Sensitivities of one-prong tau branching fractions to tau neutrino mass, mixing, and anomalous charged current couplings

We analyse the sensitivities of exclusive one-prong tau branching fractions to: the tau neutrino mass; its mixing with a fourth generation neutrino; the weak charged current magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau; and the Michel parameter $\eta$. Quantitative constraints are derived from current experimental data and the future constraints derivable from tau-charm factory measurements are estimated. The anomalous coupling constraints are used to constrain the tau compositeness scale and the allowed parameter space for Higgs doublet models.Comment: Invited talk at the Tau-Charm Workshop, 6-9 March 1999, SLAC, US

Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

The origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) with energies above E > 1017eV, is still unknown. The discovery of their sources will reveal the engines of the most energetic astrophysical accelerators in the universe. This is a written version of a series of lectures devoted to UHECR at the 2013 CERN-Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics. We present an introduction to acceleration mechanisms of charged particles to the highest energies in astrophysical objects, their propagation from the sources to Earth, and the experimental techniques for their detection. We also discuss some of the relevant observational results from Telescope Array and Pierre Auger Observatory. These experiments deal with particle interactions at energies orders of magnitude higher than achieved in terrestrial accelerators.Comment: 22 pages, contribution to the 2013 CERN - Latin-American School of High-Energy Physics, Arequipa, Peru, 6-19 Mar 201

Determination of the Higgs boson spin with a linear e+e- collider

The energy dependence of the production cross section of a light Higgs boson is studied at threshold and compared to the expectations of several spin assumptions. Cross section measurements at three centre-of-mass energies with an integrated luminosity of 20 fb-1 allow the confirmation of the scalar nature of the Higgs Boson.Comment: 4 pages (Latex), 4 figures (Postscript

Hinting at primary composition using asymmetries in time distributions

Evidence of azimuthal asymmetries in the time structure and signal size have been found in non-vertical showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory. It has been previously shown that the asymmetry in time distributions offers a new possibility for the determination of the mass composition. New studies have demonstrated that the dependence of the asymmetry parameter in the rise-time and fall-time distributions with sec(theta) shows a clear peak. Both, the position of the peak, X_asymax, and the size of the asymmetry at X_asymax are sensitive to primary mass composition and have a small dependence on energy. In this paper a study of the discriminating power of the new observables to separate primary species is presented.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2005), Pune, India, August 3-10, 200

Hadronic interactions models beyond collider energies

Studies of the influence of different hadronic models on extensive air showers at ultra-high energies are presented. The hadronic models considered are those implemented in the well-known QGSJET and SIBYLL event generators. The different approaches used in both codes to model the underlying physics is analyzed using computer simulations performed with the program AIRES. The most relevant observables for both single collisions and air showers are studied for primary energies ranging from $10^{14}$ eV up to $10^{20.5}$ eV. In addition, the evolution of lateral and energy distributions during the shower development is presented. Our analysis seems to indicate that the behaviour of shower observables does not largely reflect the strong differences observed in single collisions.Comment: 31 RevTex pages - 14 ps figure

Model independent bounds on the tau lepton electromagnetic and weak magnetic moments

Using LEP1, SLD and LEP2 data, for tau lepton production, and data from CDF, D0 and LEP2, for W decays into tau leptons, we set model independent limits on non-standard electromagnetic and weak magnetic moments of the tau lepton. The most general effective Lagrangian giving rise to tau moments is used without further assumptions. Precise bounds ($2\sigma$) on the non-standard model contributions to tau electromagnetic ($-0.007<a_\gamma< 0.005$), tau Z-magnetic ($-0.0024 <a_Z< 0.0025$) and tau W-magnetic ($-0.003 < \kappa^W < 0.004$) dipole moments are set from the analysis.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figures, elsart.sty. Revised version with new data. Accepted for publication in Nucl. Phys.

Analysis of landscape characteristics surrounding deer vehicle accidents in St. Louis County, Missouri

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on September 15, 2008)Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2008.Increased suburbanization of rural landscapes is leading to a greater number of human animal interactions. One of the most dangerous and costly of these interactions is collisions between vehicles and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This study quantifies landscape factors that contribute to deer vehicle accidents in St. Louis County, Missouri, and provides a predictive model of areas in which DVA's would likely be found. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to plot deer collisions and perform clustering analyses, in conjunction with ancillary data, to identify the surrounding landscape characteristics of DVA's. DVA's are spatially clustered within the road network more than random chance would allow. They are found in regions with average road density relative to other roads in St. Louis County, and close to grasslands. The analysis and model can be used as predictive tools during road planning and assessment stages. They will also be useful for identifying areas in which mitigation strategies can be implemented in regions prone to high deer vehicle accidents.Includes bibliographical references

Bounds on the Tau Magnetic Moments: Standard Model and Beyond

We obtain new bounds for the magnetic dipole moments of the tau lepton. These limits on the magnetic couplings of the tau to the electroweak gauge bosons (gamma, W, Z) are set in a model independent way using the most general effective Lagrangian with the SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y symmetry. Comparison with data from the most precise experiments at high energies shows that the present limits are more stringent than the previous published ones. For the anomalous magnetic moment the bounds are, for the first time, within one order of magnitude of the standard model prediction.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; to appear in the proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Tau Lepton Physics, 18-21 September (2000), Victoria (Canada