The Hybrid Integrated Circuit of the ALICE Inner Tracking System upgrade

The upgrade of the Inner Tracking System scheduled during the second long shutdown is an important milestone of the ALICE upgrade and it will provide a high improvement of its performances. In this contribution the smallest operator unit of the detector, the Hybrid Integrated Circuits, is presented

Deep Sea Gravity Measurements: GEOSTAR-2 Mission Results

A new concept gravity meter with sensitivity close to Hz ms / 10 2 8 − − in the range of 10 -5 −1Hz intended for observation of the vertical component of the Earth gravity and teleseismic waves was implemented at the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario (IFSI), CNR and successfully operated during the GEOSTAR-2 mission. The gravimeter has demonstrated a capability to operate for long time in an autonomous regime and a good reliability for operation in extreme environments; at the same time the experimental measurements gave the information for the further gravimeter’s implementation. Results of observation and data analysis included the registration of seismic waves excited by global earthquakes and the evaluation of the low frequency modes of free oscillations of the Earth are reported

Deep Sea Gravity Measurements: GEOSTAR-2 Mission Results

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Graph complexes in deformation quantization

Kontsevich's formality theorem and the consequent star-product formula rely on the construction of an $L_\infty$-morphism between the DGLA of polyvector fields and the DGLA of polydifferential operators. This construction uses a version of graphical calculus. In this article we present the details of this graphical calculus with emphasis on its algebraic features. It is a morphism of differential graded Lie algebras between the Kontsevich DGLA of admissible graphs and the Chevalley-Eilenberg DGLA of linear homomorphisms between polyvector fields and polydifferential operators. Kontsevich's proof of the formality morphism is reexamined in this light and an algebraic framework for discussing the tree-level reduction of Kontsevich's star-product is described.Comment: 39 pages; 3 eps figures; uses Xy-pic. Final version. Details added, mainly concerning the tree-level approximation. Typos corrected. An abridged version will appear in Lett. Math. Phy

Characterisation of the microflora contaminating the wooden vats used for traditional sicilian cheese production

Traditional Sicilian cheese productions are carried out employing traditional wooden vats, called tina. Many studies have highlighted the beneficial role of wooden dairy equipment by contributing to enriching the milk microflora and improving the acidification processes. The present work was undertaken to evaluate the safety of the wooden vats used to coagulate milk. To this purpose, the different microbial populations hosted onto the internal surfaces of the vats used to produce two different stretched cheeses, namely Caciocavallo Palermitano and Vastedda della valle del Bel\uecce DOP, were investigated for the presence of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms as well as for bacteria with inhibitory effect in vitro against pathogenic microorganisms. A wide biodiversity of protechnological lactic acid bacteria (LAB), in terms of species, was revealed. Several LAB inhibited the growth of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644. The wooden vats analysed resulted safe for three main findings: absence of the main pathogenic species, presence of high levels of LAB, anti-Listeria activity of many LAB

An algebraic proof of Bogomolov-Tian-Todorov theorem

We give a completely algebraic proof of the Bogomolov-Tian-Todorov theorem. More precisely, we shall prove that if X is a smooth projective variety with trivial canonical bundle defined over an algebraically closed field of characteristic 0, then the L-infinity algebra governing infinitesimal deformations of X is quasi-isomorphic to an abelian differential graded Lie algebra.Comment: 20 pages, amspro

Semicosimplicial DGLAs in deformation theory

We identify Cech cocycles in nonabelian (formal) group cohomology with Maurer-Cartan elements in a suitable L-infinity algebra. Applications to deformation theory are described.Comment: Largely rewritten. Abstract modified. 15 pages, Latex, uses xy-pi

Measurement of the quality factor of a new low-frequency differential accelerometer for testing the equivalence principle

A cryogenic differential accelerometer has been developed to test the weak equivalence principle to a few parts in 1015 within the framework of the general relativity accuracy test in an Einstein elevator experiment. The prototype sensor was designed to identify, address, and solve the major issues associated with various aspects of the experiment. This paper illustrates the measurements conducted on this prototype sensor to attain a high quality factor (Q ∼ 105) at low frequencies (<20 Hz). Such a value is necessary for reducing the Brownian noise to match the target acceleration noise of 10−14 g/√Hz, hence providing the desired experimental accuracy.AstronomyPhysic

Antideuterons as a Signature of Supersymmetric Dark Matter

Once the energy spectrum of the secondary component is well understood, measurements of the antiproton cosmic-ray flux at the Earth will be a powerful way to indirectly probe for the existence of supersymmetric relics in the galactic halo. Unfortunately, it is still spoilt by considerable theoretical uncertainties. As shown in this work, searches for low-energy antideuterons appear in the mean time as a plausible alternative, worth being explored. Above a few GeV/n, a dozen spallation antideuterons should be collected by the future AMS experiment on board ISSA. For energies less than about 3 GeV/n, the antideuteron spallation component becomes negligible and may be supplanted by a potential supersymmetric signal. If a few low-energy antideuterons are discovered, this should be seriously taken as a clue for the existence of massive neutralinos in the Milky Way.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure