Strangeness production in heavy ion collisions at SPS and RHIC within two-source statistical model

The experimental data on hadron yields and ratios in central Pb+Pb and Au+Au collisions at SPS and RHIC energies, respectively, are analysed within a two-source statistical model of an ideal hadron gas. These two sources represent the expanding system of colliding heavy ions, where the hot central fireball is embedded in a larger but cooler fireball. The volume of the central source increases with rising bombarding energy. Results of the two-source model fit to RHIC experimental data at midrapidity coincide with the results of the one-source thermal model fit, indicating the formation of an extended fireball, which is three times larger than the corresponding core at SPS.Comment: Talk at "Strange Quarks in Matter" Conference (Strangeness'2001), September 2001, Frankfurt a.M., German

Bulk Rotational Symmetry Breaking in Kondo Insulator SmB6

Kondo insulator samarium hexaboride (SmB6) has been intensely studied in recent years as a potential candidate of a strongly correlated topological insulator. One of the most exciting phenomena observed in SmB6 is the clear quantum oscillations appearing in magnetic torque at a low temperature despite the insulating behavior in resistance. These quantum oscillations show multiple frequencies and varied effective masses. The origin of quantum oscillation is, however, still under debate with evidence of both two-dimensional Fermi surfaces and three-dimensional Fermi surfaces. Here, we carry out angle-resolved torque magnetometry measurements in a magnetic field up to 45 T and a temperature range down to 40 mK. With the magnetic field rotated in the (010) plane, the quantum oscillation frequency of the strongest oscillation branch shows a four-fold rotational symmetry. However, in the angular dependence of the amplitude of the same branch, this four-fold symmetry is broken and, instead, a twofold symmetry shows up, which is consistent with the prediction of a two-dimensional Lifshitz-Kosevich model. No deviation of Lifshitz-Kosevich behavior is observed down to 40 mK. Our results suggest the existence of multiple light-mass surface states in SmB6, with their mobility significantly depending on the surface disorder level.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Metallic behaviour of carrier-polarized C60_{60} molecular layers: Experiment and Theory

Although C$_{60}$ is a molecular crystal with a bandgap E$_g$ of ~2.5 eV, we show that E$_g$ is strongly affected by injected charge. In sharp contrast to the Coulomb blockade typical of quantum dots, E$_g$ is {\it reduced} by the Coulomb effects. The conductance of a thin C$_{60}$ layer sandwiched between metal (Al, Ag, Au, Mg and Pt) contacts is investigated. Excellent Ohmic conductance is observed for Al electrodes protected with ultra-thin LiF layers. First-principles calculations, Hubbard models etc., show that the energy gap of C$_{60}$ is dramatically reduced when electrons hop from C$_{60}^-$ to C$_{60}$.Comment: 4 PRL style pages, 2 figures. email: [email protected]

Annihilation Type Radiative Decays of BB Meson in Perturbative QCD Approach

With the perturbative QCD approach based on $k_T$ factorization, we study the pure annihilation type radiative decays $B^0 \to \phi\gamma$ and $B^0\to J/\psi \gamma$. We find that the branching ratio of $B^0 \to \phi\gamma$ is $(2.7^{+0.3+1.2}_{-0.6-0.6})\times10^{-11}$, which is too small to be measured in the current $B$ factories of BaBar and Belle. The branching ratio of $B^0\to J/\psi \gamma$ is $({4.5^{+0.6+0.7}_{-0.5-0.6}})\times10^{-7}$, which is just at the corner of being observable in the $B$ factories. A larger branching ratio $BR(B_s^0 \to J/\psi \gamma) \simeq 5 \times 10^{-6}$ is also predicted. These decay modes will help us testing the standard model and searching for new physics signals.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, with 1 eps figur

A probabilistic model checking approach to analysing reliability, availability, and maintainability of a single satellite system

Satellites now form a core component for space based systems such as GPS and GLONAS which provide location and timing information for a variety of uses. Such satellites are designed to operate in-orbit and have lifetimes of 10 years or more. Reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) analysis of these systems has been indispensable in the design phase of satellites in order to achieve minimum failures or to increase mean time between failures (MTBF) and thus to plan maintainability strategies, optimise reliability and maximise availability. In this paper, we present formal modelling of a single satellite and logical specification of its reliability, availability and maintainability properties. The probabilistic model checker PRISM has been used to perform automated quantitative analyses of these properties