4,503 research outputs found
Level-3 Calorimetric Resolution available for the Level-1 and Level-2 CDF Triggers
As the Tevatron luminosity increases sophisticated selections are required to
be efficient in selecting rare events among a very huge background. To cope
with this problem, CDF has pushed the offline calorimeter algorithm
reconstruction resolution up to Level 2 and, when possible, even up to Level 1,
increasing efficiency and, at the same time, keeping under control the rates.
The CDF Run II Level 2 calorimeter trigger is implemented in hardware and is
based on a simple algorithm that was used in Run I. This system has worked well
for Run II at low luminosity. As the Tevatron instantaneous luminosity
increases, the limitation due to this simple algorithm starts to become clear:
some of the most important jet and MET (Missing ET) related triggers have large
growth terms in cross section at higher luminosity. In this paper, we present
an upgrade of the Level 2 Calorimeter system which makes the calorimeter
trigger tower information available directly to a CPU allowing more
sophisticated algorithms to be implemented in software. Both Level 2 jets and
MET can be made nearly equivalent to offline quality, thus significantly
improving the performance and flexibility of the jet and MET related triggers.
However in order to fully take advantage of the new L2 triggering capabilities
having at Level 1 the same L2 MET resolution is necessary. The new Level-1 MET
resolution is calculated by dedicated hardware. This paper describes the
design, the hardware and software implementation and the performance of the
upgraded calorimeter trigger system both at Level 2 and Level 1.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures,34th International Conference on High Energy
Physics, Philadelphia, 200
The Fall of the Quasar Population
We derive quantitative predictions of the optical and X-ray luminosity
functions (LF) for QSs in the redshift range . Based on BH paradigm, we
investigate how the accretion is controlled by the surrounding structures, as
these grow hierarchically. We argue that for efficient black hole
fueling is triggered by the encounters of a gas-rich host with its companions
in a group. The dispersion of the dynamical parameters in the encounters
produces a double power-law LF. Strong luminosity evolution (LE) is produced as
these encounters deplete the gas supply in the host; an additional, milder
density evolution obtains since the interactions become progressively rarer as
the groups grow richer but less dense. From the agreement with the optical and
the X-ray data, we conclude that the evolution of the bright quasars is
articulated in two ways. Earlier than the gas-rich protogalaxies grow by
merging, which also induces parallel growth of central holes accreting at
Eddington rates. In the later era of group assemblage the host encounters with
companions drive onto already existing holes further but meager accretion;
these consume the gas in the hosts, and cause supply-limited emissions which
are intermittent, go progressively sub-Eddington and peter out. Then other
fueling processes come to the foreground; we discuss the faint emissions,
especially noticeable in X-rays, which are expected when hosts in the field
cannibalize satellite galaxies with their meager gas contents.Comment: 12 pages Latex + 3 EPS figures, ApJ in press, we have corrected the
previous printing problems with the style \ca
Quasar Evolution Driven by Galaxy Encounters in Hierarchical Structures
We link the evolution of the galaxies in the hierarchical clustering scenario
with the changing accretion rates of cold gas onto the central massive black
holes that power the quasars. We base on galaxy interactions as main triggers
of accretion; the related scaling laws are taken up from Cavaliere & Vittorini
(2000), and grafted to a semi-analytic code for galaxy formation. As a result,
at high the protogalaxies grow rapidly by hierarchical merging; meanwhile,
much fresh gas is imported and also destabilized, so the holes are fueled at
their full Eddington rates. At lower the galactic dynamical events are
