2,850 research outputs found
STAR inner tracking upgrade - A performance study
Anisotropic flow measurements have demonstrated development of partonic
collectivity in Au+Au collisions at RHIC. To understand the
partonic EOS, thermalization must be addressed. Collective motion of
heavy-flavor (c,b) quarks can be used to indicate the degree of thermalization
of the light-flavor quarks (u,d,s). Measurement of heavy-flavor quark
collectivity requires direct reconstruction of heavy-flavor hadrons in the low
\pt region. Measurement of open charm spectra to high \pt can be used to
investigate heavy-quark energy loss and medium properties. The Heavy Flavor
Tracker (HFT), a proposed upgrade to the STAR experiment at midrapidity, will
measure of open-charm hadrons to very low \pt by reconstructing their
displaced decay vertices. The innermost part of the HFT is the PIXEL detector
(made of two low mass monolithic active pixel sensor layers), which delivers a
high precision position measurement close to the collision vertex. The
Intermediate Silicon Tracker (IST), a 1-layer strip detector, is essential to
improve hit identification in the PIXEL detector when running at full RHIC-II
luminosity. Using a full GEANT simulation, open charm measurement capabilities
of STAR with the HFT will be shown. Its performance in a broad \pt range will
be demonstrated on (\pt > 0.5\mathrm{GeV}/c) and
(\pt < 10\mathrm{GeV}/c) measurements of \D meson. Results of
reconstruction of \Lc baryon in heavy-ion collisions are presented.Comment: to appear in EPJ C (Hot Quarks 2008 conference volume
Development of frequency domain multiplexing for the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) on the Athena
We are developing the frequency domain multiplexing (FDM) read-out of
transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters for the X-ray Integral Field
Unit (X-IFU) instrument on board of the future European X-Ray observatory
Athena. The X-IFU instrument consists of an array of 3840 TESs with a
high quantum efficiency (90 \%) and spectral resolution =2.5 eV
7 keV (2800). FDM is currently the baseline readout system
for the X-IFU instrument. Using high quality factor LC filters and room
temperature electronics developed at SRON and low-noise two stage SQUID
amplifiers provided by VTT, we have recently demonstrated good performance with
the FDM readout of Mo/Au TES calorimeters with Au/Bi absorbers. An integrated
noise equivalent power resolution of about 2.0 eV at 1.7 MHz has been
demonstrated with a pixel from a new TES array from NASA/Goddard (GSFC-A2). We
have achieved X-ray energy resolutions 2.5 eV at AC bias frequency at 1.7
MHz in the single pixel read-out. We have also demonstrated for the first time
an X-ray energy resolution around 3.0 eV in a 6 pixel FDM read-out with TES
array (GSFC-A1). In this paper we report on the single pixel performance of
these microcalorimeters under MHz AC bias, and further results of the
performance of these pixels under FDM.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical
Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to
Gamma Ray
Anomalous Breaking of Anisotropic Scaling Symmetry in the Quantum Lifshitz Model
In this note we investigate the anomalous breaking of anisotropic scaling
symmetry in a non-relativistic field theory with dynamical exponent z=2. On
general grounds, one can show that there exist two possible "central charges"
which characterize the breaking of scale invariance. Using heat kernel methods,
we compute these two central charges in the quantum Lifshitz model, a free
field theory which is second order in time and fourth order in spatial
derivatives. We find that one of the two central charges vanishes.
Interestingly, this is also true for strongly coupled non-relativistic field
theories with a geometric dual described by a metric and a massive vector
field.Comment: 26 pages; major revision (results were unaffected), published versio
Photon interferometry and size of the hot zone in relativistic heavy ion collisions
The parameters obtained from the theoretical analysis of the single photon
spectra observed by the WA98 collaboration at SPS energies have been used to
evaluate the two photon correlation functions. The single photon spectra and
the two photon correlations at RHIC energies have also been evaluated, taking
into account the effects of the possible spectral change of hadrons in a
thermal bath. We find that the ratio for SPS and
for RHIC energy.Comment: text changed, figures adde
Solution-Processed CuS Nanostructures for Solar Hydrogen Production
CuS is a promising solar energy conversion material due to its suitable optical properties, high elemental earth abundance, and nontoxicity. In addition to the challenge of multiple stable secondary phases, the short minority carrier diffusion length poses an obstacle to its practical application. This work addresses the issue by synthesizing nanostructured CuS thin films, which enables increased charge carrier collection. A simple solution-processing method involving the preparation of CuCl and CuCl molecular inks in a thiol-amine solvent mixture followed by spin coating and low-temperature annealing was used to obtain phase-pure nanostructured (nanoplate and nanoparticle) CuS thin films. The photocathode based on the nanoplate CuS (FTO/Au/CuS/CdS/TiO/RuO) reveals enhanced charge carrier collection and improved photoelectrochemical water-splitting performance compared to the photocathode based on the non-nanostructured CuS thin film reported previously. A photocurrent density of 3.0 mA cm at −0.2 versus a reversible hydrogen electrode (V) with only 100 nm thickness of a nanoplate CuS layer and an onset potential of 0.43 V were obtained. This work provides a simple, cost-effective, and high-throughput method to prepare phase-pure nanostructured CuS thin films for scalable solar hydrogen production
CFT dual of the AdS Dirichlet problem: Fluid/Gravity on cut-off surfaces
We study the gravitational Dirichlet problem in AdS spacetimes with a view to
understanding the boundary CFT interpretation. We define the problem as bulk
Einstein's equations with Dirichlet boundary conditions on fixed timelike
cut-off hypersurface. Using the fluid/gravity correspondence, we argue that one
