Physics Commons^™

Lepton Flavor Violation And Effective Field Theories, Renae Conlin

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Standard Model is believed to be a low energy effective theory of some completetheory at higher energies. This is already evidenced in the observation of neutrino oscillations. Standard Model processes conserve the lepton flavor quantum numbers. Adding massive neutrinos to the Standard Model, the branching ratios of lepton flavor violating processes are found to be incredibly small. For example, a process μ → eγ has a branching ratio order ∼ 10^−54. These tiny branching ratios of lepton flavor violating processes indicate that they are especially clean areas to look for beyond the Standard Model physics. Any observed flavor violation …

Effective Field Theory And Machine Learning Approaches To Controlling Nonperturbative Uncertainties In Flavor Physics, Ayesh Gunawardana

Wayne State University Dissertations

The radiative decay $\bar{B}\to X_s\gamma$ and semileptonic heavy meson decay $D\to \pi l \nu$ are important flavor physics probes of new physics. However, these decays are plagued with nonperturbative uncertainties that are needed to be controlled to obtain a theoretically clean description. In this dissertation, we provide effective field theory and machine learning approaches to controlling these uncertainties.\par

In $\bar B\to X_s\gamma$, the largest uncertainty on the total rate and the CP asymmetry arises from resolved photon contributions. These appear first at order $1/m_b$ and are related to operators other than $Q_{7\gamma}$ in the effective weak Hamiltonian. One of the …

Addressing The Proton Radius Puzzle Using Qed-Nrqed Effective Field Theory, Steven Patrick Dye

Wayne State University Dissertations

In 2010 the first extraction of the proton charge radius from muonic hydrogen was found to be five standard deviations away from the regular hydrogen value. Seven years later, this proton radius puzzle still persists, and challenges our understanding of the structure of the proton. An effective field theory analysis using Non-Relativistic Quantum Electrody- namics (NRQED) indicates that the muonic hydrogen result can be interpreted as a large, compared to some model estimates, muon-proton spin-independent contact interaction. The muonic hydrogen result can be tested by a muon-proton scattering experiment, MUSE, that is planned at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. …

Applications Of Effective Field Theories To New Physics, Derek Edward Hazard

Wayne State University Dissertations

We apply an effective field theory approach and argue that lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays M → l1l2 of meson states M with different quantum numbers could be used to put constraints on the Wilson coefficients of effective operators describing LFV interactions at low energy scales. We note that the restricted kinematics of the two-body decay of quarkonium or a heavy quark meson allows us to select operators with particular quantum numbers, significantly reducing the reliance on the single operator dominance assumption that is prevalent in constraining parameters of the effective LFV Lagrangian. We shall also argue that studies of …

Nonlinear Dynamic Studies Of Pattern-Forming And Biomedical Systems, Doaa Taha

Wayne State University Dissertations

Nonlinear phenomena are ubiquitous in nature and in almost every discipline of science. Various nonlinear dynamic theories are being developed to investigate a wide range of complex nonlinear systems. In this work, we study two types of nonlinear phenomena. The first type involves understanding and controlling the properties and dynamics of two-dimensional (2D) material systems. We develop a binary phase field crystal (PFC) model which simultaneously addresses diffusive dynamics of large-scale systems and resolves material microstructures, and apply the model to the study of two material systems. (1) We use this PFC model to investigate the self assembly of 2D …

Investigation Of The Microsoft Kinect V2 Sensor As A Multi-Purpose Device For A Radiation Oncology Clinic, Evan Asher Silverstein

Wayne State University Dissertations

For a radiation oncology clinic, the number of devices available to assist in the workflow for radiotherapy treatments are quite numerous. Processes such as patient verification, motion management, or respiratory motion tracking can all be improved upon by devices currently on the market. These three specific processes can directly impact patient safety and treatment efficacy and, as such, are important to track and quantify. Most products available will only provide a solution for one of these processes and may be outside the reach of a typical radiation oncology clinic due to difficult implementation and incorporation with already existing hardware. This …

Using Heavy Flavors To Study New Physics, Kristopher Jason Healey

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this doctoral dissertation I discuss the possible standard model contributions to select leptonic heavy meson decay modes. Included are calculations of soft photon contributions to a di-lepton decay of B-mesons as well as two-particle hadronic unitary contributions to the rare di-leptonic decay of the neutral D meson. Additionally, constraints are calculated for two super-WIMP dark matter models from rare heavy flavor decays.

Innovative Acoustic Reflection Imaging Techniques And Application To Clinical Breast Tomography, Steve Phillip Schmidt

Wayne State University Dissertations

Conventional ultrasound techniques use beam-formed, constant sound speed ray models for fast image reconstruction. However, these techniques are inadequate for the emerging new field of ultrasound tomography (UST). We present a new technique for reconstruction of reflection images from UST data. We have extended the planar Kirchhoff migration method used in geophysics, and combined it with sound speed and attenuation data obtained from the transmission signals to create reflection ultrasound images that are corrected for refractive and attenuative effects.

The resulting techniques were applied to simulated numerical phantom data, physical phantom data and in-vivo breast data obtained with an experimental …

Harmonic Sputtering Theory, Zhu Lin Zhang

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

HARMONIC SPUTTERING THEORY

By

ZHU LIN ZHANG

February 2010

Advisor: Dr. Karur R. Padmanabhan

Major: Physics

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Based on the standard Botzmann equation in Classical Statistics Mechanics, we have derived a variety of Linear Transport Equations appeared in Sputtering Theory for a random, infinite multi-components medium. The pertinent relations among these Linear Transport Equations have been studied in detail. We have introduced exact classical scattering cross-sections of power potential interaction collision into these Transport Equations and solved them asymptotically by using Laplace Transformation for both isotropic term and anisotropic term. A pool of analytical asymptotic solutions …

Dihadron Fragmentation Functions In Proton-Proton Collisions At The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (Rhic), Muhammad Elnimr

Wayne State University Dissertations

Measurements of azimuthal correlations at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have shown an away-side that is suppressed in Au+Au collisions compared to proton+proton/Deuteron+proton collisions. Such suppression is taken as a signature of the predicted QCD dense medium. However, the near-side of the azimuthal correlations shows little modification. The near-side of such correlations is related to the ratio of the dihadron fragmentation function to the single one. As such, dihadron fragmentation functions shall provide a better basis for the interpretation of the near-side correlations. Dihadron fragmentation functions also also provide a baseline of such measurements in heavy ion collisions.