Discovery potential of the SM Higgs with ATLAS

The discovery potential of the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider is reviewed for the HEP-MAD'09 conference. The Higgs decay channels bb, tautau, gammagamma, WW(*) and ZZ(*) are discussed. The statistical procedure used for the combination of the individual analyses to obtain the discovery potential and exclusion limits is also presented

Stau as the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle in R-Parity Violating SUSY Models: Discovery Potential with Early LHC Data

We investigate the discovery potential of the LHC experiments for R-parity violating supersymmetric models with a stau as the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the framework of minimal supergravity. We classify the final states according to their phenomenology for different R-parity violating decays of the LSP. We then develop event selection cuts for a specific benchmark scenario with promising signatures for the first beyond the Standard Model discoveries at the LHC. For the first time in this model, we perform a detailed signal over background analysis. We use fast detector simulations to estimate the discovery significance taking the most important Standard Model backgrounds into account. Assuming an integrated luminosity of 1 inverse femtobarn at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, we perform scans in the parameter space around the benchmark scenario we consider. We then study the feasibility to estimate the mass of the stau-LSP. We briefly discuss difficulties, which arise in the identification of hadronic tau decays due to small tau momenta and large particle multiplicities in our scenarios.Comment: 26 pages, 18 figures, LaTeX; minor changes, final version published in PR

On the generalized Davenport constant and the Noether number

Known results on the generalized Davenport constant related to zero-sum sequences over a finite abelian group are extended to the generalized Noether number related to the rings of polynomial invariants of an arbitrary finite group. An improved general upper bound is given on the degrees of polynomial invariants of a non-cyclic finite group which cut out the zero vector.Comment: 14 page

Edge currents in the absence of edges

We investigate a charged two-dimensional particle in a homogeneous magnetic field interacting with a periodic array of point obstacles. We show that while Landau levels remain to be infinitely degenerate eigenvalues, between them the system has bands of absolutely continuous spectrum and exhibits thus a transport along the array. We also compute the band functions and the corresponding probability current.Comment: Final version, to appear in Phys. Lett. A; 10 LaTeX pages with 3 eps figure

Fractal Conductance Fluctuations of Classical Origin

In mesoscopic systems conductance fluctuations are a sensitive probe of electron dynamics and chaotic phenomena. We show that the conductance of a purely classical chaotic system with either fully chaotic or mixed phase space generically exhibits fractal conductance fluctuations unrelated to quantum interference. This might explain the unexpected dependence of the fractal dimension of the conductance curves on the (quantum) phase breaking length observed in experiments on semiconductor quantum dots.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in PR

First Calorimetric Measurement of OI-line in the Electron Capture Spectrum of 163^{163}Ho

The isotope $^{163}$Ho undergoes an electron capture process with a recommended value for the energy available to the decay, $Q_{\rm EC}$, of about 2.5 keV. According to the present knowledge, this is the lowest $Q_{\rm EC}$ value for electron capture processes. Because of that, $^{163}$Ho is the best candidate to perform experiments to investigate the value of the electron neutrino mass based on the analysis of the calorimetrically measured spectrum. We present for the first time the calorimetric measurement of the atomic de-excitation of the $^{163}$Dy daughter atom upon the capture of an electron from the 5s shell in $^{163}$Ho, OI-line. The measured peak energy is 48 eV. This measurement was performed using low temperature metallic magnetic calorimeters with the $^{163}$Ho ion implanted in the absorber. We demonstrate that the calorimetric spectrum of $^{163}$Ho can be measured with high precision and that the parameters describing the spectrum can be learned from the analysis of the data. Finally, we discuss the implications of this result for the Electron Capture $^{163}$Ho experiment, ECHo, aiming to reach sub-eV sensitivity on the electron neutrino mass by a high precision and high statistics calorimetric measurement of the $^{163}$Ho spectrum.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Assembly and Certification of ATLAS Muon Stations for the Middle and Outer Barrel at CERN

Roughly 400 of the approximately 700 muon stations of the ATLAS barrel belong to the middle and outer layer. Barrel Middle and Barrel Outer stations consist of both an MDT chamber and one or two RPC planes delivering the level-1 trigger information. While MDT chambers and individual RPC units are constructed at their home institutes, the assembly of the RPCs into planes, including the final cabling and the mounting of the trigger electronics, as well as the integration of MDTs and RPCs into muon stations takes place at CERN. MDT chambers, RPC planes and the completed stations have to pass a series of tests before being declared 'ready-for-installation'. Final certification criteria is the passing of a one-day cosmic ray test, for which a special setup has been built in building 899 (BB5). This note gives an overview over the work carried out in BB5, with emphasis on the cosmic ray test. Examples of abnormal chamber behavior will be discussed and a summary of common mistakes in station assembly or chamber cabling will be given. A second focus of the note is on the statistical analysis of the certification results

Transport in two dimensional periodic magnetic fields

Ballistic transport properties in a two dimensional electron gas are studied numerically, where magnetic fields are perpendicular to the plane of two dimensional electron systemsand periodically modulated both in $x$ and $y$ directions. We show that there are three types of trajectories of classical electron motions in this system; chaotic, pinned and runaway trajectories. It is found that the runaway trajectories can explain the peaks of magnetoresistance as a function of external magnetic fields, which is believed to be related to the commensurability effect between the classical cyclotron diameter and the period of magnetic modulation. The similarity with and difference from the results in the antidot lattice are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, to appear in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., vol. 67 (1998) Novembe

Devil's Staircase in Magnetoresistance of a Periodic Array of Scatterers

The nonlinear response to an external electric field is studied for classical non-interacting charged particles under the influence of a uniform magnetic field, a periodic potential, and an effective friction force. We find numerical and analytical evidence that the ratio of transversal to longitudinal resistance forms a Devil's staircase. The staircase is attributed to the dynamical phenomenon of mode-locking.Comment: two-column 4 pages, 5 figure