2,477 research outputs found
A triple-GEM telescope for the TOTEM experiment
The TOTEM experiment at LHC has chosen the triple Gas Electron Multiplier
(GEM) technology for its T2 telescope which will provide charged track
reconstruction in the rapidity range 5.3<|eta|<6.5 and a fully inclusive
trigger for diffractive events. GEMs are gas-filled detectors that have the
advantageous decoupling of the charge amplification structure from the charge
collection and readout structure. Furthermore, they combine good spatial
resolution with very high rate capability and a good resistance to radiation.
Results from a detailed T2 GEM simulation and from laboratory tests on a final
design detector performed at CERN are presented.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of 10th Topical Seminar on Innovative
Particle and Radiation Detectors (IPRD06), Siena, Italy, October 1-5 200
Pollination benefits are maximized at intermediate nutrient levels
Yield production in flowering crops depends on both nutrient availability and pollination, but their relative roles and potential interactions are poorly understood. We measured pollination benefits to yield in sunflower, combining a gradient in insect pollination (0, 25, 50, 100%) with a continuous gradient in nitrogen (N) fertilization (from 0 to 150 kg N ha-1) in an experiment under realistic soil field conditions. We found that pollination benefits to yield were maximized at intermediate levels of N availability, bolstering yield by approximately 25% compared with complete pollinator exclusion. Interestingly, we found little decrease in yield when insect visits were reduced by 50%, indicating that the incremental contribution of pollination by insects to yield is greater when the baseline pollination service provision is very low. Our findings provide strong evidence for interactive, nonlinear effects of pollination and resource availability on seed production. Our results support ecological intensification as a promising strategy for sustainable management of agroecosystems. In particular, we found optimal level of pollination to potentially compensate for lower N applications
Pollination benefits are maximized at intermediate nutrient levels
none3noYield production in flowering crops depends on both nutrient availability and pollination, but their relative roles and potential interactions are poorly understood. We measured pollination benefits to yield in sunflower, combining a gradient in insect pollination (0, 25, 50, 100%) with a continuous gradient in nitrogen (N) fertilization (from 0 to 150 kg N ha−1) in an experiment under realistic soil field conditions. We found that pollination benefits to yield were maximized at intermediate levels of N availability, bolstering yield by approximately 25% compared with complete pollinator exclusion. Interestingly, we found little decrease in yield when insect visits were reduced by 50%, indicating that the incremental contribution of pollination by insects to yield is greater when the baseline pollination service provision is very low. Our findings provide strong evidence for interactive, nonlinear effects of pollination and resource availability on seed production. Our results support ecological intensification as a promising strategy for sustainable management of agroecosystems. In particular, we found optimal level of pollination to potentially compensate for lower N applications.mixedTamburini, Giovanni; Lami, Francesco; Marini, LorenzoTamburini, Giovanni; Lami, Francesco; Marini, Lorenz
Probabilistic Distillation of Quantum Coherence
© 2018 American Physical Society. The ability to distill quantum coherence is pivotal for optimizing the performance of quantum technologies; however, such a task cannot always be accomplished with certainty. Here we develop a general framework of probabilistic distillation of quantum coherence in a one-shot setting, establishing fundamental limitations for different classes of free operations. We first provide a geometric interpretation for the maximal success probability, showing that under maximally incoherent operations (MIO) and dephasing-covariant incoherent operations (DIO) the problem can be simplified into efficiently computable semidefinite programs. Exploiting these results, we find that DIO and its subset of strictly incoherent operations have equal power in the probabilistic distillation of coherence from pure input states, while MIO are strictly stronger. We then prove a fundamental no-go result: Distilling coherence from any full-rank state is impossible even probabilistically. We further find that in some conditions the maximal success probability can vanish suddenly beyond a certain threshold in the distillation fidelity. Finally, we consider probabilistic coherence distillation assisted by a catalyst and demonstrate, with specific examples, its superiority to the unassisted and deterministic cases
