Modified Dihadron Fragmentation Functions in Hot and Nuclear Matter

Medium modification of dihadron fragmentation functions due to gluon bremsstrahlung induced by multiple partonic scattering is studied in both deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) off large nuclei and high-energy heavy-ion collisions within the same framework of twist expansion. The modified fragmentation functions for dihadrons are found to follow closely that of single hadrons leading to a weak nuclear suppression of their ratios as measured by HERMES in DIS experiments. Meanwhile, a moderate medium enhancement of the near-side correlation of two high transverse momentum hadrons with increasing centrality is found in heavy-ion collisions because of the trigger bias and the increase in parton energy loss with centrality. Successful comparisons between theory and experiment for multi-hadron observables in both confining and deconfined environments offers comprehensive evidence for partonic energy loss as the mechanism of jet modification in dense matter.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 2 figures, revised figures and discussio

Competency-oriented Design of Learning Modules

AbstractThe enhancement of job-related competencies is important for the competiveness of companies. For establishing these competencies, learning factories offer a basis for self-controlled and informal learning. Core elements of learning factories are learning modules with different foci. To develop the needed competencies a proper design of learning modules is fundamental. An instrument to systematically analyze and create learning modules is the competency transformation. The presented learning objective taxonomy supports the formulation of competencies for the transformation chart. Furthermore, it enables a comparison between actual and target states of learning modules. Thus, recommendations for improvements can be made

Punch-through jets in A+AA+A collisions at RHIC/LHC

High $p_T$ single and dihadron production is studied within a NLO pQCD parton model with jet quenching in high energy $A+A$ collisions at the RHIC/LHC energy. A simultaneous $\chi^2$-fit to both single and dihadron spectra can be achieved within a narrow range of energy loss parameter. Punch-through jets are found to result in the dihadron suppression factor slightly more sensitive to medium than the single hadron suppression factor at RHIC. Such jets at LHC are found to dominate high $p_T$ dihadron production and the resulting dihadron spectra are more sensitive to the initial parton distribution functions than the single hadron spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings for the 20th international conference on ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions (QM2008), Jaipur, India, February 4-10, 200

Epigenetics and cell death: DNA hypermethylation in programmed retinal cell death.

BackgroundVertebrate genomes undergo epigenetic reprogramming during development and disease. Emerging evidence suggests that DNA methylation plays a key role in cell fate determination in the retina. Despite extensive studies of the programmed cell death that occurs during retinal development and degeneration, little is known about how DNA methylation might regulate neuronal cell death in the retina.MethodsThe developing chicken retina and the rd1 and rhodopsin-GFP mouse models of retinal degeneration were used to investigate programmed cell death during retinal development and degeneration. Changes in DNA methylation were determined by immunohistochemistry using antibodies against 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC).ResultsPunctate patterns of hypermethylation paralleled patterns of caspase3-dependent apoptotic cell death previously reported to occur during development in the chicken retina. Degenerating rd1 mouse retinas, at time points corresponding to the peak of rod cell death, showed elevated signals for 5mC and 5hmC in photoreceptors throughout the retina, with the most intense staining observed in the peripheral retina. Hypermethylation of photoreceptors in rd1 mice was associated with TUNEL and PAR staining and appeared to be cCaspase3-independent. After peak rod degeneration, during the period of cone death, occasional hypermethylation was observed in the outer nuclear layer.ConclusionThe finding that cell-specific increases of 5mC and 5hmC immunostaining are associated with the death of retinal neurons during both development and degeneration suggests that changes in DNA methylation may play a role in modulating gene expression during the process of retinal degeneration. During retinal development, hypermethylation of retinal neurons associates with classical caspase-dependent apoptosis as well as caspase-3 independent cell death, while hypermethylation in the rd1 mouse photoreceptors is primarily associated with caspase-3 independent programmed cell death. These findings suggest a previously unrecognized role for epigenetic mechanisms in the onset and/or progression of programed cell death in the retina

A NLO analysis on fragility of dihadron tomography in high energy AAAA collisions

The dihadron spectra in high energy $AA$ collisions are studied within the NLO pQCD parton model with jet quenching taken into account. The high $p_T$ dihadron spectra are found to be contributed not only by jet pairs close and tangential to the surface of the dense matter but also by punching-through jets survived at the center while the single hadron high $p_T$ spectra are only dominated by surface emission. Consequently, the suppression factor of such high-$p_T$ hadron pairs is found to be more sensitive to the initial gluon density than the single hadron suppression factor.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings for the 19th international Conference on ultra-relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions (QM2006), Shanghai, China, November 14-20, 200

Method for the design of broad energy range focusing reflectrons

A novel method for the design of reflections capable of focusing large kinetic energy ranges is presented. The design method itself is a numerical approach that provides a geometrically flexible alternative to traditional analytical design solutions. This design method has been used to produce a reflectron that provides unit mass resolution for product spectra in a tandem reflectron time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer despite a kinetic energy range of 1950–2700 eV. In this application, the systematic progression of reflectron design results in a practical, nonlinear field reflectron with the use of only two grids. Design improvements are proposed for more flexible systems, although geometric constraints in the current instrument limit their experimental evaluation

SIM_EXPLORE: Software for Directed Exploration of Complex Systems

Physics-based numerical simulation codes are widely used in science and engineering to model complex systems that would be infeasible to study otherwise. While such codes may provide the highest- fidelity representation of system behavior, they are often so slow to run that insight into the system is limited. Trying to understand the effects of inputs on outputs by conducting an exhaustive grid-based sweep over the input parameter space is simply too time-consuming. An alternative approach called "directed exploration" has been developed to harvest information from numerical simulators more efficiently. The basic idea is to employ active learning and supervised machine learning to choose cleverly at each step which simulation trials to run next based on the results of previous trials. SIM_EXPLORE is a new computer program that uses directed exploration to explore efficiently complex systems represented by numerical simulations. The software sequentially identifies and runs simulation trials that it believes will be most informative given the results of previous trials. The results of new trials are incorporated into the software's model of the system behavior. The updated model is then used to pick the next round of new trials. This process, implemented as a closed-loop system wrapped around existing simulation code, provides a means to improve the speed and efficiency with which a set of simulations can yield scientifically useful results. The software focuses on the case in which the feedback from the simulation trials is binary-valued, i.e., the learner is only informed of the success or failure of the simulation trial to produce a desired output. The software offers a number of choices for the supervised learning algorithm (the method used to model the system behavior given the results so far) and a number of choices for the active learning strategy (the method used to choose which new simulation trials to run given the current behavior model). The software also makes use of the LEGION distributed computing framework to leverage the power of a set of compute nodes. The approach has been demonstrated on a planetary science application in which numerical simulations are used to study the formation of asteroid families

Modified Fragmentation Function from Quark Recombination

Within the framework of the constituent quark model, it is shown that the single hadron fragmentation function of a parton can be expressed as a convolution of shower diquark or triquark distribution function and quark recombination probability, if the interference between amplitudes of quark recombination with different momenta is neglected. The recombination probability is determined by the hadron's wavefunction in the constituent quark model. The shower diquark or triquark distribution functions of a fragmenting jet are defined in terms of overlapping matrices of constituent quarks and parton field operators. They are similar in form to dihadron or trihadron fragmentation functions in terms of parton operator and hadron states. Extending the formalism to the field theory at finite temperature, we automatically derive contributions to the effective single hadron fragmentation function from the recombination of shower and thermal constituent quarks. Such contributions involve single or diquark distribution functions which in turn can be related to diquark or triquark distribution functions via sum rules. We also derive QCD evolution equations for quark distribution functions that in turn determine the evolution of the effective jet fragmentation functions in a thermal medium.Comment: 23 pages in RevTex with 8 postscript figure