The STAR Silicon Strip Detector (SSD)

The STAR Silicon Strip Detector (SSD) completes the three layers of the Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) to make an inner tracking system located inside the Time Projection Chamber (TPC). This additional fourth layer provides two dimensional hit position and energy loss measurements for charged particles, improving the extrapolation of TPC tracks through SVT hits. To match the high multiplicity of central Au+Au collisions at RHIC the double sided silicon strip technology was chosen which makes the SSD a half million channels detector. Dedicated electronics have been designed for both readout and control. Also a novel technique of bonding, the Tape Automated Bonding (TAB), was used to fullfill the large number of bounds to be done. All aspects of the SSD are shortly described here and test performances of produced detection modules as well as simulated results on hit reconstruction are given.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

TAB Bonded SSD Module for the STAR and ALICE Trackers

Presentation made at LEB99, 20-24 September 1999A novel compact detector module has been produced by the "IReS"-"Subatech"-"Thomson-CSF-Detexis" collaboration. It includes a Double-Sided (DS) Silicon Strip Detector (SSD) and the related Front End Electronics (FEE) located on two hybrids, one for the N side and one for the P side. Bumpless Tape Automated Bonding (TAB) is used to connect the detector to the hybrids by means of microcables with neither wirebonding nor pitch adapter. Each of the six dedicated ALICE128C FE chip [1], located on the hybrid, is TABed on identical single layer microcables, which connect its inputs to the DS SSD and its outputs to the hybrid [2]. These microcables are bent in order to fold over the two hybrids on the DS SSD. This module meets the specifications of two experiments, ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) on the LHC accelerator at CERN [3] and STAR (Solenoid Tracker At Rhic) on the RHIC accelerator at BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory)[4]. It can be used with air cooling (STAR) as well as with water cooling (ALICE)[5]. This mechanically self-consistent FE module has been tested on the SPS beam at CERN. Preliminary results are presented

Production test of microstrip detector and electronic frontend modules for the STAR and ALICE trackers

We revisit Shin et al.’s leakage-resilient password-based authenticated key establishment protocol (LR-AKEP) and the security model used to prove the security of LR-AKEP. By refining the Leak oracle in the security model, we show that LR-AKE (1) can, in fact, achieve a stronger notion of leakage-resilience than initially claimed and (2) also achieve an additional feature of traceability, not previously mentioned

The ANTARES Optical Beacon System

ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirable. Accordingly, different time calibration systems have been developed for the ANTARES telescope. In this article, a system based on Optical Beacons, a set of external and well-controlled pulsed light sources located throughout the detector, is described. This calibration system takes into account the optical properties of sea water, which is used as the detection volume of the ANTARES telescope. The design, tests, construction and first results of the two types of beacons, LED and laser-based, are presented.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth. Phys. Res.

A Crucial Role for Primary Cilia in Cortical Morphogenesis

Primary cilia are important sites of signal transduction involved in a wide range of developmental and postnatal functions. Proteolytic processing of the transcription factor Gli3, for example, occurs in primary cilia, and defects in intraflagellar transport (IFT), which is crucial for the maintenance of primary cilia, can lead to severe developmental defects and diseases. Here we report an essential role of primary cilia in forebrain development. Uncovered by N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-mutagenesis, cobblestone is a hypomorphic allele of the IFT gene Ift88, in which Ift88 mRNA and protein levels are reduced by 70-80%. cobblestone mutants are distinguished by subpial heterotopias in the forebrain. Mutants show both severe defects in the formation of dorsomedial telencephalic structures, such as the choroid plexus, cortical hem and hippocampus, and also a relaxation of both dorsal-ventral and rostral-caudal compartmental boundaries. These defects phenocopy many of the abnormalities seen in the Gli3 mutant forebrain, and we show that Gli3 proteolytic processing is reduced, leading to an accumulation of the full-length activator isoform. In addition, we observe an upregulation of canonical Wnt signaling in the neocortex and in the caudal forebrain. Interestingly, the ultrastructure and morphology of ventricular cilia in the cobblestone mutants remains intact. Together, these results indicate a critical role for ciliary function in the developing forebrain