782 research outputs found
Humans in Space: Summarizing the Medico-Biological Results of the Space Shuttle Program
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight that opened the era of Humans in Space we also commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) which was triumphantly completed by the flight of STS-135 on July 21, 2011. These were great milestones in the history of Human Space Exploration. Many important questions regarding the ability of humans to adapt and function in space were answered for the past 50 years and many lessons have been learned. Significant contribution to answering these questions was made by the SSP. To ensure the availability of the Shuttle Program experiences to the international space community NASA has made a decision to summarize the medico-biological results of the SSP in a fundamental edition that is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011 beginning 2012. The goal of this edition is to define the normal responses of the major physiological systems to short-duration space flights and provide a comprehensive source of information for planning, ensuring successful operational activities and for management of potential medical problems that might arise during future long-term space missions. The book includes the following sections: 1. History of Shuttle Biomedical Research and Operations; 2. Medical Operations Overview Systems, Monitoring, and Care; 3. Biomedical Research Overview; 4. System-specific Adaptations/Responses, Issues, and Countermeasures; 5. Multisystem Issues and Countermeasures. In addition, selected operational documents will be presented in the appendices. The chapters are written by well-recognized experts in appropriate fields, peer reviewed, and edited by physicians and scientists with extensive expertise in space medical operations and space-related biomedical research. As Space Exploration continues the major question whether humans are capable of adapting to long term presence and adequate functioning in space habitats remains to be answered We expect that the comprehensive review of the medico-biological results of the SSP along with the data collected during the missions on the space stations (Mir and ISS) provides a good starting point in seeking the answer to this question
A method to disentangle single- and multi-meson production in missing mass spectra from quasi-free pn --> pn X reactions
The separation of contributions from multi- and single-meson production in
the missing mass spectrum of the quasi-free pn --> pnX reaction constitutes
a~challenging task when the reaction is studied close to threshold. This is
especially true if the resolution of the mass determination is comparable with
the excess energy and if the investigated signal appears close to the
kinematical limit. In this article we outline a method which permits the
extraction of the signal originating from the creation of a single meson
without the necessity of conducting model-dependent simulations. For the pd -->
pnXp(spectator) reactions, the method allows one to combine events
corresponding to multi-meson production at various excess energies with respect
to the pn --> pn meson process, and hence leads to an increase of the
statistics needed for the determination of the shape of the multi-meson
background.
As an example of the application of the method, we demonstrate that the
evaluation of the data from the pd --> pnXp(sp) process according to the
described technique enables one to extract a signal of the pn --> pn eta
reaction whose shape is consistent with expectations, supporting the
correctness and usefulness of the method introduced.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Precise 3D track reconstruction algorithm for the ICARUS T600 liquid argon time projection chamber detector
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) detectors offer charged
particle imaging capability with remarkable spatial resolution. Precise event
reconstruction procedures are critical in order to fully exploit the potential
of this technology. In this paper we present a new, general approach of
three-dimensional reconstruction for the LAr TPC with a practical application
to track reconstruction. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on a sample
of simulated tracks. We present also the application of the method to the
analysis of real data tracks collected during the ICARUS T600 detector
operation with the CNGS neutrino beam.Comment: Submitted to Advances in High Energy Physic
Underground operation of the ICARUS T600 LAr-TPC: first results
Open questions are still present in fundamental Physics and Cosmology, like
the nature of Dark Matter, the matter-antimatter asymmetry and the validity of
the particle interaction Standard Model. Addressing these questions requires a
new generation of massive particle detectors exploring the subatomic and
astrophysical worlds. ICARUS T600 is the first large mass (760 ton) example of
a novel detector generation able to combine the imaging capabilities of the old
famous "bubble chamber" with an excellent energy measurement in huge electronic
detectors. ICARUS T600 now operates at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory,
studying cosmic rays, neutrino oscillation and proton decay. Physical
potentialities of this novel telescope are presented through few examples of
neutrino interactions reconstructed with unprecedented details. Detector design
and early operation are also reported.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Jins
Double-Pionic Fusion of Nuclear Systems and the ABCEffect -- Aproaching a Puzzle by Exclusive and Kinematically Complete Measurements
The ABC effect - a puzzling low-mass enhancement in the invariant
mass spectrum - is well-known from inclusive measurements of two-pion
production in nuclear fusion reactions. Here we report on first exclusive and
kinematically complete measurements of the most basic double pionic fusion
reaction at 1.03 and 1.35 GeV. The measurements, which
have been carried out at CELSIUS-WASA, reveal the ABC effect to be a
channel phenomenon associated with both a resonance-like
energy dependence in the integral cross section and the formation of a
system in the intermediate state. A corresponding simple
s-channel resonance ansatz provides a surprisingly good description of the
data
Precision measurement of the neutrino velocity with the ICARUS detector in the CNGS beam
During May 2012, the CERN-CNGS neutrino beam has been operated for two weeks
for a total of 1.8 10^17 pot in bunched mode, with a 3 ns narrow width proton
beam bunches, separated by 100 ns. This tightly bunched beam structure allows a
very accurate time of flight measurement of neutrinos from CERN to LNGS on an
event-by-event basis. Both the ICARUS-T600 PMT-DAQ and the CERN-LNGS timing
synchronization have been substantially improved for this campaign, taking
ad-vantage of additional independent GPS receivers, both at CERN and LNGS as
well as of the deployment of the "White Rabbit" protocol both at CERN and LNGS.
The ICARUS-T600 detector has collected 25 beam-associated events; the
corresponding time of flight has been accurately evaluated, using all different
time synchronization paths. The measured neutrino time of flight is compatible
with the arrival of all events with speed equivalent to the one of light: the
difference between the expected value based on the speed of light and the
measured value is tof_c - tof_nu = (0.10 \pm 0.67stat. \pm 2.39syst.) ns. This
result is in agreement with the value previously reported by the ICARUS
collaboration, tof_c - tof_nu = (0.3 \pm 4.9stat. \pm 9.0syst.) ns, but with
improved statistical and systematic errors.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl
Exclusive Measurements of pp -> dpi+pi0: Double-Pionic Fusion without ABC Effect
Exclusive measurements of the reaction pp -> dpi+pi0 have been carried out at
T_p = 1.1 GeV at the CELSIUS storage ring using the WASA detector. The
isovector pi+pi0 channel exhibits no enhancement at low invariant pipi masses,
i. e. no ABC effect. The differential distributions are in agreement with the
conventional t-channel Delta-Delta excitation process, which also accounts for
the observed energy dependence of the total cross section. This is an update of
a previously published version -- see important note at the end of the article
The ICARUS T600 Experiment in the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory
With a mass of about 600 tons of Liquid Argon (LAr), the ICARUS T600 detector is the biggest, up to now, LAr Time Projection Chamber (TPC). Following its successful test run, on the Earth surface, in Pavia (Italy) in 2001, the detector is now very close to start data taking in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. The main features of the LAr TPC technique, together with a short discussion of some of the ICARUS T600 test run results, are presented in this paper
New Measurements of Upsilon(1S) Decays to Charmonium Final States
Using substantially larger data samples collected by the CLEO III detector,
we report on new measurements of the decays of Upsilon(1S) to charmonium final
states, including J/Psi, psi(2S), and chi_cJ. The latter two are first
observations of these decays. We measure the branching fractions as follows:
B(Y(1S)--> J/Psi+X)=(6.4+-0.4+-0.6)x10^-4, B(Y(1S)--> psi(2S)+X)/B(Y(1S)-->
J/Psi+X)=0.41+-0.11+-0.08, B(Y(1S)--> chi_c1+X)/B(Y(1S)-->
J/Psi+X)=0.35+-0.08+-0.06, B(Y(1S)--> chi_c2+X)/B(Y(1S)-->
J/Psi+X)=0.52+-0.12+-0.09, and B(Y(1S)--> chi_c0+X)/B(Y(1S)--> J/Psi+X)<7.4% at
90% confidence level. We also report on the momentum and angular spectra of
J/Psi's in Upsilon(1S) decay. The results are compared to predictions of the
color octet and color singlet models.Comment: 27 pages postscript,also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/, submitted to PR
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