can determine non-linear solutions to this problem in the long wavelength
regime. On the boundary we find a conformal fluid with Dirichlet constitutive
relations, viz., the fluid propagates on a `dynamical' background metric which
depends on the local fluid velocities and temperature. This boundary fluid can
be re-expressed as an emergent hypersurface fluid which is non-conformal but
has the same value of the shear viscosity as the boundary fluid. The
hypersurface dynamics arises as a collective effect, wherein effects of the
background are transmuted into the fluid degrees of freedom. Furthermore, we
demonstrate that this collective fluid is forced to be non-relativistic below a
critical cut-off radius in AdS to avoid acausal sound propagation with respect
to the hypersurface metric. We further go on to show how one can use this
set-up to embed the recent constructions of flat spacetime duals to
non-relativistic fluid dynamics into the AdS/CFT correspondence, arguing that a
version of the membrane paradigm arises naturally when the boundary fluid lives
on a background Galilean manifold.Comment: 71 pages, 2 figures. v2: Errors in bulk metrics dual to
non-relativistic fluids (both on cut-off surface and on the boundary) have
been corrected. New appendix with general results added. Fixed typos. 82
pages, 2 figure
Observing many body effects on lepton pair production from low mass enhancement and flow at RHIC and LHC energies
The spectral function at finite temperature calculated using the
real-time formalism of thermal field theory is used to evaluate the low mass
dilepton spectra. The analytic structure of the propagator is studied
and contributions to the dilepton yield in the region below the bare
peak from the different cuts in the spectral function are discussed. The
space-time integrated yield shows significant enhancement in the region below
the bare peak in the invariant mass spectra. It is argued that the
variation of the inverse slope of the transverse mass () distribution can
be used as an efficient tool to predict the presence of two different phases of
the matter during the evolution of the system. Sensitivity of the effective
temperature obtained from the slopes of the spectra to the medium effects
are studied
Photons from Pb-Pb Collisions at CERN SPS
High energy photon emission rate from matter created in Pb + Pb collisions at
CERN SPS energies is evaluated. The evolution of matter from the initial state
up to freeze-out has been treated within the framework of (3+1) dimensional
hydrodynamic expansion. We observe that the photon spectra measured by the WA98
experiment are well reproduced with hard QCD photons and photons from a thermal
source with initial temperature ~ 200 MeV. The effects of the spectral changes
of hadrons with temperature on the photon emission rate and on the equation of
state are studied. Photon yield for Au + Au collisions at RHIC energies is also
estimated.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Communications
Trauma history and depression predict incomplete adherence to antiretroviral therapies in a low income country.
As antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV becomes increasingly available in low and middle income countries (LMICs), understanding reasons for lack of adherence is critical to stemming the tide of infections and improving health. Understanding the effect of psychosocial experiences and mental health symptomatology on ART adherence can help maximize the benefit of expanded ART programs by indicating types of services, which could be offered in combination with HIV care. The Coping with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania (CHAT) study is a longitudinal cohort study in the Kilimanjaro Region that included randomly selected HIV-infected (HIV+) participants from two local hospital-based HIV clinics and four free-standing voluntary HIV counselling and testing sites. Baseline data were collected in 2008 and 2009; this paper used data from 36 month follow-up interviews (N = 468). Regression analyses were used to predict factors associated with incomplete self-reported adherence to ART. INCOMPLETE ART ADHERENCE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE LIKELY TO BE REPORTED AMONGST PARTICIPANTS WHO EXPERIENCED A GREATER NUMBER OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMATIC EVENTS: sexual abuse prior to puberty and the death in childhood of an immediate family member not from suicide or homicide were significantly more likely in the non-adherent group and other negative childhood events trended toward being more likely. Those with incomplete adherence had higher depressive symptom severity and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In multivariable analyses, childhood trauma, depression, and financial sacrifice remained associated with incomplete adherence.\ud
This is the first study to examine the effect of childhood trauma, depression and PTSD on HIV medication adherence in a low income country facing a significant burden of HIV. Allocating spending on HIV/AIDS toward integrating mental health services with HIV care is essential to the creation of systems that enhance medication adherence and maximize the potential of expanded antiretroviral access to improve health and reduce new infections
AdS_7/CFT_6, Gauss-Bonnet Gravity, and Viscosity Bound
We study the relation between the causality and the positivity of energy
bounds in Gauss-Bonnet gravity in AdS_7 background and find a precise
agreement. Requiring the group velocity of metastable states to be bounded by
the speed of light places a bound on the value of Gauss-Bonnet coupling. To
find the positivity of energy constraints we compute the parameters which
determine the angular distribution of the energy flux in terms of three
independent coefficients specifying the three-point function of the
stress-energy tensor. We then relate the latter to the Weyl anomaly of the
six-dimensional CFT and compute the anomaly holographically. The resulting
upper bound on the Gauss-Bonnet coupling coincides with that from causality and
results in a new bound on viscosity/entropy ratio.Comment: 21 page, harvmac; v2: reference adde
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