Abstract: Long-lived particles (LLPs) show up in many extensions of the Standard Model, but they are challenging to search for with current detectors, due to their very displaced vertices. This study evaluated the ability of the trigger algorithms used in the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment to detect long-lived particles and attempted to adapt them to enhance the sensitivity of this experiment to undiscovered long-lived particles. A model with a Higgs portal to a dark sector is tested, and the sensitivity reach is discussed. In the LHCb tracking system, the farthest tracking station from the collision point is the scintillating fiber tracker, the SciFi detector. One of the challenges in the track reconstruction is to deal with the large amount of and combinatorics of hits in the LHCb detector. A dedicated algorithm has been developed to cope with the large data output. When fully implemented, this algorithm would greatly increase the available statistics for any long-lived particle search in the forward region and would additionally improve the sensitivity of analyses dealing with Standard Model particles of large lifetime, such as KS0 or Lambda (0) hadrons.

Abstract: A measurement of the cross-section for W -> e nu production in pp collisions is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV. The electrons are required to have more than 20 GeV of transverse momentum and to lie between 2.00 and 4.25 in pseudorapidity. The inclusive W production cross-sections, where the W decays to e nu, are measured to be W-sigma(+)-> e(+)nu(e)= 1124.4 +/- 2.1 +/- 21.5 +/- 11.2 +/- 13.0 pb, W-sigma(-)-> e(-)(nu) over bar (e) = 809.0 +/- 1.9 +/- 18.1 +/- 7.0 +/- 9.4 pb, where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second are systematic, the third are due to the knowledge of the LHC beam energy and the fourth are due to the luminosity determination. Differential cross-sections as a function of the electron pseudorapidity are measured. The W+/W- cross-section ratio and production charge asymmetry are also reported. Results are compared with theoretical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative quantum chromodynamics. Finally, in a precise test of lepton universality, the ratio of W boson branching fractions is determined to be B(W -> e nu)/B(W -> μnu) = 1.020 +/- 0.002 +/- 0.019, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic.

Abstract: We present a measurement of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element vertical bar V-cb vertical bar and the form-factor slope rho(2) in (B) over bar -> Dl(-) (nu) over bar (l) decays based on 460 X 10(6) B (B) over bar events recorded at the Gamma(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector. (B) over bar -> Dl(-) (nu) over bar (l) decays are selected in events in which a hadronic decay of the second B meson is fully reconstructed. We measure B(B- -> D(0)l(-) (nu) over bar (l))/B(B- -> Xl(-) (nu) over bar (l)) = (0.255 +/- 0.009 +/- 0.009) and B((B) over bar (0) -> D(+)l(-) (nu) over bar (l))/B((B) over bar (0) -> Xl(-) (nu) over bar (l)) = (0.230 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.011), along with the differential decay distribution in (B) over bar -> Dl(-) (nu) over bar (l) decays. We then determine G(1)vertical bar V-cb vertical bar = 42.3 +/- 1.9 +/- 1.4) X 10(-3) and rho(2) = 1.20 +/- 0.09 +/- 0.04, where G(1) is the hadronic form factor at the point of zero recoil.

Abstract: We report measurements of the branching fractions of neutral and charged B meson decays to final states containing a K-1(1270) or K-1(1400) meson and a charged pion. The data, collected with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, correspond to 454 x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs produced in e(+)e(-) annihilation. We measure the branching fractions B(B-0 -> K-1(1270)(+)pi(-) + K-1(1400)(+)pi(-)) = 3.1(-0.7)(+0.8) x 10(-5) and B(B+ -> K-1(1270)(0)pi(+) + K1(1400)(0)pi(+)) = 2.9(-1.7)(+2.9) x 10(-5) (< 8.2 x 10(-5) at 90% confidence level), where the errors are statistical and systematic combined. The B-0 decay mode is observed with a significance of 7.5 sigma, while a significance of 3.2 sigma is obtained for the B+ decay mode. Based on these results, we estimate the weak phase alpha = (79 +/- 7 +/- 11)degrees from the time-dependent CP asymmetries in B-0 -> a(1)(1260)(+/-)pi(-/+) decays.

Abstract: Charged-lepton flavor-violating processes are unobservable in the standard model, but they are predicted to be enhanced in several extensions to the standard model, including supersymmetry and models with leptoquarks or compositeness. We present a search for such processes in a sample of 99 x 10(6)Gamma(2S) decays and 117 x 10(6)Gamma(3S) decays collected with the BABAR detector. We place upper limits on the branching fractions B(Gamma(nS) --> e(+/-)tau(-/+)) and B(Gamma(n(S) --> mu(+/-)tau(-/+)) (n = 2, 3) at the 10(-6) level and use these results to place lower limits of order 1 TeV on the mass scale of charged-lepton flavor-violating effective operators.