The prompt lepton cookbook

We review the calculation of the prompt lepton flux, produced in the atmosphere by the semileptonic decay of charmed particles. We describe side by side the intermediary ingredients used by different authors, which include not only the charm production model, but also other atmospheric particle showering parameters. After evaluating separately the relevance of each single ingredient, we analyze the effect of different combinations over the final result. We highlight the impact of the prompt lepton flux calculation upon high-energy neutrino telescopes.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures; revised version, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Severed threads, enduring ties. An anthropological exploration of the competing imaginaries of inter-country adoption from Ethiopia

This study is an anthropological exploration of inter-country adoption in Ethiopia. Moving from an Ethio-centred perspective, the research aims to disentangle how inter-country adoption is differently perceived and enacted depending on the positioning of the actors involved. When approaching this cross-cultural phenomenon, it becomes evident that Global North and South interpretations clash, and this mismatching produces multiple effects onto the adoptive triad, namely the adoptee, the native family, and the adoptive family. While transracial inter-country adoption is highly debated from a Global North perspective, little has been explored on the ramifications of cross-cultural child mobility. To date, the entanglement between Ethiopian-based knowledges on child circulation and inter-country adoption remains uncharted territory. This investigation delves into such ground to determine whether in Ethiopia it exists a conceptual correlation between a) customary and inter-country adoption; b) the choice to give a child for adoption; and c) post-adoption expectations. Fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ethiopia shed light on inter-country adoption as a circular relational process of kin separation, transfer, reconnection, and reconfiguration. The thesis reconceptualises adoption processes moving from the epistemic knowledge of the participants, who comprised native and adoptive families, adoptees, intermediaries, staff from childcare institutions and adoption agencies, and other key informants. The main finding is that amongst Ethiopian families it prevails the idea of inter-country adoption as intended to strengthen kin ties and diversify family collective's migration strategies. Conversely, the narrative that prevails in the Global North does not entail contact with the native family nor the return of the adopted person to her country of origin. This contrasting imaginary of adoption crucially impacts on post-adoption dynamics. Eventually, this study emphasises that inter-country adoption in Ethiopia primarily accommodated the Global North imperatives rather than making the process socially just for native families. The lack of a body entitled to provide post-adoption support to native families and mediate cross-cultural reconnections leaves the adoptive triad alone to sort out the search, negotiation, and reconfiguration of its international extended kin ties

Free energy determination of phase coexistence in model C60: A comprehensive Monte Carlo study

The free energy of the solid and fluid phases of the Girifalco C60 model are determined through extensive Monte Carlo simulations. In this model the molecules interact through a spherical pair potential, characterized by a narrow and attractive well, adjacent to a harshly repulsive core. We have used the Widom test particle method and a mapping from an Einstein crystal, in order to estimate the absolute free energy in the fluid and solid phases, respectively; we have then determined the free energy along several isotherms, and the whole phase diagram, by means of standard thermodynamic integrations. We highlight how the interplay between the liquid-vapor and the liquid-solid coexistence conditions determines the existence of a narrow liquid pocket in the phase diagram, whose stability is assessed and confirmed in agreement with previous studies. In particular, the critical temperature follows closely an extended corresponding-states rule recently outlined by Noro and Frenkel [J. Chem. Phys. 113:2941 (2000)]. We discuss the emerging "energetic" properties of the system, which drive the phase behavior in systems interacting through short-range forces [A. A. Louis, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 359:939 (2001)], in order to explain the discrepancy between the predictions of several structural indicators and the results of full free energy calculations, to locate the fluid phase boundaries. More generally, we aim to provide extended reference data for calculations of the free energy of the C60 fullerite in the low temperature regime, as for the determination of the phase diagram of higher order fullerenes and other fullerene-related materials, whose description is based on the same model adopted in this work.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages, 9 figure