Top differential cross section measurements (Tevatron)

Differential cross sections in the top quark sector measured at the Fermilab Tevatron collider are presented. CDF used 2.7 fb$^{-1}$ of data and measured the differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the $t\bar{t}$ system. The measurement shows good agreement with the standard model and furthermore is used to derive limits on the ratio $\kappa /M_{Pl}$ for gravitons which decay to top quarks in the Randall-Sundrum model. D0 used 1.0 fb$^{-1} of data to measure the differential cross section as a function of the transverse momentum of the top quark. The measurement shows a good agreement to the higher order perturbative QCD prediction and various predictions based on various Monte-Carlo generators.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of TOP2011, 4th International Workshop on Top Quark Physics, Spai

D* production in deep-inelastic Scattering at low Q2

Inclusive production of D* mesons in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA is studied in the range 5 < Q^2 < 100 GeV2 of the photon virtuality and 0.02 < y < 0.70 of the inelasticity of the scattering process. The visible range for the D* meson is p_T (D*) > 1.25 GeV and |\eta(D*)| < 1.8. The data were taken with the H1 detector in the years 2004 to 2007 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 347 pb^{-1}. Single and double differential cross sections are measured. The results are compared to QCD predictions.Comment: XIX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS 2011, April 11-15, Newport News, USA

Measurement of the Properties of the top Quark at D{\O}

Different measurements of the properties of the top quark using up to $5.4 fb^{-1}$ collected with the D{\O} detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider are presented. The top mass is obtained from a study of dilepton and lepton+jets final states, while the width is obtained from a combination of the measurements of the single top production via t-channel exchange and the determination of the t \rightarrow Wb branching ratio. Furthermore the measurement of the helicity of the W boson from top quark decays, a measurement of $t\bar{t}$ spin correlations and a measurement of the jet pull (color flow) in $t\bar{t}$ events are presented.Comment: XIX International Workshop on Deep-Inelastic Scattering and Related Subjects (DIS 2011, April 11-15, Newport News, USA

Properties of the top quark

ABSTRACT Recent measurements of top-quark properties at the LHC and the Tevatron are presented. Most recent measurements of the top quark mass have been carried out by CMS using 19.7/fb of √ s = 8 TeV data including the study of the dependence on event kinematics. ATLAS uses the full Run I data at √ s = 7 TeV for a &quot;3D&quot; measurement that significantly reduces systematic uncertainties. D0 employs the full Run II data using the matrix element method to measure the top quark mass with significantly reduced systematic uncertainties. Many different measurements of the top quark exist to date and the most precise ones per decay channel per experiment have been combined into the first world combination with a relative precision of 0.44%. Latest updates of measurements of production asymmetries include the measurement of the tt production asymmetry by D0 employing the full Run II data set, by CMS and ATLAS (including the polarization of the top quark) employing both the full data set at √ s = 7 TeV. CMS uses the full √ s = 8 TeV data to measure the top quark polarization in single top production, the ratio R of the branching fractions B(t → W b)/B(t → W q) and to search for flavor changing neutral currents. The results from all these measurements agree well with their respective Standard Model expectation

Long-term Running Experience with the Silicon Micro-strip Tracker at the D{\O} detector

The SiliconMicro-strip Tracker (SMT) at the D{\O} experiment in the Fermilab Tevatron collider has been operating since 2001. In 2006, an additional layer, referred to as 'Layer 0', was installed to improve impact parameter resolution and compensate for detector degradation due to radiation damage to the original innermost SMT layer. The SMT detector provides valuable tracking and vertexing information for the experiment. This contribution will highlight aspects of the long term operation of the SMT, including the impact of the silicon readout test-stand. Due to the full integration of the test-stand into the D{\O} trigger framework, this test-stand provides an advantageous tool for training of new experts and studying subtle effects in the SMT while minimizing impact on the global data acquisition.Comment: Proceedings of TIPP 2011 (Technology and Instrumentation for Particle Physics 2011), June 9-14 2011, Chicago, US

Systematic Heterogeneity of Fractional Vesicle Pool Sizes and Release Rates of Hippocampal Synapses

AbstractHippocampal neurons in tissue culture develop functional synapses that exhibit considerable variation in synaptic vesicle content (20–350 vesicles). We examined absolute and fractional parameters of synaptic vesicle exocytosis of individual synapses. Their correlation to vesicle content was determined by activity-dependent discharge of FM-styryl dyes. At high frequency stimulation (30 Hz), synapses with large recycling pools released higher amounts of dye, but showed a lower fractional release compared to synapses that contained fewer vesicles. This effect gradually vanished at lower frequencies when stimulation was triggered at 20 Hz and 10 Hz, respectively. Live-cell antibody staining with anti-synaptotagmin-1-cypHer 5, and overexpression of synaptopHluorin as well as photoconversion of FM 1-43 followed by electron microscopy, consolidated the findings obtained with FM-styryl dyes. We found that the readily releasable pool grew with a power function with a coefficient of 2/3, possibly indicating a synaptic volume/surface dependency. This observation could be explained by assigning the rate-limiting factor for vesicle exocytosis at high frequency stimulation to the available active zone surface that is proportionally smaller in synapses with larger volumes

Ferrofluids as thermal ratchets

Colloidal suspensions of ferromagnetic nano-particles, so-called ferrofluids, are shown to be suitable systems to demonstrate and investigate thermal ratchet behavior: By rectifying thermal fluctuations, angular momentum is transferred to a resting ferrofluid from an oscillating magnetic field without net rotating component. Via viscous coupling the noise driven rotation of the microscopic ferromagnetic grains is transmitted to the carrier liquid to yield a macroscopic torque. For a simple setup we analyze the rotation of the ferrofluid theoretically and show that the results are compatible with the outcome of a simple demonstration experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, corrected version, improved figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Prevalence and influence on outcome of HER2/neu, HER3 and NRG1 expression in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer

Our aim was to explore the impact of the HER2/neu, HER3 receptor as well as their ligands' neuregulin (NRG1) expression on the outcome of patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). NRG1, HER2/neu and HER3 expression was evaluated in 208 patients with mCRC receiving 5-FU/LV plus irinotecan or irinotecan plus oxaliplatin as the first-line treatment. Biomarker expression was correlated with the outcome of patients. NRG1 (low: 192 vs. high: 16), HER2/neu (low: 201 vs. high: 7) and HER3 (low: 69 vs. high: 139) expressions were assessed in 208 patients. High versus low NRG1 expression significantly affected progression-free survival (PFS) 4.7 vs. 8.2 months, hazard ratio (HR): 2.45; 95{\%} confidence interval (CI): 1.45-4.13; P=0.001, but not overall survival (OS) (15.5 vs. 20.7 months, HR: 1.33; 95{\%} CI: 0.76-2.35; P=0.32). High versus low HER3 expression (PFS: 7.1 vs. 8.8 months, HR: 1.11; 95{\%} CI: 0.82-1.50; P=0.50; OS: 19.8 vs. 21.1 months, HR: 0.95; 95{\%} CI: 0.70-1.30; P=0.75) and high compared with low HER2/neu expression (PFS: 7.7 vs. 8.0 months, HR: 1.07; 95{\%} CI: 0.71-1.60; P=0.75; OS: 16.6 vs. 21.1 months, HR: 1.13; 95{\%} CI: 0.75-1.71; P=0.57) did not influence outcome. High NRG1 expression was associated with inferior PFS in the FIRE-1 trial. We did not detect a prognostic impact of HER2/neu and HER3 overexpression in mCRC. The frequency of overexpression was comparable with other studies