Enhanced time response of 1-in. LaBr3(Ce) crystals by leading edge and constant fraction techniques

We have characterized in depth the time response of three detectors equipped with cylindrical LaBr$_{3}$ (Ce) crystals with dimensions of 1-in. in height and 1-in. in diameter, and having nominal Ce doping concentration of 5%, 8% and 10%. Measurements were performed at $^{60}$Co and $^{22}$Na {\gamma}-ray energies against a fast BaF$_{2}$ reference detector. The time resolution was optimized by the choice of the photomultiplier bias voltage and the fine tuning of the parameters of the constant fraction discriminator, namely the zero-crossing and the external delay. We report here on the optimal time resolution of the three crystals. It is observed that timing properties are influenced by the amount of Ce doping and the crystal homogeneity. For the crystal with 8% of Ce doping the use of the ORTEC 935 CFD at very shorts delays in addition to the Hamamatsu R9779 PMT has made it possible to improve the LaBr$_{3}$(Ce) time resolution from the best literature value at 60Co photon energies to below 100 ps.Comment: Article submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipmen

Present Bounds on New Neutral Vector Resonances from Electroweak Gauge Boson Pair Production at the LHC

Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of new neutral spin-1 resonances associated to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Using the data from ATLAS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.02 fb^{-1}) and CMS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.55 fb^{-1}) on the production of W+W- pairs through the process pp -> l^+ l^{\prime -} \sla{E}_T, we place model independent bounds on these new vector resonances masses, couplings and widths. Our analyses show that the present data excludes new neutral vector resonances with masses up to 1-2.3 TeV depending on their couplings and widths. We also demonstrate how to extend our analysis framework to different models working a specific example.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Vaccination is a suitable tool in the control of Aujeszky's disease outbreaks in pigs using a Population Dynamics P systems model

Aujeszky's disease is one of the main pig viral diseases and results in considerable economic losses in the pork production industry. The disease can be controlled using preventive measures such as improved stock management and vaccination throughout the pig-rearing period. We developed a stochastic model based on Population Dynamics P systems (PDP) models for a standard pig production system to differentiate between the effects of pig farm management regimes and vaccination strategies on the control of Aujeszky's disease under several different epidemiological scenarios. Our results suggest that after confirming the diagnosis, early vaccination of most of the population (>75%) is critical to decrease the spread of the virus and minimize its impact on pig productivity. The direct economic cost of an outbreak of Aujeszky's disease can be extremely high on a previously uninfected farm (from 352-792 Euros/sow/year) and highlights the positive benefits of investing in vaccination measures to control infections. We demonstrate the usefulness of computational models as tools in the evaluation of preventive medicine programs aimed at limiting the impact of disease on animal production.This work was partially supported by FEDER project COMRDI16-1-0035-03

Constraining anomalous Higgs interactions

The recently announced Higgs discovery marks the dawn of the direct probing of the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Sorting out the dynamics responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking now requires probing the Higgs interactions and searching for additional states connected to this sector. In this work we analyze the constraints on Higgs couplings to the standard model gauge bosons using the available data from Tevatron and LHC. We work in a model--independent framework expressing the departure of the Higgs couplings to gauge bosons by dimension--six operators. This allows for independent modifications of its couplings to gluons, photons and weak gauge bosons while still preserving the Standard Model (SM) gauge invariance. Our results indicate that best overall agreement with data is obtained if the cross section of Higgs production via gluon fusion is suppressed with respect to its SM value and the Higgs branching ratio into two photons is enhanced, while keeping the production and decays associated to couplings to weak gauge bosons close to their SM prediction.Comment: v3: Added acknowledgment to FP7 ITN INVISIBLES (Marie Curie Actions PITN-GA-2011-289442). Nothing else changed with respect to v

CP violation with a dynamical Higgs

We determine the complete set of independent gauge and gauge-Higgs CP-odd effective operators for the generic case of a dynamical Higgs, up to four derivatives in the chiral expansion. The relation with the linear basis of dimension six CP-odd operators is clarified. Phenomenological applications include bounds inferred from electric dipole moment limits, and from present and future collider data on triple gauge coupling measurements and Higgs signals.Comment: 41 pages, 3 figures; V2: citations added, typos corrected, version published on JHE

New insights into the interaction of triethylphosphine oxide with silica surface: exchange between different surface species

Although chemical shift values of triethylphosphine oxide (TEPO) adsorbed on acidic solids have been considered as an indication of acid strength, in this work we demonstrate that the chemical shift depends also on the adsorbed amount of TEPO. On silica, the presence of three different adsorbed species, physisorbed on non-acidic surface, chemisorbed through a single H bond and chemisorbed through two H bonds, can be detected by the correlation of the P-31 chemical shift with the TEPO adsorbed amount. TEPO chemical exchange between the different sites is demonstrated by the single NMR signal obtained in all the cases, and also by the variation of the line width, which is broader at low surface coverage due to the slower chemical exchange because of the longer average distance between surface sites

Cirugía radiodirigida de Osteoma Osteoide: nota clínica

Se presenta el caso de una paciente joven con clínica y pruebas de imagen compatibles con osteoma osteoide en la tibia, que es tratada mediante cirugía-exéresis de la lesión dirigida por radiolocalización tras la realización de una gammagrafía ósea. La radiología peroperatoria y, posteriormente, el estudio patológico definitivo confirman la lesión. Se describe las características y ventajas de la localización radioguiada en este tipo de lesiones.We present the case of a young patient with clinical and testing compatible with osteoid osteoma image in the tibia, which is treated by surgery-resection of the lesion led by radiolocation after performing a bone scan. The intraoperative radiology and the definitive pathological study confirmed the injury. Features and advantages of the radioguided location in these injuries are described