26 research outputs found

    The climatic cyclicity in semiarid-arid central Asia over the past 500,000 years

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    Central Asia is currently a semiarid-arid region, dominated by the Westerlies. It is important to understand mechanisms of climate and precipitation changes here, as water availability in the region is crucial today and in the future. High-resolution, absolutely-dated oxygen isotope (delta(18)O) records of stalagmites from Kesang Cave characterize a dynamic precipitation history over most of the past 500,000 years. This record demonstrates, for the first time, that climate change in the region exhibits a processional rhythm with abrupt inceptions of low delta(18)O speleothem growth at times of high Northern Hemisphere summer insolation followed by gradual delta(18)O increases that track decreases of insolation. These observations and interpretations contrast with the interpretation of nearby, but higher elevation ice core records. The absolutely-dated cave delta(18)O shifts can be used to correlate the regional climate variability by providing chronological marks. Combined with other paleoclimate records, the Kesang observations suggest that possible incursions of Asian summer monsoon rainfall or related moisture into the Kesang site and/or adjacent areas during the high insolation times may play an important role in changing orbital-scale hydrology of the region. Based on our record, arid climate will prevail in this region for the next several millennia, providing that anthropogenic effects do not supersede natural processes.</p

    First measurement of time-dependent CP violation in Bs0K+K B_s^0\to K^+K^- decays

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    Direct and mixing-induced CP-violating asymmetries in B-s(0) -> K+K- decays are measured for the first time using a data sample of p p collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The results are C-KK = 0.14 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.03 and S-KK = 0.30 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.04, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The corresponding quantities are also determined for B-0 -> pi(+)pi(-) decays to be C-pi pi = -0.38 +/- 0.15 +/- 0.02 and S-pi pi = -0.71 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.02, in good agreement with existing measurements

    Observation of B-s(0) -> chi(c1)phi decay and study of B-0 -> chi K-c1,K-2*(0) decays

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    The first observation of the decay B-s(0) -> chi(c1)phi and a study of B-0 -> chi K-c1,K-2*(0) decays are presented. The analysis is performed using a dataset, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The following ratios of branching fractions are measured: B(B-s(0) -> chi(c1)phi)/B(B-s(0) -> J/psi phi) = (18.9 +/- 1.8 (stat) +/- 1.3 (syst) +/- 0.8(B)) x 10(-2), B(B-0 -> chi K-c1*(0))//B(B-0 -> J/psi K*(0)) = (19.8 +/- 1.1 (stat) +/- 1.2 (syst) +/- 0.9(B)) x 10(-2), B(B-0 -> chi K-c2*(0))//B(B-0 -> chi K-c1*(0)) = (17.1 +/- 5.0 (stat) +/- 1.7 (syst) +/- 1.1(B)) x 10(-2), where the third uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the branching fractions of chi(c) -> J/psi gamma modes

    Measurement of the flavour-specific CP-violating asymmetry a(sl)(s) in B-s(0) decays

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    The CP-violating asymmetry a(sl)(s), is studied using semileptonic decays of B-s(0) and (B) over bar (0)(s) mesons produced in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC, exploiting a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1). The reconstructed final states are D-s(+/-)mu(+/-)(s), with the D-s(+/-) particle decaying in the phi pi(+/-) mode. The D-s(+/-)mu(+/-)(s) yields are summed over B-s(0) and (B) over bar (0)(s) initial states, and integrated with respect to decay time. Data-driven methods are used to measure efficiency ratios. We obtain a(sl)(s) = (-0.06 +/- 0.50 +/- 0.36)%, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

    Measurement of the charge asymmetry in B-+/- -> phi K +/- and search for B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-) decays

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    The CP-violating charge asymmetry in B-+/- -> phi K-+/- decays is measured in a sample of pp collisions at 7 TeV centre-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1 collected by the LHCb experiment. The result is A(CP)(B-+/- -> phi K-+/-) = 0.022 +/- 0.021 +/- 0.009, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. In addition, a search for the B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-) decay mode is performed, using the B-+/- -> phi K-+/- decay rate for normalization. An upper limit on the branching fraction B(B-+/- -> phi pi(+/-)) < 1.5 x 10(-7) is set at 90% confidence level. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

    NO-Independent, Haem-Dependent Soluble Guanylate Cyclase Stimulators

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    Search for the rare decay D-0 -> mu(+) mu(-)

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    A search for the rare decay D-0 -> mu(+) mu(-) is performed using a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.9 fb(-1), of pp collisions collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of events is consistent with the background expectations and corresponds to an upper limit of B(D-0 -> mu(+) mu(-)) < 6.2 (7.6) x 10(-9) at 90% (95%) confidence level. This result represents an improvement of more than a factor twenty with respect to previous measurements

    Model-independent search for CP violation in D-0 > K-K+pi(-)pi(+) and D-0 -> pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) decays

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    A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of 130 and 15 decays to the final states K-K+pi(-)pi(+) and pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K-K+pi(-)pi(+) final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the pi(-)pi(+)pi(+)pi(-). final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

    Observation of the decay B-s(0) -> (D)over-bar(0)phi

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    First observation of the decay B-s(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi is reported using pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The significance of the signal is 6.5 standard deviations. The branching fraction is measured relative to that of the decay B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi to be beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)phi/beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) = 0.069 +/- 0.013 (stat) +/- 0.007 (syst). The first measurement of the ratio of branching fractions for the decays beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) and beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0) is found to be beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0/)beta B-S(0) -> (D) over bar (0)(K) over bar*(0=7.8) +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst) +/- 0.6 (f(s)/f(d)) where the last uncertainty is due to the ratio of the B(s)(0)and B-0 fragmentation fractions

    Search for the decay D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-)

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    A search for the D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-) decay, where the muon pair does not originate from a resonance, is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb(-1) recorded by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. No signal is observed and an upper limit on the relative branching fraction with respect to the resonant decay mode D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)phi(-> mu(+)mu(-)), under the assumption of a phase-space model, is found to be B(D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-))/B(D-0 -> pi(+)pi(-)phi(-> mu(+)mu(-))) pi(+)pi(-)mu(+)mu(-)) < 5.5 x 10(-7) at 90% confidence level. This is the most stringent to date
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