Mechanical and SEM analysis of artificial comet nucleus samples

Since 1987 experiments dealing with comet nucleus phenomena have been carried out in the DFVLR space simulation chambers. The main objective of these experiments is a better understanding of thermal behavior, surface phenomena and especially the gas dust interaction. As a function of different sample compositions and exposure to solar irradiation (xenon-bulbs) crusts of different hardness and thickness were measured. The measuring device consists of a motor driven pressure foot (5 mm diameter), which is pressed into the sample. The applied compressive force is electronically monitored. The microstructure of the crust and dust residuals is investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Stress-depth profiles of an unirradiated and an irradiated model comet are given

Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muons and Muon-induced Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory

We have measured the muon flux and production rate of muon-induced neutrons at a depth of 611 m water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises three layers of crossed plastic scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator for producing and detecting neutrons. The vertical muon intensity was measured to be $I_{\mu} = (5.7 \pm 0.6) \times 10^{-6}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$sr$^{-1}$. The yield of muon-induced neutrons in the liquid scintillator was determined to be $Y_{n} = (1.19 \pm 0.08 (stat) \pm 0.21 (syst)) \times 10^{-4}$ neutrons/($\mu\cdot$g$\cdot$cm$^{-2}$). A fit to the recently measured neutron yields at different depths gave a mean muon energy dependence of $\left\langle E_{\mu} \right\rangle^{0.76 \pm 0.03}$ for liquid-scintillator targets.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 3 table

Measurement of CP violating asymmetries in B^0 -> K^+K^- K^0_S decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach

We report a measurement of $CP$ violating asymmetries in $B^0(\overline{B}^0) \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach. This analysis is based on a data sample of $657\times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. As the result of an unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the selected candidates, the mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violation parameters, $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ and ${\cal A}_{CP}$ are obtained for $B^0 \to \phi(1020) K^0_S$, $B^0 \to f_0(980) K^0_S$ and other $B^0 \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays. We find four solutions that describe the data. There are \{eqnarray*} \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (32.2 \pm 9.0 \pm 2.6 \pm 1.4)^{\circ}; \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (26.2 \pm 8.8 \pm 2.7 \pm 1.2)^{\circ};\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (27.3 \pm 8.6 \pm 2.8 \pm 1.3)^{\circ}\; {\rm and}\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (24.3 \pm 8.0 \pm 2.9 \pm 5.2)^{\circ}.{eqnarray*}\ The values for the $CP$ violating phase in $B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S$ are similar but other properties of the Dalitz plot are quite different for the four solutions. These four solutions have consistent $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ values for all three $B$ meson decay channels and none of them deviates significantly from the values measured in $B \to (c\bar{c}) K^0$ decays with the currently available statistics. In addition, we find no significant direct $CP$ violation.Comment: submitted to PR

Experimental demonstration of mode structure in ultralong Raman fiber lasers

We present the first experimental demonstration of a resolvable mode structure with spacing c/2nL in the RF spectra of ultralong Raman fiber lasers. The longest ever demonstrated laser cavity (L=84km), RF peaks of ∼100 Hz width and spacing ∼1 kHz have been observed at low intracavity powers. The width of the peaks increases linearly with growing intracavity power and is almost independent of fiber length. © 2007 Optical Society of America

Measurement of CP violating asymmetries in B^0 -> K^+K^- K^0_S decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach

We report a measurement of $CP$ violating asymmetries in $B^0(\overline{B}^0) \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays with a time-dependent Dalitz approach. This analysis is based on a data sample of $657\times 10^6$ $B\overline{B}$ pairs accumulated at the $\Upsilon(4S)$ resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy $e^+e^-$ collider. As the result of an unbinned maximum likelihood fit to the selected candidates, the mixing-induced and direct $CP$ violation parameters, $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ and ${\cal A}_{CP}$ are obtained for $B^0 \to \phi(1020) K^0_S$, $B^0 \to f_0(980) K^0_S$ and other $B^0 \to K^+ K^- K^0_S$ decays. We find four solutions that describe the data. There are \{eqnarray*} \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (32.2 \pm 9.0 \pm 2.6 \pm 1.4)^{\circ}; \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (26.2 \pm 8.8 \pm 2.7 \pm 1.2)^{\circ};\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (27.3 \pm 8.6 \pm 2.8 \pm 1.3)^{\circ}\; {\rm and}\\ \phi_1^{\rm eff}(B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S) & = & (24.3 \pm 8.0 \pm 2.9 \pm 5.2)^{\circ}.{eqnarray*}\ The values for the $CP$ violating phase in $B^0\to \phi(1020) K^0_S$ are similar but other properties of the Dalitz plot are quite different for the four solutions. These four solutions have consistent $\phi^{\rm eff}_1$ values for all three $B$ meson decay channels and none of them deviates significantly from the values measured in $B \to (c\bar{c}) K^0$ decays with the currently available statistics. In addition, we find no significant direct $CP$ violation.Comment: submitted to PR

