Optical suppression of tilt-to-length coupling in the LISA long-arm interferometer

The arm length and the isolation in space enable the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) to probe for signals unattainable on the ground, opening a window to the subhertz gravitational-wave universe. The coupling of unavoidable angular spacecraft jitter into the longitudinal displacement measurement, an effect known as tilt-to-length (TTL) coupling, is critical for realizing the required sensitivity of picometer / √ Hz . An ultrastable interferometer test bed has been developed in order to investigate this issue and validate mitigation strategies in a setup representative of LISA and in this paper it is operated in the long-arm interferometer configuration. The test bed is fitted with a flat-top beam generator to simulate the beam received by a LISA spacecraft. We demonstrate a reduction of TTL coupling between this flat-top beam and a Gaussian reference beam via the introduction of two- and four-lens imaging systems. TTL coupling factors below ± 25 μ m / rad for beam tilts within ± 300 μ rad are obtained by careful optimization of the system. Moreover, we show that the additional TTL coupling due to lateral-alignment errors of elements of the imaging system can be compensated by introducing lateral shifts of the detector and vice versa. These findings help validate the suitability of this noise-reduction technique for the LISA long-arm interferometer

Kondo flow invariants, twisted K-theory and Ramond-Ramond charges

We take a worldsheet point of view on the relation between Ramond-Ramond charges, invariants of boundary renormalization group flows and K-theory. In compact super Wess-Zumino-Witten models, we show how to associate invariants of the generalized Kondo renormalization group flows to a given supersymmetric boundary state. The procedure involved is reminiscent of the way one can probe the Ramond-Ramond charge carried by a D-brane in conformal field theory, and the set of these invariants is isomorphic to the twisted K-theory of the Lie group. We construct various supersymmetric boundary states, and we compute the charges of the corresponding D-branes, disproving two conjectures on this subject. We find a complete agreement between our algebraic charges and the geometry of the D-branes.Comment: 58 pages. V4 : Problem with the bibliography correcte

Structural and functional responses of benthic invertebrates to imidacloprid in outdoor stream mesocosms

Structural and functional responses of a benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage to pulses of the insecticide imidacloprid were assessed in outdoor stream mesocosms. Imidacloprid pulses reduced invertebrate abundance and community diversity in imidacloprid-dosed streams compared to control streams. These results correlated well with effects of imidacloprid on leaf litter decomposition and feeding rates of Pteronarcys comstocki, a stonefly, in artificial streams. Reductions in oxygen consumption of stoneflies exposed to imidacloprid were also observed in laboratory experiments. Our findings suggest that leaf litter degradation and single species responses can be sensitive ecotoxicological endpoints that can be used as early warning indicators and biomonitoring tools for pesticide contamination. The data generated illustrates the value of mesocosm experiments in environmental assessment and how the consideration of functional and structural endpoints of natural communities together with in situ single species bioassays can improve the evaluation and prediction of pesticide effects on stream ecosystems. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Environment Canada’s Pesticide Science FundFC

Simultaneous determination of V, Ni, Ga and Fe in fuel fly ash using solid sampling high resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A green and simple method has been proposed in this work for the simultaneous determination of V, Ni, Ga and Fe in fuel ash samples by solid sampling high resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (SS HR CS GFAAS). The application of fast programs in combination with direct solid sampling allows eliminating pretreatment steps, involving minimal manipulation of sample. Iridium treated platforms were applied throughout the present study, enabling the use of aqueous standards for calibration. Correlation coefficients for the calibration curves were typically better than 0.9931. The concentrations found in the fuel ash samples analyzed ranged from 0.66 to 4.2 % for V, 0.23 to 0.7 % for Ni, 0 to 5.4 mg/Kg for Ga and 0.10 to 0.60 % for Fe. Precision (%RSD) were 5.2, 10.0, 20.0 and 9.8% for V, Ni, Ga and Fe, respectively, obtained as the average of the %RSD of six replicates of each fuel ash sample. The optimum conditions established were applied to the determination of the target analytes in fuel ash samples. In order to test the accuracy and applicability of the proposed method in the analysis of samples, five ash samples from the combustion of fuel in power stations, were analysed. The method accuracy was evaluated by comparing the results obtained using the proposed method with the results obtained by ICP OES previous acid digestion. The results showed good agreement between them

The design, construction, and commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, which aims to make a direct and model-independent determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale, is a complex experiment with many components. More than 15 years ago, we published a technical design report (TDR) [1] to describe the hardware design and requirements to achieve our sensitivity goal of 0.2 eV at 90% C.L. on the neutrino mass. Since then there has been considerable progress, culminating in the publication of first neutrino mass results with the entire beamline operating [2]. In this paper, we document the current state of all completed beamline components (as of the first neutrino mass measurement campaign), demonstrate our ability to reliably and stably control them over long times, and present details on their respective commissioning campaigns

Design and construction of the MicroBooNE detector

This paper describes the design and construction of the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber and associated systems. MicroBooNE is the first phase of the Short Baseline Neutrino program, located at Fermilab, and will utilize the capabilities of liquid argon detectors to examine a rich assortment of physics topics. In this document details of design specifications, assembly procedures, and acceptance tests are reported

Long-range Angular Correlations On The Near And Away Side In P-pb Collisions At √snn=5.02 Tev

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