Abstract: A binned Dalitz plot analysis of B-+/- -> DK +/- decays, with D -> K-S(0) pi(+)pi(-) and D -> K0 S K + K -, is performed to measure the C P -violating observables x(+/-) and y(+/-), which are sensitive to the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle gamma. The analysis exploits a sample of proton-proton collision data corresponding to 3.0 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment. Measurements from CLEO-c of the variation of the strong-interaction phase of the D decay over the Dalitz plot are used as inputs. The values of the parameters are found to be x(+) = (-7.7 +/- 2.4 +/- 1.0 +/- 0.4) x 10(-2), x(-) = (2.5 +/- 2.5 +/- 1.0 +/- 0.5) x 10(-2), y(+) = (-2.2 +/- 2.5 +/- 0.4 +/- 1.0) x 10-2, and y(-) = (7.5 +/- 2.9 +/- 0.5 +/- 1.4) x 10(-2). The first, second, and third uncertainties are the statistical, the experimental systematic, and that associated with the precision of the strong-phase parameters. These are the most precise measurements of these observables and correspond to +/- = (62(-14)(+15))degrees, with a second solution at gamma -> gamma + 180 degrees, and r(B) = 0.080(-0.021)(+0.019), where r(B) is the ratio between the suppressed and favoured B decay amplitudes.

Abstract: A comparative study of the neutron-gamma discrimination performance of a liquid scintillator detector BC501A coupled to four different 5 in photomultiplier tubes (ET9390kb, R11833-100, XP4512 and R4144) was carried out Both the Charge Comparison method and the Integrated Rise-Time method were implemented digitally to discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays emitted by a Cf-252 source. In both methods, the neutron-gamma discrimination capabilities of the four photomultiplier tubes were quantitatively compared by evaluating their figure-of-merit values at different energy regions between 50 keVee and 1000 keVee. Additionally, the results were further verified qualitatively using time-of-flight to distinguish gamma rays and neutrons. The results consistently show that photomultiplier tubes R11833-100 and ET9390kb generally perform best regarding neutron-gamma discrimination with only slight differences in figure-of-merit values. This superiority can be explained by their relatively higher photoelectron yield, which indicates that a scintillator detector coupled to a photomultiplier tube with higher photoelectron yield tends to result in better neutron-gamma discrimination performance. The results of this work will provide reference for the choice of photomultiplier tubes for future neutron detector arrays like NEDA.

Abstract: Scintillation light is used in liquid argon (LAr) neutrino detectors to provide a trigger signal, veto information against cosmic rays, and absolute event timing. In this work, we discuss additional opportunities offered by detectors with enhanced sensitivity to scintillation light, that is with light collection efficiencies of about 10(-3). We focus on two key detector performance indicators for neutrino oscillation physics: calorimetric neutrino energy reconstruction and neutrino/antineutrino separation in a non-magnetized detector. Our results are based on detailed simulations, with neutrino interactions modelled according to the GENIE event generator, while the charge and light responses of a large LAr ideal detector are described by the Geant4 and NEST simulation tools. A neutrino energy resolution as good as 3.3% RMS for 4 GeV electron neutrino charged-current interactions can in principle be obtained in a large detector of this type, by using both charge and light information. By exploiting muon capture in argon and scintillation light information to veto muon decay electrons, we also obtain muon neutrino identification efficiencies of about 50%, and muon antineutrino misidentification rates at the few percent level, for few-GeV neutrino interactions that are fully contained. We argue that the construction of large LAr detectors with sufficiently high light collection efficiencies is in principle possible.