Observation of Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- using e+e- collisions and a determination of the Bs-Bsbar width difference \Delta\Gamma_s

We have made the first observation of Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- decays using 23.6 fb-1 of data recorded by the Belle experiment running on the Upsilon(5S) resonance. The branching fractions are measured to be B(B^0_s\ra D^+_s D^-_s) = (1.0\,^{+0.4}_{-0.3}\,^{+0.3}_{-0.2})%, B(B^0_s\ra D^{*\pm}_s D^{\mp}_s) = (2.8\,^{+0.8}_{-0.7}\,\pm 0.7)%, and B(B^0_s\ra D^{*+}_s D^{*-}_s) = (3.1\,^{+1.2}_{-1.0}\,\pm 0.8)%; the sum is B(B^0_s\ra D^{(*)+}_s D^{(*)-}_s) = (6.9\,^{+1.5}_{-1.3}\,\pm 1.9)%. Assuming Bs->Ds(*)+Ds(*)- saturates decays to CP-even final states, the branching fraction determines the ratio \Delta\Gamma_s/cos(\phi), where \Delta\Gamma_s is the difference in widths between the two Bs-Bsbar mass eigenstates, and \phi is a CP-violating weak phase. Taking CP violation to be negligibly small, we obtain \Delta\Gamma_s/\Gamma_s = 0.147^{+0.036}_{-0.030}(stat.)^{+0.044}_{-0.042}(syst.), where \Gamma_s is the mean decay width.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables. v2: text added for clarification, version published in Phys. Rev. Letter

Health-related Quality of life in 640 head and neck cancer survivors after radiotherapy using EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With the advances in modern radiotherapy (RT), many patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) can be effectively cured, and their health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) has become an important issue. In this study, we evaluated the prognosticators of HR-QoL in a large cohort of HNC patients, with a focus on the result from technological advances in RT.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional investigation was conducted to assess the HR-QoL of 640 HNC patients with cancer-free survival of more than 2 years. Among them, 371 patients were treated by two-dimensional RT (2DRT), 127 by three-dimensional conformal RT (3DCRT), and 142 by intensity-modulated RT (IMRT). The EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and QLQ-H&N35 module were used. A general linear model multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the prognosticators of HR-QoL.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By multivariate analysis, the variables of gender, annual family income, tumor site, AJCC stage, treatment methods, and RT technique were prognosticators for QLQ-C30 results, so were tumor site and RT technique for H&N35. Significant difference (<it>p </it>< 0.05) of HR-QoL outcome by different RT techniques was observed at 2 of the 15 scales in QLQ-C30 and 10 of the 13 scales in H&N35. Compared with 2DRT, IMRT had significant better outcome in the scales of global QoL, physical functioning, swallowing, senses (taste/smell), speech, social eating, social contact, teeth, opening mouth, dry mouth, sticky saliva, and feeling ill.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The technological advance of RT substantially improves the head-and-neck related symptoms and broad aspects of HR-QoL for HNC survivors.</p

Search for the Decay Kl -> pi0 e+ e-

We report on a search for the decay Kl -> pi0 e+ e- carried out by the KTeV/E799 experiment at Fermilab. This decay is expected to have a significant CP violating contribution and the measurement of its branching ratio could support the CKM mechanism for CP violation or could point to new physics. Two events were observed in the 1997 data with an expected background of 1.06 +-0.41 events, and we set an upper limit Br(Kl -> pi0 e+ e-) < 5.1 x 10^-10 at the 90% confidence level.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Evidence for Direct CP Violation in B±→ηh±B^\pm \to \eta h^\pm and Observation of B0→ηK0B^0 \to \eta K^0

We report measurements of the branching fractions and CP asymmetries for B^+- -> eta h^+- (h = K or pi) and the observation of the decay B^0 -> eta K^0 from the final data sample of 772x10^6 BBbar pairs collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e^+e^- collider. The measured branching fractions are Br(B^+- -> eta K^+-) = (2.12 +- 0.23 +- 0.11)x10^-6}, Br(B^+- -> eta pi^+-) = (4.07 +- 0.26 +- 0.21)x10^{-6} and Br(B^0 -> eta K^0) = (1.27^{+0.33}_{-0.29} +- 0.08)x10^-6, where the last decay is observed for the first time with a significance of 5.4 standard deviations (\sigma). We also find evidence for CP violation in the charged B modes, A_{CP}(B^+- -> eta K^+-) = -0.38 +- 0.11 +- 0.01 and A_{CP}(B^+- -> eta pi^+- = -0.19 +- 0.06 +- 0.01 with significances of 3.8 sigma and 3.0 sigma, respectively. For all measurements, the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl