Search for a W' boson via the decay mode W'-->munumu in 1.8 TeV pp collisions

We report the results of a search for a W' boson produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV using a 107 pb-1 data sample recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We consider the decay channel W'-->&munumu and search for anomalous production of high transverse mass munumu lepton pairs. We observe no excess of events above background and set limits on the rate of W' boson production and decay relative to standard model W boson production and decay using a fit of the transverse mass distribution observed. If we assume standard model strength couplings of the W' boson to quark and lepton pairs, we exclude a W' boson with invariant mass less than 660 GeV/c2 at 95% confidence level.     

Tau lepton production in ep collisions at HERA

The production of tau leptons in ep collisions is investigated using data recorded by the H1 detector at HERA in the period 1994–2000. Tau leptons are identified by detecting their decay products, using leptonic and hadronic decay modes. The cross section for the production of tau lepton pairs is measured for the first time at HERA. Furthermore, a search for events with an energetic isolated tau lepton and with large missing transverse momentum is performed. The results are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model predictions.     

Search for neutral Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model decaying to tau pairs in pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV

We present a search for neutral supersymmetric Higgs bosons decaying to tau pairs produced in pp collisions at square root of s = 1.96 TeV. The data, corresponding to 310 pb(-1) integrated luminosity, were collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab in run II of the Tevatron. No significant excess above the standard model backgrounds is observed. We set exclusion limits on the production cross section times branching fraction to tau pairs for Higgs boson masses in the range from 90 to 250 GeV/c2.     

Search for new physics in lepton+photon+X events with 305 pb(-1) of pp collisions at [square root of s] = 1.96 TeV

We present results of a search for anomalous production of events containing a charged lepton (l, either e or mu) and a photon (gamma), both with high transverse momentum, accompanied by additional signatures X, including missing transverse energy (ET) and additional leptons and photons. We use the same selection criteria as in a previous CDF search but with a substantially larger data set, 305 pb(-1), a pp collision energy of 1.96 TeV, and the CDF II detector. We find 42 lgammaET events versus an expectation of 37.3+/-5.4 events. We observe 31 llgamma+X events versus an expectation of 23.0+/-2.7 events. We find no events similar to the run I eegammagammaET event.     

Search for lepton flavor violation in the decay tau+/--->e+/-gamma

A search for the nonconservation of lepton flavor in the decay tau+/--->e+/-gamma has been performed with 2.07x10(8) e+e--->tau+tau- events collected by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP II storage ring at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV. We find no evidence for a signal and set an upper limit on the branching ratio of Beta(tau+/--->e+/-gamma)<1.1x10(-7) at 90% confidence level.     

Large transverse momentum lepton pair production at the Large Hadron Collider

We study the large transverse momentum distribution of lepton pairs produced in heavy-ion collisions, making use of the perturbative QCD. Referring to the calculation of the parton-parton production process into lepton pairs at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the production of lepton pairs at large transverse momentum is extended to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The contribution of the parton-parton production process into lepton pairs in Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC is calculated, including the complete processes at large transverse momentum. Lepton pair production with the direct single photon process and the resolved single photon process are considered and confirmed to be significant at the LHC.     

Electroweak couplings of the τ lepton

The tau lepton is the heaviest known lepton and studies of its production and decay allow measurements of its couplings to the electroweak gauge bosons. In particular, sensitive tests of the idea of lepton universality are possible, with the hope that some light will be shed on not just the nature of the origin of mass, but also on why there seem to be three generations. The recent LEP results provide most of this experimental data, and very recently measurements of the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau have been performed. I present an overview of all these results, and discuss what this means in the framework of the Standard Model and attempts to go beyond it.     

A study of the measurement precision of the Higgs boson decaying into tau pairs at the ILC

We evaluate the measurement precision of the production cross section times the branching ratio of the Higgs boson decaying into tau lepton pairs at the International Linear Collider (ILC). We analyze various final states associated with the main production mechanisms of the Higgs boson, the Higgs-strahlung and WW-fusion processes. The statistical precision of the production cross section times the branching ratio is estimated to be 2.6 and 6.9 % for the Higgs-strahlung and WW-fusion processes, respectively, with the nominal integrated luminosities assumed in the ILC Technical Design Report; the precision improves to 1.0 and 3.4 % with the running scenario including possible luminosity upgrades. The study provides a reference performance of the ILC for future phenomenological analyses.     

Search for pair production of scalar top quarks in R-parity violating decay modes in pp collisions at square root of s=1.8 TeV

We present the results of a search for pair production of scalar top quarks (t(1)) in an R-parity violating supersymmetry scenario in 106 pb(-1) of pp collisions at square root of s=1.8 TeV collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. In this mode each t(1) decays into a tau lepton and a b quark. We search for events with two tau's, one decaying leptonically (e or mu) and one decaying hadronically, and two jets. No candidate events pass our final selection criteria. We set a 95% confidence level lower limit on the t(1) mass at 122 GeV/c(2) for Br(t(1)-->tau b)=1.     

Lepton distribution in top decay: A probe of new physics and top-polarization

We investigate the possibilities of studying new physics in various processes of t-quark production using kinematical distributions of the secondary lepton coming from decay of t quarks. We show that the angular distributions of the secondary lepton are insensitive to the anomalous tbW vertex and hence are pure probes of new physics in a generic process of t-quark production. The effects of t polarization on the distributions of the decay lepton are demonstrated for top-pair production process at a γγ-collider mediated by a heavy Higgs boson.      

