One-loop matching coefficients for improved staggered bilinears

We calculate one-loop matching factors for bilinear operators composed of improved staggered fermions. We compare the results for different improvement schemes used in the recent literature, all of which involve the use of smeared links. These schemes aim to reduce, though not completely eliminate, O(a^2) discretization errors. We find that all these improvement schemes substantially reduce the size of matching factors compared to unimproved staggered fermions. The resulting corrections are comparable to, or smaller than, those found with Wilson and domain-wall fermions. In the best case (``Fat-7'' and mean-field improved HYP links) the corrections are 10 % or smaller at 1/a = 2 GeV.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure (misleading sentence in sec. II removed; version to appear in Physical Review D

Clustering of Imperfect Transcripts Using a Novel Similarity Measure

There has been a surge of interest in last several years in methods for automatic generation of content indices for multimedia documents, particularly with respect to video and audio documents. As a result, there is much interest in methods for analyzing transcribed documents from audio and video broadcasts and telephone conversations and messages. The present paper deals with such an analysis by presenting a clustering technique to partition a set of transcribed documents into different meaningful topics. Our method determines the intersection between matching transcripts, evaluates the information contribution by each transcript, assesses the information closeness of overlapping words and calculates similarity based on Chi-square method. The main novelty of our method lies in the proposed similarity measure that is designed to withstand the imperfections of transcribed documents. Preliminary experimental results using an archive of transcribed news broadcasts demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed methodology. 1

Placental expression of adenosine A2A receptor and hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha in early pregnancy, term and pre-eclamptic pregnancies: interactions with placental renin-angiotensin system

Normal placentation occurs under low oxygen tensions yet hypoxia is also implicated in placental pathologies such as pre-eclampsia (PE). Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), adenosine and tissue renin-angiotensin-system (RAS) are known to promote angiogenesis and vascularisation. We hypothesised that placental adenosine A2AR receptor and HIF-1α would change through pregnancy in association with the RAS. Placentae were obtained from women undergoing elective surgical termination of pregnancy (TOP) at ≤10 weeks’ (early TOP) and >10 weeks’ (mid TOP) gestations; at delivery from normotensive (NT) and PE pregnancy. Results were compared to our previously reported data on the angiotensin receptors: AT1R, AT2R and AT4R. Protein expression of both A2AR and HIF-1α was highest in early TOP and positively correlated through pregnancy (P<0.0001): expression was higher in PE than NT at delivery (P<0.0001 for both). The A2AR positively correlated with the AT4R in placentae in early pregnancy (r=0.53; P=0.035), but not in 3rd trimester samples. Our findings suggest a role for adenosine and RAS in promoting placentation and as a potential adaptation to poor placental perfusion in pre-eclampsia

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

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

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

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

Fusion of 60Ni + 100Mo below barrier

The fusion cross section of 60Ni + 100Mo has been measured down to microbarn level, looking for hindrance at low energy, in a system with positive Q-values for neutron transfer. The measured cross sections look similar to those of the nearby 64Ni + 100Mo, but no conclusive statement can be made at this stage, as to the onset of hindrance in this system