Measurements of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

Heavy-flavour hadrons, i. e. hadrons carrying charm or beauty quarks, are a well-suited probe to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. For this reason, measurements of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays have been performed in pp, p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC with the ALICE detector. Results for the nuclear modification factors ($R_{\rm{pA}}$ and $R_{\rm{AA}}$) support a final-state energy loss of heavy quarks in central Pb-Pb collisions and, in semi-central collisions a positive elliptic flow coefficient $v_{2}$ of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays was observed. Furthermore, a double-ridge structure was observed in the measured two-particle angular correlation distribution, triggered by heavy-flavour decay electrons, in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions relative to low-multiplicity p-Pb collisions and to pp collisions.Comment: Hard Probes 2013 conference proceedin

Central Schemes for Porous Media Flows

We are concerned with central differencing schemes for solving scalar hyperbolic conservation laws arising in the simulation of multiphase flows in heterogeneous porous media. We compare the Kurganov-Tadmor, 2000 semi-discrete central scheme with the Nessyahu-Tadmor, 1990 central scheme. The KT scheme uses more precise information about the local speeds of propagation together with integration over nonuniform control volumes, which contain the Riemann fans. These methods can accurately resolve sharp fronts in the fluid saturations without introducing spurious oscillations or excessive numerical diffusion. We first discuss the coupling of these methods with velocity fields approximated by mixed finite elements. Then, numerical simulations are presented for two-phase, two-dimensional flow problems in multi-scale heterogeneous petroleum reservoirs. We find the KT scheme to be considerably less diffusive, particularly in the presence of high permeability flow channels, which lead to strong restrictions on the time step selection; however, the KT scheme may produce incorrect boundary behavior

Citizens’ Freedom to Choose Representatives: Ballot Structure, Proportionality and “Fragmented” Parliaments

The analysis of the political consequences of electoral laws has emphasized how individual characteristics of the electoral system (electoral formulas, district magnitude, ballot structure) affect the degree of parliament “fragmentation” and proportionality. This paper argues that the personal attributes of representatives are also an important consequence of electoral laws, and that they are in part determined by citizens’ freedom to choose representatives. We clarify this concept and develop an index of citizens’ freedom to choose members of parliament as a function of the ballot structure, district size and electoral formulae. Using data from twenty nine countries, we find that neither proportionality nor the effective number of parties is significantly affected by voters’ freedom of choice. This result has important normative implications for electoral reform.Ballot structure; Electoral index; Freedom to choose; Personal vote.