mostly encounters in hierarchically growing groups; now the refueling peters
out, as the residual gas is exhausted while the destabilizing encounters
dwindle. So, with no parameter tuning other than needed for stellar
observables, our model uniquely produces at a rise, and at a decline of the bright quasar population as steep as observed. In addition,
our results closely fit the observed luminosity functions of quasars, their
space density at different magnitudes from to , and
the local relation.Comment: 5 pages. Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
CIRS: Cluster Infall Regions in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey I. Infall Patterns and Mass Profiles
We use the Fourth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to test the
ubiquity of infall patterns around galaxy clusters and measure cluster mass
profiles to large radii. We match X-ray cluster catalogs with SDSS, search for
infall patterns, and compute mass profiles for a complete sample of X-ray
selected clusters. Very clean infall patterns are apparent in most of the
clusters, with the fraction decreasing with increasing redshift due to
shallower sampling. All 72 clusters in a well-defined sample limited by
redshift (ensuring good sampling) and X-ray flux (excluding superpositions)
show infall patterns sufficient to apply the caustic technique. This sample is
by far the largest sample of cluster mass profiles extending to large radii to
date. Similar to CAIRNS, cluster infall patterns are better defined in
observations than in simulations. Further work is needed to determine the
source of this difference. We use the infall patterns to compute mass profiles
for 72 clusters and compare them to model profiles. Cluster scaling relations
using caustic masses agree well with those using X-ray or virial mass
estimates, confirming the reliability of the caustic technique. We confirm the
conclusion of CAIRNS that cluster infall regions are well fit by NFW and
Hernquist profiles and poorly fit by singular isothermal spheres. This much
larger sample enables new comparisons of cluster properties with those in
simulations. The shapes (specifically, NFW concentrations) of the mass profiles
agree well with the predictions of simulations. The mass inside the turnaround
radius is on average 2.190.18 times that within the virial radius. This
ratio agrees well with recent predictions from simulations of the final masses
of dark matter haloes.Comment: 34 pages, 24 figures, accepted for publication in AJ, full resolution
version available at http://www.astro.yale.edu/krines
Powerful high energy emission of the remarkable BL Lac object S5 0716+714
BL Lac objects of the intermediate subclass (IBLs) are known to emit a
substantial fraction of their power in the energy range 0.1--10 GeV. Detecting
gamma-ray emission from such sources provides therefore a direct probe of the
emission mechanisms and of the underlying powerhouse.
The AGILE gamma-ray satellite detected the remarkable IBL S5 0716+714 (z
\simeq 0.3) during a high state in the period from 2007 September - October,
marked by two very intense flares reaching peak fluxes of 200\times10^{-8} ph /
cm^2 s above 100 MeV, with simultaneous optical and X-ray observations. We
present here a theoretical model for the two major flares and discuss the
overall energetics of the source.
We conclude that 0716+714 is among the brightest BL Lac's ever detected at
gamma-ray energies. Because of its high power and lack of signs for ongoing
accretion or surrounding gas, the source is an ideal candidate to test the
maximal power extractable from a rotating supermassive black hole via the pure
Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism. We find that during the 2007 gamma-ray flares
our source approached or just exceeded the upper limit set by BZ for a black
hole of mass 10^9 M_sunComment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Spin effects in transport through non-Fermi liquid quantum dots
The current-voltage characteristic of a one dimensional quantum dot connected
via tunnel barriers to interacting leads is calculated in the region of
sequential tunneling. The spin of the electrons is taken into account.
Non-Fermi liquid correlations implying spin-charge separation are assumed to be
present in the dot and in the leads. It is found that the energetic distance of
the peaks in the linear conductance shows a spin-induced parity effect at zero
temperature T. The temperature dependence of the positions of the peaks depends
on the non-Fermi liquid nature of the system. For non-symmetric tunnel barriers
negative differential conductances are predicted, which are related to the
participation in the transport of collective states in the quantum dot with
larger spins. Without spin-charge separation the negative differential
conductances do not occur. Taking into account spin relaxation destroys the
spin-induced conductance features. The possibility of observing in experiment
the predicted effects are briefly discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication on Physical Review
SSC radiation in BL Lac sources, the end of the tether
The synchrotron-self Compton (SSC) radiation process is widely held to
provide a close representation of the double peaked spectral energy
distributions from BL Lac Objects (BL Lacs), which are marked by non-thermal
beamed radiations, highly variable on timescales of days or less. Their
outbursts in the gamma ray relative to the optical/X rays might be surmised to
be enhanced in BL Lacs as these photons are upscattered via the inverse Compton
(IC) process. From the observed correlations among the spectral parameters
during optical/X-ray variations we aim at predicting corresponding correlations
in the gamma-ray band, and the actual relations between the gamma-ray and the
X-ray variability consistent with the SSC emission process. We start from the
homogeneous single-zone SSC source model, with log-parabolic energies
distributions of emitting electron as required by the X-ray data of many
sources. We find relations among spectral parameters of the IC radiation in
both the Thomson (for Low energy BL Lacs) and the Klein-Nishina regimes (mainly
for High energy BL Lacs) and we compute how variability is driven by a smooth
increase of key source parameters, primarily the root mean square electron
energy. The single component SSC source model in the Thomson regime turns out
to be adequate for many LBL sources. However, the simple model meets its limits
with the fast/strong flares recently reported for a few sources in the TeV
range; these require sudden accelerations of emitting electrons in a second
source component.Comment: 12 pages, 2 tables, 8 figure
HST/ACS weak lensing analysis of the galaxy cluster RDCS 1252.9-2927 at z=1.24
We present a weak lensing analysis of one of the most distant massive galaxy
cluster known, RDCS 1252.9-2927 at z=1.24, using deep images from the Advanced
Camera for Survey (ACS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). By taking
advantage of the depth and of the angular resolution of the ACS images, we
detect for the first time at z>1 a clear weak lensing signal in both the i
(F775W) and z (F850LP) filters. We measure a 5-\sigma signal in the i band and
a 3-\sigma signal in the shallower z band image. The two radial mass profiles
are found to be in very good agreement with each other, and provide a
measurement of the total mass of the cluster inside a 1Mpc radius of M(<1Mpc) =
(8.0 +/- 1.3) x 10^14 M_\odot in the current cosmological concordance model h
=0.70, \Omega_m=0.3, \Omega_\Lambda=0.7, assuming a redshift distribution of
background galaxies as inferred from the Hubble Deep Fields surveys. A weak
lensing signal is detected out to the boundary of our field (3' radius,
corresponding to 1.5Mpc at the cluster redshift). We detect a small offset
between the centroid of the weak lensing mass map and the brightest cluster
galaxy, and we discuss the possible origin of this discrepancy. The cumulative
weak lensing radial mass profile is found to be in good agreement with the
X-ray mass estimate based on Chandr and XMM-Newton observations, at least out
to R_500=0.5Mpc.Comment: 38 pages, ApJ in press. Full resolution images available at
http://www.eso.org/~prosati/RDCS1252/Lombardi_etal_accepted.pd
MANAGEMENT DELLO SCHWANNOMA INTRALABIRINTICO
Lo schwannoma intralabirintico (SIL) è un raro tumore benigno (prevalenza 0.1-0.4%) che origina dalle cellule di Schwann perineurali del nervo cocleovestibolare prossimale al labirinto membranoso (coclea, vestibolo o canali semicircolari). E’ stato descritto per la prima volta da Meter nel 1917. I sintomi clinici di esordio includono ipoacusia neurosensoriale monolaterale progressiva (95%) e in alcuni casi improvvisa o fluttuante, acufeni (51%), disequilibrio (35%), vertigine (22%), fullness (2%). Alla risonanza magnetica (RM) il tumore si presenta come una massa circoscritta, ipointensa nelle sequenze T2-pesate e con un forte enhancement dopo somministrazione di gadolinio nelle immagini T1-pesate. Lo SIL si pone in diagnosi differenziale con M. di Meniere o neurite vestibolare. La mancanza di sintomi specifici e il lento pattern di crescita spiega la diagnosi tardiva. Oggigiorno la RM permette una diagnosi sempre più precoce e l’ adozione di un appropriato protocollo terapeutico
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