Heavy flavor in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and RHIC II

In the initial years of operation, experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have identified a new form of matter formed in nuclei-nuclei collisions at energy densities more than 100 times that of a cold atomic nucleus. Measurements and comparison with relativistic hydrodynamic models indicate that the matter thermalizes in an unexpectedly short time, has an energy density at least 15 times larger than needed for color deconfinement, has a temperature about twice the critical temperature predicted by lattice QCD, and appears to exhibit collective motion with ideal hydrodynamic properties - a "perfect liquid" that appears to flow with a near-zero viscosity to entropy ratio - lower than any previously observed fluid and perhaps close to a universal lower bound. However, a fundamental understanding of the medium seen in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC does not yet exist. The most important scientific challenge for the field in the next decade is the quantitative exploration of the new state of nuclear matter. That will require new data that will, in turn, require enhanced capabilities of the RHIC detectors and accelerator. In this report we discuss the scientific opportunities for an upgraded RHIC facility - RHIC II - in conjunction with improved capabilities of the two large RHIC detectors, PHENIX and STAR. We focus solely on heavy flavor probes. Their production rates are calculable using the well-established techniques of perturbative QCD and their sizable interactions with the hot QCD medium provide unique and sensitive measurements of its crucial properties making them one of the key diagnostic tools available to us.Comment: 96 pages, 53 figures. Accepted for publication in Physics Reports. Fixed typo in Fig. 15 captio

Narrowing the uncertainty on the total charm cross section and its effect on the J/\psi\ cross section

We explore the available parameter space that gives reasonable fits to the total charm cross section to make a better estimate of its true uncertainty. We study the effect of the parameter choices on the energy dependence of the J/\psi\ cross section.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Improving the J/psi Production Baseline at RHIC and the LHC

We assess the theoretical uncertainties on the inclusive J/psi production cross section in the Color Evaporation Model (CEM) using values for the charm quark mass, renormalization and factorization scales obtained from a fit to the charm production data. We use our new results to provide improved baseline comparison calculations at RHIC and the LHC. We also study cold matter effects on J/psi production at leading relative to next-to-leading order in the CEM within this approach.Comment: Proceedings for Hard Probes 2012, Cagliari, Ital

An interpretative phenomenological analysis of adults’ accounts of the lived experience of parental death in adolescence

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the award of Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology.This qualitative study aimed to hear the subjective lived experiences of adults who experienced parental death during adolescence in order to gain insight into how their experience has impacted them from adolescence to adulthood. The findings from this research endeavour to contribute to a theoretical understanding of this experience and highlight the clinical implications for Counselling Psychologists working with individuals who have experienced parental death during adolescence. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was the methodological design used to facilitate an understanding of how participants make sense of their experience. Seven participants were recruited via a purposive snowball sampling method. Participants spoke about their experiences of parental death from adolescence to adulthood in 45-50-minute semi-structured telephone interviews which were then transcribed and analysed. The Findings illuminated the following four superordinate themes, Managing Emotions, Interpersonal Changes, Complex Grief and Positive Changes. Participants appeared to have an impaired ability to manage and regulate their emotions relying instead on maladaptive coping and defence mechanisms to attenuate their emotions. This could be attributed to their difficulties with grief expression, lack of support in both aiding their grief and helping the development of these regulatory skills. Emotional regulatory difficulties could also be symptomatic of their unique developmental period. Participants appear to exhibit an array of symptoms pertaining to the diagnosis of Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder (DSM-5, 2013) and Prolonged Grief Disorder (ICD-11r, 2018). Participants reported experiencing vast interpersonal changes and experienced subsequent attachment difficulties which were influenced by a range of developmental, psychological and psychosocial factors and stressors post parental death. Although indicators of growth were also apparent, the findings support the potential association of parental death in adolescence to ongoing developmental, psychological and psychosocial effects, from adolescence to adulthood. Implications for Counselling Psychologists’ clinical practice, training and consultancy have been addressed. How the humanistic and psychodynamic counselling framework addresses the needs of the individual parentally bereaved in adolescence are illuminated. Furthermore, a range of directive and non-directive therapeutic interventions and clinical suggestions have been recommended as Counselling Psychologists work in an integrative manner in line with the nuanced need of the individual client. Early intervention inclusive of a comprehensive complex grief assessment and a developmentally informed formulation is suggested. Psychological therapy to aid the development of emotional regulation skills is also suggested. Parent-child/Family therapy and a range of treatment and preventative initiatives and interventions across the education, health and community sector is recommended with both the bereaved individual and existing family