Recent ALICE results on hadronic resonance production

Hadronic resonances are a valuable tool to study the properties of the medium formed in heavy-ion collisions. In particular, they can provide information on particle-formation mechanisms and on the properties of the medium at chemical freeze-out. Furthermore they contribute to the systematic study of parton energy loss and quark recombination. Measurements of resonances in pp and in p-Pb collisions provide a necessary baseline for heavy-ion data and help to disentangle initial-state effects from medium-induced effects. In this paper the latest ALICE results on mid-rapidity K*(892)^0 and {\phi}(1020) production in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at LHC energies are presentedComment: Talk at International Conference on Dark Matter, Hadron Physics and Fusion Physics, 24-26 Septemeber 2014, Messina(Italy

Out of Plane Behavior of Calcareous Masonry Panels Strengthened by CFRP

AbstractThis paper presents the results obtained by an experimental program carried out to evaluate the influence of externally bonded FRP composites on the out of plane behavior of masonry. To this aim two groups of samples were tested for static out-of-plane loads under different vertical load applying orthogonally to the mortar beds. Three panels Carbon fiber- Reinforced Masonry (CRM) were reinforced by one layer of carbon fiber-reinforcing system attached to the tension side of the wall, while the remaining unreinforced three (URM) were used as referring samples. The failure loads, collapse mode, mid-span deflection and fiber-debonding were measured. Based on the data obtained from the experimental program, it appears that the out-of-plane CFRP reinforcement tends to deeply decrease the out-of plane deflection, change the collapse mechanism, and increase enormously its out of plane resistance up to seven times respect to the URM panel

The First Results for a New Layout of the Stay Cables for Great Span Bridges

AbstractThe air-elastic vibrations of structures induce fluctuating stresses that lead to fatigue damage accumulation and may determine structural failure without exceeding ultimate strength This paper proposes a new layout of stay cables to be used in the construction or the retrofitting of long span bridges, capable of mitigating the air-elastic problems due to environmental vibrations such as the rain-wind excitations. The structural scheme adopted was derived from the critical conditions in terms of stability obtained by referring to lateral suspension cables stayed bridge with two planes of fan pattern stay cables. The new layout consists in implementing an additional plane of cable stays placed symmetrically just under the deck bridge. The final layout of the cable stays was identified as “duplex”. The numerical investigation was carried out in the frequency domain. The results obtained show a sensible increasing of stiffness, as well as a reduction of the natural period of vibrations. In the analysis the deck was considered as thin and very light. The Duplex layout had, also, permitted to mitigate the wind effects, because the presence of the inferior stay cables simulate the viscous dampers

Dielectron Measurements in STAR

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions provide a unique environment to study the properties of strongly interacting matter. Dileptons, which are not affected by the strong interactions, are an ideal penetrating probe. We present the dielectron results for p+p and Au+Au collisions at \sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}} =200 GeV, as measured by the STAR experiment. We discuss the prospects of dilepton measurements with the near-future detector upgrades, and the recent lower beam energy Au+Au measurements.Comment: Resonance Workshop at UT Austin (2012), 8 pages,15 figure

Vertex finding in ALICE by the use of silicon pixel layers in the Inner Tracking System

The performance of the Inner Tracking System of the ALICE detector for primary vertex estimation is discussed. A simulation study of the vertex reconstruction in ALICE through the information given by the two pixel layers is reported. Vertex resolution was studied as a function of the nominal vertex location and of the particle multiplicity

Tracking inside the ALICE Inner Tracking System

One of the main purposes of the ALICE Inner Tracking System (ITS) is to improve the resolution of the track parameters found in the main ALICE tracker detector, the Time Projector Chamber (TPC). Some results about tracking efficiency and resolution of track parameters obtained with a tracking code, based on the Kalman filter algorithm are presented

Resonances and fluctuations in the statistical model

We describe how the study of resonances and fluctuations can help constrain the thermal and chemical freezeout properties of the fireball created in heavy ion collisions. This review is based on [1-5].Comment: Proceedings,"Hadronic resonance production in heavy ion and elementary collisions" UT Austin, March 5-7 201