decay channel is measured to be 3.62 ± 0.53 (stat) ± 0.25 (syst) fb,in agreement with the Standard Model prediction of 2.91 ± 0.13 fb. Several differential fiducial cross sections are measured for observables sensitive to the Higgs-boson production and decay, including kinematic distributions of the jets produced together with the Higgs boson. Good agreement is found between the data and the predictions of the Standard Model. The extracted cross-section distributions are also used to constrain anomalous Higgs-boson interactions with Standard-Model particles.The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the muon isolation. Isolation variables, based on information from the tracker (track-based isolation) and the calorimeters (calorimeter-based isolation) measure the ambient activity surrounding a particle in the detectors and are a powerful tool to reject background objects. Using36.1 fb-1 of data recorded by ATLAS in 2015 and2016, the variable distributions are compared with simulation. Working points are then defined as sets of cuts applied to the isolation variables. Using theZ boson decays to a pair of muons, the signal efficiency of the working points is calculated. Scale factors are then derived as ratio of efficiencies measured in data over simulation. The good agreement leads to scale factors close to one.

Le spectromètre à muons du détecteur ALICE, installé au LHC, est dédié à la mesure des quarkonia (J/psi et upsilon) et des saveurs lourdes ouvertes qui se désintègrent en muons. Un grand nombre d'étapes (R&D, simulation et construction) ont été nécessaires pour réaliser les systèmes de tracking et de trigger du spectromètre. Les prises de données sont actuellement en cours. Ce document présente mes activités de recherche durant l'évolution du projet.

ATLAS measurements of the production of muons from heavy flavor decays in √sNN = 2.76 TeV Pb+Pb collisions and √s = 2.76 TeV pp collisions at the LHC are presented. Integrated luminosities of 0.14 nb−1 and 570 nb−1 are used for the Pb+Pb and pp measurements, respectively. The measurements are performed over the transverse momentum range 4 < pT < 14 GeV and for five Pb+Pb centrality intervals. Backgrounds arising from in-flight pion and kaon decays, hadronic showers, and mis-reconstructed muons are statistically re- moved using a template fitting procedure. The heavy flavor muon differential cross-sections and per-event yields are measured in pp and Pb+Pb collisions, respectively. The nuclear modification factor, RAA, obtained from these is observed to be independent of pT, within uncertainties, and to be less than unity, which indicates suppressed production of heavy flavor muons in Pb+Pb collisions. For the 0–10% most central Pb+Pb events, the measured RAA is ∼ 0.35. The azimuthal modulation of the heavy flavor muon yields is also measured and the associated Fourier coefficients vn for n=2, 3 and 4 are given as a function of pT and centrality. They vary slowly with pT and show a systematic variation with centrality that is characteristic of other anisotropy measurements. The measured RAA and vn values are also compared with theoretical calculations. We also present the ATLAS di-muon azimuthal correlation from heavy flavor decay in √√sNN = 5.02 TeV Pb+Pb collisions and s = 5.02 TeV pp collisions. Heavy flavor muons with 4 < pT < 8 GeV are selected. The azimuthal correlations are measured for both same sign muon pairs and opposite sign muon pairs. Comparing with the azimuthal correlations in pp data, Pb+Pb results are observed to have more broadening. Central collisions are also more broadened than peripheral collisions. The integrated luminosities used in the dimuon measurement are 26 pb−1 for the pp data and 0.49 nb−1 for the Pb+Pb data. In ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, dilepton pairs may be produced through the interaction of the large electromagnetic fields of the nuclei. A measurement of γγ → μ+μ− in inclusive Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV using 0.49 nb−1 is presented in this thesis. The contribution from background sources of dimuons is removed using a template fit method. The angular and transverse momentum correlations between the muons are measured as a function of collision centrality. In peripheral collisions, the muons exhibit a strong back-to-back correlation consistent with previous measurements of dimuon production in ultra-peripheral collisions. The correlations are observed to broaden significantly in central collisions. The modifications are qualitatively consistent with attenuation of the muons while passing through the hot matter produced in the collision.