Investigating Initial Interactions Between Silver Nanoparticles and Wastewater

The use of nanoparticles (NPs) has increased exponentially in the last 15-20 years, especially in the consumer market. NPs are currently found in over 1800 commercial products, including cosmetics, clothing, packaging, and toys. As a result, NPs can enter the environment via wastewater (WW) streams, leading to new challenges in WW treatment. This study focuses on the initial fate of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in WW. The AgNP interaction including aggregation and dissolution in both synthetic and real WW were studied. Real WW was collected from the primary-clarifier, secondary-clarifier, and effluent WW streams at two local WW treatment plants (Westside and Noland) in Fayetteville, AR. In all cases, AgNPs had high rates of aggregation with salts and solids in real and synthetic WW (80.3%-99.8%). Of the non-aggregated AgNPs, there was no statistical difference in the concentration of Ag that passed through the nano (0.1 µm) and ionic (3 kDa) filters, indicating that either the AgNPs were small enough to pass through the ionic filter (\u3c27 Ag atoms), or most of the non-aggregated Ag was present as ionic species rather than NPs. This merits further research

Merging WW and WW+jet with MINLO

We present a simulation program for the production of a pair of W bosons in association with a jet, that can be used in conjunction with general-purpose shower Monte Carlo generators, according to the POWHEG method. We have further adapted and implemented the MINLO' method on top of the NLO calculation underlying our WW+jet generator. Thus, the resulting simulation achieves NLO accuracy not only for inclusive distributions in WW+jet production but also WW production, i.e. when the associated jet is not resolved, without the introduction of any unphysical merging scale. This work represents the first extension of the MINLO' method, in its original form, to the case of a genuine underlying 2->2 process, with non-trivial virtual corrections.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

Inelastic Channels in the Electroweak Symmetry-Breaking Sector

It has been argued that if light Higgs bosons do not exist then the self--interactions of $W$'s become strong in the TeV region and can be observed in longitudinal $WW$ scattering. We present a model with many inelastic channels in the $WW$ scattering process, corresponding to the creation of heavy fermion pairs. The presence of these heavy fermions affects the elastic scattering of $W$'s by propagating in loops, greatly reducing the amplitudes in some charge channels. Consequently, the symmetry--breaking sector cannot be fully explored by using, for example, the $W^+W^+$ mode alone; all $WW \rightarrow WW$ scattering modes must be measured.}Comment: 10 pages, phyzzx, JHU-TIPAC-92001

Searching for Heavier Higgs Boson via Di-Higgs Production at LHC Run-2

The LHC discovery of a light Higgs particle $h^0$ (125GeV) opens up new prospect for searching heavier Higgs boson(s) at the LHC Run-2, which will unambiguously point to new physics beyond the standard model (SM). We study the detection of a heavier neutral Higgs boson $H^0$ via di-Higgs production channel at the LHC (14TeV), $H^0 \to h^0h^0 \to WW^*\gamma\gamma$. This directly probes the $Hhh$ cubic Higgs interaction, which exists in most extensions of the SM Higgs sector. For the decay products of final states $WW^*$, we include both pure leptonic mode $WW^* \to \ell\bar{\nu}\bar{\ell}\nu$ and semi-leptonic mode $WW^* \to q\bar{q}'\ell\nu$. We analyze signals and backgrounds by performing fast detector simulation for the full processes $pp \to H \to hh \to WW^*\gamma\gamma \to \ell\bar{\nu}\bar{\ell}\nu\gamma\gamma$ and $pp \to H \to hh \to WW^*\gamma\gamma \to \ell\nu q\bar{q}'\gamma\gamma$, over the mass range $M_H=250-600$GeV. For generic two-Higgs-doublet models (2HDM), we present the discovery reach of the heavier Higgs boson at the LHC Run-2, and compare it with the current Higgs global fit of the 2HDM parameter space.Comment: Phys.Lett.B Final Version. 16pp (9 Figs + 4 Tables). Only minor refinements, references adde

Estimates of Genetic and Phenotypic Trends of Growth Traits in Bali Cattle

The aim of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic trends for growth traits including birth (BW), weaning (WW) and yearling weight (YW) in Bali cattle. The number of cattle used to determine growth traits of BW, WW, and YW were 235, 215, and 178 heads, respectively. Estimation of breeding value, phenotypic and genetic correlation were calculated by Restricted Maximum Likelihood and General Linier Model (GLM) procedures, respectively. Genetic trends analysis was performed using the regression mean breeding values on birth year. Phenotypic and genetic correlation among BW and WW were 0.10 and 0.08 respectively and 0.90 and 0.70 for WW and YW respectively. The phenotypic trends for traits of birth and weaning weight were constant, whereas yearling weight was fluctuating from 2000 to 2008. Likewise, in the case of genetic trends, the birth and weaning weight were constant from 2000 to 2008 except for WW in 2005, whereas the genetic trends for yearling weight showed a fluctuation of wide range. According to the breeding value estimated for all traits, the best was the sire No. 0565, whose breeding value for BW, WW and YW were +0.07, +2.79, and +10.25 kg, respectively higher than the mean value of the population. The genetic trends showed that there have been a significant and positive genetic improvement in all growth traits and indicate that selection would be effective. Genetic correlation between WW and YW was high (0.70) which indicates that the selection on weaning weight might also increase yearling weight in Bali cattle

Precision predictions for W-pair production at LEP2

Theoretical calculations for the W-pair production process at LEP2 in terms of Monte Carlo event generators RacoonWW and KorlaW&YFSWW3 are reviewed. The discussion concentrates on precision predictions for the main LEP2 WW observables. The theoretical precision of the above programs is estimated to be ~0.5% for the total WW cross section sigma_{WW}, ~5MeV for the W-boson mass M_W, and ~0.005 for the triple-gauge-boson coupling lambda = lambda_{gamma} = lambda_Z, which is sufficient for the final LEP2 data analyses.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Studying WWγWW\gamma and WZγWZ\gamma production in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s} = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

Quartic gauge couplings are tested by this study of the production of $WW\gamma$ and $WZ\gamma$ events in 20.2 fb$^{-1}$ of proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The final state of $WW\gamma$ events containing an electron, a muon and a photon is analysed as well as the final states of $WW\gamma$ and $WZ\gamma$ production containing an electron or a muon, two jets and a photon. For all final states two different fiducial regions are defined: one yielding the best sensitivity to the production cross-section of the process and one optimised for the detection of new physical phenomena. In the former region, the $WW\gamma$ production cross-section is computed and in both regions, upper limits on the $WW\gamma$ and $WZ\gamma$ production cross-section are derived. The results obtained in the second phase space are combined for the interpretation in the context of anomalous quartic gauge couplings using an effective field theory.Comment: Proceedings of the Fifth AnnualLHC