Measurement of the nuclear modification factor for muons from charm and bottom hadrons in Pb+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Heavy-flavour hadron production provides information about the transport properties and microscopic structure of the quark-gluon plasma created in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. A measurement of the muons from semileptonic decays of charm and bottom hadrons produced in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. The Pb+Pb data were collected in 2015 and 2018 with sampled integrated luminosities of 208 mu b(-1) and 38 mu b(-1), respectively, and pp data with a sampled integrated luminosity of 1.17 pb(-1) were collected in 2017. Muons from heavy-flavour semileptonic decays are separated from the light-flavour hadronic background using the momentum imbalance between the inner detector and muon spectrometer measurements, and muons originating from charm and bottom decays are further separated via the muon track's transverse impact parameter. Differential yields in Pb+Pb collisions and differential cross sections in pp collisions for such muons are measured as a function of muon transverse momentum from 4 GeV to 30 GeV in the absolute pseudorapidity interval vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2. Nuclear modification factors for charm and bottom muons are presented as a function of muon transverse momentum in intervals of Pb+Pb collision centrality. The bottom muon results are the most precise measurement of b quark nuclear modification at low transverse momentum where reconstruction of B hadrons is challenging. The measured nuclear modification factors quantify a significant suppression of the yields of muons from decays of charm and bottom hadrons, with stronger effects for muons from charm hadron decays

A search for an unexpected asymmetry in the production of e+μ− and e−μ+ pairs in proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at root s = 13 TeV

This search, a type not previously performed at ATLAS, uses a comparison of the production cross sections for e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+) pairs to constrain physics processes beyond the Standard Model. It uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC. Targeting sources of new physics which prefer final states containing e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+), the search contains two broad signal regions which are used to provide model-independent constraints on the ratio of cross sections at the 2% level. The search also has two special selections targeting supersymmetric models and leptoquark signatures. Observations using one of these selections are able to exclude, at 95% confidence level, singly produced smuons with masses up to 640 GeV in a model in which the only other light sparticle is a neutralino when the R-parity-violating coupling lambda(23)(1)' is close to unity. Observations using the other selection exclude scalar leptoquarks with masses below 1880 GeV when g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 1, at 95% confidence level. The limit on the coupling reduces to g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 0.46 for a mass of 1420 GeV

Current Account Balances and Structural Adjustment in the Euro Area

In the past decade, a set of euro area countries has accumulated large current account deficits. After a brief relaxation of the euro area internal imbalances in the wake of the financial crisis, it appears as if this pattern arises anew when times normalize again and Germany still sticks to export-led growth. This issue has been labelled one of the most challenging economic policy issues for Europe inter alia by the European Commission and some other players on the EU level. In this paper, we analyse the role of private restructuring and structural reforms for the urgently needed sustainable readjustment of intra-euro area current account balances. A panel regression reveals a significant impact of structural reforms on intra-euro area current account balances. This implies that in particular structural reforms and wage restraint in notorious current account and budget deficit countries such as Greece are highly suitable to support long-term economic stability in Europe.In den vergangenen Jahren haben einige Staaten der EWU, besonders Griechenland, Spanien und Portugal, hohe Leistungsbilanzdefizite aufgebaut. Die Finanzmarktkrise führte zwar zu einer Entspannung, jedoch ist eine deutliche Reduzierung der Defizite nicht in Sicht. Insbesondere durch die Griechenland-Krise haben die Leistungsbilanzdefizite einen hohen Stellenwert auf der wirtschaftspolitischen Agenda der EU eingenommen. Das Papier untersucht, inwieweit private Restrukturierungsmaßnahmen der Privatwirtschaft und/oder Strukturreformen zu einer notwendigen und nachhaltigen Korrektur der Leistungsbilanzdefizite in der EWU beitragen können. Eine umfassende empirische Analyse zeigt die herausragende Bedeutung von Strukturreformen für die Anpassung der Leistungsbilanzen innerhalb der EWU. Der Effekt von Arbeitsmarktreformen ist besonders ausgeprägt. Dies unterstützt die Forderung nach umfassenden und nachhaltigen Strukturreformen in der EWU, besonders in den Ländern mit hohen Leistungsbilanzdefiziten. Dies würde die derzeitigen ökonomischen Spannungen in der EWU reduzieren und die Stabilität der EWU sowie des Euros erhöhen

Diazepam-induced changes in sleep: Role of the α1 GABA(A) receptor subtype

Ligands acting at the benzodiazepine (BZ) site of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptors currently are the most widely used hypnotics. BZs such as diazepam (Dz) potentiate GABA(A) receptor activation. To determine the GABA(A) receptor subtypes that mediate the hypnotic action of Dz wild-type mice and mice that harbor Dz-insensitive α1 GABA(A) receptors [α1 (H101R) mice] were compared. Sleep latency and the amount of sleep after Dz treatment were not affected by the point mutation. An initial reduction of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep also occurred equally in both genotypes. Furthermore, the Dz-induced changes in the sleep and waking electroencephalogram (EEG) spectra, the increase in power density above 21 Hz in non-REM sleep and waking, and the suppression of slow-wave activity (SWA; EEG power in the 0.75- to 4.0-Hz band) in non-REM sleep were present in both genotypes. Surprisingly, these effects were even more pronounced in α1(H101R) mice and sleep continuity was enhanced by Dz only in the mutants. Interestingly, Dz did not affect the initial surge of SWA at the transitions to sleep, indicating that the SWA-generating mechanisms are not impaired by the BZ. We conclude that the REM sleep inhibiting action of Dz and its effect on the EEG spectra in sleep and waking are mediated by GABA(A) receptors other than α1, i.e., α2, α3, or α5 GABA(A) receptors. Because α1 GABA(A) receptors mediate the sedative action of Dz, our results provide evidence that the hypnotic effect of Dz and its EEG “fingerprint” can be dissociated from its sedative action