KLOE results at the Frascati ϕ\phi-factory DAΦ\PhiNE

The KLOE experiment at the Frascati $\phi$-factory DA$\Phi$NE has collected about 0.5 fb$^{-1}$ of data till the end of the year 2002. These data allow to perform a wide physics program, ranging from the physics of charged and neutral kaons to radiative $\phi$-decays. Results are presented for the $K_L$ lifetime and the semileptonic processes $K_{S,L} \to \pi e \nu$. From the light meson spectroscopy program, results on the decays $\phi \to f_0(980)\gamma, a_0(980)\gamma$ as well as $\phi \to \eta \gamma, \eta' \gamma$ are presented.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings contribution to the 10th Int. Symposium on "Meson-Nucleon Physics and the Structure of the Nucleon" (MENU04), Beijing, China, Aug. 30 - Sept. 4, 200

ATLAS RPC Quality Assurance results at INFN Lecce

The main results of the quality assurance tests performed on the Resistive Plate Chamber used by the ATLAS experiment at LHC as muon trigger chambers are reported and discussed. Since July 2004, about 270 RPC units has been certified at INFN Lecce site and delivered to CERN, for being integrated in the final muon station of the ATLAS barrel region. We show the key RPC characteristics which qualify the performance of this detector technology as muon trigger chamber in the harsh LHC enviroments. These are dark current, chamber efficiency, noise rate, gas volume tomography, and gas leakage.Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 1 table, 9 figures Proceedings of XXV Physics in Collision-Prague, Czech Republic, 6-9 July 200

Eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers based on Tetrafluoropropene and Helium

Due to the recent restrictions deriving from the application of the Kyoto protocol, the main components of the gas mixtures presently used in the Resistive Plate Chambers systems of the LHC experiments will be most probably phased out of production in the coming years. Identifying possible replacements with the adequate characteristics requires an intense R&D, which was recently started, also in collaborations across the various experiments. Possible candidates have been proposed and are thoroughly investigated. Some tests on one of the most promising candidate - HFO-1234ze, an allotropic form of tetrafluoropropane- have already been reported. Here an innovative approach, based on the use of Helium, to solve the problems related to the too elevate operating voltage of HFO-1234ze based gas mixtures, is discussed and the relative first results are shown.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

Development of laminar flow control wing surface porous structure

It was concluded that the chordwise air collection method, which actually combines chordwise and spanwise air collection, is the best of the designs conceived up to this time for full chord laminar flow control (LFC). Its shallower ducting improved structural efficiency of the main wing box resulting in a reduction in wing weight, and it provided continuous support of the chordwise panel joints, better matching of suction and clearing airflow requirements, and simplified duct to suction source minifolding. Laminar flow control on both the upper and lower surfaces was previously reduced to LFC suction on the upper surface only, back to 85 percent chord. The study concludes that, in addition to reduced wing area and other practical advantages, this system would be lighter because of the increase in effective structural wing thickness

Proper orthogonal decomposition of solar photospheric motions

The spatio-temporal dynamics of the solar photosphere is studied by performing a Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) of line of sight velocity fields computed from high resolution data coming from the MDI/SOHO instrument. Using this technique, we are able to identify and characterize the different dynamical regimes acting in the system. Low frequency oscillations, with frequencies in the range 20-130 microHz, dominate the most energetic POD modes (excluding solar rotation), and are characterized by spatial patterns with typical scales of about 3 Mm. Patterns with larger typical scales of 10 Mm, are associated to p-modes oscillations at frequencies of about 3000 microHz.Comment: 8 figures in jpg in press on PR

Study of second lightest neutralino spin measurement with ATLAS detector at LHC

One of the goals of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is to search for evidence of Supersymmetry (SUSY) signals. If SUSY would be discovered, it will be fundamental to measure the spin of the new particles in order to prove that they are indeed supersymmetric partners. Left-handed squark cascade decay to second lightest neutralino which further decays to slepton can represent a good opportunity for SUSY particles' spin measurement. Assuming the neutralino spin to be 1/2, the invariant mass distributions of some detectable final products of the reactions have to be charge asymmetric. In the present work the detectability of this charge asymmetry is analysed in the stau-coannihilation region and in the bulk region of the minimal Supergravity parameter space allowed by the latest experimental constraints. The criteria used to isolate the decay chain of interest and to reject the background, coming from both Standard Model and different SUSY decay channels, are described as obtained by suitable optimizations on Monte Carlo samples produced with the ATLAS fast simulation. The estimates of the residual contributions to background and of the applied cut efficiencies are presented. Results on charge asymmetry are then shown and discussed

Ageing test of the ATLAS RPCs at X5-GIF

An ageing test of three ATLAS production RPC stations is in course at X5-GIF, the CERN irradiation facility. The chamber efficiencies are monitored using cosmic rays triggered by a scintillator hodoscope. Higher statistics measurements are made when the X5 muon beam is available. We report here the measurements of the efficiency versus operating voltage at different source intensities, up to a maximum counting rate of about 700Hz/cm^2. We describe the performance of the chambers during the test up to an overall ageing of 4 ATLAS equivalent years corresponding to an integrated charge of 0.12C/cm^2, including a safety factor of 5.Comment: 4 pages. Presented at the VII Workshop on Resistive Plate Chambers and Related Detectors; Clermont-Ferrand October 20th-22nd, 200

Neutralino spin measurement with ATLAS detector at LHC

Minimal Supergravity (mSUGRA) [1] Supersimmetry breaking mechanism is a leading candidate for yielding new physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). Within mSUGRA framework masses, mixings and decays of all SUSY and Higgs particles are determined in terms of four input parameters and a sign: the common mass m 0 of scalar particles at the grand unification scale, the common fermion mass m 1/2, the common trilinear coupling A 0, the ratio of the Higgs vacuum expectation values tan β and the sign of the supersymmetric Higgs mass parameter μ. Once a signal of a physics beyond the Standard Model is seen at LHC, it will be fundamental to measure properties of new particles, like spin, in order to prove that they are indeed supersymmetric partners. The present work [2] is based on the spin analysis method proposed in [3] and allows the discrimination of different hypotheses for spin assignments. Some studies [4, 5] show that this method can also be used for the discrimination of SUSY from an Universal Extra Dimensions model which can mimick low energy SUSY at hadron colliders. In this report two selected points inside stau-coannihilation and bulk regions of the allowed mSUGRA parameter space are considered. Fast simulation [6] of the ATLAS detector was performed in order to investigate the feasibility of supersymmetric particles’ spin measurement