Artificial intelligence for improved fitting of trajectories of elementary particles in inhomogeneous dense materials immersed in a magnetic field

In this article, we use artificial intelligence algorithms to show how to enhance the resolution of the elementary particle track fitting in inhomogeneous dense detectors, such as plastic scintillators. We use deep learning to replace more traditional Bayesian filtering methods, drastically improving the reconstruction of the interacting particle kinematics. We show that a specific form of neural network, inherited from the field of natural language processing, is very close to the concept of a Bayesian filter that adopts a hyper-informative prior. Such a paradigm change can influence the design of future particle physics experiments and their data exploitation

Search for Matter-Dependent Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations in Super-Kamiokande

We consider muon neutrino to tau neutrino oscillations in the context of the Mass Varying Neutrino (MaVaN) model, where the neutrino mass can vary depending on the electron density along the flight path of the neutrino. Our analysis assumes a mechanism with dependence only upon the electron density, hence ordinary matter density, of the medium through which the neutrino travels. Fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino data from the Super--Kamiokande detector, taken from the entire SK--I period of 1489 live days, are compared to MaVaN model predictions. We find that, for the case of 2-flavor oscillations, and for the specific models tested, oscillation independent of electron density is favored over density dependence. Assuming maximal mixing, the best-fit case and the density-independent case do not differ significantly.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur

Solar neutrino measurements in Super-Kamiokande-I

The details of Super--Kamiokande--I's solar neutrino analysis are given. Solar neutrino measurement in Super--Kamiokande is a high statistics collection of $^8$B solar neutrinos via neutrino-electron scattering. The analysis method and results of the 1496 day data sample are presented. The final oscillation results for the data are also presented.Comment: 32pages, 57figures, submitted to Physical Review

Three flavor neutrino oscillation analysis of atmospheric neutrinos in Super-Kamiokande

We report on the results of a three-flavor oscillation analysis using Super-Kamiokande~I atmospheric neutrino data, with the assumption of one mass scale dominance ($\Delta m_{12}^2$$=$0). No significant flux change due to matter effect, which occurs when neutrinos propagate inside the Earth for $\theta_{13}$$\neq$0, has been seen either in a multi-GeV $\nu_e$-rich sample or in a $\nu_\mu$-rich sample. Both normal and inverted mass hierarchy hypotheses are tested and both are consistent with observation. Using Super-Kamiokande data only, 2-dimensional 90 % confidence allowed regions are obtained: mixing angles are constrained to $\sin^2\theta_{13} < 0.14$ and $0.37 < \sin^2\theta_{23} < 0.65$ for the normal mass hierarchy. Weaker constraints, $\sin^2\theta_{13} < 0.27$ and $0.37 < \sin^2\theta_{23} < 0.69$, are obtained for the inverted mass hierarchy case.Comment: 7 figures, 3 table

Search for Neutral Q-balls in Super-Kamiokande II

A search for Q-balls induced groups of successive contained events has been carried out in Super-Kamiokande II with 541.7 days of live time. Neutral Q-balls would emit pions when colliding with nuclei, generating a signal of successive contained pion events along a track. No candidate for successive contained event groups has been found in Super-Kamiokande II, so upper limits on the possible flux of such Q-balls have been obtained.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to Phys. Lett.

A Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Flux Consistent with Tau Neutrino Appearance

A search for the appearance of tau neutrinos from \mutau oscillations in the atmospheric neutrinos has been performed using 1489.2 days of atmospheric neutrino data from the Super-Kamiokande-I experiment. A best fit tau neutrino appearance signal of 138 $\pm$ 48 (stat.) $^{+15}_{-32}$ (sys.) events is obtained with an expectation of 78 $\pm$ 26 (sys.). The hypothesis of no tau neutrino appearance is disfavored by 2.4 sigma.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, submitted to PR

Solar neutrino measurements in Super-Kamiokande-II

The results of the second phase of the Super-Kamiokande solar neutrino measurement are presented and compared to the first phase. The solar neutrino flux spectrum and time-variation as well as oscillation results are statistically consistent with the first phase and do not show spectral distortion. The time-dependent flux measurement of the combined first and second phases coincides with the full period of solar cycle 23 and shows no correlation with solar activity. The measured boron 8 total flux is 2.38 +/-0.05(stat.) +0.16-0.15(sys.) X 10^6 cm^-2 sec^-1 and the day-night difference is found to be -6.3 +/-4.2(stat.) +/-3.7(sys.) %. There is no evidence of systematic tendencies between the first and second phases

The ‘mosaic habitat’ concept in human evolution: past and present

The habitats preferred by hominins and other species are an important theme in palaeoanthropology, and the ‘mosaic habitat’ (also referred to as habitat heterogeneity) has been a central concept in this regard for the last four decades. Here we explore the development of this concept – loosely defined as a range of different habitat types, such as woodlands, riverine forest and savannah within a limited spatial area– in studies of human evolution in the last sixty years or so. We outline the key developments that took place before and around the time when the term ‘mosaic’ came to wider palaeoanthropological attention. To achieve this we used an analysis of the published literature, a study of illustrations of hominin evolution from 1925 onwards and an email survey of senior researchers in palaeoanthropology and related fields. We found that the term mosaic starts to be applied in palaeoanthropological thinking during the 1970’s due to the work of a number of researchers, including Karl Butzer and Glynn Isaac , with the earliest usage we have found of ‘mosaic’ in specific reference to hominin habitats being by Adriaan Kortlandt (1972). While we observe a steady increase in the numbers of publications reporting mosaic palaeohabitats, in keeping with the growing interest and specialisation in various methods of palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, we also note that there is a lack of critical studies that define this habitat, or examine the temporal and spatial scales associated with it. The general consensus within the field is that the concept now requires more detailed definition and study to evaluate its role in human evolution

Numbers and language : what's new in the past 25 years?

Numerous studies in psychology, cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics have used pictures of objects as stimulus materials. Currently, authors engaged in cross-linguistic work or wishing to run parallel studies at multiple sites where different languages are spoken must rely on rather small sets of black-and-white or colored line drawings. These sets are increasingly experienced as being too limited. Therefore, we constructed a new set of 750 colored pictures of concrete concepts. This set, MultiPic, constitutes a new valuable tool for cognitive scientists investigating language, visual perception, memory and/or attention in monolingual or multilingual populations. Importantly, the MultiPic databank has been normed in six different European languages (British English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Italian and German). All stimuli and norms are freely available at http://www.bcbl.eu/databases/multipi