Many-core applications to online track reconstruction in HEP experiments

Interest in parallel architectures applied to real time selections is growing in High Energy Physics (HEP) experiments. In this paper we describe performance measurements of Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) and Intel Many Integrated Core architecture (MIC) when applied to a typical HEP online task: the selection of events based on the trajectories of charged particles. We use as benchmark a scaled-up version of the algorithm used at CDF experiment at Tevatron for online track reconstruction - the SVT algorithm - as a realistic test-case for low-latency trigger systems using new computing architectures for LHC experiment. We examine the complexity/performance trade-off in porting existing serial algorithms to many-core devices. Measurements of both data processing and data transfer latency are shown, considering different I/O strategies to/from the parallel devices.Comment: Proceedings for the 20th International Conference on Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP); missing acks adde

Insights from a Case of Good’s Syndrome (Immunodeficiency with Thymoma)

Immunodeficiency with thymoma was described by R.A. Good in 1954 and is also named after him. The syndrome is characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia associated with thymoma and recurrent infections, bacterial but also viral, fungal and parasitic. Autoimmune diseases, mainly pure red cell aplasia, other hematological disorders and erosive lichen planus are a common finding. We describe here a typical case exhibiting all these clinical features and report a detailed immunophenotypic assessment, as well as the positivity for autoantibodies against three cytokines (IFN-alpha, IL-6 and GM-CSF), which may add to known immune abnormalities. A review of the published literature, based on case series and immunological studies, offers some hints on the still unsolved issues of this rare condition

Measurement of the WW and WZ production cross section using final states with a charged lepton and heavy-flavor jets in the full CDF Run II data set

We present a measurement of the total WW and WZ production cross sections in p (p) over bar collision at root s = 1.96 TeV, in a final state consistent with leptonic W boson decay and jets originating from heavy-flavor quarks from either a W or a Z boson decay. This analysis uses the full data set collected with the CDF II detector during Run II of the Tevatron collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.4 fb(-1). An analysis of the dijet mass spectrum provides 3.7 sigma evidence of the summed production processes of either WW or WZ bosons with a measured total cross section of sigma(WW+WZ) = 13.7 +/- 3.9 pb. Independent measurements of the WW and WZ production cross sections are allowed by the different heavy- flavor decay patterns of the W and Z bosons and by the analysis of secondary- decay vertices reconstructed within heavy- flavor jets. The productions of WW and of WZ dibosons are independently seen with significances of 2.9s and 2.1s, respectively, with total cross sections of sigma(WW) = 9.4 +/- 4.2 pb and sigma(WZ) = 3.7(-2.2)(+2.5) pb. The measurements are consistent with standard- model predictions.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the differential cross sections for W-boson production in association with jets in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

This paper presents a study of the production of a single W boson in association with one or more jets in proton-antiproton collisions at is root s = 1.96 TeV, using the entire data set collected in 2001-2011 by the Collider Detector at Fermilab at the Tevatron, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 9.0 fb(-1). The W boson is identified through its leptonic decays into electron and muon. The production cross sections are measured for each leptonic decay mode and combined after testing that the ratio of the W(-> mu v) + jets cross section to the W(-> ev) + jets cross section agrees with the hypothesis of e-mu lepton universality. The combination of measured cross sections, differential in the inclusive jet multiplicity (W + >= N jets with N = 1, 2, 3, or 4) and in the transverse energy of the leading jet, are compared with theoretical predictions.Peer reviewe

Measurement of sin(2) theta(lept)(eff) using e(+)e(-) pairs from gamma*/Z bosons produced in p(p)over-bar collisions at a center- of- momentum energy of 1.96 TeV

At the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton (p (p) over bar) collider, Drell-Yan lepton pairs are produced in the process p (p) over bar -> e(+)e(-) + X through an intermediate gamma*/Z boson. The forward-backward asymmetry in the polar-angle distribution of the e(-) as a function of the e(+)e(-)-pair mass is used to obtain sin(2) theta(lept)(eff), the effective leptonic determination of the electroweak-mixing parameter sin(2) theta(W). The measurement sample, recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab (CDF), corresponds to 9.4 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity from p (p) over bar collisions at a center-of-momentum energy of 1.96 TeV, and is the full CDF Run II data set. The value of sin(2) theta(lept)(eff) is found to be 0.23248 +/- 0.00053. The combination with the previous CDF measurement based on mu(+)mu(-) pairs yields sin(2) theta(lept)(eff) = 0.23221 +/- 0.00046. This result, when interpreted within the specified context of the standard model assuming sin(2) theta(W) = 1 - M-W(2)/M-Z(2) and that the W- and Z-boson masses are on-shell, yields sin(2) theta(W) = 0.22400 +/- 0.00045, or equivalently a W-boson mass of 80.328 +/- 0.024 GeV/c(2).Peer reviewe

Measurement of the D+-meson production cross section at low transverse momentum in p(p)over-bar collisions at root s=1.96 TeV

We report on a measurement of the D+ -meson production cross section as a function of transverse momentum (p(T)) in proton-antiproton (p (p) over bar) collisions at 1.96 TeV center-of-mass energy, using the full data set collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab in Tevatron Run II and corresponding to 10 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity. We use D-broken vertical bar -> K- pi(broken vertical bar) pi(broken vertical bar) decays fully reconstructed in the central rapidity region broken vertical bar y broken vertical bar <1 with transverse momentum down to 1.5 GeV/c, a range previously unexplored in p collisions. Inelastic p (p) over bar -scattering events are selected online using minimally biasing requirements followed by an optimized offline selection. The K- pi(+) pi(+) mass distribution is used to identify the D+ signal, and the D+ transverse impact-parameter distribution is used to separate prompt production, occurring directly in the hard-scattering process, from secondary production from b-hadron decays. We obtain a prompt D+ signal of 2950 candidates corresponding to a total cross section sigma(D+), 1.5 <P-T <14.5 GeV/c, vertical bar y vertical bar <1) = 71.9 +/- 6.8 (stat) +/- 9.3 (syst) mu b.While the measured cross sections are consistent with theoretical estimates in each p(T) bin, the shape of the observed p(T) spectrum is softer than the expectation from quantum chromodynamics. The results are unique in p collisions and can improve the shape and uncertainties of future predictions.Peer reviewe

Measurement of the charge asymmetry of electrons from the decays of W bosons produced in p p ¯ collisions at s =1.96 TeV

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 authors. Published by the American Physical Society.At the Fermilab Tevatron proton-antiproton (pp¯) collider, high-mass electron-neutrino (eν) pairs are produced predominantly in the process pp¯→W(→eν)+X. The asymmetry of the electron and positron yield as a function of their pseudorapidity constrain the slope of the ratio of the u- to d-quark parton distributions versus the fraction of the proton momentum carried by the quarks. This paper reports on the measurement of the electron-charge asymmetry using the full data set recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab in 2001-2011 and corresponding to 9.1 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. The measurement significantly improves the precision of the Tevatron constraints on the parton-distribution functions of the proton. Numerical tables of the measurement are provided.Peer reviewe

Elevated 8-isoprostane levels in basal cell carcinoma and in UVA irradiated skin.

Isoprostanes are prostaglandin isomers produced from the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids from the cellular membrane. They have been used as a specific index of cellular lipoperoxidation and as an indirect measure of oxidative stress. However, these molecules also present several biological activities. An oxidative environment measured as the presence of other indirect measurements of reactive oxygen species lipoperoxidation has recently been described in basal cell carcinoma, the most frequent type of non-melanoma skin cancer. This study aims to measure the levels of 8-isoprostaglandin F2α, an isoprostane widely studied in other models as a by-product of ROS-induced lipid peroxidation, in basal cell carcinoma and in UVA irradiated healthy skin. We found that 8-iso-PGF2α is present in higher levels in BCC specimens compared to healthy non sun-exposed skin, confirming previous studies on the production of lipoperoxidation in this tumor. Moreover, we demonstrated that topical pre-treatment with a compound containing vitamin E is capable of reducing 8-iso-PGF2α formation in UV irradiated skin suggesting a role for isoprostanes in UV induced inflammation and eventually carcinogenesis and confirming the function of vitamin E as an antioxidant in this model

High-precision measurement of the W boson mass with the CDF II detector

The mass of the W boson, a mediator of the weak force between elementary particles, is tightly constrained by the symmetries of the standard model of particle physics. The Higgs boson was the last missing component of the model. After observation of the Higgs boson, a measurement of the W boson mass provides a stringent test of the model. We measure the W boson mass, M-W, using data corresponding to 8.8 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected in proton-antiproton collisions at a 1.96 tera-electron volt center-of-mass energy with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. A sample of approximately 4 million W boson candidates is used to obtain M-W = 80,433.5 +/- 6.4(stat) +/- 6.9(syst) = 80,433.5 +/- 9.4MeV/c(2), the precision of which exceeds that of all previous measurements combined (stat, statistical uncertainty; syst, systematic uncertainty; MeV, mega-electron volts; c, speed of light in a vacuum). This measurement is in significant tension with the standard model expectation.Peer reviewe

Potential of optimized NOvA for large theta(13) & combined performance with a LArTPC & T2K

NOvA experiment has reoptimized its event selection criteria in light of the recently measured moderately large value of theta(13). We study the improvement in the sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy and to leptonic CP violation due to these new features. For favourable values of deltacp, NOvA sensitivity to mass hierarchy and leptonic CP violation is increased by 20%. Addition of 5 years of neutrino data from T2K to NOvA more than doubles the range of deltacp for which the leptonic CP violation can be discovered, compared to stand alone NOvA. But for unfavourable values of deltacp, the combination of NOvA and T2K are not enough to provide even a 90% C.L. hint of hierarchy discovery. Therefore, we further explore the improvement in the hierarchy and CP violation sensitivities due to the addition of a 10 kt liquid argon detector placed close to NOvA site. The capabilities of such a detector are equivalent to those of NOvA in all respects. We find that combined data from 10 kt liquid argon detector (3 years of nu + 3 years of nubar run), NOvA (6 years of nu + 6 years of nubar run) and T2K (5 years of nu run) can give a close to 2 sigma hint of hierarchy discovery for all values of deltacp. With this combined data, we can achieve CP violation discovery at 95% C.L. for roughly 60% values of deltacp.Comment: 22 pages, 24 pdf figures, 5 tables. In the appendix, new results are presented with conservative choices of central values of oscillation parameters. New references are added. Accepted in JHE