Holographic glueball structure

We derive and systematically analyze scalar glueball correlation functions in both the hard-wall and dilaton soft-wall approximations to holographic QCD. The dynamical content of the holographic correlators is uncovered by examining their spectral density and by relating them to the operator product expansion, a dilatational low-energy theorem and a recently suggested two-dimensional power correction associated with the short-distance behavior of the heavy-quark potential. This approach provides holographic estimates for the three lowest-dimensional gluon condensates or alternatively their Wilson coefficients, the two leading moments of the instanton size distribution in the QCD vacuum and an effective UV gluon mass. A remarkable complementarity between the nonperturbative physics of the hard- and soft-wall correlators emerges, and their ability to describe detailed QCD results can be assessed quantitatively. We further provide the first holographic estimates for the decay constants of the 0++ glueball and its excitations. The hard-wall background turns out to encode more of the relevant QCD physics, and its prediction f ~ 0.8-0.9 GeV for the phenomenologically important ground state decay constant agrees inside errors with recent QCD sum rule and lattice results.Comment: 25 pages, discussion extended to match the published version (up to stylistic details), results and conclusions unchange

A cross-linguistic database of phonetic transcription systems

Contrary to what non-practitioners might expect, the systems of phonetic notation used by linguists are highly idiosyncratic. Not only do various linguistic subfields disagree on the specific symbols they use to denote the speech sounds of languages, but also in large databases of sound inventories considerable variation can be found. Inspired by recent efforts to link cross-linguistic data with help of reference catalogues (Glottolog, Concepticon) across different resources, we present initial efforts to link different phonetic notation systems to a catalogue of speech sounds. This is achieved with the help of a database accompanied by a software framework that uses a limited but easily extendable set of non-binary feature values to allow for quick and convenient registration of different transcription systems, while at the same time linking to additional datasets with restricted inventories. Linking different transcription systems enables us to conveniently translate between different phonetic transcription systems, while linking sounds to databases allows users quick access to various kinds of metadata, including feature values, statistics on phoneme inventories, and information on prosody and sound classes. In order to prove the feasibility of this enterprise, we supplement an initial version of our cross-linguistic database of phonetic transcription systems (CLTS), which currently registers five transcription systems and links to fifteen datasets, as well as a web application, which permits users to conveniently test the power of the automatic translation across transcription systems

Radiation zoning for vacuum equipment of the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Beam losses in high-energy particle accelerators are responsible for beam lifetime degradation. In the LHC beam losses will create a shower of particles while interacting with materials from the beam pipes and surroundings, resulting in a partial activation of material in the tunnel. Efforts have been made during the accelerator design to monitor and to reduce the activation induced by beam losses. Traceability for all vacuum components has been established providing a tool to follow-up individually each component or subcomponents installed in the tunnel, regardless of their future destination e.g. recycling or disposal. In the latter case, the history of vacuum components will allow calculating the beam-induced activation and permit comparisons with in-situ and ex-situ measurements. This zoning will also help to reduce collective and individual radiation doses to personnel during interventions. The paper presents the vacuum system layout and describes the LHC vacuum zoning and its implementation using an ORACLE© database

Meson-Baryon-Baryon Vertex Function and the Ward-Takahashi Identity

Ohta proposed a solution for the well-known difficulty of satisfying the Ward-Takahashi identity for a photo-meson-baryon-baryon amplitude ($\gamma$MBB) when a dressed meson-baryon-baryon (MBB) vertex function is present. He obtained a form for the $\gamma$MBB amplitude which contained, in addition to the usual pole terms, longitudinal seagull terms which were determined entirely by the MBB vertex function. He arrived at his result by using a Lagrangian which yields the MBB vertex function at tree level. We show that such a Lagrangian can be neither hermitian nor charge conjugation invariant. We have been able to reproduce Ohta's result for the $\gamma$MBB amplitude using the Ward-Takahashi identity and no other assumption, dynamical or otherwise, and the most general form for the MBB and $\gamma$MBB vertices. However, contrary to Ohta's finding, we find that the seagull terms are not robust. The seagull terms extracted from the $\gamma$MBB vertex occur unchanged in tree graphs, such as in an exchange current amplitude. But the seagull terms which appear in a loop graph, as in the calculation of an electromagnetic form factor, are, in general, different. The whole procedure says nothing about the transverse part of the ($\gamma$MBB) vertex and its contributions to the amplitudes in question.Comment: A 20 pages Latex file and 16 Postscript figures in an uuencoded format. Use epsf.sty to include the figures into the Latex fil

