973 research outputs found
Thermo-mechanical behaviour of a compacted swelling clay
Compacted unsaturated swelling clay is often considered as a possible buffer
material for deep nuclear waste disposal. An isotropic cell permitting
simultaneous control of suction, temperature and pressure was used to study the
thermo-mechanical behaviour of this clay. Tests were performed at total
suctions ranging from 9 to 110 MPa, temperature from 25 to 80 degrees C,
isotropic pressure from 0.1 to 60 MPa. It was observed that heating at constant
suction and pressure induces either swelling or contraction. The results from
compression tests at constant suction and temperature evidenced that at lower
suction, the yield pressure was lower, the elastic compressibility parameter
and the plastic compressibility parameter were higher. On the other hand, at a
similar suction, the yield pressure was slightly influenced by the temperature;
and the compressibility parameters were insensitive to temperature changes. The
thermal hardening phenomenon was equally evidenced by following a
thermo-mechanical path of loading-heating-cooling-reloading
The Fast Read-out System for the MAPMTs of COMPASS RICH-1
A fast readout system for the upgrade of the COMPASS RICH detector has been
developed and successfully used for data taking in 2006 and 2007. The new
readout system for the multi-anode PMTs in the central part of the photon
detector of the RICH is based on the high-sensitivity MAD4
preamplifier-discriminator and the dead-time free F1-TDC chip characterized by
high-resolution. The readout electronics has been designed taking into account
the high photon flux in the central part of the detector and the requirement to
run at high trigger rates of up to 100 kHz with negligible dead-time. The
system is designed as a very compact setup and is mounted directly behind the
multi-anode photomultipliers. The data are digitized on the frontend boards and
transferred via optical links to the readout system. The read-out electronics
system is described in detail together with its measured performances.Comment: Proceeding of RICH2007 Conference, Trieste, Oct. 2007. v2: minor
change
Fast Photon Detection for Particle Identification with COMPASS RICH-1
Particle identification at high rates is an important challenge for many
current and future high-energy physics experiments. The upgrade of the COMPASS
RICH-1 detector requires a new technique for Cherenkov photon detection at
count rates of several per channel in the central detector region, and a
read-out system allowing for trigger rates of up to 100 kHz. To cope with these
requirements, the photon detectors in the central region have been replaced
with the detection system described in this paper. In the peripheral regions,
the existing multi-wire proportional chambers with CsI photocathode are now
read out via a new system employing APV pre-amplifiers and flash ADC chips. The
new detection system consists of multi-anode photomultiplier tubes (MAPMT) and
fast read-out electronics based on the MAD4 discriminator and the F1-TDC chip.
The RICH-1 is in operation in its upgraded version for the 2006 CERN SPS run.
We present the photon detection design, constructive aspects and the first
Cherenkov light in the detector.Comment: Proceedings of the Imaging 2006 conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 27-30
June 2006, 5 pages, 6 figures, to appear in NIM A; corrected typo in caption
of Fig.
Fast photon detection for the COMPASS RICH detector
The COMPASS experiment at the SPS accelerator at CERN uses a large scale Ring
Imaging CHerenkov detector (RICH) to identify pions, kaons and protons in a
wide momentum range. For the data taking in 2006, the COMPASS RICH has been
upgraded in the central photon detection area (25% of the surface) with a new
technology to detect Cherenkov photons at very high count rates of several 10^6
per second and channel and a new dead-time free read-out system, which allows
trigger rates up to 100 kHz. The Cherenkov photons are detected by an array of
576 visible and ultra-violet sensitive multi-anode photomultipliers with 16
channels each. The upgraded detector showed an excellent performance during the
2006 data taking.Comment: Proceeding of the IPRD06 conference (Siena, Okt. 06
Influence of environment on the corrosion of glass–metal connections
'Glass sensors' of the eighteenth century Backer glass and the sixteenth century enamel from Limoges have been chosen for a series of experiments. Combinations of these materials with different base materials such as copper and bronze has been investigated. To create surface changes on the 'glass sensor', a corrosion process was induced in a controlled environment. A variety of corrosive agents such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, water and formaldehyde were used. The sample immersed in the corrosive solution was exposed alternately to light and high temperature for a total of 38 weeks. During this period, macroscopic and microscopic observations were made and series of tests such as SEM/EDS and Raman spectroscopy were performed on the surface of the samples. ICP-MS methods were used to determine the change in the chemical composition of the solutions where the samples had corroded. The primary aim of this study was to identify the impact of a number of external corrosive variables such as temperature, humidity and local environment to identify the most damaging environments for glass–metal objects. The obtained results showed the chemical and physical phenomena acting on the surface of the glass, metal or in the place of their joints. Information obtained on this study was used to explain the influence of the environment on the surface of glass–metal materials. Results can be used in the design of conservation work as well as for sustainable conservation
