Background Rejection in Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes using Recurrent Convolutional Neural Networks

In this work, we present a new, high performance algorithm for background rejection in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. We build on the already popular machine-learning techniques used in gamma-ray astronomy by the application of the latest techniques in machine learning, namely recurrent and convolutional neural networks, to the background rejection problem. Use of these machine-learning techniques addresses some of the key challenges encountered in the currently implemented algorithms and helps to significantly increase the background rejection performance at all energies. We apply these machine learning techniques to the H.E.S.S. telescope array, first testing their performance on simulated data and then applying the analysis to two well known gamma-ray sources. With real observational data we find significantly improved performance over the current standard methods, with a 20-25\% reduction in the background rate when applying the recurrent neural network analysis. Importantly, we also find that the convolutional neural network results are strongly dependent on the sky brightness in the source region which has important implications for the future implementation of this method in Cherenkov telescope analysis.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. To be submitted to The European Physical Journal

Quantum Hole Digging in Magnetic Molecular Clusters

Below 360 mK, Fe8 magnetic molecular clusters are in the pure quantum relaxation regime. We showed recently that the predicted ``square-root time'' relaxation is obeyed, allowing us to develop a new method for watching the evolution of the distribution of molecular spin states in the sample. We measured the distribution P(H) of molecules which are in resonance at the applied field H. Tunnelling initially causes rapid transitions of molecules, thereby ``digging a hole'' in P(H). For small initial magnetisation values, the hole width shows an intrinsic broadening which may be due to nuclear spins. We present here hole digging measurements in the thermal activated regime which may allow to study the effect of spin-phonon coupling.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, conference proceedings of LT22 (Helsinki, Finland, August 4-11, 1999

Tool actuation and force feedback on robot-assisted microsurgery system

An input control device with force sensors is configured to sense hand movements of a surgeon performing a robot-assisted microsurgery. The sensed hand movements actuate a mechanically decoupled robot manipulator. A microsurgical manipulator, attached to the robot manipulator, is activated to move small objects and perform microsurgical tasks. A force-feedback element coupled to the robot manipulator and the input control device provides the input control device with an amplified sense of touch in the microsurgical manipulator

New determination of the mass of the eta meson at COSY-ANKE

A value for the mass of the eta meson has been determined at the COSY-ANKE facility through the measurement of a set of deuteron laboratory beam momenta and associated 3He center-of-mass momenta in the d+p -> 3He+X reaction. The eta was then identified by the missing-mass peak and the production threshold determined. The individual beam momenta were fixed with a relative precision of 3 x 10^-5 for values around 3 GeV/c by using a polarized deuteron beam and inducing an artificial depolarizing spin resonance, which occurs at a well-defined frequency. The final-state momenta in the two-body d+p -> 3He+eta reaction were investigated in detail by studying the size of the 3He momentum ellipse with the forward detection system of the ANKE spectrometer. Final alignment of the spectrometer for this high precision experiment was achieved through a comprehensive study of the 3He final-state momenta as a function of the center-of-mass angles, taking advantage of the full geometrical acceptance. The value obtained for the mass, m(eta)=(547.873 +- 0.005(stat) +- 0.027(syst)) MeV/c^2, is consistent and competitive with other recent measurements, in which the meson was detected through its decay products.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, published versio

Evidence of kaon nuclear and Coulomb potential effects on soft K+ production from nuclei

The ratio of forward K+ production on copper, silver and gold targets to that on carbon has been measured at proton beam energies between 1.5 and 2.3 GeV as a function of the kaon momentum p_K using the ANKE spectrometer at COSY-Juelich. The strong suppression in the ratios observed for p_K<200-250 MeV/c can be ascribed to a combination of Coulomb and nuclear repulsion in the K+A system. This opens a new way to investigate the interaction of K+-mesons in the nuclear medium. Our data are consistent with a K+A nuclear potential of V_K~20 MeV at low kaon momenta and normal nuclear density. Given the sensitivity of the data to the kaon potential, the current experimental precision might allow one to determine V_K to better than 3 MeV.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures; changed conten

Atomic correlations in itinerant ferromagnets: quasi-particle bands of nickel

We measure the band structure of nickel along various high-symmetry lines of the bulk Brillouin zone with angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The Gutzwiller theory for a nine-band Hubbard model whose tight-binding parameters are obtained from non-magnetic density-functional theory resolves most of the long-standing discrepancies between experiment and theory on nickel. Thereby we support the view of itinerant ferromagnetism as induced by atomic correlations.Comment: 4 page REVTeX 4.0, one figure, one tabl

Spin dynamics of Mn12-acetate in the thermally-activated tunneling regime: ac-susceptibility and magnetization relaxation

In this work, we study the spin dynamics of Mn12-acetate molecules in the regime of thermally assisted tunneling. In particular, we describe the system in the presence of a strong transverse magnetic field. Similar to recent experiments, the relaxation time/rate is found to display a series of resonances; their Lorentzian shape is found to stem from the tunneling. The dynamic susceptibility $\chi(w)$ is calculated starting from the microscopic Hamiltonian and the resonant structure manifests itself also in $\chi(w)$. Similar to recent results reported on another molecular magnet, Fe8, we find oscillations of the relaxation rate as a function of the transverse magnetic field when the field is directed along a hard axis of the molecules. This phenomenon is attributed to the interference of the geometrical or Berry phase. We propose susceptibility experiments to be carried out for strong transverse magnetic fields to study of these oscillations and for a better resolution of the sharp satellite peaks in the relaxation rates.Comment: 22 pages, 23 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. B; citations/references adde

The energy dependence of the pp->K+ n Sigma+ reaction close to threshold

The production of the Sigma+ hyperon through the pp->K+nSigma+ reaction has been investigated at four energies close to threshold, 1.826, 1.920, 1.958, and 2.020 GeV. At low energies, correlated K+pi+ pairs can only originate from Sigma+ production so that their measurement allows the total cross section for the reaction to be determined. The results obtained are completely consistent with the values extracted from the study of the K+-proton correlation spectra obtained in the same experiment. These spectra, as well as the inclusive K+ momentum distributions, also provide conservative upper limits on the Sigma+ production rates. The measurements show a Sigma+ production cross section that varies roughly like phase space and, in particular, none of the three experimental approaches used supports the anomalously high near-threshold pp->K+ nSigma+ total cross section previously reported [T. Rozek et al., Phys. Lett. B 643, 251 (2006)].Comment: Submitted to PR