Voltage-current and voltage-flux characteristics of asymmetric high TC DC SQUIDs

We report measurements of transfer functions and flux shifts of 20 on-chip high T$_C$ DC SQUIDs half of which were made purposely geometrically asymmetric. All of these SQUIDs were fabricated using standard high T$_C$ thin film technology and they were single layer ones, having 140 nm thickness of YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-x}$ film deposited by laser ablation onto MgO bicrystal substrates with 24$^0$ misorientation angle. For every SQUID the parameters of its intrinsic asymmetry, i. e., the density of critical current and resistivity of every junction, were measured directly and independently. We showed that the main reason for the on-chip spreading of SQUIDs' voltage-current and voltage-flux characteristics was the intrinsic asymmetry. We found that for SQUIDs with a relative large inductance ($L>120$ pH) both the voltage modulation and the transfer function were not very sensitive to the junctions asymmetry, whereas SQUIDs with smaller inductance ($L\simeq 65-75$ pH) were more sensitive. The results obtained in the paper are important for the implementation in the sensitive instruments based on high T$_C$ SQUID arrays and gratings.Comment: 11 pages, 4 tables, 17 figures This version is substantially modified. The Introduction and Section 2 are completely rewritten, while experimental part is mainly the same as in previous versio

Electron Dephasing in Mesoscopic Metal Wires

The low-temperature behavior of the electron phase coherence time, $\tau_{\phi}$, in mesoscopic metal wires has been a subject of controversy recently. Whereas theory predicts that $\tau_{\phi}(T)$ in narrow wires should increase as $T^{-2/3}$ as the temperature $T$ is lowered, many samples exhibit a saturation of $\tau_{\phi}$ below about 1 K. We review here the experiments we have performed recently to address this issue. In particular we emphasize that in sufficiently pure Ag and Au samples we observe no saturation of $\tau_{\phi}$ down to our base temperature of 40 mK. In addition, the measured magnitude of $\tau_{\phi}$ is in excellent quantitative agreement with the prediction of the perturbative theory of Altshuler, Aronov and Khmelnitskii. We discuss possible explanations why saturation of $\tau_{\phi}$ is observed in many other samples measured in our laboratory and elsewhere, and answer the criticisms raised recently by Mohanty and Webb regarding our work.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures; to appear in proceedings of conference "Fundamental Problems of Mesoscopic Physics", Granada, Spain, 6-11 September, 200

Varied Signature Splitting Phenomena in Odd Proton Nuclei

Varied signature splitting phenomena in odd proton rare earth nuclei are investigated. Signature splitting as functions of $K$ and $j$ in the angular momentum projection theory is explicitly shown and compared with those of the particle rotor model. The observed deviations from these rules are due to the band mixings. The recently measured $^{169}$Ta high spin data are taken as a typical example where fruitful information about signature effects can be extracted. Six bands, two of which have not yet been observed, were calculated and discussed in detail in this paper. The experimentally unknown band head energies are given

Resummation of the hadronic tau decay width with the modified Borel transform method

A modified Borel transform of the Adler function is used to resum the hadronic tau decay width ratio. In contrast to the ordinary Borel transform, the integrand of the Borel integral is renormalization--scale invariant. We use an ansatz which explicitly accounts for the structure of the leading infrared renormalon. Further, we use judiciously chosen conformal transformations for the Borel variable, in order to map sufficiently away from the origin the other ultraviolet and infrared renormalon singularities. In addition, we apply Pade approximants for the corresponding truncated perturbation series of the modified Borel transform, in order to further accelerate the convergence. Comparing the results with the presently available experimental data on the tau hadronic decay width ratio, we obtain $\alpha_s(M^z) = 0.1192 +- 0.0007_{exp.} +- 0.0010_{EW+CKM} +- 0.0009_{th.} +- 0.0003_{evol.}$. These predictions virtually agree with those of our previous resummations where we used ordinary Borel transforms instead.Comment: 32 pages, 2 eps-figures, revtex; minor changes in the formulations; a typo in Eq.(47) corrected; version as appearing in Phys. Rev.

Quantum dots coordinated with conjugated organic ligands: new nanomaterials with novel photophysics

CdSe quantum dots functionalized with oligo-(phenylene vinylene) (OPV) ligands (CdSe-OPV nanostructures) represent a new class of composite nanomaterials with significantly modified photophysics relative to bulk blends or isolated components. Single-molecule spectroscopy on these species have revealed novel photophysics such as enhanced energy transfer, spectral stability, and strongly modified excited state lifetimes and blinking statistics. Here, we review the role of ligands in quantum dot applications and summarize some of our recent efforts probing energy and charge transfer in hybrid CdSe-OPV composite nanostructures

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio

Observation of a new chi_b state in radiative transitions to Upsilon(1S) and Upsilon(2S) at ATLAS

The chi_b(nP) quarkonium states are produced in proton-proton collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.4 fb^-1, these states are reconstructed through their radiative decays to Upsilon(1S,2S) with Upsilon->mu+mu-. In addition to the mass peaks corresponding to the decay modes chi_b(1P,2P)->Upsilon(1S)gamma, a new structure centered at a mass of 10.530+/-0.005 (stat.)+/-0.009 (syst.) GeV is also observed, in both the Upsilon(1S)gamma and Upsilon(2S)gamma decay modes. This is interpreted as the chi_b(3P) system.Comment: 5 pages plus author list (18 pages total), 2 figures, 1 table, corrected author list, matches final version in Physical Review Letter