Photoluminescence and electrical properties in Pr-modified (Ba1-xCax)TiO3 multifunctional ceramics

Mechanoluminescence materials, characterized with non-thermal light emission in response to mechanical stimuli, can have many applications in direct conversion of mechanical energy into light energy. The aim of this study was to develop wet chemistry approaches for the synthesis of the finest ceramic powders of barium calcium titanate for the use in the production of a mechanoluminescent detector. Wet chemistry route allows the control of the particle size of ceramic materials up to several nanometers. For the first time luminescence was recorded in Ba0.9Ca0.1TiO3 ceramics despite reports that light emission in BCT is possibly only over 23% of calcium content. The resulting ceramics showed high relative density, reasonable ferro and dielectric properties, and red light emission can be observed with the naked eye

Light penetration in seawater polluted by dispersed oil: results of radiative transfer modelling

The downwelling light in seawater is shaped by natural seawater constituents as well as by some external substances which can occur locally and temporally. In this study we focused on dispersed oil droplets which can be found in seawater after an oil spill or in the consequence of intensive shipping, oil extraction and transportation. We applied our modified radiative transfer model based on Monte Carlo code to evaluate the magnitude of potential influence of dispersed oil droplets on the downwelling irradiance and the depth of the euphotic zone. Our model was validated on the basis of in situ measurements for natural (unpolluted) seawater in the Southern Baltic Sea, resulting in less than 5% uncertainty. The optical properties of dispersed Petrobaltic crude oil were calculated on the basis of Mie theory and involved into radiative transfer model. We found that the changes in downwelling light caused by dispersed oil depend on several factors such as oil droplet concentration, size distribution, and the penetration depth (i.e. vertical range of oil droplets occurrence below sea surface). Petrobaltic oil droplets of submicron sizes and penetration depth of 5 m showed a potentially detectable reduction in the depth of the euphotic zone of 5.5% at the concentration of only 10 ppb. Micrometer-sized droplets needed 10 times higher concentration to give a similar effect. Our radiative transfer model provided data to analyse and discuss the influence of each factor separately. This study contributes to the understanding of the change in visible light penetration in seawater affected by dispersed oil

Modelling the influence of oil content on optical properties of seawater in the Baltic Sea

The accuracy and correct interpretation of optical parameters of seawater depend on the complete information osn the interactions between seawater components and the light field. Among components influencing the radiative transfer, the droplets of oil can cause overor underestimation of modelled and measured optical quantities, especially in closed seas and coastal zones. Oil content in the Baltic Sea varies from several ppb in the open sea to several ppm in estuaries or ship routes. Oil droplets become additional absorbents and attenuators in seawater causing changes in apparent optical properties. These changes can potentially enable remote optical detection of oil-in-water emulsion in visible bands. To demonstrate potential possibilities of such optical remote sensing, a study of inherent optical properties of two types of crude oil emulsion was conducted, i.e. high absorptive and strongly scattering Romashkino, and low absorptive and weakly scattering Petrobaltic. First, the calculations of spectral absorption and scattering coefficients as well as scattering phase functions for oil emulsions were performed on the basis of Lorentz-Mie theory for two different oil droplets size distributions corresponding to a fresh and 14-days aged emulsions. Next, radiative transfer theory was applied to evaluate the contribution of oil emulsion to remote sensing reflectance R_rs(λ). Presented system for radiative transfer simulation is based on Monte Carlo code and it involves optical tracing of virtual photons. The model was validated by comparison of R_rs(λ) simulated for natural seawater to R_rs(λ) from in situ measurements in Baltic Sea. The deviation did not exceed 10% for central visible wavelengths and stayed within 5% for short and long wavelengths. The light Petrobaltic crude oil in concentration of 1 ppm causes typically a 10-30% increase of Rrs while the heavy Romashkino reduces Rrs for 30-50%

EndCap Module Production for the ATLAS Silicon Tracker (SCT) at CERN and the University of Geneva

This note describes the infrastructure, procedure and quality assurance for the construction of approximately one third of the EndCap modules for the ATLAS Semiconductor Tracker (SCT) by groups at the University of Geneva and CERN

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Evidence for the h_b(1P) meson in the decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P)

Using a sample of 122 million Upsilon(3S) events recorded with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we search for the $h_b(1P)$ spin-singlet partner of the P-wave chi_{bJ}(1P) states in the sequential decay Upsilon(3S) --> pi0 h_b(1P), h_b(1P) --> gamma eta_b(1S). We observe an excess of events above background in the distribution of the recoil mass against the pi0 at mass 9902 +/- 4(stat.) +/- 2(syst.) MeV/c^2. The width of the observed signal is consistent with experimental resolution, and its significance is 3.1sigma, including systematic uncertainties. We obtain the value (4.3 +/- 1.1(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.)) x 10^{-4} for the product branching fraction BF(Upsilon(3S)-->pi0 h_b) x BF(h_b-->gamma eta_b).Comment: 8 pages, 4 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid Communications

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark pair cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV using final states with an electron or a muon and a hadronically decaying τ lepton

A measurement of the cross section of top quark pair production in proton-proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is reported. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 2.05 fb -1. Events with an isolated electron or muon and a τ lepton decaying hadronically are used. In addition, a large missing transverse momentum and two or more energetic jets are required. At least one of the jets must be identified as originating from a b quark. The measured cross section, σtt-=186±13(stat.)±20(syst.)±7(lumi.) pb, is in good agreement with the Standard Model prediction

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde