Brad Abbott

Bio: Brad Abbott is an academic researcher from University of Oklahoma. The author has contributed to research in topics: Large Hadron Collider & Higgs boson. The author has an hindex of 137, co-authored 1566 publications receiving 98604 citations. Previous affiliations of Brad Abbott include Aix-Marseille University & Purdue University.

Search for Randall-Sundrum gravitons in the dielectron and diphoton final states with 5.4fb-1 of data from pp̄ collisions at √s=1.96TeV

Abstract: Using 5.4 fb-1 of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, we search for decays of the lightest Kaluza-Klein mode of the graviton in the Randall-Sundrum model to ee and gammagamma. We set 95% C.L. lower limits on the mass of the lightest graviton between 560 GeV and 1050 GeV for values of the coupling k/Mbar_pl between 0.01 and 0.1.

Combined search for the Higgs boson with the D0 experiment

Abstract: We perform a combination of searches for standard model Higgs boson production in p (p) over bar collisions recorded by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at a center of mass energy of root s = 1.96 TeV. The different production and decay channels have been analyzed separately, with integrated luminosities of up to 9.7 fb(-1) and for Higgs boson masses 90 <= M-H <= 200 GeV. We combine these final states to achieve optimal sensitivity to the production of the Higgs boson. We also interpret the combination in terms of models with a fourth generation of fermions, and models with suppressed Higgs boson couplings to fermions. The result excludes a standard model Higgs boson at 95% C.L. in the ranges 90 < M-H < 101 GeV and 157 < M-H < 178 GeV, with an expected exclusion of 155 < M-H < 175 GeV. In the range 120 < M-H < 145 GeV, the data exhibit an excess over the expected background of up to 2 standard deviations, consistent with the presence of a standard model Higgs boson of mass 125 GeV.

Measurement of Bd mixing using opposite-side flavor tagging

Abstract: We report on a measurement of the $B^0_d$ mixing frequency and the calibration of an opposite-side flavor tagger in the D{\O}experiment. Various properties associated with the $b$ quark on the opposite side of the reconstructed $B$ meson were combined using a likelihood-ratio method into a single variable with enhanced tagging power. Its performance was tested with data, using a large sample of reconstructed semileptonic $B \to \mu \dzero X$ and $B \to \mu \dst X$ decays, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 1 fb$^{-1}$. The events were divided into groups depending on the value of the combined tagging variable, and an independent analysis was performed in each group. Combining the results of these analyses, the overall effective tagging power was found to be eD^2 = (2.48 \pm 0.21 (stat.) ^{+0.08}_{-0.06} (syst.))%. The measured $B^0_d$ mixing frequency dmd = 0.506 \pm 0.020 {\rm (stat) \pm 0.016 (syst) ps}^{-1} is in good agreement with the world average value.

I and i

Abstract: There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality. Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

Machine learning

Abstract: Machine Learning is the study of methods for programming computers to learn. Computers are applied to a wide range of tasks, and for most of these it is relatively easy for programmers to design and implement the necessary software. However, there are many tasks for which this is difficult or impossible. These can be divided into four general categories. First, there are problems for which there exist no human experts. For example, in modern automated manufacturing facilities, there is a need to predict machine failures before they occur by analyzing sensor readings. Because the machines are new, there are no human experts who can be interviewed by a programmer to provide the knowledge necessary to build a computer system. A machine learning system can study recorded data and subsequent machine failures and learn prediction rules. Second, there are problems where human experts exist, but where they are unable to explain their expertise. This is the case in many perceptual tasks, such as speech recognition, hand-writing recognition, and natural language understanding. Virtually all humans exhibit expert-level abilities on these tasks, but none of them can describe the detailed steps that they follow as they perform them. Fortunately, humans can provide machines with examples of the inputs and correct outputs for these tasks, so machine learning algorithms can learn to map the inputs to the outputs. Third, there are problems where phenomena are changing rapidly. In finance, for example, people would like to predict the future behavior of the stock market, of consumer purchases, or of exchange rates. These behaviors change frequently, so that even if a programmer could construct a good predictive computer program, it would need to be rewritten frequently. A learning program can relieve the programmer of this burden by constantly modifying and tuning a set of learned prediction rules. Fourth, there are applications that need to be customized for each computer user separately. Consider, for example, a program to filter unwanted electronic mail messages. Different users will need different filters. It is unreasonable to expect each user to program his or her own rules, and it is infeasible to provide every user with a software engineer to keep the rules up-to-date. A machine learning system can learn which mail messages the user rejects and maintain the filtering rules automatically. Machine learning addresses many of the same research questions as the fields of statistics, data mining, and psychology, but with differences of emphasis. Statistics focuses on understanding the phenomena that have generated the data, often with the goal of testing different hypotheses about those phenomena. Data mining seeks to find patterns in the data that are understandable by people. Psychological studies of human learning aspire to understand the mechanisms underlying the various learning behaviors exhibited by people (concept learning, skill acquisition, strategy change, etc.).

Phd by thesis

Abstract: Deposits of clastic carbonate-dominated (calciclastic) sedimentary slope systems in the rock record have been identified mostly as linearly-consistent carbonate apron deposits, even though most ancient clastic carbonate slope deposits fit the submarine fan systems better. Calciclastic submarine fans are consequently rarely described and are poorly understood. Subsequently, very little is known especially in mud-dominated calciclastic submarine fan systems. Presented in this study are a sedimentological core and petrographic characterisation of samples from eleven boreholes from the Lower Carboniferous of Bowland Basin (Northwest England) that reveals a >250 m thick calciturbidite complex deposited in a calciclastic submarine fan setting. Seven facies are recognised from core and thin section characterisation and are grouped into three carbonate turbidite sequences. They include: 1) Calciturbidites, comprising mostly of highto low-density, wavy-laminated bioclast-rich facies; 2) low-density densite mudstones which are characterised by planar laminated and unlaminated muddominated facies; and 3) Calcidebrites which are muddy or hyper-concentrated debrisflow deposits occurring as poorly-sorted, chaotic, mud-supported floatstones. These