A search for supersymmetry with R-parity conservation in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 inverse picobarns collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The search is performed in events with jets and significant missing transverse energy, characteristic of the decays of heavy, pair-produced squarks and gluinos. The primary background, from standard model multijet production, is reduced by several orders of magnitude to a negligible level by the application of a set of robust kinematic requirements. With this selection, the data are consistent with the standard model backgrounds, namely t t-bar, W + jet and Z + jet production, which are estimated from data control samples. Limits are set on the parameters of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. These limits extend those set previously by experiments at the Tevatron and LEP colliders

Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)has been recently demonstrated to be associated with 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR)-stimulated glucose transport mediated by both GLUT1 and GLUT4 transporters. However, signaling events upstream and downstream of AMPK are unknown. Here we report that 1) p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 3 (MKK3) were activated by AICAR in Clone 9 cells, which express only the GLUT1 transporters, and 2) activation of p38 was required for AICAR-stimulated glucose transport since treatment of the cells with p38 inhibitor SB203580 or overexpression of dominant negative p38 mutant inhibited glucose transport. Moreover, we found that overexpression of the constitutively active form of AMPK mutant also resulted in a significant activation of p38, and inhibition of p38 activity by SB203580 did not affect AICAR-stimulated activation of AMPK. These findings demonstrate that AICAR-stimulated activation of p38 is indeed mediated by AMPK, and the p38 MAPK cascade is downstream of AMPK in the signaling pathway of AICAR-stimulated glucose transport in Clone 9 cells.

A search for neutral Higgs bosons in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) decaying to tau-lepton pairs in pp collisions is performed, using events recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 24.6 fb −1 , with 4.9 fb −1 at 7 TeV and 19.7 fb −1 at 8 TeV. To enhance the sensitivity to neutral MSSM Higgs bosons, the search includes the case where the Higgs boson is produced in association with a b-quark jet. No excess is observed in the tau-lepton-pair invariant mass spectrum. Exclusion limits are presented in the MSSM parameter space for different benchmark scenarios, m max h , m mod+ h , m mod− h , light-stop, lightstau, τ -phobic, and low-m H . Upper limits on the cross section times branching fraction for gluon fusion and b-quark associated Higgs boson production are also given. A Exclusion limits 23The CMS collaboration 37 IntroductionA broad variety of precision measurements have shown the overwhelming success of the standard model (SM) [1][2][3] of fundamental interactions, which includes an explanation for the origin of the mass of the weak force carriers, as well as for the quark and lepton masses. In the SM, this is achieved via the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism [4][5][6][7][8][9], which predicts the existence of a scalar boson, the Higgs boson. However, the Higgs boson mass in the SM is not protected against quadratically divergent quantum-loop corrections at high energy, known as the hierarchy problem. In the model of supersymmetry (SUSY) [10,11], which postulates a symmetry between the fundamental bosons and fermions, a cancellation of these divergences occurs naturally. The Higgs sector of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM) [12,13] The dominant neutral MSSM Higgs boson production mechanism is the gluon fusion process for small and moderate values of tan β. At large values of tan β b-quark associated production is the dominant contribution, due to the enhanced Higgs boson Yukawa coupling to b quarks. Figure 1 shows the leading-order diagrams for the gluon fusion and b-quark associated Higgs boson production, in the four-flavor and in the five-flavor scheme. In the region of large tan β the branching fraction to tau leptons is also enhanced, making the search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons in the τ τ final state particularly interesting. This paper reports a search for neutral MSSM Higgs bosons in pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV and 8 TeV in the τ τ decay channel. The data were recorded with the CMS detector [14] at the CERN LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 24.6 fb −1 , with 4.9 fb −1 at 7 TeV and 19.7 fb −1 at 8 TeV. Five different τ τ signatures are studied, eτ h , µτ h , eµ, µµ, and τ h τ h , where τ h denotes a hadronically decaying τ . These results are an extension of previous searches by the The results are interpreted in the context of the MSSM with different benchmark scenarios described in section 1.1 and also in a model independent way, in terms of upper...

The results of comprehensive studies of missing transverse energy as measured by the CMS detector in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV are presented. Three missing transverse energy reconstruction algorithms are deployed for various physics analyses. The scale and resolution for missing transverse energy are validated using vector boson and dijet events, and severe mismeasurements due to the detector are studied. We also parametrize the effects of multiple pp interactions within the same bunch crossings on the scale and resolution. A tool, called missing transverse energy significance, based on particle resolutions in each event is also presented.

Organic sulfhydryl compounds, or thiols, are ligands that strongly complex class B metals such as Hg and methylmercury (MeHg). We determined the concentration profiles of five low-molecular-weight thiols (cysteine, thioglycolic acid, glutathione, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, and 3-mercaptopropionic acid) in sediment interstitial waters, at a vertical resolution of 1 cm, in three contrasting freshwater and brackish wetlands in Canada. All five thiols were detected in the porewaters, with concentrations ranging from nanomolar to submicromolar. In one of the wetlands (Baie St. Francois) the profiles of Hg and MeHg were also obtained at the same vertical resolution. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that at these levels thiols play a negligible role in inorganic Hg speciation in sediment interstitial waters, but they can dominate the MeHg speciation. Consistent with recent findings that intracellular MeHg in fish is dominated by MeHg-thiol complexes, this suggests that thiols also play a significant role in MeHg speciation in the extracellular environment.