Discovery potential of the Standard Model Higgs in CMS at the LHC

This thesis presents the discovery potential of the Standard Model Higgs boson in the CMS experiment at the LHC. Detailed studies have been carried out to evaluate the detector performance in the difficult $\rm H\to\gamma\gamma$ channel. The electromagnetic crystal calorimeter is of main importance in this channel and it has been designed according stringent performance requirements. Test beam data of lead tungstate crystals have been analysed and it is shown that the performance of the crystals can meet the requirements. The Higgs decay into two photons has been studied with full detector simulation and the Higgs mass has been reconstructed. A potential danger for the photon measurement are the photon conversions in the detector material in front of the electromagnetic calorimeter. Different methods to recover these converted photons are developed and it is shown that, including the recovered conversions does not degrade the Higgs mass resolution. To complete the full Standard Model Higgs discovery range, studies of the other decay channels are reviewed and updated taking into account the next to leading order corrections to the cross-sections. A new study for the $\rm H\to ZZ\to2$l2$\nu$ channel shows that it can give an important contribution above m\sb{\rm H} = 400 GeV. An estimate of the integrated luminosity needed for an observable Higgs signal is derived. It is shown that a fast discovery (integrated luminosity less than 10 fb\sp{-1}) can be expected if the Higgs mass is in the range of 130-550 GeV. The most difficult regions are the low mass range (m\sb{\rm H}600 GeV). With 100 fb\sp{-1} of integrated luminosity the full mass range can be covered

FEM Computations Concerning the Effect of Friction in Two LHC Main Dipole Structures

The mechanical behaviour of a dipole structure is considered when also friction is taken into account, studying its effect on different components and in different conditions. In particular the difference in behavior between a structure with aluminium collars and one with austenitic steel ones was studied

Coherent states for FLRW space-times in loop quantum gravity

We construct a class of coherent spin-network states that capture proprieties of curved space-times of the Friedmann-Lama\^itre-Robertson-Walker type on which they are peaked. The data coded by a coherent state are associated to a cellular decomposition of a spatial ($t=$const.) section with dual graph given by the complete five-vertex graph, though the construction can be easily generalized to other graphs. The labels of coherent states are complex SL(2, \mathbbm{C}) variables, one for each link of the graph and are computed through a smearing process starting from a continuum extrinsic and intrinsic geometry of the canonical surface. The construction covers both Euclidean and Lorentzian signatures; in the Euclidean case and in the limit of flat space we reproduce the simplicial 4-simplex semiclassical states used in Spin Foams.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, published versio

Compatibility of radial, Lorenz and harmonic gauges

We observe that the radial gauge can be consistently imposed \emph{together} with the Lorenz gauge in Maxwell theory, and with the harmonic traceless gauge in linearized general relativity. This simple observation has relevance for some recent developments in quantum gravity where the radial gauge is implicitly utilized.Comment: 9 pages, minor changes in the bibliograph

Instantaneous conduction and switching losses in two-level voltage source inverters

A mathematical model is derived which allows to compute instantaneously the conduction and switching losses in two-level voltage source inverters (2L-VSIs) regardless of the employed modulation scheme. The model is based on the use of switching vectors applied to the considered VSI, taking into account the instantaneous conduction and switching losses of the semiconductor devices. The advantages of this method are, (i) it can be extended to any type of VSI and any modulation scheme, (ii) it can be applied to analyze the power losses of VSIs during any desired period, and (iii) it can be easily implemented in any kind of the simulation software (e.g. Matlab/Simulink)

Many-nodes/many-links spinfoam: the homogeneous and isotropic case

I compute the Lorentzian EPRL/FK/KKL spinfoam vertex amplitude for regular graphs, with an arbitrary number of links and nodes, and coherent states peaked on a homogeneous and isotropic geometry. This form of the amplitude can be applied for example to a dipole with an arbitrary number of links or to the 4-simplex given by the compete graph on 5 nodes. All the resulting amplitudes have the same support, independently of the graph used, in the large j (large volume) limit. This implies that they all yield the Friedmann equation: I show this in the presence of the cosmological constant. This result indicates that in the semiclassical limit quantum corrections in spinfoam cosmology do not come from just refining the graph, but rather from relaxing the large j limit.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Statistical Studies of the Robustness of the LHC Main Dipole Mechanical Structure

