ATHENA detector proposal - a totally hermetic electron nucleus apparatus proposed for IP6 at the Electron-Ion Collider

ATHENA has been designed as a general purpose detector capable of delivering the full scientific scope of the Electron-Ion Collider. Careful technology choices provide fine tracking and momentum resolution, high performance electromagnetic and hadronic calorimetry, hadron identification over a wide kinematic range, and near-complete hermeticity.This article describes the detector design and its expected performance in the most relevant physics channels. It includes an evaluation of detector technology choices, the technical challenges to realizing the detector and the R&D required to meet those challenges

FePO4 nanoparticles produced by an industrially scalable continuous-flow method are an available form of P and Fe for cucumber and maize plants

Nanomaterials are widely used in medical and pharmaceutical fields, but their application in plant nutrition is at its infancy. Phosphorous (P) and iron (Fe) are essential mineral nutrients limiting in a wide range of conditions the yield of crops. Phosphate and Fe fertilizers to-date on the market display low efficiency (P fertilizers) to overcome these problems, we developed a continuous industrially scalable method to produce FePO4 NPs based on the rapid mixing of salt solutions in a mixing chamber. The process, that included the addition of citrate as capping agent allowed to obtain a stable suspension of NPs over the time. The NPs were tested for their effectiveness as P and Fe sources on two hydroponically grown crop species (cucumber and maize) comparing their effects to those exerted by non-nanometric FePO4 (bulk FePO4). The results showed that FePO4 NPs improved the availability of P and Fe, if compared to the non-nano counterpart, as demonstrated by leaf SPAD indexes, fresh biomasses and P and Fe contents in tissues. The results open a new avenue in the application of nanosized material in the field of plant nutrition and fertilization