259 research outputs found
Monte Carlo studies of the jet activity in Higgs + 2 jet events
Tree-level studies have shown in the past that kinematical correlations
between the two jets in Higgs+2-jet events are direct probes of the Higgs
couplings, e.g. of their CP nature. In this paper we explore the impact of
higher-order corrections on the azimuthal angle correlation of the two leading
jets and on the rapidity distribution of extra jets. Our study includes
matrix-element and shower MC effects, for the two leading sources of Higgs plus
two jet events at the CERN LHC, namely vector-boson and gluon fusion. We show
that the discriminating features present in the previous leading-order matrix
element studies survive.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures. Version to appear on JHEP. Figs. 5-8 replaced
with colour version
Dynamic orifice area variations in functional mitral regurgitation: In vivoreproduction and mechanistic insights
Aims: The spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2), type 3 (SCA3) and type 7 (SCA7) are clinically characterized by progressive and severe ataxic symptoms, dysarthria, dysphagia, oculomotor impairments, pyramidal and extrapyramidal manifestations and sensory deficits. Although recent clinical studies reported additional disease signs suggesting involvement of the brainstem auditory system, this has never been studied in detail in SCA2, SCA3 or SCA7. Methods: We performed a detailed pathoanatomical investigation of unconventionally thick tissue sections through the auditory brainstem nuclei (that is, nucleus of the inferior colliculus, nuclei of the lateral lemniscus, superior olive, cochlear nuclei) and auditory brainstem fibre tracts (that is, lateral lemniscus, trapezoid body, dorsal acoustic stria, cochlear portion of the vestibulocochlear nerve) of clinically diagnosed and genetically confirmed SCA2, SCA3 and SCA7 patients. Results: Examination of unconventionally thick serial brainstem sections stained for lipofuscin pigment and Nissl material revealed a consistent and widespread involvement of the auditory brainstem nuclei in the SCA2, SCA3 and SCA7 patients studied. Serial brainstem tissue sections stained for myelin showed loss of myelinated fibres in two of the auditory brainstem fibre tracts (that is, lateral lemniscus, trapezoid body) in a subset of patients. Conclusions: The involvement of the auditory brainstem system offers plausible explanations for the auditory impairments detected in some of our and other SCA2, SCA3 and SCA7 patients upon bedside examination or neurophysiological investigation. However, further clinical studies are required to resolve the striking discrepancy between the consistent involvement of the brainstem auditory system observed in this study and the comparatively low frequency of reported auditory impairments in SCA2, SCA3 and SCA7 patients
W+W-, WZ and ZZ production in the POWHEG BOX
We present an implementation of the vector boson pair production processes
ZZ, W+W- and W Z within the POWHEG framework, which is a method that allows the
interfacing of NLO calculations to shower Monte Carlo programs. The
implementation is built within the POWHEG BOX package. The Z/\gamma^*
interference, as well as singly resonant contributions, are properly included.
We also considered interference terms arising from identical leptons in the
final state. As a result, all contributions leading to the desired four-lepton
system have been included in the calculation, with the sole exception of the
interference between ZZ and W+W- in the production of a pair of same-flavour,
oppositely charged fermions and a pair of neutrinos, which we show to be fully
negligible. Anomalous trilinear couplings can be also set in the program, and
we give some examples of their effect at the LHC. We have made the relevant
code available at the POWHEG BOX web site.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables. Minor corrections and updated
references in revised versio
MadGraph/MadEvent v4: The New Web Generation
We present the latest developments of the MadGraph/MadEvent Monte Carlo event
generator and several applications to hadron collider physics. In the current
version events at the parton, hadron and detector level can be generated
directly from a web interface, for arbitrary processes in the Standard Model
and in several physics scenarios beyond it (HEFT, MSSM, 2HDM). The most
important additions are: a new framework for implementing user-defined new
physics models; a standalone running mode for creating and testing matrix
elements; generation of events corresponding to different processes, such as
signal(s) and backgrounds, in the same run; two platforms for data analysis,
where events are accessible at the parton, hadron and detector level; and the
generation of inclusive multi-jet samples by combining parton-level events with
parton showers. To illustrate the new capabilities of the package some
applications to hadron collider physics are presented:
1) Higgs search in pp \to H \to W^+W^-: signal and backgrounds.
2) Higgs CP properties: pp \to H jj$in the HEFT.
3) Spin of a new resonance from lepton angular distributions.
4) Single-top and Higgs associated production in a generic 2HDM.
5) Comparison of strong SUSY pair production at the SPS points.
6) Inclusive W+jets matched samples: comparison with the Tevatron data.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figure
Scaling Patterns for QCD Jets
Jet emission at hadron colliders follows simple scaling patterns. Based on
perturbative QCD we derive Poisson and staircase scaling for final state as
well as initial state radiation. Parton density effects enhance staircase
scaling at low multiplicities. We propose experimental tests of our theoretical
findings in Z+jets and QCD gap jets production based on minor additions to
current LHC analyses.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figure
Single-top t-channel hadroproduction in the four-flavour scheme with POWHEG and aMC@NLO
We present results for the QCD next-to-leading order (NLO) calculation of
single-top t-channel production in the 4-flavour scheme, interfaced to Parton
Shower (PS) Monte Carlo programs according to the POWHEG and MC@NLO methods.
Comparisons between the two methods, as well as with the corresponding process
in the 5-flavour scheme are presented. For the first time results for typical
kinematic distributions of the spectator-b jet are presented in an NLO+PS
approach.Comment: 16+1 pages, 8 figures, matches version accepted for publication in
JHE
Top Quark Physics at the LHC: A Review of the First Two Years
This review summarizes the highlights in the area of top quark physics
obtained with the two general purpose detectors ATLAS and CMS during the first
two years of operation of the Large Hadron Collider LHC. It covers the 2010 and
2011 data taking periods, where the LHC provided pp collisions at a
center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV. Measurements are presented of the total
and differential top quark pair production cross section in many different
channels, the top quark mass and various other properties of the top quark and
its interactions, for instance the charge asymmetry. Measurements of single top
quark production and various searches for new physics involving top quarks are
also discussed. The already very precise experimental data are in good
agreement with the standard model.Comment: 107 pages, invited review for Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, v2 is identical
to v1 except for the addition of the table of content
NLO QCD+EW predictions for V + jets including off-shell vector-boson decays and multijet merging
We present next-to-leading order (NLO) predictions including QCD and electroweak (EW) corrections for the production and decay of off-shell electroweak vector bosons in association with up to two jets at the 13 TeV LHC. All possible dilepton final states with zero, one or two charged leptons that can arise from off-shell W and Z bosons or photons are considered. All predictions are obtained using the automated implementation of NLO QCD+EW corrections in the OpenLoops matrix-element generator combined with the Munich and Sherpa Monte Carlo frameworks. Electroweak corrections play an especially important role in the context of BSM searches, due to the presence of large EW Sudakov logarithms at the TeV scale. In this kinematic regime, important observables such as the jet transverse momentum or the total transverse energy are strongly sensitive to multijet emissions. As a result, fixed-order NLO QCD+EW predictions are plagued by huge QCD corrections and poor theoretical precision. To remedy this problem we present an approximate method that allows for a simple and reliable implementation of NLO EW corrections in the MePs@Nlo multijet merging framework. Using this general approach we present an inclusive simulation of vector-boson production in association with jets that guarantees NLO QCD+EW accuracy in all phase-space regions involving up to two resolved jets
Distortion in a 7xxx aluminum alloy during liquid phase sintering
The distortion in a sintered 7xxx aluminum alloy, Al-7Zn-2.5Mg-1Cu (wt. pct), has been investigated by sintering three rectangular bars in each batch at 893 K (620 °C) for 0 to 40 minutes in nitrogen, followed by air or furnace cooling. They were placed parallel to each other, equally spaced apart at 2 mm, with their long axes being perpendicular to the incoming nitrogen flow. Pore evolution in each sample during isothermal sintering was examined metallographically. The compositional changes across sample mid-cross section and surface layers were analyzed using energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling, respectively. The two outer samples bent toward the middle one, while the middle sample was essentially distortion free after sintering. The distortion in the outer samples was a result of differential shrinkage between their outer and inner surfaces during isothermal sintering. The porous outer surface showed an enrichment of oxygen around the large pores as well as lower magnesium and zinc contents than the interior and inner surface of the same sample, while the inner surface was distinguished by the presence of AlN. The differential shrinkage was caused by different oxygen contents in local sintering atmosphere and unbalanced loss of magnesium and zinc between the outer and inner surfaces
- …