This paper describes two methods used to study the effect of the tolerances of the components on the structure of the LHC main dipole. The first method, called semi-statistical, is useful for the study of the effect of single different parameters and allows the determination of the acceptable variance of the dimensions of magnet components. The second one, fully statistical, allows the study of the combined effect of many parameters. The use of these two methods allowed to evaluate with good confidence the robustness of two different dipole cross-section designs, featuring austenitic and aluminium alloy collars, respectively

The EPRL intertwiners and corrected partition function

Do the SU(2) intertwiners parametrize the space of the EPRL solutions to the simplicity constraint? What is a complete form of the partition function written in terms of this parametrization? We prove that the EPRL map is injective for n-valent vertex in case when it is a map from SO(3) into SO(3)xSO(3) representations. We find, however, that the EPRL map is not isometric. In the consequence, in order to be written in a SU(2) amplitude form, the formula for the partition function has to be rederived. We do it and obtain a new, complete formula for the partition function. The result goes beyond the SU(2) spin-foam models framework.Comment: RevTex4, 15 pages, 5 figures; theorem of injectivity of EPRL map correcte

BAFF Index and CXCL13 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid associate respectively with intrathecal IgG synthesis and cortical atrophy in multiple sclerosis at clinical onset

Abstract Background B lymphocytes are thought to play a relevant role in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. The in vivo analysis of intrathecally produced B cell-related cytokines may help to clarify the mechanisms of B cell recruitment and immunoglobulin production within the central nervous system (CNS) in MS. Methods Paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens from 40 clinically isolated syndrome suggestive of MS or early-onset relapsing-remitting MS patients (CIS/eRRMS) and 17 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed for the intrathecal synthesis of IgG (quantitative formulae and IgG oligoclonal bands, IgGOB), CXCL13, BAFF, and IL-21. 3D-FLAIR, 3D-DIR, and 3D-T1 MRI sequences were applied to evaluate white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) lesions and global cortical thickness (gCTh). Results Compared to HC, CIS/eRRMS having IgGOB (IgGOB+, 26 patients) had higher intrathecal IgG indexes ( p \u2009<\u20090.01), lower values of BAFF Index (11.9\u2009\ub1\u20096.1 vs 17.5\u2009\ub1\u20095.2, p \u2009<\u20090.01), and higher CSF CXCL13 levels (27.7\u2009\ub1\u200933.5 vs 0.9\u2009\ub1\u20091.5, p \u2009<\u20090.005). In these patients, BAFF Index but not CSF CXCL13 levels inversely correlated with the intrathecal IgG synthesis ( r \u2009>\u20090.5 and p \u2009<\u20090.05 for all correlations). CSF leukocyte counts were significantly higher in IgGOB+ compared to IgGOB\u2212 ( p \u2009<\u20090.05) and HC ( p \u2009<\u20090.01), and correlated to CSF CXCL13 concentrations ( r 0.77, p \u2009<\u20090.001). The gCTh was significantly lower in patients with higher CSF CXCL13 levels (2.41\u2009\ub1\u20090.1 vs 2.49\u2009\ub1\u20090.1\ua0mm, p \u2009<\u20090.05), while no difference in MRI parameters of WM and GM pathology was observed between IgGOB+ and IgGOB\u2212. Conclusions The intrathecal IgG synthesis inversely correlated with BAFF Index and showed no correlation with CSF CXCL13. These findings seem to indicate that intrathecally synthesized IgG are produced by long-term PCs that have entered the CNS from the peripheral blood, rather than produced by PCs developed in the meningeal follicle-like structures (FLS). In this study, CXCL13 identifies a subgroup of MS patients characterized by ..