On the universality of small scale turbulence

The proposed universality of small scale turbulence is investigated for a set of measurements in a cryogenic free jet with a variation of the Reynolds number (Re) from 8500 to 10^6. The traditional analysis of the statistics of velocity increments by means of structure functions or probability density functions is replaced by a new method which is based on the theory of stochastic Markovian processes. It gives access to a more complete characterization by means of joint probabilities of finding velocity increments at several scales. Based on this more precise method our results call in question the concept of universality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Level 0 trigger decision unit for the LHCb experiment

The Level-0 Decision Unit (L0DU) is the central part of the first trigger level of the LHCb detector. The L0DU receives information from the Calorimeter, Muon and Pile-Up sub-triggers, with fixed latencies, at 40 MHz via 24 high speed optical fiber links running at 1.6 Gb/s. The L0DU performs simple physics algorithm to compute the decision in order to reduce the data flow down to 1 MHz for the next trigger level and a L0Block is constructed. The processing is implemented in FPGA using a 40 MHz synchronous pipelined architecture. The algorithm can be easily configured with the Experiment Control System (ECS) without FPGA reprogramming. The L0DU is a 16 layer custom board

Contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb

La contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb est d etaillée dans ce document et s'inscrit dans le prolongement du Framework TDR soumis au LHCC le 25 mai 2012. La France a contribué à la conception et à la réalisation de la mécanique et de l'électronique de lecture des calorimètres. Elle est l'acteur principal du système de déclenchement de premier niveau et l'initiatrice du projet DIRAC, progiciel de traitement et d'analyse de données dans un environnement distribué. Les physiciens et ingénieurs français ont de nombreuses responsabilités de premier plan et sont très fortement impliqués dans l'analyse des données. Les groupes français souhaitent poursuivre leur forte participation a l'expérience en contribuant a son upgrade, notamment l'électronique de lecture des calorimètres et du trajectographe en fibres scintillantes ainsi qu'au data processing

Contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb

La contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb est d etaillée dans ce document et s'inscrit dans le prolongement du Framework TDR soumis au LHCC le 25 mai 2012. La France a contribué à la conception et à la réalisation de la mécanique et de l'électronique de lecture des calorimètres. Elle est l'acteur principal du système de déclenchement de premier niveau et l'initiatrice du projet DIRAC, progiciel de traitement et d'analyse de données dans un environnement distribué. Les physiciens et ingénieurs français ont de nombreuses responsabilités de premier plan et sont très fortement impliqués dans l'analyse des données. Les groupes français souhaitent poursuivre leur forte participation a l'expérience en contribuant a son upgrade, notamment l'électronique de lecture des calorimètres et du trajectographe en fibres scintillantes ainsi qu'au data processing

Évolution de la contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb

Ce document décrit l'évolution de la contribution française à l'upgrade de LHCb. Il s'inscrit dans le prolongement de la Lettre d'Intention [1], du Framework TDR [2], du document soumis au Conseil scientifique de l'IN2P3 le 21 juin 2012 [3], et des Technical Design Reports soumis au LHCC en novembre 2013 [4, 5]. Ces derniers concernent le détecteur de vertex et les détecteurs utilisés dans l'identification des particules. La contribution française s'est cristallisée autour de quatre grands projets : l'électronique front-end des calorimètres et du trajectographe à fibres scintillantes, le système de déclenchement de premier niveau et la carte de lecture à 40MHz commune à l'ensemble des sous-systèmes. Dans ce document nous décrivons les contributions envisagées et les ressources nécessaires pour mener à bien ces projets

The Cyst-Dividing Bacterium Ramlibacter tataouinensis TTB310 Genome Reveals a Well-Stocked Toolbox for Adaptation to a Desert Environment

Ramlibacter tataouinensis TTB310T (strain TTB310), a betaproteobacterium isolated from a semi-arid region of South Tunisia (Tataouine), is characterized by the presence of both spherical and rod-shaped cells in pure culture. Cell division of strain TTB310 occurs by the binary fission of spherical “cyst-like” cells (“cyst-cyst” division). The rod-shaped cells formed at the periphery of a colony (consisting mainly of cysts) are highly motile and colonize a new environment, where they form a new colony by reversion to cyst-like cells. This unique cell cycle of strain TTB310, with desiccation tolerant cyst-like cells capable of division and desiccation sensitive motile rods capable of dissemination, appears to be a novel adaptation for life in a hot and dry desert environment. In order to gain insights into strain TTB310's underlying genetic repertoire and possible mechanisms responsible for its unusual lifestyle, the genome of strain TTB310 was completely sequenced and subsequently annotated. The complete genome consists of a single circular chromosome of 4,070,194 bp with an average G+C content of 70.0%, the highest among the Betaproteobacteria sequenced to date, with total of 3,899 predicted coding sequences covering 92% of the genome. We found that strain TTB310 has developed a highly complex network of two-component systems, which may utilize responses to light and perhaps a rudimentary circadian hourglass to anticipate water availability at the dew time in the middle/end of the desert winter nights and thus direct the growth window to cyclic water availability times. Other interesting features of the strain TTB310 genome that appear to be important for desiccation tolerance, including intermediary metabolism compounds such as trehalose or polyhydroxyalkanoate, and signal transduction pathways, are presented and discussed

Sunlight-Exposed Biofilm Microbial Communities Are Naturally Resistant to Chernobyl Ionizing-Radiation Levels

BACKGROUND: The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities is practically non-existent, except for a few reports on human pathogens or soil microorganisms. Environments enduring extreme desiccation and UV radiation, such as sunlight exposed biofilms could in principle select for organisms highly resistant to ionizing radiation as well. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To test this hypothesis, we explored the diversity of microorganisms belonging to the three domains of life by cultivation-independent approaches in biofilms developing on concrete walls or pillars in the Chernobyl area exposed to different levels of radiation, and we compared them with a similar biofilm from a non-irradiated site in Northern Ireland. Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria and Deinococcales were the most consistently detected bacterial groups, whereas green algae (Chlorophyta) and ascomycete fungi (Ascomycota) dominated within the eukaryotes. Close relatives to the most radio-resistant organisms known, including Rubrobacter species, Deinococcales and melanized ascomycete fungi were always detected. The diversity of bacteria and eukaryotes found in the most highly irradiated samples was comparable to that of less irradiated Chernobyl sites and Northern Ireland. However, the study of mutation frequencies in non-coding ITS regions versus SSU rRNA genes in members of a same actinobacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) present in Chernobyl samples and Northern Ireland showed a positive correlation between increased radiation and mutation rates. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that biofilm microbial communities in the most irradiated samples are comparable to non-irradiated samples in terms of general diversity patterns, despite increased mutation levels at the single-OTU level. Therefore, biofilm communities growing in sunlight exposed substrates are capable of coping with increased mutation rates and appear pre-adapted to levels of ionizing radiation in Chernobyl due to their natural adaptation to periodical desiccation and ambient UV radiation

HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider – Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4

In response to the 2013 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (EPPSU), the Future Circular Collider (FCC) study was launched as a world-wide international collaboration hosted by CERN. The FCC study covered an energy-frontier hadron collider (FCC-hh), a highest-luminosity high-energy lepton collider (FCC-ee), the corresponding 100 km tunnel infrastructure, as well as the physics opportunities of these two colliders, and a high-energy LHC, based on FCC-hh technology. This document constitutes the third volume of the FCC Conceptual Design Report, devoted to the hadron collider FCC-hh. It summarizes the FCC-hh physics discovery opportunities, presents the FCC-hh accelerator design, performance reach, and staged operation plan, discusses the underlying technologies, the civil engineering and technical infrastructure, and also sketches a possible implementation. Combining ingredients from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the high-luminosity LHC upgrade and adding novel technologies and approaches, the FCC-hh design aims at significantly extending the energy frontier to 100 TeV. Its unprecedented centre-of-mass collision energy will make the FCC-hh a unique instrument to explore physics beyond the Standard Model, offering great direct sensitivity to new physics and discoveries

FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1

We review the physics opportunities of the Future Circular Collider, covering its e+e-, pp, ep and heavy ion programmes. We describe the measurement capabilities of each FCC component, addressing the study of electroweak, Higgs and strong interactions, the top quark and flavour, as well as phenomena beyond the Standard Model. We highlight the synergy and complementarity of the different colliders, which will contribute to a uniquely coherent and ambitious research programme, providing an unmatchable combination of precision and sensitivity to new physics