Resolution-dependent quark masses from meson correlators

We explore the impact of a resolution-dependent constituent quark mass, as recently applied to diffractive meson production, in QCD correlation functions of several spin-0 and spin-1 meson channels. We compare the resulting correlators with experimental and lattice data, analyze the virtues and limitations of the approach, and discuss the channel dependence of the obtained effective quark masses.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C, reference adde

Remotely Operated Train for Inspection and Measurement in CERN's LHC Tunnel

Personnel access to the LHC tunnel will be restricted to varying extents during the life of the machine due to radiation and cryogenic hazards. For this reason a remotely operated modular inspection train, (TIM) running on the LHC tunnel’s overhead monorail has been developed. In order to be compatible with the LHC personnel access system, a small section train that can pass through small openings at the top of sector doors has now been produced. The basic train can be used for remote visual inspection; additional modules give the capability of carrying out remote measurement of radiation levels, environmental conditions around the tunnel, and even remote measurement of the precise position of machine elements such as collimators. The paper outlines the design, development and operation of the equipment including preparation of the infrastructure. Key features of the trains are described along with future developments and intervention scenarios

Couplings of the Rho Meson in a Holographic dual of QCD with Regge Trajectories

The couplings $g_{\rho HH}$ of the $\rho$ meson with any hadron H are calculated in a holographic dual of QCD where the Regge trajectories for mesons are manifest. The resulting couplings grow linearly with the exciting number of H, thus are far from universal. A simple argument has been given for this behavior based on quasi-classical picture of excited hadrons. It seems that in holographic duals with exact Regge trajectories the $g_{\rho HH}$ universality should be violated. The $\rho$-dominance for the electromagnetic form factors of H are also strongly violated, except for the lowest state, the pion. Quite unexpected, the form factor of the pion is completely saturated by the contribution of the $\rho$. The asymptotic behavior of the form factors are also calculated, and are found to be perfectly accordant with the prediction of conformal symmetry and pertubative QCD.Comment: 9 page

A Second Generation Radioactive Nuclear Beam Facility at CERN

The proposed Superconducting Proton Linac (SPL) at CERN would be an ideal driver for a proton-driven second-generation Radioactive Nuclear Beam facility. We propose to investigate the feasibility of constructing such a facility at CERN close to the present PS Booster ISOLDE facility. The existing ISOLDE facility would be fed with a 10 micro-amps proton beam from SPL, providing the physics community with a low-intensity experimental area. A second, new facility would be built with target stations deep underground, permitting proton beam intensities of more than 100 micro-amps. The secondary beams can be post-accelerated to 20-100 MeV/u and there will be a storage ring complex and large segmented detectors in the experimental area. Also, benefits from a muon-ion collider or from merging the ions and muons should be investigated. Since the antiproton decelerator would be nearby, the opportunities for antiprotonic radioactive atom studies should be pursued as well

Response of neutron detectors to high-energy mixed radiation fields

Radiation protection around CERN's high-energy accelerators represents a major challenge due to the presence of complex, mixed radiation fields. Behind thick shielding neutrons dominate and their energy ranges from fractions of eV to about 1 GeV. In this work the response of various portable detectors sensitive to neutrons was studied at CERN's High-Energy Reference Field Facility (CERF). The measurements were carried out with conventional rem counters, which usually cover neutron energies up to 20 MeV, the Thermo WENDI-2, which is specified to measure neutrons up to several GeV, and a tissue-equivalent proportional counter. The experimentally determined neutron dose equivalent results were compared with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Based on these studies field calibration factors can be determined, which result in a more reliable estimate of H*(10) in an unknown, but presumably similar high-energy field around an accelerator than a calibration factor determined in a radiation field of a reference neutron sourc