Design and optimization of a laser-PIXE beamline for material science applications

Multi-MeV proton beams can be generated by irradiating thin solid foils with ultra-intense (>10^18 W/cm^2) short laser pulses. Several of their characteristics, such as high bunch charge and short pulse duration, make them a complementary alternative to conventional radio frequency-based accelerators. A potential material science application is the chemical analysis of cultural heritage (CH) artifacts. The complete chemistry of the bulk material (ceramics, metals) can be retrieved through sophisticated nuclear techniques such as particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE). Recently, the use of laser-generated proton beams was introduced as diagnostics in material science (laser-PIXE or laser-driven PIXE): Coupling laser-generated proton sources to conventional beam steering devices successfully enhances the capture and transport of the laser-accelerated beam. This leads to a reduction of the high divergence and broad energy spread at the source. The design of our hybrid beamline is composed of an energy selector, followed by permanent quadrupole magnets aiming for better control and manipulation of the final proton beam parameters. This allows tailoring both, mean proton energy and spot sizes, yet keeping the system compact. We performed a theoretical study optimizing a beamline for laser-PIXE applications. Our design enables monochromatizing the beam and shaping its final spot size. We obtain spot sizes ranging between a fraction of mm up to cm scale at a fraction of nC proton charge per shot. These results pave the way for a versatile and tunable laserPIXE at a multi-Hz repetition rate using modern commercially available laser systems

Simulation of instability at transition energy with a new impedance model for CERN PS

Instabilities driven by the transverse impedance are proven to be one of the limitations for the high intensity reach of the CERN PS. Since several years, fast single bunch vertical instability at transition energy has been observed with the high intensity bunch serving the neutron Time-of-Flight facility (n-ToF). In order to better understand the instability mechanism, a dedicated measurement campaign took place. The results were compared with macro-particle simulations with PyHEADTAIL based on the new impedance model developed for the PS. Instability threshold and growth rate for different longitudinal emittances and beam intensities were studied

Chromaticity dependence of the transverse effective impedance in the CERN Proton Synchrotron

The current knowledge of the transverse beam coupling impedance of the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS) has been established with beam-based measurements at different energies. The transverse coherent tune shift as a function of the beam intensity has been measured in order to evaluate the total effective imaginary part of the transverse impedance in the accelerator at the energies of 7, 13 and 25 GeV. Measurements have been performed changing the vertical chromaticity for each vertical tune scan with intensity. The data analysis revealed an increase of impedance with chromaticity for all the considered energies. The transverse impedance can be compared with the previously evaluated theoretical impedance budget taking into account the individual contribution of several machine devices

Extraction of Significant Video Summaries by Dendrogram Analysis

In the current video analysis scenario, effective clustering of shots facilitates the access to the content and helps in understanding the associated semantics. This paper introduces a cluster analysis on shots which employs dendrogram representation to produce hierarchical summaries of the video document. Vector quantization codebooks are used to represent the visual content and to group the shots with similar chromatic consistency. The evaluation of the cluster codebook distortions, and the exploitation of the dependency relationships on the dendrograms, allow to obtain only a few significant summaries of the whole video. Finally the user can navigate through summaries and decide which one best suites his/her needs for eventual post-processing. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by testing it on a collection of video-data from different kinds of programmes. Results are evaluated in terms of metrics that measure the content representational value of the summarization technique

Video Shot Clustering and Summarization through dendrograms

In the context of analysis of video documents, effective clustering of shots facilitates the access to the content and helps in understanding the associated semantics. This paper introduces a cluster analysis on video shots which employs dendrogram representation to produce hierarchical summaries of the video document. Vector quantization codebooks are used to represent the visual content and to group the shots with similar chromatic consistency. The evaluation of the cluster codebook distortions, and the exploitation of the dependency relationships on the dendrogram, allow to obtain only a few significant summaries of the whole video. Finally the user can navigate through summaries and decide which one best suites his/her needs for eventual post processing. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated, on a collection of different video programmes, in term of metrics that measure the content representational value of the summarization technique

Effective Image Fingerprint Extraction Based on Random Bubble Sampling

In this paper we propose an algorithm for image fingerprint extraction based on random selection of circular bubbles on the considered image. In more detail, a fingerprint vector is associated to the image, the components of which are the variances of pixel luminance values in randomly selected circular zones of the image. The positions and radius of these bubbles result from a random selection, whose parameters are user-defined. The obtained fingerprint has then been used for content-based image retrieval, using the standard euclidean distance as similarity metric between the extracted features. Experiments based on the detection of various linearly and nonlinearly distorted versions of a test image in a large database show very promising results

Hierarchical Video Summaries by Dendrogram Cluster Analysis

In the current video analysis scenario, effective summarization of video sequences through shot clustering facilitates the access to the content and helps in understanding the associated semantics. This paper introduces a generic scheme to produce hierarchical summaries of the video document starting from a dendrogram representation of clusters of shots. The evaluation of the cluster distortions, and the exploitation of the dependency relationships between clusters on the dendrograms, allow to obtain only a few semantically significant summaries of the whole video. Finally the user can navigate through summaries and decide which one best suites his/her needs for eventual post-processing. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by testing it on a collection of video-data from different kinds of programmes, using and comparing different visual features on color information. Results are evaluated in terms of metrics that measure the content representational value of the summarization technique

Synchronous Waves in the LHC Beam Screen with Ribbed Surface

The problem of the wake field generated by a relativistic particle travelling in a long beam tube with rough surface has been revisited by means of a standard theory based on the hybrid modes excited in a periodically corrugated rectangular waveguide. Slow waves synchronous with the particle can be excited in the structure, producing wake fields whose frequency and amplitude depend on the depth of the corrugation. The main features of the longitudinal wake, especially relevant for very short bunches, and its possible effect on proton bunches in the LHC beam screen with ribbed surface are discussed

Treatment of Palatally Displaced Canines Using Miniscrews for Direct or Indirect Anchorage: A Three-Dimensional Prospective Cohort Study on Tooth Movement Speed

Palatally impacted canines are usually challenging to treat in terms of both biomechanics and possible side effects. Different therapeutic approaches have been reported with or without the use of temporary anchorage devices, including the canine-first approach. Two groups of patients with palatally impacted canines were compared, observing their canine movement measured on consecutive CBCTs after three months of treatment. In the control group, impacted canines were treated with direct anchorage on miniscrews, and in the test group with indirect anchorage using a miniscrew-supported transpalatal arch. The primary outcome was the canine movement speed; the secondary outcome was the change in the root length of adjacent teeth. The median monthly apex speed was 1.05 mm in the control group (IR [0.74, 1.64]) and 0.72 mm in the test group (IR [0.27, 1.30]). The median monthly cusp displacement was 1.89 mm in the control group (IR [1.04, 2.84]) and 1.08 mm in the test group (IR [0.81, 1.91]). Approximately 50% of teeth adjacent to an impacted canine underwent a negative root length change of less than 1 mm in the majority of cases, but no significant differences were found in root length changes between groups. No statistically significant differences in the reported speeds were found, and no miniscrew failures were observed in either group