System Tests of the ATLAS Pixel Detector

The innermost part of the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) experiment at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) will be a pixel detector, which is presently under construction. Once installed into the experimental area, access will be extremely limited. To ensure that the integrated detector assembly operates as expected, a fraction of the detector which includes the power supplies and monitoring system, the optical readout, and the pixel modules themselves, has been assembled and operated in a laboratory setting for what we refer to as system tests. Results from these tests are presented.Comment: 5 Pages, 9 Figures, to appear in Proceedings of the Eleventh Workshop on Electronics for LHC and Future Experiment

An Unfamiliar Way to Generate the Hierarchy of Standard Model Fermion Masses

While the properties of the observed Higgs boson agree with the Standard Model predictions, the hierarchy of fermion masses lacks an explanation within the model. In this work, we propose a fresh approach to this problem, involving a different Higgs doublet responsible for each quark mass. We construct a model with a gauged, non-anomalous $U(1)$ family symmetry that fixes which fermion couples to which doublet with an $\mathcal{O}(1)$ Yukawa coupling. The hierarchy of masses is generated by the hierarchy of vacuum expectation values of the Higgs fields. The model generically predicts a light, weakly coupled pseudoscalar. We verify that the model satisfies constraints from flavour changing neutral currents, Higgs phenomenology and electroweak precision tests.Comment: 31 pages incl. reference

A convenient criterion under which Z_2-graded operators are Hamiltonian

We formulate a simple and convenient criterion under which skew-adjoint Z_2-graded total differential operators are Hamiltonian, provided that their images are closed under commutation in the Lie algebras of evolutionary vector fields on the infinite jet spaces for vector bundles over smooth manifolds.Comment: J.Phys.Conf.Ser.: Mathematical and Physical Aspects of Symmetry. Proc. 28th Int. colloq. on group-theoretical methods in Physics (July 26-30, 2010; Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK), 6 pages (in press

Jacobi multipliers, non-local symmetries and nonlinear oscillators

Constants of motion, Lagrangians and Hamiltonians admitted by a family of relevant nonlinear oscillators are derived using a geometric formalism. The theory of the Jacobi last multiplier allows us to find Lagrangian descriptions and constants of the motion. An application of the jet bundle formulation of symmetries of differential equations is presented in the second part of the paper. After a short review of the general formalism, the particular case of non-local symmetries is studied in detail by making use of an extended formalism. The theory is related to some results previously obtained by Krasil'shchi, Vinogradov and coworkers. Finally the existence of non-local symmetries for such two nonlinear oscillators is proved.Comment: 20 page

(Non)local Hamiltonian and symplectic structures, recursions, and hierarchies: a new approach and applications to the N=1 supersymmetric KdV equation

Using methods of math.DG/0304245 and [I.S.Krasil'shchik and P.H.M.Kersten, Symmetries and recursion operators for classical and supersymmetric differential equations, Kluwer, 2000], we accomplish an extensive study of the N=1 supersymmetric Korteweg-de Vries equation. The results include: a description of local and nonlocal Hamiltonian and symplectic structures, five hierarchies of symmetries, the corresponding hierarchies of conservation laws, recursion operators for symmetries and generating functions of conservation laws. We stress that the main point of the paper is not just the results on super-KdV equation itself, but merely exposition of the efficiency of the geometrical approach and of the computational algorithms based on it.Comment: 16 pages, AMS-LaTeX, Xy-pic, dvi-file to be processed by dvips. v2: nonessential improvements of exposition, title change

The Control System for a new Pixel Detector at the sLHC

For the upgrade of the LHC, the sLHC (super Large Hadron Collider), a new ATLAS Pixel Detector is planned, which will require a completely new control system. To reduce the material budget new power distribution schemes are under investigation, where the active power conversion is located inside the detector volume. Such a new power supply system will need new control strategies. Parts of the control must be located closer to the loads. The minimization of mass, the demand for less cables and the re-use of the outer existing services are the main restrictions to the design of the control system. The requirements of the DCS (Detector Control System) and a first concept will be presented. We will focus on a control chip which necessarily has to be implemented in the new system. A setup of discrete components has been built up to investigate and verify the chip’s requirements. We report on the status of the work

A new life for sterile neutrino dark matter after the pandemic

We propose a novel mechanism to generate sterile neutrinos $\nu_s$ in theearly Universe, by converting ordinary neutrinos $\nu_\alpha$ in scatteringprocesses $\nu_s\nu_\alpha\to\nu_s\nu_s$. After initial production byoscillations, this leads to an exponential growth in the $\nu_s$ abundance. Weshow that such a production regime naturally occurs for self-interacting$\nu_s$, and that this opens up significant new parameter space where $\nu_s$make up all of the observed dark matter. Our results provide strong motivationto further push the sensitivity of X-ray line searches, and to improve onconstraints from structure formation.<br

A new life for sterile neutrino dark matter after the pandemic

We propose a novel mechanism to generate sterile neutrinos $\nu_s$ in theearly Universe, by converting ordinary neutrinos $\nu_\alpha$ in scatteringprocesses $\nu_s\nu_\alpha\to\nu_s\nu_s$. After initial production byoscillations, this leads to an exponential growth in the $\nu_s$ abundance. Weshow that such a production regime naturally occurs for self-interacting$\nu_s$, and that this opens up significant new parameter space where $\nu_s$make up all of the observed dark matter. Our results provide strong motivationto further push the sensitivity of X-ray line searches, and to improve onconstraints from structure formation.<br

Variational Lie algebroids and homological evolutionary vector fields

We define Lie algebroids over infinite jet spaces and establish their equivalent representation through homological evolutionary vector fields.Comment: Int. Workshop "Nonlinear Physics: Theory and Experiment VI" (Gallipoli, Italy; June-July 2010). Published v3 = v2 minus typos, to appear in: Theoret. and Mathem. Phys. (2011) Vol.167:3 (168:1), 18 page