Elliptic flow of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report the first measurement of charged particle elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region (|$\eta$|<0.8) and transverse momentum range 0.2< $p_{\rm T}$< 5.0 GeV/$c$. The elliptic flow signal v$_2$, measured using the 4-particle correlation method, averaged over transverse momentum and pseudorapidity is 0.087 $\pm$ 0.002 (stat) $\pm$ 0.004 (syst) in the 40-50% centrality class. The differential elliptic flow v$_2(p_{\rm T})$ reaches a maximum of 0.2 near $p_{\rm T}$ = 3 GeV/$c$. Compared to RHIC Au-Au collisions at 200 GeV, the elliptic flow increases by about 30%. Some hydrodynamic model predictions which include viscous corrections are in agreement with the observed increase.Comment: 10 pages, 4 captioned figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/389

COVID-19 in rheumatic diseases in Italy: first results from the Italian registry of the Italian Society for Rheumatology (CONTROL-19)

OBJECTIVES: Italy was one of the first countries significantly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. The Italian Society for Rheumatology promptly launched a retrospective and anonymised data collection to monitor COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs), the CONTROL-19 surveillance database, which is part of the COVID-19 Global Rheumatology Alliance. METHODS: CONTROL-19 includes patients with RMDs and proven severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) updated until May 3rd 2020. In this analysis, only molecular diagnoses were included. The data collection covered demographic data, medical history (general and RMD-related), treatments and COVID-19 related features, treatments, and outcome. In this paper, we report the first descriptive data from the CONTROL-19 registry. RESULTS: The population of the first 232 patients (36% males) consisted mainly of elderly patients (mean age 62.2 years), who used corticosteroids (51.7%), and suffered from multi-morbidity (median comorbidities 2). Rheumatoid arthritis was the most frequent disease (34.1%), followed by spondyloarthritis (26.3%), connective tissue disease (21.1%) and vasculitis (11.2%). Most cases had an active disease (69.4%). Clinical presentation of COVID-19 was typical, with systemic symptoms (fever and asthenia) and respiratory symptoms. The overall outcome was severe, with high frequencies of hospitalisation (69.8%), respiratory support oxygen (55.7%), non-invasive ventilation (20.9%) or mechanical ventilation (7.5%), and 19% of deaths. Male patients typically manifested a worse prognosis. Immunomodulatory treatments were not significantly associated with an increased risk of intensive care unit admission/mechanical ventilation/death. CONCLUSIONS: Although the report mainly includes the most severe cases, its temporal and spatial trend supports the validity of the national surveillance system. More complete data are being acquired in order to both test the hypothesis that RMD patients may have a different outcome from that of the general population and determine the safety of immunomodulatory treatments

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular $v_3$, quadrangular $v_4$, and pentagonal $v_5$ charged particle flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow $v_2$ and $v_3$ have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/387

Di Tito Lucrezio Caro della natura delle cose libri sei : Tradotti da Alessandro Marchetti ...

Dedication signed by the editor: P. Antinoo Rullo, i.e. Paolo Rolli.Based on a manuscript of Alessandro Marchettis version which had been brought back to London by John Molesworth.With four final errata leaves.Europeana-GoogleBook

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

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

Measurement of CP violation and constraints on the CKM angle gamma in B-+/- -> DK +/- with D -> K-s(0)pi(+)pi(-) decays

A model-dependent amplitude analysis of B-+/- -> DK +/- with D -> K-s(0)pi(+)pi(-) decays is performed using proton proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 fb(-1), recorded by LHCb at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV in 2011. Values of the CP violation observables x +/- and y +/-, which are sensitive to the CKM angle gamma, are measured to be x- = +0.027 +/- 0.0441(-0.008)(+0.010) +/- 0.001, y- = +0.013 +/- 0.0481(-0.007)(+0.009) +/- 0.003, x+ = -0.084 +/- 0.045 +/- 0.009 +/- 0.005, y+ = -0.032 +/- 0.048(-0.009)(+0.010) +/- 0.008, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and the third arises from the uncertainty of the D -> K-S(0)pi(+)pi(-) amplitude model. The value of gamma is determined to be (84(-42)(+49))degrees including all sources of uncertainty. Neutral D meson mixing is found to have negligible effect. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

Identification of beauty and charm quark jets at LHCb

Identification of jets originating from beauty and charm quarks is important for measuring Standard Model processes and for searching for new physics. The performance of algorithms developed to select b- and c-quark jets is measured using data recorded by LHCb from proton-proton collisions at root s = 7TeV in 2011 and at root s = 8TeV in 2012. The efficiency for identifying a b (c) jet is about 65%(25%) with a probability for misidentifying a light-parton jet of 0.3% for jets with transverse momentum pT > 20GeV and pseudorapidity 2 : 2 < eta < 4.2. The dependence of the performance on the pT and eta of the jet is also measured

Measurement of the CP-violating phase beta in B-0 -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-) decays and limits on penguin effects

Time-dependent CP violation is measured in the (B-0) over bar -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-) p-channel for each pi(+)pi(-) resonant final state using data collected with an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) in pp collisions using the LHCb detector. The final state with the largest rate, J/psi rho(0)(770), is used to measure the CP-violating angle 2 beta(eff) to be (41.7 +/- 9.6(-6.3)(+2.8)).. This result can be used to limit the size of penguin amplitude contributions to CPviolation measurements in, for example, (B-0) over bar -> J/psi pi(+)pi(-) decays. Assuming approximate SU(3) flavour symmetry and neglecting higher order diagrams, the shift in the CP-violating phase phi(s) limited to be within the interval [-1.05 degrees, + 1.18 degrees] at 95% confidence level. Changes to the limit due to SU(3) symmetry breaking effects are also discussed. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

B flavour tagging using charm decays at the LHCb experiment

An algorithm is described for tagging the flavour content at production of neutral B mesons in the LHCb experiment. The algorithm exploits the correlation of the flavour of a B meson with the charge of a reconstructed secondary charm hadron from the decay of the other b hadron produced in the proton-proton collision. Charm hadron candidates are identified in a number of fully or partially reconstructed Cabibbo-favoured decay modes. The algorithm is calibrated on the self-tagged decay modes B+ -> J/psi K+ and B-0 -> J/psi K*(0) using 3.0fb(-1) of data collected by the LHCb experiment at pp centre-of-mass energies of 7TeV and 8TeV. Its tagging power on these samples of B -> J/psi X decays is (0.30 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.01) %

Study of the rare B-s(0) and B-0 decays into the pi(+) pi(-) mu(+) mu(-) final state

A search for the rare decays B-s(0) -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu-and B-0 -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu-is performed in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) collected by the LHCb detector in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. Decay candidates with pion pairs that have invariant mass in the range 0.5-1.3GeV/c(2) and with muon pairs that do not originate from a resonance are considered. The first observation of the decay B-s(0) -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu- and the first evidence of the decay B-0 -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu-are obtained and the branching fractions, restricted to the dipion-mass range considered, are measured to be B(B-s(0) -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu(-)) =(8.6 +/- 1.5(stat) +/- 0.7(syst) +/- 0.7 (norm)) x 10(-8) and B(B-0 -> pi(+) pi-mu(+) mu(-)) =(2.11 +/- 0.51(stat) +/- 0.15(syst) +/- 0.16(norm)) x10(-8), where the third uncertainty is due to the branching fraction of the decay B-0. -> J/Psi(mu(+) mu(-)) K*(892)(0)(-> K+ pi(-)), used as a normalisation. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V