121970317
Charged particle identification with PHOS and central tracking of ALICE
The ALICE Photon Spectrometer (PHOS) has been designed to measure the photon spectrum produced in pp and AA collisions at LHC over a broad transverse momentum range from 0.5–100 GeV/c. We present a study on the matching of charged tracks, detected by the ALICE central tracking detectors, with clusters of hit PHOS elements. Matching efficiency and contamination due to false matches have been deduced for charged pions, muons and electrons. The study indicates also that material from other detectors in front of PHOS disturbs the photon detection.
118498165
Prediction of Underground Argon Content for Dark Matter Experiments
In this paper, we demonstrate the use of physical models to evaluate the production of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ and $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$ underground. Considering both cosmogenic $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ production and radiogenic $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$ production in situ and from external sources, we can derive the ratio of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ to $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$ in underground sources. We show for the first time that the $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ production underground is dominated by stopping negative muon capture on $^{39}\mathrm{K}$ and ($\ensuremath{\alpha},n)$ induced subsequent $^{39}\mathrm{K}$($n$,$p$)$^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ reactions. The production of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ is shown as a function of depth. We demonstrate that argon depleted in $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ can be obtained only if the depth of the underground resources is greater than $500$ m.w.e. below the surface. Stopping negative muon capture on $^{39}\mathrm{K}$ dominates over radiogenic production at depths of less than $2000$ m.w.e., and that production by muon-induced neutrons is subdominant at any depth. The depletion factor depends strongly on both radioactivity level and potassium content in the rock. We measure the radioactivity concentration and potassium concentration in the rock for a potential site of an underground argon source in South Dakota. Depending on the probability of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ and $^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$ produced underground being dissolved in the water, the upper limit of the concentration of $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ in the underground water at this site is estimated to be in a range of a factor of $1.6$ to $155$ less than the $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$ concentration in the atmosphere. The calculation tools presented in this paper are also critical to the dating method with $^{39}\mathrm{Ar}$.
120805614
Rapidity losses in heavy-ion collisions from AGS to RHIC energies
We study the rapidity losses in central heavy-ion collisions from AGS to RHIC energies with the mean rapidity determined from the projectile net-baryon distribution after collisions. The projectile net-baryon distribution in the full rapidity range is obtained by phenomenologically removing the target contribution at the forward rapidity region from the experimental net-baryon measurements and taking into account the projectile contribution in the backward rapidity region. Based on the full projectile net-baryon distributions, calculations show that the rapidity loss stops increasing from the SPS top energy to RHIC energies, indicating that baryon transport does not depend strongly on energy at high energies.
110904443
Configurable electronics with low noise and 14-bit dynamic range for photodiode-based photon detectors
Abstract We describe the principles and measured performance of custom configurable 32-channel shaper/digitizer Front End Electronics (FEE) cards with 14-bit dynamic range for gain-adjustable photon detectors. The electronics has been designed for the PHOS calorimeter of ALICE with avalanche photodiode (APD) readout operated at −25 °C ambient temperature and a signal shaping time of 1 μs. The electronics has also been adopted by the EMCal detector of ALICE with the same APD readout, but operated at an ambient temperature of +20 °C and with a shaping time of 100 ns. The CR-RC2 signal shapers on the FEE cards are implemented in discrete logic on a 10-layer board with two shaper sections for each input channel. The two shaper sections with gain ratio of 16:1 are digitized by 10-bit ADCs and provide an effective dynamic range of 14 bits. Gain adjustment for each individual APD is available through 32 bias voltage control registers of 10-bit range. The fixed gains and shaping times of the pole-zero compensated shapers are defined prior to FEE production by the values of a few R and C components. For trigger purposes, “fast OR” outputs with 12-bit dynamic range are available. FPGA based slave logic, combined with a USB processor supports a variety of remote control and monitoring features, including APD gain calibration. The measurements presented here for APDs at −25 °C ambient temperature and 1 μs shaping time achieve an average RMS noise level of 0.25 ADC counts or 290 electrons.The linearity over the dynamic range is better than 1%, as is the uniformity of shaping time and gain over 32 channels. Due to the excellent correspondence of the output pulse shape with offline fit, a differential timing resolution of less than 1.5 ns between channels has been achieved at ca. 2 GeV, i.e. at 1.5% of the dynamic range of PHOS.
119264215
A model of nuclear recoil scintillation efficiency in noble liquids
Abstract Scintillation efficiency of low-energy nuclear recoils in noble liquids plays a crucial role in interpreting results from some direct searches for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter. However, the cause of a reduced scintillation efficiency relative to electronic recoils in noble liquids remains unclear at the moment. We attribute such a reduction of scintillation efficiency to two major mechanisms: (1) energy loss and (2) scintillation quenching. The former is commonly described by Lindhard’s theory and the latter by Birk’s saturation law. We propose to combine these two to explain the observed reduction of scintillation yield for nuclear recoils in noble liquids. Birk’s constants kB for argon, neon and xenon determined from experimental data are used to predict noble liquid scintillator’s response to low-energy nuclear recoils and low-energy electrons. We find that energy loss due to nuclear stopping power that contributes little to ionization and excitation is the dominant reduction mechanism in scintillation efficiency for nuclear recoils, but that significant additional quenching results from the nonlinear response of scintillation to the ionization density.
122716775
Elliptic flow of strange and multi-strange particles in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76-TeV measured with ALICE
17461222
The principle of least action and the geometric basis of D-branes
We analyze thoroughly the boundary conditions allowed in classical non-linear sigma models and derive from first principle the corresponding geometric objects, i.e. D-branes. In addition to giving classical D-branes an intrinsic and geometric foundation, D-branes in nontrivial H flux and D-branes embedded within D-branes are precisely defined. A well known topological condition on D-branes is replaced.
15577760
From boundaries to conditions over superspace
N = 1 and 2 superconformal boundary conditions are shown to be the consequence of a ``boundary'' on the worldsheet superspace with positive codimension in the anticommuting subspace. In addition to the well-known boundary conditions, I also find two new infinite series of N = 2 boundary states. Their free field realizations are given. A self-contained development of 2d superspace leads to new perspectives on this subject.
43434280
Matrix Description of Intersecting M5 Branes
Novel 3+1 dimensional N = 2 superconformal field theories (with tensionless BPS string solitons) are believed to arise when two sets of M5 branes intersect over a 3+1 dimensional hyperplane. We derive a DLCQ description of these theories as supersymmetric quantum mechanics on the Higgs branch of suitable 4d N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theories. Our formulation allows us to determine the scaling dimensions of certain chiral primary operators in the conformal field theories. We also discuss general criteria for quantum mechanical DLCQ descriptions of supersymmetric field theories (and the resulting multiplicities and scaling dimensions of chiral primary operators).
117583858
Dirichlet branes and nonperturbative aspects of supersymmetric string and gauge theories
In chapter 1 the author reviews some elements of string theory relevant to the rest of this report. He touches on both the classical, i.e. perturbative, string physics before D-branes rise to prominence, and some of the progresses they brought forth. In chapter 2 he proceeds to give an exact algebraic formulation of D-branes in curved spaces. This allows one to classify them in backgrounds of interest and study their geometric properties. He applies this formalism to string theory on Calabi-Yau and other supersymmetry preserving manifolds. Then he studies the behavior of the D-branes under mirror symmetry in chapter 3. Mirror symmetry is known to be a symmetry of string theory perturbatively. He finds evidence for its nonperturbative validity when D-branes are also considered and compute some dynamical consequences. In chapter 4 he turns to examine the consistency of curved and/or intersecting D-brane configurations. They have been used recently to extract information about the field theories that arise in certain limits. It turns out that there are potential quantum mechanical inconsistencies associated with them. What saves the day are certain subtle topological properties of D-branes. This resolution has implications for the conserved charges carried by the D-branes, which he computesmore » for the cases studied in chapter 2. In chapter 5 he uses intersecting brane configurations to study three dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories. There is also a mirror symmetry there that, among other things, exchanges classical and quantum mechanical quantities of a (mirror) pair of theories. It has an elegant realization in term of a symmetry of string theory involving D-branes. The author employs it to study a wide class of 3d models. He also predicts new mirror pairs and unconventional 3d field theories without Lagrangian descriptions.« less
651025
D-branes on Calabi-Yau spaces and their mirrors
We study the boundary states of D-branes wrapped around supersymmetric cycles in a general Calabi-Yau manifold. In particular, we show how the geometric data on the cycles are encoded in the boundary states. As an application, we analyze how the mirror symmetry transforms D-branes, and we verify that it is consistent with the conjectured periodicity and the monodromy of the Ramond-Ramond field configuration on a Calabi-Yau manifold. This also enables us to study open string worldsheet instanton corrections and relate them to closed string instanton counting. The cases when the mirror symmetry is realized as T-duality are also discussed.