Measurements of the production cross-section for a Z boson in association with b- or c-jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the production cross-section of a Z boson in association with bor c-jets, in proton–proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. Inclusive and differential cross-sections are measured for events containing a Z boson decaying into electrons or muons and produced in association with at least one b-jet, at least one c-jet, or at least two b-jets with transverse momentum pT > 20 GeV and rapidity |y| < 2.5. Predictions from several Monte Carlo generators based on next-to-leading-order matrix elements interfaced with a parton-shower simulation, with different choices of flavour schemes for initial-state partons, are compared with the measured cross-sections. The results are also compared with novel predictions, based on infrared and collinear safe jet flavour dressing algorithms. Selected Z+ ≥ 1 c-jet observables, optimized for sensitivity to intrinsic-charm, are compared with benchmark models with different intrinsic-charm fractions

Markov Chain Monte Carlo Algorithms: Theory and Practice

We describe the importance and widespread use of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms, with an emphasis on the roles in which theoretical analysis can help with their practical implementation. In particular, we discuss how to achieve rigorous quantitative bounds on convergence to stationarity using the coupling method together with drift and minorisation conditions. We also discuss recent advances in the field of adaptive MCMC, where the computer iteratively selects from among many different MCMC algorithms. Such adaptive MCMC algorithms may fail to converge if implemented naively, but they will converge correctly if certain conditions such as Diminishing Adaptation are satisfied

A flexible digestive strategy accommodates the nutritional demands of reproduction in a free-living folivore, the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus)

1. Small mammalian folivores, such as the koala, are considered to be energetically limited by their relatively small gut capacity compared with metabolic requirements and the gut-filling effect of their poorly digestible leaf diet. However, during peak lactation, female koalas increase their food intake (35%) to meet the nutritional demands of reproduction.\ud \ud 2. This study examines mechanisms by which reproductive female koalas overcome limitations to food intake.\ud \ud 3. Digesta retention in the gastrointestinal tract was measured in free-living koalas using inert solute (cobalt (Co) complexed with EDTA) and particle markers (chromium (Cr)-mordanted to cell wall constituents' 600–1180 μm in diameter).\ud \ud 4. The whole gut rate of passage of both markers was 2–3 times faster than in captive koalas, probably because of 35%–69% greater food intakes in the wild. As in captive koalas, the solute marker was retained longer than the particle marker in free-living animals, indicating selective retention of fluid, solutes and small particles (including bacteria) in the hindgut caecum and proximal colon. The digesta retention of both markers were unaffected by the 35% increase in food intake associated with reproduction, largely due to a 42% increase in the solute marker pool size in lactating animals. The pool size of large particles in the digesta was unchanged.\ud \ud 5. Thus, female koalas meet the nutritional demands of reproduction at least partly by an increased solute digesta pool size, minimizing the detrimental effects of increased food intake on digestion of solutes and small particles, and on faecal loss of microbial protein. There was some indication that they also increase the passage rate of large particles or increase the efficiency of separation of large and small particles to reduce the gut-filling effects of large, poorly digestible particles.\ud \ud 6. Clearly the digestive strategy of the koala is more flexible, and limitations to food intake less stringent, than previously thought. Female koalas accommodate the increased food intake required to meet the demands of free-living and reproduction without compromising nutrient extraction from their eucalypt leaf diet. We suggest that similar flexibility in digestive strategy is likely to play an important role in the way that most small mammalian herbivores, especially arboreal folivores, meet the nutritional demands of reproduction