Comparison of techniques to reconstruct VHE gamma-ray showers from multiple stereoscopic Cherenkov images

For air showers observed simultaneously by more than two imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, the shower geometry is overconstrained by the images and image information should be combined taking into account the quality of the images. Different algorithms are discussed and tested experimentally using data obtained from observations of Mkn 501 with the HEGRA IACT system. Most of these algorithms provide an estimate of the accuracy of the reconstruction of shower geometry on an event-by-event basis, allowing, e.g., to select higher-quality subsamples for precision measurements.Comment: 14 Pages, 6 figures, Late

Direct comparison of the performance of CZT detectors contacted with various metals

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) achieves excellent spatial resolution and good energy resolution over the broad energy range from several keV into the MeV energy range. In this paper we present the results of a systematic study of the performance of CZT detectors manufacturered by Orbotech (before IMARAD) depending on surface preparation, contact materials and contact deposition. The standard Orbotech detectors have the dimension of 2.0 x 2.0 x 0.5 cm. They have a pixellated In anode with 8 x 8 pixels and a monolithic In cathode. Using the same CZT substrates several times, we have made a direct comparison of the performance of different contact materials by replacing the cathode and/or the anode contacts with several high-workfunction metals. We present the performance of the detectors and conclude with an overview over our ongoing detector optimization.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference 5922, "Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detector Physics VII" on the "Optics & Photonics 2005" SPIE Symposium, July 31- August 4, 2005, San Diego, C

Investigation of beauty production and parton shower effects at LHC

We present hadron-level predictions from the Monte Carlo generator Cascade and parton level calculations of open b quark, b-flavored hadron and inclusive b-jet production in the framework of the kt-factorization QCD approach for the LHC energies. The unintegrated gluon densities in a proton are determined using the CCFM evolution equation and the Kimber-Martin-Ryskin (KMR) prescription. Our predictions are compared with the first data taken by the CMS and LHCb collaborations at 7 TeV. We study the theoretical uncertainties of our calculations and investigate the effects coming from parton showers in initial and final states. The special role of initial gluon transverse momenta in description of the data is pointed out.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1105.507

Superperturbation solver for quantum impurity models

We present a very efficient solver for the general Anderson impurity problem. It is based on the perturbation around a solution obtained from exact diagonalization using a small number of bath sites. We formulate a perturbation theory which is valid for both weak and strong coupling and interpolates between these limits. Good agreement with numerically exact quantum Monte-Carlo results is found for a single bath site over a wide range of parameters. In particular, the Kondo resonance in the intermediate coupling regime is well reproduced for a single bath site and the lowest order correction. The method is particularly suited for low temperatures and alleviates analytical continuation of imaginary time data due to the absence of statistical noise compared to quantum Monte-Carlo impurity solvers.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Detailed Studies of Pixelated CZT Detectors Grown with the Modified Horizontal Bridgman Method

The detector material Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT), known for its high resolution over a broad energy range, is produced mainly by two methods: the Modified High-Pressure Bridgman (MHB) and the High-Pressure Bridgman (HPB) process. This study is based on MHB CZT substrates from the company Orbotech Medical Solutions Ltd. with a detector size of 2.0x2.0x0.5 cm^3, 8x8 pixels and a pitch of 2.46 mm. Former studies have emphasized only on the cathode material showing that high-work-function improve the energy resolution at lower energies. Therfore, we studied the influence of the anode material while keeping the cathode material constant. We used four different materials: Indium, Titanium, Chromium and Gold with work-functions between 4.1 eV and 5.1 eV. The low work-function materials Indium and Titanium achieved the best performance with energy resolutions: 2.0 keV (at 59 keV) and 1.9 keV (at 122 keV) for Titanium; 2.1 keV (at 59 keV) and 2.9 keV (at 122 keV) for Indium. These detectors are very competitive compared with the more expensive ones based on HPB material if one takes the large pixel pitch of 2.46 mm into account. We present a detailed comparison of our detector response with 3-D simulations, from which we determined the mobility-lifetime-products for electrons and holes. Finally, we evaluated the temperature dependency of the detector performance and mobility-lifetime-products, which is important for many applications. With decreasing temperature down to -30C the breakdown voltage increases and the electron mobility-lifetime-product decreases by about 30% over a range from 20C to -30C. This causes the energy resolution to deteriorate, but the concomitantly increasing breakdown voltage makes it possible to increase the applied bias voltage and restore the full performance.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physics, 25 pages, 13 figure

Unintegrated gluon distribution and soft pp collisions at LHC

We found the parameterization of the unintegrated gluon distribution from the best description of the LHC data on the inclusive spectra of hadrons produced in $pp$ collisions at the mid-rapidity region and small transverse momenta. It is different from the one obtained within perturbative QCD only at low intrinsic transverse momenta $k_t$. The application of this distribution to analysis of the $e-p$ DIS allows us to get the results which do not contradict the H1 and ZEUS data on the structure functions at low $x$. So, the connection between the soft processes at LHC and low-$x$ physics at HERA is found.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Contributed to 3rd Workshop on Multi-Parton Interactions at the LHC (MPI11), Hamburg, 21-25 November 201

Suppression of Higgsino mediated proton decay by cancellations in GUTs and strings

A mechanism for the enhancement for proton lifetime in supersymmetric/supergravity (SUSY/SUGRA) grand unified theories (GUTs) and in string theory models is discussed where Higgsino mediated proton decay arising from color triplets (anti-triplets) with charges $Q=-1/3(1/3)$ and $Q=-4/3(4/3)$ is suppressed by an internal cancellation due to contributions from different sources. We exhibit the mechanism for an SU(5) model with $45_H+\bar{45}_H$ Higgs multiplets in addition to the usual Higgs structure of the minimal model. This model contains both $Q=-1/3(1/3)$ and $Q=-4/3(4/3)$ Higgs color triplets (anti-triplets) and simple constraints allow for a complete suppression of Higgsino mediated proton decay. Suppression of proton decay in an SU(5) model with Planck scale contributions is also considered. The suppression mechanism is then exhibited for an SO(10) model with a unified Higgs structure involving $144_H+\bar{144}_H$ representations.The SU(5) decomposition of $144_H+\bar{144}_H$ contains $5_H+\bar 5_H$ and $45_H+\bar{45}_H$ and the cancellation mechanism arises among these contributions which mirrror the SU(5) case. The cancellation mechanism appears to be more generally valid for a larger class of unification models. Specifically the cancellation mechanism may play a role in string model constructions to suppress proton decay from dimension five operators. The mechanism allows for the suppression of proton decay consistent with current data allowing for the possibility that proton decay may be visible in the next round of nucleon stability experiment.Comment: 26 pages, no figures. Revtex 4. To appear in Physical Review