Flat plate solar collector performance using alumina nanofluids: Experimental characterization and efficiency tests

Solar energy has become an important renewable energy source for reducing the use of fossil fuels and to mitigate global warming, for which solar collectors constitute a technology that is to be promoted. The use of nanofluids can increase the efficiency of solar into thermal energy conversion in solar collectors. Experimental values for the specific heat, thermal conductivity and viscosity of alumina/water nanofluids are needed to evaluate the influence of the solid content (from 0.25 to 5 v%) and the flow rate on the Reynolds, Nusselt and the heat transfer coefficient. In the laminar flow regime, thermal conductivity enhancement over specific heat decrement is key parameter, and a 2.34% increase in the heat transfer coefficient is theoretically obtained for 1 v% alumina nanofluid. To corroborate the results, experimental tests were run in a flat plate solar collector. A reduction in efficiency from 47% to 41.5% and a decrease in the heat removal factor were obtained using the nanofluid due to the formation of a nanoparticle deposition layer adding an addition thermal resistance to heat transfer. Nanofluids are recommended only if the nanoparticle concentration is high enough to enhance thermal conductivity, but no so high so as to avoid wall deposition

Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons in Events with Multiple Bottom Quarks at the Tevatron

The combination of searches performed by the CDF and D0 collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b quarks is reported. The data, corresponding to 2.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity at CDF and 5.2 fb-1 at D0, have been collected in final states containing three or more b jets. Upper limits are set on the cross section multiplied by the branching ratio varying between 44 pb and 0.7 pb in the Higgs boson mass range 90 to 300 GeV, assuming production of a narrow scalar boson. Significant enhancements to the production of Higgs bosons can be found in theories beyond the standard model, for example in supersymmetry. The results are interpreted as upper limits in the parameter space of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in a benchmark scenario favoring this decay mode.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Screening of Microorganisms for Biodegradation of Simazine Pollution (Obsolete Pesticide Azotop 50 WP)

The capability of environmental microorganisms to biodegrade simazine—an active substance of 2-chloro-s-triazine herbicides (pesticide waste since 2007)—was assessed. An enormous metabolic potential of microorganisms impels to explore the possibilities of using them as an alternative way for thermal and chemical methods of utilization. First, the biotope rich in microorganisms resistant to simazine was examined. Only the higher dose of simazine (100 mg/l) had an actual influence on quantity of bacteria and environmental fungi incubated on substrate with simazine. Most simazine-resistant bacteria populated activated sludge and biohumus (vermicompost); the biggest strain of resistant fungi was found in floral soil and risosphere soil of maize. Compost and biohumus were the sources of microorganisms which biodegraded simazine, though either of them was the dominant considering the quantity of simazine-resistant microorganisms. In both cases of periodic culture (microorganisms from biohumus and compost), nearly 100% of simazine (50 mg/l) was degraded (within 8 days). After the repeated enrichment culture with simazine, the rate of its degradation highly accelerated, and just after 24 h, the significant decrease of simazine (20% in compost and 80% in biohumus) was noted. Although a dozen attempts of isolating various strains responsible for biodegradation of simazine from compost and biohumus were performed, only the strain identified as Arthrobacter urefaciens (NC) was obtained, and it biodegraded simazine with almost 100% efficiency (within 4 days)

Measurements of long-range azimuthal anisotropies and associated Fourier coefficients for pp collisions at √s=5.02 and 13 TeV and p+Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

ATLAS measurements of two-particle correlations are presented for √s=5.02 and 13 TeV ppcollisions and for √sNN=5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions at the LHC. The correlation functions are measured as a function of relative azimuthal angle Δϕ, and pseudorapidity separation Δη, using charged particles detected within the pseudorapidity interval |η|2, is studied using a template fitting procedure to remove a “back-to-back” contribution to the correlation function that primarily arises from hard-scattering processes. In addition to the elliptic, cos (2Δϕ), modulation observed in a previous measurement, the pp correlation functions exhibit significant cos (3Δϕ) and cos (4Δϕ) modulation. The Fourier coefficients vn, n associated with the cos (nΔϕ) modulation of the correlation functions for n=2–4 are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and charged-particle transverse momentum. The Fourier coefficients are observed to be compatible with cos (nϕ) modulation of per-event single-particle azimuthal angle distributions. The single-particle Fourier coefficients vn are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, and charged-particle transverse momentum for n=2–4. The integrated luminosities used in this analysis are, 64nb−1 for the √s=13 TeV pp data, 170 nb−1 for the √ s = 5.02 TeV pp data, and 28 nb−1 for the √sNN = 5.02 TeV p+Pb data

Searches for exclusive Higgs and Z boson decays into J/ψγ,ψ(2S)γ,and Υ(nS)γ at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for the exclusive decays of the Higgs and Z bosons into a J/ψ,ψ(2S), or Υ(nS)(n=1,2,3) meson and a photon are performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 collected at √s =13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected backgrounds, and 95% confidence-level upper limits on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays to J/ψγ, ψ(2S)γ,and Υ(nS)γ of 3.5×10 −4, 2.0×10−3,and(4.9,5.9,5.7)×10 −4,respectively, are obtained assuming Standard Model production. The corresponding 95% confidence-level upper limits for the branching fractions of the Z boson decays are 2.3×10 −6, 4.5×10 −6 and (2.8,1.7,4.8)×10 −6, respectively

Search for pair production of heavy vector-like quarks decaying into high-pT W bosons and top quarks in the lepton-plus-jets final state in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for the pair production of heavy vector-like B quarks, primarily targeting B quark decays into a W boson and a top quark. The search is based on 36.1 fb −1 of pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV recorded in 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Data are analysed in the lepton-plus-jets final state, characterised by a high-transverse-momentum isolated electron or muon, large missing transverse momentum, and multiple jets, of which at least one is b -tagged. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed. The 95% confidence level lower limit on the B mass is 1350 GeV assuming a 100% branching ratio to Wt. In the SU(2) singlet scenario, the lower mass limit is 1170 GeV. This search is also sensitive to a heavy vector-like B quark decaying into other final states (Zb and Hb ) and thus mass limits on B production are set as a function of the decay branching ratios. The 100% branching ratio limits are found to be also applicable to heavy vector-like X production, with charge +5/3, that decay into Wt

Search for heavy charged long-lived particles in the ATLAS detector in 36.1 fb− 1 of proton-proton collision data at √s =13 TeV

A search for heavy charged long-lived particles is performed using a data sample of 36.1 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at √s =13 TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is based on observables related to ionization energy loss and time of flight, which are sensitive to the velocity of heavy charged particles traveling significantly slower than the speed of light. Multiple search strategies for a wide range of lifetimes, corresponding to path lengths of a few meters, are defined as model independently as possible, by referencing several representative physics cases that yield long-lived particles within supersymmetric models, such as gluinos/squarks (R-hadrons), charginos and staus. No significant deviations from the expected Standard Model background are observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are provided on the production cross sections of long-lived R-hadrons as well as directly pair produced staus and charginos. These results translate into lower limits on the masses of long-lived gluino, sbottom and stop R-hadrons, as well as staus and charginos of 2000, 1250, 1340, 430, and 1090 GeV, respectively