Measurement of the Longitudinal Spin Transfer to Lambda and Anti-Lambda Hyperons in Polarised Muon DIS
The longitudinal polarisation transfer from muons to lambda and anti-lambda
hyperons, D_LL, has been studied in deep inelastic scattering off an
unpolarised isoscalar target at the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The spin
transfers to lambda and anti-lambda produced in the current fragmentation
region exhibit different behaviours as a function of x and xF . The measured x
and xF dependences of D^lambda_LL are compatible with zero, while
D^anti-lambda_LL tends to increase with xF, reaching values of 0.4 - 0.5. The
resulting average values are D^lambda_LL = -0.012 +- 0.047 +- 0.024 and
D^anti-lambda_LL = 0.249 +- 0.056 +- 0.049. These results are discussed in the
frame of recent model calculations.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
The Polarised Valence Quark Distribution from semi-inclusive DIS
The semi-inclusive difference asymmetry A^{h^{+}-h^{-}} for hadrons of
opposite charge has been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data
were collected in the years 2002-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam
scattered off a large polarised ^6LiD target and cover the range 0.006 < x <
0.7 and 1 < Q^2 < 100 (GeV/c)^2. In leading order QCD (LO) the asymmetry
A_d^{h^{+}-h^{-}} measures the valence quark polarisation and provides an
evaluation of the first moment of Delta u_v + Delta d_v which is found to be
equal to 0.40 +- 0.07 (stat.) +- 0.05 (syst.) over the measured range of x at
Q^2 = 10 (GeV/c)^2. When combined with the first moment of g_1^d previously
measured on the same data, this result favours a non-symmetric polarisation of
light quarks Delta u-bar = - Delta d-bar at a confidence level of two standard
deviations, in contrast to the often assumed symmetric scenario Delta u-bar =
Delta d-bar = Delta s-bar = Delta s.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, COMPASS, revised: details added, author list
update
Azimuthal asymmetries of charged hadrons produced by high-energy muons scattered off longitudinally polarised deuterons
Azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive production of positive (h^+) and
negative hadrons (h^-) have been measured by scattering 160 GeV muons off
longitudinally polarised deuterons at CERN. The asymmetries were decomposed in
several terms according to their expected modulation in the azimuthal angle phi
of the outgoing hadron. Each term receives contributions from one or several
spin and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution and fragmentation
functions. The amplitudes of all phi-modulation terms of the hadron asymmetries
integrated over the kinematic variables are found to be consistent with zero
within statistical errors, while the constant terms are nonzero and equal for
h^+ and h^- within the statistical errors. The dependencies of the
phi-modulated terms versus the Bjorken momentum fraction x, the hadron
fractional momentum z, and the hadron transverse momentum p_h^T were studied.
The x dependence of the constant terms for both positive and negative hadrons
is in agreement with the longitudinal double-spin hadron asymmetries, measured
in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The x dependence of the sin
phi-modulation term is less pronounced than that in the corresponding HERMES
data. All other dependencies of the phi-modulation amplitudes are consistent
with zero within the statistical errors.Comment: 12 pages, 11 Figures; revision 1 signs in Eq 5 corrected, polishe
Virgo calibration and reconstruction of the gravitational wave strain during VSR1
Virgo is a kilometer-length interferometer for gravitational waves detection
located near Pisa. Its first science run, VSR1, occured from May to October
2007. The aims of the calibration are to measure the detector sensitivity and
to reconstruct the time series of the gravitational wave strain h(t). The
absolute length calibration is based on an original non-linear reconstruction
of the differential arm length variations in free swinging Michelson
configurations. It uses the laser wavelength as length standard. This method is
used to calibrate the frequency dependent response of the Virgo mirror
actuators and derive the detector in-loop response and sensitivity within ~5%.
The principle of the strain reconstruction is highlighted and the h(t)
systematic errors are estimated. A photon calibrator is used to check the sign
of h(t). The reconstructed h(t) during VSR1 is valid from 10 Hz up to 10 kHz
with systematic errors estimated to 6% in amplitude. The phase error is
estimated to be 70 mrad below 1.9 kHz and 6 micro-seconds above.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, proceedings of Amaldi 8 conference, to be
published in Journal of Physics Conference Series (JPCS). Second release:
correct typo
Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+
The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive
dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190
GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been
performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared
4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances
a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data
show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with
spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The
resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase
differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a
resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2
is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged;
version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange
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