V0 production ratios at LHCb and the alignment of its RICH detectors

The strangeness production ratios [bar wedge]/∧ and [bar wedge]/K0S are measured by the LHCb detector from 0.3 nb-1 of proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN with centre-of-mass energy √s = 0.9TeV and 1.8 nb-1 at √s = 7TeV. Both ratios are presented as a function of transverse momentum, pT, and rapidity, y, in the ranges 0.15 < pT < 2.50 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. The ratios measured at the two energies are in good agreement in an overlapping region of rapidity loss, Δ y = ybeam - y, and are consistent with previous measurements. A review of the Standard Model is presented with emphasis on the diffculties in its application for predictions of physics at the LHC. Phenomenological models are introduced as the current state of the art for such predictions. Accurate models are required as an essential benchmark for future discoveries of physics beyond the Standard Model. LHCb's results represent a powerful test for these models in the soft QCD regime for processes including hadronisation. The ratio [bar wedge]/∧, measuring the transport of baryon number from the collision into the detector, is smaller in data than predicted, particularly at high rapidity. The ratio [bar wedge]/K0 S, measuring the baryon-to-meson suppression in strange quark hadronisation, is significantly larger than expected. The LHCb experiment is introduced, with particular focus on its Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors. The development and successful implementation of a method to align those RICH detectors is presented, using proton-proton collision data from the early running period of the Large Hadron Collider, which began in November 2009. The performance of the RICH detectors is investigated with preliminary analysis of the Cherenkov photon yield. The RICH mirror positions are monitored using an automated software control system, which has been running successfully since October 2008

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

V0V^0 production ratios at LHCb and the alignment of its RICH detectors

The strangeness production ratios $\overline{\Lambda}/\Lambda$ and $\overline{\Lambda}/K^{0}_{S}$ are measured by the LHCb detector from 0.3nb${^−1}$ of proton-proton collisions delivered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN with centre-of-mass energy √ s = 0.9TeV and 1.8nb −1 at √s = 7TeV. Both ratios are presented as a function of transverse momentum, pT, and rapidity, y, in the ranges 0.15 < pT < 2.50 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. The ratios measured at the two energies are in good agreement in an overlapping region of rapidity loss, Δy = y beam − y, and are consistent with previous measurements. A review of the Standard Model is presented with emphasis on the difficulties in its application for predictions of physics at the LHC. Phenomenological models are introduced as the current state of the art for such predictions. Accurate models are required as an essential benchmark for future discoveries of physics beyond the Standard Model. LHCb’s results represent a powerful test for these models in the soft QCD regime for processes including hadronisation. The ratio $\overline{\Lambda}/Λ$, measuring the transport of baryon number from the collision into the detector, is smaller in data than predicted, particularly at high rapidity. The ratio $\overline{\Lambda}/K^{0}_{S}$, measuring the baryon-to-meson suppression in strange quark hadronisation, is significantly larger than expected. The LHCb experiment is introduced, with particular focus on its Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors. The development and successful implementation of a method to align those RICH detectors is presented, using proton-proton collision data from the early running period of the Large Hadron Collider, which began in November 2009. The performance of the RICH detectors is investigated with preliminary analysis of the Cherenkov photon yield. The RICH mirror positions are monitored using an automated software control system, which has been running successfully since October 2008