Grad-Level Radiation Damage of SIO2 Detectors

Radiation effects and levels to detectors. SiO{sub 2} quartz fibers of the LHC ATLAS Zero-degree Calorimeter (ZDC) anticipated to experience integrated doses of a few Grad at their closest position were exposed to 200 MeV protons and neutrons at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Linac. Specifically, 1 mm- and 2mm-diameter quartz (GE 124) rods were exposed to direct 200 MeV protons during the first phase of exposure leading to peak integrated dose of {approx}28 Grad. Exposure to a primarily neutron flux of 1mm-diameter SiO{sub 2} fibers was also achieved with a special neutron source arrangement. In a post-irradiation analysis the quartz fiber transmittance was evaluated as a function of the absorbed dose. Dramatic degradation of the transmittance property was observed with increased radiation damage. In addition, detailed evaluation of the fibers under the microscope revealed interesting micro-structural damage features and irradiation-induced defects

The RHIC polarized source upgrade

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Optically Pumped Polarized 3^3He++^{++} Ion Source Development for RHIC/EIC

The proposed polarized $^3$He$^{++}$ acceleration in RHIC and the future Electron-Ion Collider will require about $2\times10^{11}$ ions in the source pulse. A new technique had been proposed for production of high intensity polarized $^3$He$^{++}$ ion beams. It is based on ionization and accumulation of the $^3$He gas (polarized by metastability-exchange optical pumping and in the 5 T high magnetic field) in the existing Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS). A novel $^3$He cryogenic purification and storage technique was developed to provide the required gas purity. An original gas refill and polarized $^3$He gas injection to the EBIS long drift tubes, (which serves as the storage cell) were developed to ensure polarization preservation. An infrared laser system for optical pumping and polarization measurements in the high 3--5 T field has been developed. The $^3$He polarization 80--85\% (and sufficiently long $\sim30$ min relaxation time) was obtained in the \lq\lq{open}\rq\rq\ cell configuration with refilling valve tube inlet and isolation valve closed. The development of the spin-rotator and $^3$He $^4$He absolute nuclear polarimeter at 6 MeV $^3$He$^{++}$ beam energy is also presented.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure

Results from PAMELA, ATIC and FERMI : Pulsars or Dark Matter ?

It is well known that the dark matter dominates the dynamics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Its constituents remain a mystery despite an assiduous search for them over the past three decades. Recent results from the satellite-based PAMELA experiment detect an excess in the positron fraction at energies between 10-100 GeV in the secondary cosmic ray spectrum. Other experiments namely ATIC, HESS and FERMI show an excess in the total electron (\ps + \el) spectrum for energies greater 100 GeV. These excesses in the positron fraction as well as the electron spectrum could arise in local astrophysical processes like pulsars, or can be attributed to the annihilation of the dark matter particles. The second possibility gives clues to the possible candidates for the dark matter in galaxies and other astrophysical systems. In this article, we give a report of these exciting developments.Comment: 27 Pages, extensively revised and significantly extended, to appear in Pramana as topical revie

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011