Stimulating exploration by government-sponsored regional geoscience surveys

The island of Ireland is one of the most attractive places for mineral exploration and development, according to a recent global review. The Republic of Ireland is a major European producer of lead-zinc and historically of copper, lead-silver and alluvial gold. Northern Ireland has one gold mine in production, a second gold prospect at an advanced stage of exploration, and one salt mine. In the past lead, iron and coal mining have all been prominent. Other minerals that are or have in the past been mined in the island include bauxite, barite, gypsum, coal and high-grade aggregates. In Northern Ireland, prospecting in recent years has been stimulated by the Tellus Project, managed by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland. Between 2004 and 2007 this government-funded initiative completed soil and stream geochemical samples surveys and a low-level airborne geophysical survey of Northern Ireland, an area of 13,800 km2. Within 12 months of the data launch in 2007 the area of Northern Ireland licensed for exploration increased from 15% to 70% and the subsequent private sector investment in exploration now exceeds £32 million. Targets include gold, platinum group elements and base metals. The project is a good example of how regional geo-science surveys can stimulate exploration activity and inward investment. Historically the principal focus of prospecting in Northern Ireland has been the area of vein gold deposits in Neoproterozoic rocks of County Tyrone, centred on the deposits at Curraghinalt and Cavanacaw. Here, the airborne magnetic and electromagnetic results delineate significant associated structures. Arsenic in soils and stream sediments has been the principal geochemical pathfinder historically and the new sampling and analyses for multiple trace elements provide improved coverage at a better detection limit. Cross-border soil geochemical anomalies also characterise the area around the vein deposits in South Armagh and County Monaghan, in Ordovician/Silurian rocks. The geochemistry survey has revealed more widely distributed gold anomalies in stream sediments in other areas and mapped significant anomalies in platinum group elements over the Antrim basalts. Here again, the airborne magnetic and electromagnetic imagery reveal new structural information, particularly in those areas obscured by glacial deposits and peat. Following this success, the airborne geophysics and geochemistry surveys have been extended over 12,300 km2 of the six border counties of the Republic of Ireland (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth) under the cross-border ‘Tellus Border’ project, financed by the INTERREG IVA programme of the European Regional Development Fund. This new survey work is jointly managed by the Geological Survey of Northern Ireland and the Geological Survey of Ireland. The integrated geophysical and geochemical results of Tellus and Tellus Border surveys are being released throughout 2013 and have prompted further interest in mineral prospectivity as well as environmental research into soils, surface and groundwater, radioactivity and ecology. The project has stimulated joint data collection with the private sector. In 2012 the airborne survey was extended in eastern Co. Mayo and north Co. Roscommon in collaboration with a mining company, which has made the data publicly available. Another company has already taken out four licences on the basis of Tellus Border geochemical results released in February 2013. These data reveal the continuation of a trend established on adjoining licenses held in Northern Ireland. New fire-assay gold analyses of the Tellus Border stream sediment samples will be released in 2013. Together the merged Tellus and Tellus Border geochemical and geophysical data are expected to promote further investment in this cross-border region

Unfolding of differential energy spectra in the MAGIC experiment

The paper describes the different methods, used in the MAGIC experiment, to unfold experimental energy distributions of cosmic ray particles (gamma-rays). Questions and problems related to the unfolding are discussed. Various procedures are proposed which can help to make the unfolding robust and reliable. The different methods and procedures are implemented in the MAGIC software and are used in most of the analyses.Comment: Submitted to NIM

Time-integrated luminosity recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e+e- collider

This article is the Preprint version of the final published artcile which can be accessed at the link below.We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at the ϒ(4S), ϒ(3S), and ϒ(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e+e-→e+e- and (for the ϒ(4S) only) e+e-→μ+μ- candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e+e-→e+e- and e+e-→μ+μ-, the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the ϒ(3S) and ϒ(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to ϒ→e+e-X background. For data collected off the ϒ resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the ϒ(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the ϒ(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the ϒ(2S).This work is supported by the US Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physiquedes Particules (France), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (Italy), the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (The Netherlands), the Research Council of Norway, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain), and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (United Kingdom). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie IEF program (European Union) and the A.P. Sloan Foundation (USA)

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψKS0B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0 branching fraction

The $B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41$fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2$\beta$ measurement from $B^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be $BF(B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0)=(1.83\pm0.28)\times10^{-5}$. This is the most precise measurement to date

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓

A search for the lepton-flavor-violating decays Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ is performed with a data sample, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0  fb-1 of pp collisions at √s=7  TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The observed number of Bs0→e±μ∓ and B0→e±μ∓ candidates is consistent with background expectations. Upper limits on the branching fractions of both decays are determined to be B(Bs0→e±μ∓)101  TeV/c2 and MLQ(B0→e±μ∓)>126  TeV/c2 at 95% C.L., and are a factor of 2 higher than the previous bounds

Absolute luminosity measurements with the LHCb detector at the LHC

Absolute luminosity measurements are of general interest for colliding-beam experiments at storage rings. These measurements are necessary to determine the absolute cross-sections of reaction processes and are valuable to quantify the performance of the accelerator. Using data taken in 2010, LHCb has applied two methods to determine the absolute scale of its luminosity measurements for proton-proton collisions at the LHC with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. In addition to the classic "van der Meer scan" method a novel technique has been developed which makes use of direct imaging of the individual beams using beam-gas and beam-beam interactions. This beam imaging method is made possible by the high resolution of the LHCb vertex detector and the close proximity of the detector to the beams, and allows beam parameters such as positions, angles and widths to be determined. The results of the two methods have comparable precision and are in good agreement. Combining the two methods, an overall precision of 3.5% in the absolute luminosity determination is reached. The techniques used to transport the absolute luminosity calibration to the full 2010 data-taking period are presented.Comment: 48 pages, 19 figures. Results unchanged, improved clarity of Table 6, 9 and 10 and corresponding explanation in the tex

Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) and the direct CP asymmetry in B0 -> K*0 gamma

The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma and Bs0 phi gamma has been measured using an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1 of pp collision data collected by the LHCb experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.23 +/- 0.06(stat.) +/- 0.04(syst.) +/- 0.10(fs/fd), where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is the experimental systematic uncertainty and the third is associated with the ratio of fragmentation fractions fs/fd. Using the world average value for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma), the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be (3.5 +/- 0.4) x 10^{-5}. The direct CP asymmetry in B0 -> K*0 gamma decays has also been measured with the same data and found to be A(CP)(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (0.8 +/- 1.7(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.))%. Both measurements are the most precise to date and are in agreement with the previous experimental results and theoretical expectations.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figues, 4 table