Measurements of charmed-meson production in interactions between 350 GeV/c π−\pi^- particles and nuclei

Charmed-meson production by $350$~GeV/$c$ {$\pi^-$} particles incident on copper and tungsten targets has been studied in the WA$92$ experiment, performed at the CERN $\Omega^\prime$ spectrometer. Results obtained are reported and discussed. Reconstruction of decays from the set ${\rm D}^0 \rightarrow {\rm K}^- \pi^+$, ${\rm D}^0 \rightarrow {\rm K}^- \pi^- \pi^+ \pi^+$, ${\rm D}^+ \rightarrow {\rm K}^- \pi^+ \pi^+$, ${{\rm D}_{\rm s}}^+ \rightarrow \phi \pi^+$ and charge conjugates has yielded a sample of $7280 \pm 108$ charmed mesons, produced with \xf > 0, \langle \xf \rangle = 0.18 and \langle {\pt}^2 \rangle = 1.86~{\rm (GeV/}c{\rm )}^2. Assuming a relationship $\sigma = \sigma_0 A^\alpha$ between the cross-section, $\sigma$, per nucleus of mass $A$ and the nucleonic cross-section, $\sigma_0$, the $\alpha$ value found for the detected charmed particles is $0.95 \pm 0.06 \pm 0.03$. Taking $\alpha = 1$, the measured cross-sections per nucleon for \xf > 0 production are $7.78 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.52$~$\mu$barn for ${\rm D}^0$/$\bar{\rm D}^0$, $3.28 \pm 0.08 \pm 0.29$~$\mu$barn for ${\rm D}^+$/${\rm D}^-$ and $1.29 \pm 0.16 \pm 0.33$~$\mu$barn for ${{\rm D}_{\rm s}}^+$/${{\rm D}_{\rm s}}^-$. Differential cross-sections with respect to \xf and {\pt}^2 have been determined for the various types of charmed meson, and particle-antiparticle asymmetries have been analysed

Measurement of the beauty production cross-section in 350 GeV/c π−\pi^- -Cu interactions

Using a sample of $10^8$ triggered events, produced in $\pi^-$--$\,$Cu interactions at 350~GeV$/c$, we have identified 26 beauty events. The estimated background in this sample is $0.6 \pm 0.6$ events. From these data, assuming a linear A-dependence, we measure a beauty production cross-section integrated over all $x_F$ of $5.7 {+1.3 \atop -1.1}~{\mathrm {(stat.)}} {+0.6 \atop -0.5}~{\mathrm {(syst.)}}~$nb/N

WA92: a fixed target experiment to trigger on and identify beauty particle decays

We describe the detectors and trigger system used in the CERN WA92 experiment. The experiment was designed to study the production and decay of beauty particles from 350 GeV/$c\,$ $\,\pi^-$ interactions in copper and tungsten targets. Charged particle tracking is performed using the Omega spectrometer. Silicon microstrip detectors are used to provide precise tracking information in the region of the production and the decay of heavy-flavoured particles and to trigger on the resulting high impact parameter tracks. The precision of vertex reconstruction corresponds to $\pm 3.7\%$ of the mean B-decay proper lifetime. Lepton and high transverse momentum hadron signals are also used in the trigger, which accepts 29\% of B-decays and rejects 98\% of non-beauty interactions

Modeling of the steady-state temperature field in lava flow levees

The rationale of lava flow deviation is to prevent major damage, and, among the possible techniques, the opening of the flow levees has often been demonstrated to be suitable and reliable. The best way to open the levees in the right point, in order to obtain the required effect, is to produce an explosion in situ, and it is then necessary to map with the highest precision the temperature field inside the levees, in order to design a safe and successful intervention. The levees are formed by lava flows due to their non-Newtonian rheology, where the shear stress is lower than the yield stress. The levees then cool and solidify due to heat loss into the atmosphere. In this work we present analytical solutions of the steady-state heat conduction problem in a levee using the method of conformal mapping for simple geometrical shapes of the levee cross-section (triangular or square). Numerical solutions are obtained with a finite-element code for more complex, realistic geometries. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Modeling of the steady-state temperature field in lava flows lévees

The rationale of lava flow deviation is to prevent major damage, and, among the possible techniques, the opening of the flow leve¤es has often been demonstrated to be suitable and reliable. The best way to open the leve¤es in the right point, in order to obtain the required effect, is to produce an explosion in situ, and it is then necessary to map with the highest precision the temperature field inside the leve¤es, in order to design a safe and successful intervention. The leve¤es are formed by lava flows due to their non-Newtonian rheology, where the shear stress is lower than the yield stress. The leve¤es then cool and solidify due to heat loss into the atmosphere. In this work we present analytical solutions of the steady-state heat conduction problem in a leve¤e using the method of conformal mapping for simple geometrical shapes of the levee cross-section (triangular or square). Numerical solutions are obtained with a finite element code for more complex, realistic geometries.Published241-251ope