A determination of the average up-down, strange and charm quark masses from
We present a lattice QCD determination of the average up-down, strange and
charm quark masses based on simulations performed by the European Twisted Mass
Collaboration with dynamical fermions. We simulated at three
different values of the lattice spacing, the smallest being approximately
, and with pion masses as small as . Our results are:
,
, ,
and
Mass of the b-quark and B-decay constants from Nf=2+1+1 twisted-mass Lattice QCD
We present precise lattice computations for the b-quark mass, the quark mass
ratios mb/mc and mb/ms as well as the leptonic B-decay constants. We employ
gauge configurations with four dynamical quark flavors, up/down, strange and
charm, at three values of the lattice spacing (a ~ 0.06 - 0.09 fm) and for pion
masses as low as 210 MeV. Interpolation in the heavy quark mass to the bottom
quark point is performed using ratios of physical quantities computed at nearby
quark masses exploiting the fact that these ratios are exactly known in the
static quark mass limit. Our results are also extrapolated to the physical pion
mass and to the continuum limit and read: mb(MSbar, mb) = 4.26(10) GeV, mb/mc =
4.42(8), mb/ms = 51.4(1.4), fBs = 229(5) MeV, fB = 193(6) MeV, fBs/fB =
1.184(25) and (fBs/fB)/(fK/fpi) = 0.997(17).Comment: Version to appear in PRD. Added comments to simulation setup and
error budget discussion. 1+20 pages, 9 figure
Entanglement-Saving Channels
The set of Entanglement Saving (ES) quantum channels is introduced and
characterized. These are completely positive, trace preserving transformations
which when acting locally on a bipartite quantum system initially prepared into
a maximally entangled configuration, preserve its entanglement even when
applied an arbitrary number of times. In other words, a quantum channel
is said to be ES if its powers are not entanglement-breaking for all
integers . We also characterize the properties of the Asymptotic
Entanglement Saving (AES) maps. These form a proper subset of the ES channels
that is constituted by those maps which, not only preserve entanglement for all
finite , but which also sustain an explicitly not null level of entanglement
in the asymptotic limit~. Structure theorems are provided
for ES and for AES maps which yield an almost complete characterization of the
former and a full characterization of the latter.Comment: 26 page
Leptonic decay constants fK, fD and fDs with Nf = 2+1+1 twisted-mass lattice QCD
We present a lattice QCD calculation of the pseudoscalar decay constants fK,
fD and fDs performed using the gauge configurations produced by the European
Twisted Mass Collaboration with Nf = 2 + 1 + 1 dynamical quarks, which include
in the sea, besides two light mass degenerate quarks, also the strange and
charm quarks with masses close to their values in the real world. The
simulations are based on a unitary setup for the two light mass-degenerate
quarks and on a mixed action approach for the strange and charm quarks. We use
data simulated at three different values of the lattice spacing in the range
0.06 - 0.09 fm and at pion masses in the range 210 - 450 MeV. Our main results
are: fK+ / fpi+ = 1.184 (16), fK+ = 154.4 (2.0) MeV, which incorporate the
leading strong isospin breaking correction due to the up- and down-quark mass
difference, and fK = 155.0 (1.9) MeV, fD = 207.4 (3.8) MeV, fDs = 247.2 (4.1)
MeV, fDs / fD = 1.192 (22) and (fDs / fD) / (fK / fpi) = 1.003 (14) obtained in
the isospin symmetric limit of QCD. Combined with the experimental measurements
of the leptonic decay rates of kaon, pion, D- and Ds-mesons our results lead to
the following determination of the CKM matrix elements: |Vus| = 0.2269 (29),
|Vcd| = 0.2221 (67) and |Vcs| = 1.014 (24). Using the latest value of |Vud|
from superallowed nuclear beta decays the unitarity of the first row of the CKM
matrix is fulfilled at the permille level.Comment: 20 pp., 4 figures; revised version to appear in PRD; improved
calculation of IB effects for fK+; minor changes in the final values. arXiv
admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1403.450
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