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Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/29599
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Record Id 29599
Title A Study of Rare Hadronic B Decays with the OPAL Experiment at LEP
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Abstract The OPAL detector at the LEP collider at CERN recorded 4.27 million hadronic Z0 decays between 1991 and 1995. The aim of this thesis is to analyse these data in a search for rare hadronic B decays into final states consisting of the lightest three quarks (u,d,s) in eighteen different decay channels. The reconstruction methods have been developed, depending on the decay topology of the decay channels analysed. The placement of selection cuts is explained and illustrated. Since the analysis makes use of Monte Carlo, it is important to ensure that the Monte Carlo represents the data faithfully. For both reconstruction methods it was possible to develop independent checks to make sure that the Monte Carlo resolution agrees with that of the data. After all selection cuts are applied, events remain in the data sample that are not rare decays. These background events are studied using the Monte Carlo and where possible they are removed. No significant excess is observed in any of the rare decay channels and the 90% confidence level upper limits are calculated. In order to calculate upper limits on the branching ratios, a Monte Carlo simulation is used which allows a complete statistical treatment including all possible error sources. The upper limits, using the increased statistics, are calculated and found to be consistent with an earlier OPAL analysis and recent results presented by other experiments.
Organisation CCLRC
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Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Thesis RAL Theses RAL-TH-1999-006. 1999. 1999