A high temperature X-ray study of ordering in iron-aluminium alloys

The variation with temperature of long-range order in iron-aluminium solid solutions was studied using a high temperature diffractometer, and short-range order was studied at room temperature by measuring diffusely scattered X-rays. Compositions in the range 19–50 at. per cent^† aluminium were investigated. The atomic configurations discovered by Bradley and Jay were largely confirmed, including the structural discontinuity at the stoichiometric Fe₃Al composition. The Fe₃Al-type superlattice exists over the range 23–35 per cent Al approximately, and the order disappears gradually during heating, with no sudden drop at the critical temperature T_c. The degree of order at a given temperature below T_c depends on the thermal history by which that temperature was approached. This anomaly is explained in terms of a competition between directional order, of ferromagnetic origin, and long-range order; this model is also used to interpret certain anomalous magnetic properties at high temperature.

Alloys with less than 23 per cent aluminium possess various kinds of short-range order. An alloy containing 20.5 per cent aluminium has a structure which is unaffected by heat treatment, but all the other alloys investigated are sensitive to heat treatment. A tentative equilibrium diagram is proposed.     

Parity violations in hydrogen and the fundamental structure of the weak current

Experiments in progress with hydrogen and deuterium may in practice determine the fundamental parameters and constituents of the weak interaction within the framework of unified gauge theories. In particular, for SU (2) × U (1) theories, from the results of these experiments one can infer the masses of the charged and neutral weak vector bosons (and thus sin²θ_W), and the isospin classification of the right-handed portions of the electron and the u- and d-quarks. Non-singlet assignments for e_R, u_R and d_R would imply the existence of additional leptons and/or quarks. Hydrogen/deuterium data also may be used to discriminate between SU (2) × U (1) models and various models based on larger gauge groups.     

Measurement of CP-violating asymmetries in B0 decays to CP eigenstates

We present measurements of time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in neutral B decays to several CP eigenstates. The measurement uses a data sample of 23x10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->BbarB decays collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we find events in which one neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in a CP eigenstate containing charmonium and the flavor of the other neutral B meson is determined from its decay products. The amplitude of the CP-violating asymmetry, which in the standard model is proportional to sin2beta, is derived from the decay time distributions in such events. The result is sin2beta = 0.34+/-0.20 (stat)+/-0.05 (syst).     

Bound on the ratio of decay amplitudes for -B0-->J/psiK*0 and B0-->J/psiK*0

We have measured the time-dependent decay rate for the process B-->J/psiK(*0) (892) in a sample of about 88x10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->B(-)B decays collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at SLAC. In this sample we study flavor-tagged events in which one neutral B meson is reconstructed in the J/psiK(*0) or J/psi(-)K(*0) final state. We measure the coefficients of the cosine and sine terms in the time-dependent asymmetries for J/psiK(*0) and J/psi(-)K(*0), find them to be consistent with the standard model expectations, and set upper limits at 90% confidence level (C.L.) on the decay amplitude ratios |A((-)B(0)-->J/psiK(*0))|/|A(B0-->J/psiK(*0))|<0.26 and |A(B0-->J/psi(-)K(*0))|/|A((-)B(0)-->J/psi(-)K(*0))|<0.32. For a single ratio of wrong-flavor to favored amplitudes for B0 and (-)B(0) combined, we obtain an upper limit of 0.25 at 90% C.L.     

Search for B0 decays to invisible final states and to nunugamma

We establish upper limits on branching fractions for B0 decays to final states where the decay products are purely invisible (i.e., no observable final state particles) and for B0 decays to nunugamma. Within the standard model, these decays have branching fractions that are below current experimental sensitivity, but various models of physics beyond the standard model predict significant contributions from these channels. Using 88.5 x 10(6) BB pairs collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e(+)e- storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, we establish upper limits at the 90% confidence level of 22 x 10(-5) for the branching fraction of B0-->invisible and 4.7 x 10(-5) for the branching fraction of B0-->nunugamma.     

Measurement of the direct CP asymmetry in b-->s gamma Decays

We describe a measurement of the direct CP asymmetry between inclusive b-->s gamma and b-->s gamma decays. This asymmetry is expected to be less than 0.01 in the standard model, but could be enhanced up to about 0.10 by new physics contributions. We use a sample of 89 x 10(6) BB pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at SLAC PEP-II, from which we reconstruct a set of 12 exclusive b-->s gamma final states containing one charged or neutral kaon and one to three pions. We measure an asymmetry of A(CP)(b-->s gamma)=0.025+/-0.050(stat)+/-0.015(syst), corresponding to an allowed range of -0.06s gamma)<+0.11 at 90% confidence level.     

Measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry in the B0-->phiK0 decay

We present a measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry for the neutral B-meson decay B0-->phiK0. We use a sample of approximately 114 x 10(6) B-meson pairs taken at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-meson factory at SLAC. We reconstruct the CP eigenstates phiK0S and phiK0L, where phi-->K+K-, K0S-->pi+pi-, and K0L is observed via its hadronic interactions. The other B meson in the event is tagged as either a B0 or Bbar0 from its decay products. The values of the CP-violation parameters are SphiK=0.47+/-0.34(stat)+0.08-0.06(syst) and CphiK=0.01+/-0.33(stat)+/-0.10(syst).     

Observation of the decay B-->J/psietaK and search for X(3872)-->J/psieta

We report the observation of the B meson decay B+/- -->J/psietaK+/- and evidence for the decay B0-->J/psietaK0S, using 90 x 10(6) BB; events collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II e+e- asymmetric-energy storage ring. We obtain branching fractions of B(B+/- -->J/psietaK+/-) = [10.8 +/- 2.3(stat) +/- 2.4(syst)] x 10(-5) and B(B0-->J/psietaK0S) = [8.4 +/- 2.6(stat) +/- 2.7(syst)] x 10(-5). We search for the new narrow mass state, the X(3872), recently reported by the Belle Collaboration, in the decay B+/- -->X(3872)K+/-,X(3872)-->J/psieta and determine an upper limit of B[B +/- -->X(3872)K+/- -->J/psietaK+/-] < 7.7 x 10(-6) at 90% confidence level.     

Search for the rare leptonic decay B+-->mu(+)nu(mu)

We have performed a search for the rare leptonic decay B+-->mu(+)nu(mu) with data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II storage ring. In a sample of 88.4 x 10(6) BB pairs, we find no significant evidence for a signal and set an upper limit on the branching fraction B(B+-->my(+)nu(my))< 6.6 x 10(-6) at the 90% confidence level.     

Measurement of the CP asymmetry amplitude sin2beta with B0 mesons

We present results on time-dependent CP asymmetries in neutral B decays to several CP eigenstates. The measurements use a data sample of about 88 x 10(6) Upsilon(4S)-->B(-)B decays collected between 1999 and 2002 with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at SLAC. We study events in which one neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in a final state containing a charmonium meson and the other B meson is determined to be either a B(0) or B(-0) from its decay products. The amplitude of the CP asymmetry, which in the standard model is proportional to sin2beta, is derived from the decay-time distributions in such events. We measure sin2beta=0.741+/-0.067(stat)+/-0.034(syst) and |lambda|=0.948+/-0.051(stat)+/-0.030(syst). The magnitude of lambda is consistent with unity, in agreement with the standard model expectation of no direct CP violation in these modes.