Concept of an Upright Wearable Positron Emission Tomography Imager in Humans

Background: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is traditionally used to image patients in restrictive positions, with few devices allowing for upright, brain-dedicated imaging. Our team has explored the concept of wearable PET imagers which could provide functional brain imaging of freely moving subjects. To test feasibility and determine future considerations for development, we built a rudimentary proof-of-concept prototype (Helmet_PET) and conducted tests in phantoms and four human volunteers. Methods: Twelve Silicon Photomultiplier-based detectors were assembled in a ring with exterior weight support and an interior mechanism that could be adjustably fitted to the head. We conducted brain phantom tests as well as scanned four patients scheduled for diagnostic F18-FDG PET/CT imaging. For human subjects the imager was angled such that field of view included basal ganglia and visual cortex to test for typical resting-state pattern. Imaging in two subjects was performed ~4 hr after PET/CT imaging to simulate lower injected F18-FDG dose by taking advantage of the natural radioactive decay of the tracer (F18 half-life of 110 min), with an estimated imaging dosage of 25% of the standard. Results: We found that imaging with a simple lightweight ring of detectors was feasible using a fraction of the standard radioligand dose. Activity levels in the human participants were quantitatively similar to standard PET in a set of anatomical ROIs. Typical resting-state brain pattern activation was demonstrated even in a 1 min scan of active head rotation. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of imaging a human subject with a novel wearable PET imager that moves with robust head movements. We discuss potential research and clinical applications that will drive the design of a fully functional device. Designs will need to consider trade-offs between a low weight device with high mobility and a heavier device with greater sensitivity and larger field of view

Cartography of Triangulum-Andromeda using SDSS stars

The outer Galactic halo is home to a number of substructures which still have an uncertain origin, but most likely are remnants of former interactions between the Galaxy and its former satellites. Triangulum-Andromeda (TriAnd) is one of these halo substructures, found as an overdensity of Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) M giants. We analysed the region of TriAnd using photometric data from the Ninth Data Release of Sloan Digital Sky Survey. By comparing the observations with simulations from the TRILEGAL Galactic model, we were able to identify and map several scattered overdensities of main-sequence stars that seem to be associated with TriAnd over a large area covering ∼500 deg2. One of these excesses may represent a new stellar overdensity.We also briefly discuss an alternative hypothesis, according to which TriAnd is one of the troughs of oscillation rings in the Galactic disc

Estimating stellar birth radii and the time evolution of Milky Way’s ISM metallicity gradient

We present a semi-empirical, largelymodel-independent approach for estimatingGalactic birth radii, rbirth, for Milky Way disc stars. The technique relies on the justifiable assumption that a negative radial metallicity gradient in the interstellar medium (ISM) existed for most of the disc lifetime. Stars are projected back to their birth positions according to the observationally derived age and [Fe/H] with no kinematical information required. Applying our approach to the AMBRE:HARPS and HARPS–GTO local samples, we show that we can constrain the ISM metallicity evolution with Galactic radius and cosmic time, [Fe/H]ISM(r, t), by requiring a physically meaningful rbirth distribution. We find that the data are consistent with an ISM radial metallicity gradient that flattens with time from ~− 0.15 dex kpc−1 at the beginning of disc formation, to its measured present-day value (−0.07 dex kpc−1). We present several chemokinematical relations in terms of mono-rbirth populations. One remarkable result is that the kinematically hottest stars would have been born locally or in the outer disc, consistent with thick disc formation from the nested flares of mono-age populations and predictions from cosmological simulations. This phenomenon can be also seen in the observed age–velocity dispersion relation, in that its upper boundary is dominated by stars born at larger radii. We also find that the flatness of the local age–metallicity relation (AMR) is the result of the superposition of the AMRs of mono-rbirth populations, each with a well-defined negative slope. The solar birth radius is estimated to be 7.3 ± 0.6 kpc, for a current Galactocentric radius of 8 kpc

Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results