Performance Studies of Prototype II for the CASTOR forward Calorimeter at the CMS Experiment

We present results of the performance of the second prototype of the CASTOR quartz-tungsten sampling calorimeter, to be installed in the very forward region of the CMS experiment at the LHC. The energy linearity and resolution, as well as the spatial resolution of the prototype to electromagnetic and hadronic showers are studied with E=20-200 GeV electrons, E=20-350 GeV pions, and E=50,150 GeV muons from beam tests carried out at CERN/SPS in 2004. The responses of the calorimeter using two different types of photodetectors (avalanche photodiodes APDs, and photomultiplier tubes PMTs) are compared.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figs., submitted to EPJ-

FACET : a new long-lived particle detector in the very forward region of the CMS experiment

We describe a proposal to add a set of very forward detectors to the CMS experiment for the high-luminosity era of the Large Hadron Collider to search for beyond the standard model long-lived particles, such as dark photons, heavy neutral leptons, axion-like particles, and dark Higgs bosons. The proposed subsystem is called FACET for Forward-Aperture CMS ExTension, and will be sensitive to any particles that can penetrate at least 50 m of magnetized iron and decay in an 18 m long, 1 m diameter vacuum pipe. The decay products will be measured in detectors using identical technology to the planned CMS Phase-2 upgrade.Peer reviewe

Yang-Mills Theory In Axial Gauge

The Yang-Mills functional integral is studied in an axial variant of 't Hooft's maximal Abelian gauge. In this gauge Gau\ss ' law can be completely resolved resulting in a description in terms of unconstrained variables. Compared to previous work along this line starting with work of Goldstone and Jackiw one ends up here with half as many integration variables, besides a field living in the Cartan subgroup of the gauge group and in D-1 dimension. The latter is of particular relevance for the infrared behaviour of the theory. Keeping only this variable we calculate the Wilson loop and find an area law.Comment: 43 pages REVTeX, 6 figure

Evaluating the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology Guideline—Recommended and Contemporary Pretest Probability Models in a Mixed Asian Cohort: The Contribution of Coronary Artery Calcium

BACKGROUND: Most pretest probability (PTP) tools for obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) were Western -developed. The most appropriate PTP models and the contribution of coronary artery calcium score (CACS) in Asian populations remain unknown. In a mixed Asian cohort, we compare 5 PTP models: local assessment of the heart (LAH), CAD Consortium (CAD2), risk factor-weighted clinical likelihood, the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology and the European Society of Cardiology PTP and 3 extended versions of these models that incorporated CACS: LAH (CACS), CAD2 (CACS), and the CACS-clinical likelihood. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study cohort included 771 patients referred for stable chest pain. Obstructive CAD prevalence was 27.5%. Calibration, area under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUC) and net reclassification index were evaluated. LAH clinical had the best calibration (χ 2 5.8; P=0.12). For CACS models, LAH (CACS) showed least deviation between observed and expected cases (χ 2 37.5; P&lt;0.001). There was no difference in AUCs between the LAH clinical (AUC, 0.73 [95% CI, 0.69-0.77]), CAD2 clinical (AUC, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.68-0.76]), risk factor-weighted clinical likelihood (AUC, 0.73 [95% CI: 0.69-0.76) and European Society of Cardiology PTP (AUC, 0.71 [95% CI, 0.67-0.75]). CACS improved discrimination and reclassification of the LAH (CACS) (AUC, 0.88; net reclassification index, 0.46), CAD2 (CACS) (AUC, 0.87; net reclassification index, 0.29) and CACS-CL (AUC, 0.87; net reclassification index, 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: In a mixed Asian cohort, Asian-derived LAH models had similar discriminatory performance but better calibration and risk categorization for clinically relevant PTP cutoffs. Incorporating CACS improved discrimination and reclassification. These results support the use of population-matched, CACS-inclusive PTP tools for the prediction of obstructive CAD.</p

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Disparities in Non-invasive Traditional and Advanced Testing for Coronary Artery Disease: Findings from the INCAPS-COVID 2 Study

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted delivery of cardiovascular care including non-invasive testing protocols and test selection for evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD). Trends in test selection among traditional versus advanced noninvasive tests for CAD during the pandemic and among countries of varying income status have not been well studied. The International Atomic Energy Agency conducted a global survey to assess pandemic-related changes in the practice of cardiovascular diagnostic testing. Site procedural volumes for noninvasive tests to evaluate CAD from March 2019 (pre-pandemic), April 2020 (onset), and April 2021 (initial recovery) were collected. We considered traditional testing modalities exercise electrocardiography (ECG), stress echocardiography, and stress single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and advanced testing modalities stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA), and stress positron emission tomography (PET). Survey data were obtained from 669 centers in 107 countries, reporting the performance of 367,933 studies for CAD during the study period. Compared to 2019, traditional tests were performed 14% less frequently (recovery rate 82%) in 2021 versus advanced tests which were performed 15% more frequently (128% recovery rate). CCTA, stress CMR and stress PET showed 14%, 25%, and 25% increases in volumes from 2019 to 2021, respectively. The increase in advanced testing was isolated to high- and upper-middle-income countries, with 132% recovery in advanced tests by 2021 as compared to 55% in lower-income nations. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated economic disparities in CAD testing practice between wealthy and poorer countries. Greater recovery rates and even new growth was observed for advanced imaging modalities but this growth was restricted to wealthy countries. Efforts to reduce practice variations in CAD testing due to economic status are warranted.<br/

Search for New Physics with Jets and Missing Transverse Momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for new physics is presented based on an event signature of at least three jets accompanied by large missing transverse momentum, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 inverse picobarns collected in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. No excess of events is observed above the expected standard model backgrounds, which are all estimated from the data. Exclusion limits are presented for the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Cross section limits are also presented using simplified models with new particles decaying to an undetected particle and one or two jets