55 research outputs found

    Volume I. Introduction to DUNE

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    The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay—these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. This TDR is intended to justify the technical choices for the far detector that flow down from the high-level physics goals through requirements at all levels of the Project. Volume I contains an executive summary that introduces the DUNE science program, the far detector and the strategy for its modular designs, and the organization and management of the Project. The remainder of Volume I provides more detail on the science program that drives the choice of detector technologies and on the technologies themselves. It also introduces the designs for the DUNE near detector and the DUNE computing model, for which DUNE is planning design reports. Volume II of this TDR describes DUNE\u27s physics program in detail. Volume III describes the technical coordination required for the far detector design, construction, installation, and integration, and its organizational structure. Volume IV describes the single-phase far detector technology. A planned Volume V will describe the dual-phase technology

    The Great Markarian 421 Flare of 2010 February: Multiwavelength Variability and Correlation Studies

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    We report on variability and correlation studies using multiwavelength observations of the blazar Mrk 421 during the month of 2010 February, when an extraordinary flare reaching a level of ∌27 Crab Units above 1 TeV was measured in very high energy (VHE) Îł-rays with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) observatory. This is the highest flux state for Mrk 421 ever observed in VHE Îł-rays. Data are analyzed from a coordinated campaign across multiple instruments, including VHE Îł-ray (VERITAS, Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov), high-energy Îł-ray (Fermi-LAT), X-ray (Swift, Rossi X-ray Timing Experiment, MAXI), optical (including the GASP-WEBT collaboration and polarization data), and radio (Metsahovi, Owens Valley Radio Observatory, University of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory). Light curves are produced spanning multiple days before and after the peak of the VHE flare, including over several flare "decline" epochs. The main flare statistics allow 2 minute time bins to be constructed in both the VHE and optical bands enabling a cross-correlation analysis that shows evidence for an optical lag of ∌25-55 minutes, the first time-lagged correlation between these bands reported on such short timescales. Limits on the Doppler factor (ÎŽ âȘ† 33) and the size of the emission region (ÎŽ-1RBâ‰Č 3.8 × 1013cm) are obtained from the fast variability observed by VERITAS during the main flare. Analysis of 10 minute binned VHE and X-ray data over the decline epochs shows an extraordinary range of behavior in the flux-flux relationship, from linear to quadratic to lack of correlation to anticorrelation. Taken together, these detailed observations of an unprecedented flare seen in Mrk 421 are difficult to explain with the classic single-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.</p

    Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), far detector technical design report, volume III: DUNE far detector technical coordination

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    The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay—these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. Volume III of this TDR describes how the activities required to design, construct, fabricate, install, and commission the DUNE far detector modules are organized and managed. This volume details the organizational structures that will carry out and/or oversee the planned far detector activities safely, successfully, on time, and on budget. It presents overviews of the facilities, supporting infrastructure, and detectors for context, and it outlines the project-related functions and methodologies used by the DUNE technical coordination organization, focusing on the areas of integration engineering, technical reviews, quality assurance and control, and safety oversight. Because of its more advanced stage of development, functional examples presented in this volume focus primarily on the single-phase (SP) detector module

    Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

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    The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype

    (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate prevents oxidative damage in both the aqueous and lipid compartments of human plasma

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    When human plasma was exposed to the hydrophilic radical initiator, AAPH, (-)-epigallocatechin-(3)-gallate (EGCG) dose-dependently inhibited the aqueous compartment oxidation (IC(50)=0.72 microM) (monitored by DCFH oxidation) and spared the lipophilic antioxidants, alpha-tocopherol, and carotenoids, but not ascorbic acid. When radicals were selectively induced in the lipid compartment by the lipophilic radical initiator, MeO-AMVN, EGCG spared alpha-tocopherol, but not carotenoids and inhibited the lipid compartment oxidation (monitored by BODIPY 581/591) with a potency lower than that found in the aqueous compartment (IC(50)=4.37 microM). Our results indicate that EGCG, mainly localized in the aqueous compartment, effectively quenches aqueous radical species, thus limiting their diffusion into the lipid compartment and preventing lipid-soluble antioxidant depletion. Further, ESR experiments confirmed that EGCG recycled alpha-tocopherol through a H-transfer mechanism at the aqueous/lipid interface affording an additional protective mechanism to the lipid compartment of plasma

