Branching fractions and direct CP asymmetries of charmless decay modes at the Tevatron

We present new CDF results on the branching fractions and time-integrated direct CP asymmetries for $B^{0}$ and $B^{0}_{s}$ decay modes into pairs of charmless charged hadrons (pion or kaon). The data set for this update amounts to 1 fb$^{-1}$ of $\bar{p}p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=1.96 \rm{TeV}$. We report the first observation of the $B^{0}_{s} \to K^{-}\pi^{+}$ mode and a measurement of its branching fraction and direct CP asymmetry. We also observe for the first time two charmless decays of $b$-baryon: $\Lambda^{0}_{b} \to p\pi^{-}$ and $\Lambda^{0}_{b} \to pK^{-}$.Comment: Proceedings for Beauty 2006, Sept. 25-29 at Oxford University, to be published in Nucl. Phys. (Proc. Suppl.). FERMILAB-CONF-06-471-E. Dec 2006. 6p

Updated measurements of hadronic B decays at CDF

The CDF experiment at the Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ collider established that extensive and detailed exploration of the $b$--quark dynamics is possible in hadron collisions, with results competitive and supplementary to those from $e^+e^-$ colliders. This provides a rich, and highly rewarding program that has currently reached full maturity. In the following I report some recent results on hadronic decays: the evidence for the charmless annihilation decay mode $B^0_s \to pi^+\pi^-$, and the first reconstruction in hadron collisions of the suppressed decays $B^- \to D(\to K^+\pi^-)K^-$ and $B^- \to D(\to K^+\pi^-)\pi^-$.Comment: 5 pages,2 figures, proceedings for EPS-HEP 2011. To be published in the on-line journal Proceedings of Scienc

B Physics at the TeVatron

The CDF and D\O\ experiments at the Tevatron $p\bar{p}$ collider established that extensive and detailed exploration of the $b$--quark dynamics is possible in hadron collisions, with results competitive and supplementary to those from $e^+e^-$ colliders. This provides a rich, and highly rewarding program that is currently reaching full maturity. I report a few recent world-leading results on rare decays, CP-violation in $B^0_s$ mixing, $b\to s$ penguin decays, and charm physics.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, proceedings for IFAE2011. To be published in the Nuovo Cimento C - Colloquia on Physic

CP and charge asymmetries at CDF

We present CDF results on the branching fractions and time-integrated direct CP asymmetries for B0 and B0s decay modes into pairs of charmless charged hadrons (pions or kaons). We report also the first observation of B0s->DsK mode and the measurement of its branching fraction.Comment: Proceedings of The 2007 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics Manchester, England 19-25 July 2007. To be published electronically by IoP Journals. FERMILAB-CONF-07-590-E. Nov 2007. 3p

Reading, Writing, and Breathing

This report looks at the distribution of air toxics, respiratory hazard, and school children in the state of California. The report finds evidence of disproportionate exposure and a potential link between such exposure and school-level academic performance, and calls for policy changes that can better situate environmental health concerns within initiatives for school improvement

Still Toxic After All These Years: Air Quality and Environmental Justice in the San Francisco Bay Area

From West Oakland's diesel-choked neighborhoods to San Francisco's traffic-snarled Mission District to the fenceline communitis abutting Richmond's refineries, poor and minority residents of the San Francisco Bay Area get more than their share of exposure to air pollution and environmental hazards. That's the conclusion of a new report issued by the Center for Justice, Tolerance & Community (CJTC) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The first published analysis of the overall state of environmental disparity in the nine-county region, the report is entitled, "Still Toxic After All These Years... Air Quality and Environmental Justice in the Bay Area.

Observation of zero-point quantum fluctuations of a single-molecule magnet through the relaxation of its nuclear spin bath

A single-molecule magnet placed in a magnetic field perpendicular to its anisotropy axis can be truncated to an effective two-level system, with easily tunable energy splitting. The quantum coherence of the molecular spin is largely determined by the dynamics of the surrounding nuclear spin bath. Here we report the measurement of the nuclear spin--lattice relaxation in a single crystal of the single-molecule magnet Mn$_{12}$-ac, at $T \approx 30$ mK in perpendicular fields $B_{\perp}$ up to 9 T. Although the molecular spin is in its ground state, we observe an increase of the nuclear relaxation rates by several orders of magnitude up to the highest $B_{\perp}$. This unique finding is a consequence of the zero-point quantum fluctuations of the Mn$_{12}$-ac spin, which allow it to efficiently transfer energy from the excited nuclear spin bath to the lattice. Our experiment highlights the importance of quantum fluctuations in the interaction between an `effective two-level system' and its surrounding spin bath.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure