Horizontal deflection of single particle in a paramagnetic fluid

This paper describes the horizontal deflection behaviour of a single particle in paramagnetic fluids under a high-gradient superconducting magnetic field. A glass box was designed to carry out experiments and test assumptions. It was found that the particles were deflected away from the magnet bore centre and particles with different density and/or susceptibility settled at a certain position on the container floor due to the combined forces of gravity and magneto-Archimedes as well as lateral buoyant (displacement) force. Matlab was chosen to simulate the movement of the particle in the magnetic fluid, the simulation results were in good accordance with experimental data. The results presented here, though, are still very much in their infancy, which could potentially form the basis of a new approach to separating materials based on a combination of density and susceptibility. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

Helium identification with LHCb

The identification of helium nuclei at LHCb is achieved using a method based on measurements of ionisation losses in the silicon sensors and timing measurements in the Outer Tracker drift tubes. The background from photon conversions is reduced using the RICH detectors and an isolation requirement. The method is developed using pp collision data at √(s) = 13 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment in the years 2016 to 2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.5 fb-1. A total of around 105 helium and antihelium candidates are identified with negligible background contamination. The helium identification efficiency is estimated to be approximately 50% with a corresponding background rejection rate of up to O(10^12). These results demonstrate the feasibility of a rich programme of measurements of QCD and astrophysics interest involving light nuclei

Measurement of forward charged hadron flow harmonics in peripheral PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV with the LHCb detector

Flow harmonic coefficients, v n , which are the key to studying the hydrodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) created in heavy-ion collisions, have been measured in various collision systems and kinematic regions and using various particle species. The study of flow harmonics in a wide pseudorapidity range is particularly valuable to understand the temperature dependence of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the QGP. This paper presents the first LHCb results of the second- and the third-order flow harmonic coefficients of charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum in the forward region, corresponding to pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.9, using the data collected from PbPb collisions in 2018 at a center-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV . The coefficients measured using the two-particle angular correlation analysis method are smaller than the central-pseudorapidity measurements at ALICE and ATLAS from the same collision system but share similar features

Curvature-bias corrections using a pseudomass method

Momentum measurements for very high momentum charged particles, such as muons from electroweak vector boson decays, are particularly susceptible to charge-dependent curvature biases that arise from misalignments of tracking detectors. Low momentum charged particles used in alignment procedures have limited sensitivity to coherent displacements of such detectors, and therefore are unable to fully constrain these misalignments to the precision necessary for studies of electroweak physics. Additional approaches are therefore required to understand and correct for these effects. In this paper the curvature biases present at the LHCb detector are studied using the pseudomass method in proton-proton collision data recorded at centre of mass energy √(s)=13 TeV during 2016, 2017 and 2018. The biases are determined using Z→μ + μ - decays in intervals defined by the data-taking period, magnet polarity and muon direction. Correcting for these biases, which are typically at the 10-4 GeV-1 level, improves the Z→μ + μ - mass resolution by roughly 18% and eliminates several pathological trends in the kinematic-dependence of the mean dimuon invariant mass

Pattern and pathways for mercury lifespan bioaccumulation in Carcinus maenas

Carcinus maenas is an important and exploited natural resource in temperate estuaries, being consumed by local populations and also used as fish bait. Through bioaccumulation and bioamplification processes occurring in polluted estuarine ecosystems, this species may directly or indirectly represent a major pathway for Human contamination. No information is available on the overall lifespan bioaccumulation pattern of mercury for this species, which would be an invaluable tool for assessing the risks associated with C. maenas harvest in contaminated areas. Taking that in mind, the main objectives of this work were to clarify the lifespan bioaccumulation pattern of mercury for this species.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V6N-4SDFSCK-3/1/b855ee8cbb8c51a429f283cd5a318ef

Growth and interface engineering of highly strained low bandgap group IV semiconductors

Highly tensile strained Ge(Sn) layers epitaxially grown on GeSn strain relaxed buffer layer have been presented. Electrical characterization exhibits good interfacial quality of the high-k gate stacks employing HfO2 on Ge and strained Ge. These results mark a first step towards electronic device integration of low bandgap highly tensely strained group IV semiconductors

The VMC survey - XXV. The 3D structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud from Classical Cepheids

The VISTA near-infrared YJK s survey of the Magellanic System (VMC) is collecting deep K s -band time-series photometry of pulsating stars hosted by the two Magellanic Clouds and their connecting bridge. Here, we present Y, J, K s light curves for a sample of 717 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) Classical Cepheids (CCs). These data, complemented with our previous results and V magnitude from literature, allowed us to construct a variety of period-luminosity and period-Wesenheit relationships, valid for Fundamental, First and Second Overtone pulsators. These relations provide accurate individual distances to CCs in the SMC over an area of more than 40 deg 2 . Adopting literature relations, we estimated ages and metallicities for the majority of the investigated pulsators, finding that (i) the age distribution is bimodal, with two peaks at 120 ± 10 and 220 ± 10 Myr; (i) the more metal-rich CCs appear to be located closer to the centre of the galaxy. Our results show that the three-dimensional distribution of the CCs in the SMC is not planar but heavily elongated for more than 25-30 kpc approximately in the east/north-east towards south-west direction. The young and old CCs in the SMC show a different geometric distribution. Our data support the current theoretical scenario predicting a close encounter or a direct collision between the Clouds some 200 Myr ago and confirm the presence of aCounter-Bridge predicted by some models. The high-precision three-dimensional distribution of young stars presented in this paper provides a new test bed for future models exploring the formation and evolution of the Magellanic System.Fil: Ripepi, Vincenzo. Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte; ItaliaFil: Cioni, Maria-Rosa L.. Leibniz-Institüt fü Astrophysik Potsdam; Alemania. University Of Hertfordshire; Reino UnidoFil: Moretti, Maria Ida. Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte; ItaliaFil: Marconi, Marcella. Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte; ItaliaFil: Bekki, Kenji. The University of Western Australia; AustraliaFil: Clementini, Gisella. Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna; ItaliaFil: de Grijs, Richard. Peking University. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics; ChinaFil: Emerson, Jim. Queen Mary University of London; Reino UnidoFil: Groenewegen, Martin A.T.. IKoninklijke Sterrenwacht van België; BélgicaFil: Ivanov, Valentin D.. European Southern Observatory; ChileFil: Molinaro, Roberto. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte; ItaliaFil: Muraveva, Tatiana. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna; ItaliaFil: Oliveira, Joana M.. Keele University. Lennard-Jones Laboratories; Reino UnidoFil: Piatti, Andres Eduardo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Subramanian, Smitha. Peking University. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics; ChinaFil: van Loon, Jacco Th.. Keele University. Lennard-Jones Laboratories; Reino Unid