The molecular gas content of the Pipe Nebula I. Direct evidence of outflow-generated turbulence in B59?

The Pipe Nebula is a molecular cloud hosting the B59 region as its only active star-forming clump. While the particular importance of outflows in active star forming regions is subject of debate, the quiet nature of the gas in B59 makes it a good site to directly see the impact of protostellar feedback on the quiescent dense gas. Using HARP at the JCMT, we mapped the B59 region with the J=3-2 transition of 12CO to study the kinematics and energetics of the outflows, and 13CO and C18O to study the overall dynamics of the ambient cloud, the physical properties of the gas, and the hierarchical structure of the region. The B59 region has a total of 30Msun of cold and quiescent material, mostly gravitationally bound, with narrow line widths throughout. Such low levels of turbulence in non-star-forming sites of B59 are indicative of the intrinsic initial conditions of the cloud. On the other hand, close to the forming protostars the impact of the outflows is observed as a localised increase of both line widths from 0.3 to 1 km/s, and 13CO excitation temperatures by 2-3K. The impact of the outflows is also evident in the low column density material which shows signs of being pushed, shaped and carved by the outflow bow shocks as they pierce their way out of the cloud. Much of this structure is readily apparent in a dendrogram analysis of the cloud. The low mass of B59 together with its intrinsically quiescent gas and small number of protostars, allows the identification of specific regions where the outflows from the embedded sources interact the dense gas. Our study suggests that outflows are an important mechanism for injecting and sustaining supersonic turbulence at sub-parsec size scales. We find that less than half of the outflow energy is deposited as turbulent energy of the gas, however this turbulent energy is sufficient to slow down the collapse of the region.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

Evidence for dust evolution within the Taurus Complex from Spitzer images

We present Spitzer images of the Taurus Complex (TC) and take advantage of the sensitivity and spatial resolution of the observations to characterize the diffuse IR emission across the cloud. This work highlights evidence of dust evolution within the translucent sections of the archetype reference for studies of quiescent molecular clouds. We combine Spitzer 160 um and IRAS 100 um observations to produce a dust temperature map and a far-IR dust opacity map at 5' resolution. The average dust temperature is about 14.5K with a dispersion of +/-1K across the cloud. The far-IR dust opacity is a factor 2 larger than the average value for the diffuse ISM. This opacity increase and the attenuation of the radiation field (RF) both contribute to account for the lower emission temperature of the large grains. The structure of the TC significantly changes in the mid-IR images that trace emission from PAHs and VSGs. We focus our analysis of the mid-IR emission to a range of ecliptic latitudes where the zodiacal light residuals are small. Within this cloud area, there are no 8 and 24 um counterparts to the brightest 160 um emission features. Conversely, the 8 and 24 um images reveal filamentary structure that is strikingly inconspicuous in the 160 um and extinction maps. The IR colors vary over sub-parsec distances across this filamentary structure. We compare the observed colors with model calculations quantifying the impact of the RF intensity and the abundance of stochastically heated particles on the dust SED. To match the range of observed colors, we have to invoke variations by a factor of a few of both the interstellar RF and the abundance of PAHs and VSGs. We conclude that within this filamentary structure a significant fraction of the dust mass cycles in and out the small size end of the dust size distribution.Comment: 43 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Working paper analysing the economic implications of the proposed 30% target for areal protection in the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framewor

58 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables- The World Economic Forum now ranks biodiversity loss as a top-five risk to the global economy, and the draft post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework proposes an expansion of conservation areas to 30% of the earth’s surface by 2030 (hereafter the “30% target”), using protected areas (PAs) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs). - Two immediate concerns are how much a 30% target might cost and whether it will cause economic losses to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors. - Conservation areas also generate economic benefits (e.g. revenue from nature tourism and ecosystem services), making PAs/Nature an economic sector in their own right. - If some economic sectors benefit but others experience a loss, high-level policy makers need to know the net impact on the wider economy, as well as on individual sectors. [...]A. Waldron, K. Nakamura, J. Sze, T. Vilela, A. Escobedo, P. Negret Torres, R. Button, K. Swinnerton, A. Toledo, P. Madgwick, N. Mukherjee were supported by National Geographic and the Resources Legacy Fund. V. Christensen was supported by NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2019-04901. M. Coll and J. Steenbeek were supported by EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 817578 (TRIATLAS). D. Leclere was supported by TradeHub UKRI CGRF project. R. Heneghan was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Acciones de Programacion Conjunta Internacional (PCIN-2017-115). M. di Marco was supported by MIUR Rita Levi Montalcini programme. A. Fernandez-Llamazares was supported by Academy of Finland (grant nr. 311176). S. Fujimori and T. Hawegawa were supported by The Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (2-2002) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan and the Sumitomo Foundation. V. Heikinheimo was supported by Kone Foundation, Social Media for Conservation project. K. Scherrer was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 682602. U. Rashid Sumaila acknowledges the OceanCanada Partnership, which funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). T. Toivonen was supported by Osk. Huttunen Foundation & Clare Hall college, Cambridge. W. Wu was supported by The Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (2-2002) of the Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan. Z. Yuchen was supported by a Ministry of Education of Singapore Research Scholarship Block (RSB) Research FellowshipPeer reviewe

Measurement of detector-corrected observables sensitive to the anomalous production of events with jets and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

Observables sensitive to the anomalous production of events containing hadronic jets and missing momentum in the plane transverse to the proton beams at the Large Hadron Collider are presented. The observables are defined as a ratio of cross sections, for events containing jets and large missing transverse momentum to events containing jets and a pair of charged leptons from the decay of a Z/γ ∗ boson. This definition minimises experimental and theoretical systematic uncertainties in the measurements. This ratio is measured differentially with respect to a number of kinematic properties of the hadronic system in two phase-space regions; one inclusive single-jet region and one region sensitive to vectorboson- fusion topologies. The data are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model predictions and used to constrain a variety of theoretical models for dark-matter production, including simplified models, effective field theory models, and invisible decays of the Higgs boson. The measurements use 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV and are fully corrected for detector effects, meaning that the data can be used to constrain new-physics models beyond those shown in this paper

Search for heavy lepton partners of neutrinos in proton-proton collisions in the context of the type III seesaw mechanism

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official publishe version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 ElsevierA search is presented in proton–proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7TeV for fermionic triplet states expected in type III seesaw models. The search is performed using final states with three isolated charged leptons and an imbalance in transverse momentum. The data, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb−1. No excess of events is observed above the background predicted by the standard model, and the results are interpreted in terms of limits on production cross sections and masses of the heavy partners of the neutrinos in type III seesaw models. Depending on the considered scenarios, lower limits are obtained on the mass of the heavy partner of the neutrino that range from 180 to 210 GeV. These are the first limits on the production of type III seesaw fermionic triplet states reported by an experiment at the LHC.This study is spported by the BMWF and FWF (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MEYS (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); MoER, SF0690030s09 and ERDF (Estonia); Academy of Finland, MEC, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); MSI (New Zealand); PAEC (Pakistan); MSHE and NSC (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MON, RosAtom, RAS and RFBR (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); SEIDI and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); ThEP, IPST and NECTEC (Thailand); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); NASU (Ukraine); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA). Individuals have received support from the Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the A. P. Sloan Foundation; the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office; the Fonds pour la Formation a la Recherche dans l’Industrie et dans l’Agriculture (FRIA-Belgium); the Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie (IWT-Belgium); the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MEYS) of Czech Republic; the Council of Science and Industrial Research, India; the Compagnia di San Paolo (Torino); and the HOMING PLUS programme of Foundation for Polish Science, cofinanced from European Union, Regional Development Fund

Search for excited leptons in pp collisions at √s=7 TeV

This is the pre-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link belowResults are presented of a search for compositeness in electrons and muons using a data sample of pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy √s=7 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb−15.0 fb−1. Excited leptons (ℓ⁎) are assumed to be produced via contact interactions in conjunction with a standard model lepton and to decay via ℓ⁎→ℓγ, yielding a final state with two energetic leptons and a photon. The number of events observed in data is consistent with that expected from the standard model. The 95% confidence upper limits for the cross section for the production and decay of excited electrons (muons), with masses ranging from 0.6 to 2 TeV, are 1.48 to 1.24 fb (1.31 to 1.11 fb). Excited leptons with masses below 1.9 TeV are excluded for the case where the contact interaction scale equals the excited lepton mass. The limits on the cross sections are the most stringent ones published to date

Search for microscopic black hole signatures at the Large Hadron Collider

This is the Pre-Print version of the Article. The official published paper can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2011 ElsevierA search for microscopic black hole production and decay in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV has been conducted by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35 inverse picobarns. Events with large total transverse energy are analyzed for the presence of multiple high-energy jets, leptons, and photons, typical of a signal expected from a microscopic black hole. Good agreement with the expected standard model backgrounds, dominated by QCD multijet production, is observed for various final-state multiplicities. Limits on the minimum black hole mass are set, in the range 3.5 -- 4.5 TeV, for a variety of parameters in a model with large extra dimensions, along with model-independent limits on new physics in these final states. These are the first direct limits on black hole production at a particle accelerator.This work is supported by the FMSR (Austria); FNRS and FWO (Belgium); CNPq, CAPES, FAPERJ, and FAPESP (Brazil); MES (Bulgaria); CERN; CAS, MoST, and NSFC (China); COLCIENCIAS (Colombia); MSES (Croatia); RPF (Cyprus); Academy of Sciences and NICPB (Estonia); Academy of Finland, ME, and HIP (Finland); CEA and CNRS/IN2P3 (France); BMBF, DFG, and HGF (Germany); GSRT (Greece); OTKA and NKTH (Hungary); DAE and DST (India); IPM (Iran); SFI (Ireland); INFN (Italy); NRF and WCU (Korea); LAS (Lithuania); CINVESTAV, CONACYT, SEP, and UASLP-FAI (Mexico); PAEC (Pakistan); SCSR (Poland); FCT (Portugal); JINR (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan); MST and MAE (Russia); MSTD (Serbia); MICINN and CPAN (Spain); Swiss Funding Agencies (Switzerland); NSC (Taipei); TUBITAK and TAEK (Turkey); STFC (United Kingdom); DOE and NSF (USA)