    Profiling histidine dipeptides in plasma and urine after ingesting beef, chicken or chicken broth in humans

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    The in vitro metabolic stability of histidine-dipeptides (HD), carnosine (CAR) and anserine (ANS), in human serum, and their absorption kinetics after ingesting pure carnosine or HD rich foods in humans have been investigated. Healthy women (n = 4) went through four phases of taking one dose of either 450 mg of pure carnosine, 150 g beef (B), 150 g chicken (C), or chicken broth (CB) from 150 g chicken with a >2-week washout period between each phase. Blood samples were collected at 0, 30, 60, 100, 180, 240, and 300 min, and urine samples before and after (up to 7 h) ingesting pure carnosine or food. Both plasma and urine samples were analyzed for HD concentrations using a sensitive and selective LC-ESI-MS/MS method. CAR was undetectable in plasma after ingesting pure carnosine, B, C or CB. By contrast, plasma ANS concentration was significantly increased (P < 0.05) after ingesting C or CB, respectively. Urinary concentrations of both CAR and ANS were 13- to 14-fold increased after ingesting B, and 14.8- and 243-fold after CB ingestion, respectively. Thus, dietary HD, which are rapidly hydrolyzed by carnosinase in plasma, and excreted in urine, may act as reactive carbonyl species sequestering agent

    Composition and stability of phytochemicals in five varieties of black soybeans (Glycine max)

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    Phytochemical compositions of five varieties of black soybeans (Glycine max) and their stabilities at room temperature, 4 and -80 degrees C over 14 months were determined by HPLC systems with electrochemical (ECD) and UV detectors. Polyphenol profiling was carried out by a liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) with orbitrap as a mass analyser in both positive and negative ion modes, and polyphenols in aglycone forms were quantified by HPLC-ECD. Five different varieties of black soybeans (G. max) contained 249-405 mu g/g dry wt of gamma-tocopherol and 6.76-14.98 mu g/g dry wt of lutein. Major polyphenols in black soybeans (G. max) were daidzein (193-288 mu g/g dry wt) and genistein (145-223 mu g/g dry wt), mainly present as glucosides and acetyl glucosides. No significant decrease was found in total phenols of black soybeans (G. max) stored at room temperature, 4 or -80 degrees C for 14 months. On the other hand, lutein and gamma-tocopherol degraded significantly within a month of storage at room temperature (p < 0.01), whereas they remained stable up to 6 months at 4 C and up to 14 months at -80 degrees C. The current study indicates that black soybeans (G. max) are rich source of gamma-tocopherol and phenols (isoflavones, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanin) and that the levels vary depending upon varieties. In addition, storage at low temperature is recommended to reduce the loss of fat-soluble phytochemicals in black soybeans (G. max) over an extended period of time

    Characterisation, extraction efficiency, stability and antioxidant activity of phytonutrients in Angelica keiskei

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    Phytonutrients in Angelica keiskei, a dark green leafy vegetable, were characterised and their extraction efficiency by different compositions of water/ethanol as well as stability at different temperatures was determined. A range in the content of lutein (205\u2013265 mg/kg dry wt), trans-beta-carotene (103\u2013130 mg/ kg dry wt), and total phenols (8.6\u20139.7 g/kg) was observed amongst Angelica keiskei grown in three different conditions. LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis identified chlorogenic acid, chalcones and the glucosides of luteolin and quercetin as the major phenolic compounds in Angelica keiskei. Only 46% of lutein was extracted by 70% of ethanol and no carotenoid was detected in 40% ethanol and 100% water extracts of Angelica keiskei. Major phytonutrients in Angelica keiskei were stable at -80\ub0C up to 12 months whilst beta-carotene was significantly degraded at room temperature and 4\ub0C within 2 months and lutein at room temperature within 12 months. The current study indicates that phytonutrients rich in Angelica keiskei can only be extracted partially using ethanol/water and substantial loss of certain phytonutrients such as beta-carotene can occur during storage at either 4\ub0C or room temperature
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