Search for lepton flavor violation in the decay tau+/- --> mu+ gamma

A search for the nonconservation of lepton flavor number in the decay tau(+/-) --> mu(+/-) has been performed using 2.07 x 10(8) e(+ )e(-) tau(+) tau(-) events produced at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II storage ring. We find no evidence for a signal and set an upper limit on the branching ratio of Beta(tau(+/-) --> mu(+/-) gamma) < 6.8 x 10(-8) at 90% confidence level.     

Search for lepton flavor violating decays tau+/--->l+/-omega

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of a tau to a lighter-mass charged lepton and an omega vector meson is performed using 384.1 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the BABAR detector at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center PEP-II storage ring. No signal is found, and the upper limits on the branching ratios are determined to be B(tau(+/-)-->e;{+/-}omega)<1.1 x10 (-7) and B(tau(+/-)-->micro(+/-)omega)<1.0 x 10(-7) at 90% confidence level.     

Au-Au碰撞中大横动量双轻子对的产生(英文)

运用微扰QCD讨论了重离子碰撞中大横动量轻子对的分布, 计算了Au-Au碰撞中两个部分子产生的轻子对的贡献。引入了轻子对产生的直接单光子过程和分解单光子过程。大横动量情况下的所有过程都包括在内, 而且考虑了核遮蔽效应和同位旋效应, 作为QGP背景的双轻子信号有了一个好的修正。The large transverse momentum distribution of lepton pairs produced in heavy-ion collisions has been studied, making use of the perturbative QCD. The contribution of the two parton production process into lepton pairs in Au Au collisions is calculated. Lepton pair production with the direct single photon process and the resolved single photon process are introduced. We believe that the photon processes are significant. The complete processes at large transverse momentum are included, and moreover, the effect of shadowing and isospin of nucleus are also considered in heavy ion collisions. Dilepton signals to regard the background of QGP have a good correction.     

Search for lepton flavor violating decays tau(+/-) --> l(+/-)pi0, l(+/-)eta, l(+/-)eta'

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of the tau lepton to a lighter mass lepton and a pseudoscalar meson has been performed using 339 fb;{-1} of e;{+}e;{-} annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II storage ring. No evidence of a signal has been found, and upper limits on the branching fractions are set at the 10;{-7} level.     

On the origin of anomalous soft photons in muon-proton interactions at high energy

We present arguments supporting the conjecture that anomalous prompt photons observed recently in muon-proton interactions by the European Muon Collaboration (EMC) at CERN are of the same dynamical origin as low mass lepton pairs produced in hadronic collisions. The EMC data are found to be in a qualitative agreement with the soft annihilation model. The conjecture implies that the rate of anomalous photon production depends quadratically on the rapidity density of secondary hadrons in the rapidity region of the photon. A study of this dependence is suggested as a crucial test of the conjecture.     

The tau weak-magnetic dipole moment

We calculate the prediction for the anomalous weak-magnetic form factor of the tau lepton at q² = M² within the Standard Model. With all particles on-shell, this is an electroweak gauge-invariant quantity. Its value is a_τ^w(M_Z²)= − (2.10+0.61 i) × 10⁻⁶. We show that the transverse and normal components of the single-tau polarization of tau pairs produced at e⁺e⁻ unpolarized collisions are sensitive to the real and absorptive parts of the anomalous weak-magnetic dipole moment of the tau. The sensitivity one can achieve at LEP in the measurement of this dipole moment is discussed.     

Electroweak baryon number violation at finite temperature

We consider baryon and lepton number violating processes in the electroweak theory induced by gauge and Higgs fields passing the sphaleron solution at finite temperature. We show that for temperatures larger than 19 GeV the anomalous baryon and lepton number violating processes are suppressed by the Boltzmann factor exp (?βE _sp), whereE _sp is the sphaleron energy, rather than by the instanton tunneling factor exp (?8π²/g ²). We caculate the rate of baryon and lepton number violating processes at finite temperature and determine the freezing temperature of the anomalous processes in the early universe as a function of the Higgs mass. We compare the freezing temperature with the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition infered from the one-loop finite-temperature effective potential. We obtain a critical Higgs mass of the order of 100 GeV, slightly depending on the top mass and the magnitude of the pre-exponential factor in the rate of theB non-conservation, above which the anomalous processes are certainly in equilibrium after the electroweak phase transition. Assuming that the temperature-dependence of the sphaleron energy is given by that found from the one-loop finitetemperature effective potential, this critical Higgs mass is lowered to a value of the order of 50 GeV.     

Low mass lepton pair production and pion dynamics in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

The production of lepton pairs with low invariant mass as probes for the pion dynamics in relativistic nuclear collisions is discussed in some detail. We emphasize the implications of a possible large positive pion chemical potential for the production rate of lepton pairs. We find a strong enhancement in the low invariant mass region, \(2m_\pi \leqslant M_{\mu ^ + \mu ^ - } \leqslant 600\,MeV\) , for lepton pairs which are produced via the annihilation of pions in the hot and dense collision zone. Various sources of background which could mask this enhancement are discussed in some detail. We present and compare calculations for dilepton mass spectra based on different nuclear collision scenarios. It is found that the di-muon mass spectrum can serve as a useful probe to distinguish between these different scenarios.     

Tau physics results from BABAR

Since 1999, the BABAR collaboration has accumulated and studied large samples of tau lepton pairs. The main physics results are reported.     

Tau physics results from BABAR

Since 1999, the BABAR collaboration has accumulated and studied large samples of tau lepton pairs. The main physics results are reported.