665 research outputs found
Femtoscopy of Pb-Pb and pp collisions at the LHC with the ALICE experiment
We report on the results of femtoscopic analysis of Pb-Pb collisions at
sqrt(s_NN)=2.76 TeV and pp collisions at sqrt(s)=0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV with
identical pions and kaons. Detailed femtoscopy studies in heavy-ion collisions
at SPS and RHIC have shown that emission region sizes ("HBT radii") decrease
with increasing pair transverse momentum k_T, which is understood as a
manifestation of the collective behavior of matter. The trend was predicted to
persist at the LHC. The data from Pb-Pb collisions confirm the existence of a
flowing medium and provide strict constraints on the dynamical models. Similar
analysis is carried out for pp collisions for pions and kaons and qualitative
similarities to heavy-ion data are seen, especially in collisions producing
large number of particles. The observed trends give insight into the soft
particle production mechanism in pp collisions. 3D radii were also found to
universally scale with event multiplicity in heavy-ion collisions. We extend
the range of multiplicities both upwards with the Pb-Pb data and downwards with
the pp data to test the scaling in new areas. In particular the high
multiplicity pp collisions reach particle densities comparable to the ones
measured in peripheral Cu-Cu and Au-Au collisions at RHIC. This allows for the
first time to directly compare freeze-out sizes for systems with very different
initial states.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the Quark Matter 2011 plenary tal
Virioplankton as an important component of plankton in the Volga Reservoirs
The distribution of virioplankton, abundance and production, frequency of visibly infected cells of heterotrophic bacteria and autotrophic picocyanobacteria and their virus-induced mortality have been studied in mesotrophic and eutrophic reservoirs of the Upper and Middle Volga (Ivankovo, Uglich, Rybinsk, Gorky, Cheboksary, and Sheksna reservoirs). The abundance of planktonic viruses (VA) is on average by 4.6 ± 1.2 times greater than the abundance of bacterioplankton (BA). The distribution of VA in the Volga reservoirs was largely determined by the distribution of BA and heterotrophic bacterioplankton production (PB). There was a positive correlation between VA and BA and between VA and PB. In addition, BA and VA were both positively correlated with primary production of phytoplankton. Viral particles of 60 to 100 µm in size dominated in the phytoplankton composition. A large number of bacteria and picocyanobacteria with viruses attached to the surface of their cells were found in the reservoirs. Viruses as the most numerous component of plankton make a significant contribution to the formation of the planktonic microbial community biomass. The number of phages inside infected cells of bacteria and picocyanobacteria reached 74‒109 phages/cell. Easily digestible organic matter, which entered the aquatic environment as a result of viral lysis of bacteria and picocyanobacteria, could be an additional source of carbon for living bacteria. The results of long-term studies indicate a significant role of viruses in functioning of planktonic microbial communities in the Volga reservoirs
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