Current Status of the Novel 3D SuperFGD Detector for the T2K Experiment

This paper is devoted to the current status of the novel fully active 3D (three-dimensional) fine-grained scintillator detector SuperFGD as a main part of the near off-axis detector upgrade program for the T2K experiment. The following important components related to the SuperFGD such as SuperFGD electronics and mechanics, wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers, and light emitting diode (LED) calibration system are also discussed here as well as the detector’s near future

Prevalence of chromosomal alterations in first-trimester spontaneous pregnancy loss

Pregnancy loss is often caused by chromosomal abnormalities of the conceptus. The prevalence of these abnormalities and the allocation of (ab)normal cells in embryonic and placental lineages during intrauterine development remain elusive. In this study, we analyzed 1,745 spontaneous pregnancy losses and found that roughly half (50.4%) of the products of conception (POCs) were karyotypically abnormal, with maternal and paternal age independently contributing to the increased genomic aberration rate. We applied genome haplarithmisis to a subset of 94 pregnancy losses with normal parental and POC karyotypes. Genotyping of parental DNA as well as POC extra-embryonic mesoderm and chorionic villi DNA, representing embryonic and trophoblastic tissues, enabled characterization of the genomic landscape of both lineages. Of these pregnancy losses, 35.1% had chromosomal aberrations not previously detected by karyotyping, increasing the rate of aberrations of pregnancy losses to 67.8% by extrapolation. In contrast to viable pregnancies where mosaic chromosomal abnormalities are often restricted to chorionic villi, such as confined placental mosaicism, we found a higher degree of mosaic chromosomal imbalances in extra-embryonic mesoderm rather than chorionic villi. Our results stress the importance of scrutinizing the full allelic architecture of genomic abnormalities in pregnancy loss to improve clinical management and basic research of this devastating condition

Hyperon signatures in the PANDA experiment at FAIR

We present a detailed simulation study of the signatures from the sequential decays of the triple-strange pbar p -> Ω+Ω- -> K+ΛbarK- Λ -> K+pbarπ+K-pπ- process in the PANDA central tracking system with focus on hit patterns and precise time measurement. We present a systematic approach for studying physics channels at the detector level and develop input criteria for tracking algorithms and trigger lines. Finally, we study the beam momentum dependence on the reconstruction efficiency for the PANDA detector