My research interests focus on the strong and weak interaction properties of particles containing one or more heavy quarks. By studying regularities in the weak decay patterns for a variety of these states we probe some of the fundamental ways in which the strong force modifies the elementary weak interaction between quarks bound in hadrons. These modifications stem from the non-perturbative interaction between quarks and gluons. Their description explores basic questions about the interaction Lagrangian and quark wave functions in these processes.

Historically baryon descriptions have been more challenging than the meson case because of the rich set of internal degrees of freedom inherent in a 3-quark system compared with quark-antiquark systems. Presently, there is extensive data on charm meson systems in many modes. Good theoretical descriptions of the overall behavior of mesonic systems can be made. These descriptions can, in principle, be related to baryon systems, but there are important differences due to the spin-statistics relations. Data on charm baryons are just starting to become statistically significant. Our experiment will improve the overall systematic knowledge by a large factor, to challenge the theory in new ways.

In the future the new generation of accelerators now being contemplated will make possible different ways to test the nature of the fundamental forces in particle physics.

Selected Publications

By CDF Collaboration (A. Abulencia et al.). “First Measurement of the Ratio of Central-Electron to Forward-Electron W Partial Cross Sections in p anti-p Collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96 TeV”, FERMILAB-PUB-07-046-E, Feb 2007.  8pp.  Published in Phys.Rev.Lett. 98:251801,2007.  e-Print:  hep-ex/0702037.

By CDF Run II Collaboration (A. Abulencia et al.),  “Search for new physics in lepton + photon + X events with 929 pb**(-1) of p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-Tev”.  FERMILAB-PUB-07-043-E, Feb 2007.  15pp.  Published in Phys.Rev. D 75:112001, (2007).  e-Print:  hep-ex/0702029

By CDF Collaboration (A. Abulencia et al.), “Observation of WZ Production”, FERMILAB-PUB-07-042-E, Feb 2007.  7pp.  Published in Phys.Rev.Lett. 98:161801, (2007).  e-Print:  hep-ex/0702027

By CDF – Run II (A. Abulencia et al.),  “Measurement of the inclusive Jet Cross Section using the k(T) algorithm in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV with the CDF II Detector”,  FERMILAB-PUB-07-026-E, Jan 2007.  26pp.  Published in  Phys.Rev. D 75:092006,2007, Erratum-ibid.D75:119901, (2007).  e-Print:  hep-ex/0701051

By CDF Collaboration (A. Abulencia et al.),  “Search for anomalous production of multi-lepton events in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.96-TeV”,  FERMILAB-PUB-06-482-E, Jan 2007.  7pp.  Published in  Phys.Rev.Lett. 98:131804, (2007).  ePrint:arXiv:0706.4448