Abstract: The BABAR detector operated successfully at the PEP-Il asymmetric e(+) e(-) collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory from 1999 to 2008. This report covers upgrades, operation, and performance of the collider and the detector systems, as well as the trigger, online and offline computing, and aspects of event reconstruction since the beginning of data taking.

Abstract: We search for a low-mass scalar CP-odd Higgs boson, A(0), produced in the radiative decay of the upsilon resonance and decaying into a tau(+)tau(-) pair: Y(1S) -> gamma A(0). The production of Y(1S) mesons is tagged by Y(2S) -> pi(+)pi(-) Y(1S) transitions, using a sample of (98.3 +/- 0.9) x 10(6) Y(2S) mesons collected by the BABAR detector. We find no evidence for a Higgs boson in the mass range 3: 5 <= m(A)0 <= 9: 2 GeV, and combine these results with our previous search for the tau decays of the light Higgs in radiative Y(3S) decays, setting limits on the coupling of A(0) to the b (b) over bar quarks in the range 0.09-1.9. Our measurements improve the constraints on the parameters of the next-to-minimal-supersymmetric Standard Model and similar theories with low-mass scalar degrees of freedom.

Abstract: We determine the (MS) over bar charm quark mass from a charmonium QCD sum rules analysis. On the theoretical side we use input from perturbation theory at O (alpha(3)(s)). Improvements with respect to previous O (alpha(3)(s)) analyses include (1) an account of all available e(+)e(-) hadronic cross section data and (2) a thorough analysis of perturbative uncertainties. Using a data clustering method to combine hadronic cross section data sets from di ff erent measurements we demonstrate that using all available experimental data up to c. m. energies of 10 : 538 GeV allows for determinations of experimental moments and their correlations with small errors and that there is no need to rely on theoretical input above the charmonium resonances. We also show that good convergence properties of the perturbative series for the theoretical sum rule moments need to be considered with some care when extracting the charm mass and demonstrate how to set up a suitable set of scale variations to obtain a proper estimate of the perturbative uncertainty. As the fi nal outcome of our analysis we obtain (m(c)) over bar((m(c)) over bar) = 1 : 282 +/- (0.009)(stat) +/- (0.009)(syst) +/- (0.019)(pert) +/- (0.010)(alpha s) +/- (0.002)(< GG >) GeV. The perturbative error is an order of magnitude larger than the one obtained in previous O (alpha(3)(s)) sum rule analyses.

Abstract: We explore the possibility of experimentally detecting a predicted h(1) inverted right perpendicular I-G(J(PC)) = 0(-)(1(+-))inverted left perpendicular state of hidden charm made out from the D*(D) over bar* interaction. The method consists in measuring the decay of X(4660) into eta D*(D) over bar* and determining the binding energy with respect to the D*(D) over bar* threshold from the shape of the D*(D) over bar* invariant mass distribution. A complementary method consists in looking at the inclusive X(4660) -> eta X decay and searching for a peak in the X invariant mass distribution. We make calculations to determine the partial decay width of X(4660) -> eta h(1) from the measured X(4660) -> eta D*(D) over bar* distribution. This estimation should serve in an experiment to foresee the possibility of detecting the h(1) state on top of the background of inclusive events.

Abstract: We study the field equations of extensions of general relativity formulated within a metric-affine formalism setting torsion to zero (Palatini approach). We find that different (second-order) dynamical equations arise depending on whether torsion is set to zero (i) a priori or (ii) a posteriori, i.e., before or after considering variations of the action. Considering a generic family of Ricci-squared theories, we show that in both cases the connection can be decomposed as the sum of a Levi-Civita connection and terms depending on a vector field. However, while in case (i) this vector field is related to the symmetric part of the connection, in (ii) it comes from the torsion part and, therefore, it vanishes once torsion is completely removed. Moreover, the vanishing of this torsion-related vector field immediately implies the vanishing of the antisymmetric part of the Ricci tensor, which therefore plays no role in the dynamics. Related to this, we find that the Levi-Civita part of the connection is due to the existence of an invariant volume associated with an auxiliary metric h(mu v), which is algebraically related with the physical metric g(mu v).