374 research outputs found
Signatures of photon and axion-like particle mixing in the gamma-ray burst jet
Photons couple to Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) or more generally to any pseudo
Nambu-Goldstone boson in the presence of an external electromagnetic field.
Mixing between photons and ALPs in the strong magnetic field of a Gamma-Ray
Burst (GRB) jet during the prompt emission phase can leave observable imprints
on the gamma-ray polarization and spectrum. Mixing in the intergalactic medium
is not expected to modify these signatures for ALP mass > 10^(-14) eV and/or
for < nG magnetic field. We show that the depletion of photons due to
conversion to ALPs changes the linear degree of polarization from the values
predicted by the synchrotron model of gamma ray emission. We also show that
when the magnetic field orientation in the propagation region is perpendicular
to the field orientation in the production region, the observed synchrotron
spectrum becomes steeper than the theoretical prediction and as detected in a
sizable fraction of GRB sample. Detection of the correlated polarization and
spectral signatures from these steep-spectrum GRBs by gamma-ray polarimeters
can be a very powerful probe to discover ALPs. Measurement of gamma-ray
polarization from GRBs in general, with high statistics, can also be useful to
search for ALPs.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in JCAP with minor
change
Parton coalescence at RHIC
Using a covariant coalescence model, we study hadron production in
relativistic heavy ion collisions from both soft partons in the quark-gluon
plasma and hard partons in minijets. Including transverse flow of soft partons
and independent fragmentation of minijet partons, the model is able to describe
available experimental data on pion, kaon, and antiproton spectra. The
resulting antiproton to pion ratio is seen to increase at low transverse
momenta and reaches a value of about one at intermediate transverse momenta, as
observed in experimental data at RHIC. A similar dependence of the antikaon to
pion ratio on transverse momentum is obtained, but it reaches a smaller value
at intermediate transverse momenta. At high transverse momenta, the model
predicts that both the antiproton to pion and the antikaon to pion ratio
decrease and approach those given by the perturbative QCD. Both collective flow
effect and coalescence of minijet partons with partons in the quark-gluon
plasma affect significantly the spectra of hadrons with intermediate transverse
momenta. Elliptic flows of protons, Lambdas, and Omegas have also been
evaluated from partons with elliptic flows extracted from fitting measured pion
and kaon elliptic flows, and they are found to be consistent with available
experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure
Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The elliptic, , triangular, , and quadrangular, , azimuthal
anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles,
pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the
event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the
pseudo-rapidity range at different collision centralities and as a
function of transverse momentum, , out to GeV/.
The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on
transverse momentum for GeV/. The small dependence
of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane
and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow
fluctuations up to GeV/. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton
elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least
GeV/ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out
to high .Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published
version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186
Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The inclusive transverse momentum () distributions of primary
charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range as a
function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at
TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the range
GeV/ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%.
The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor
using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision
energy. We observe that the suppression of high- particles strongly
depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most
suppressed with at -7 GeV/. Above
GeV/, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification
factor, which reaches for GeV/. In
peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with almost independently of . The measured nuclear
modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The -differential production cross sections of the prompt (B
feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D, D, and D in the rapidity
range , and for transverse momentum GeV/, were
measured in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ALICE
detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic
decays DK, DK, DD, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a
nb event sample collected in 2011 with a
minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space
the -differential production cross sections at TeV
and our previous measurements at TeV. The results were compared
to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of
cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307
Diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease using computed tomography angiography in patients with stable chest pain depending on clinical probability and in clinically important subgroups: Meta-analysis of individual patient data
Objective To determine whether coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) should be performed in patients with any clinical probability of coronary artery disease (CAD), and whether the diagnostic performance differs between subgroups of patients. Design Prospectively designed meta-analysis of individual patient data from prospective diagnostic accuracy studies. Data sources Medline, Embase, and Web of Science for published studies. Unpublished studies were identified via direct contact with participating investigators. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Prospective diagnostic accuracy studies that compared coronary CTA with coronary angiography as the reference standard, using at least a 50% diameter reduction as a cutoff value for obstructive CAD. All patients needed to have a clinical indication for coronary angiography due to suspected CAD, and both tests had to be performed in all patients. Results had to be provided using 2
72 or 3
72 cross tabulations for the comparison of CTA with coronary angiography. Primary outcomes were the positive and negative predictive values of CTA as a function of clinical pretest probability of obstructive CAD, analysed by a generalised linear mixed model; calculations were performed including and excluding non-diagnostic CTA results. The no-treat/treat threshold model was used to determine the range of appropriate pretest probabilities for CTA. The threshold model was based on obtained post-test probabilities of less than 15% in case of negative CTA and above 50% in case of positive CTA. Sex, angina pectoris type, age, and number of computed tomography detector rows were used as clinical variables to analyse the diagnostic performance in relevant subgroups. Results Individual patient data from 5332 patients from 65 prospective diagnostic accuracy studies were retrieved. For a pretest probability range of 7-67%, the treat threshold of more than 50% and the no-treat threshold of less than 15% post-test probability were obtained using CTA. At a pretest probability of 7%, the positive predictive value of CTA was 50.9% (95% confidence interval 43.3% to 57.7%) and the negative predictive value of CTA was 97.8% (96.4% to 98.7%); corresponding values at a pretest probability of 67% were 82.7% (78.3% to 86.2%) and 85.0% (80.2% to 88.9%), respectively. The overall sensitivity of CTA was 95.2% (92.6% to 96.9%) and the specificity was 79.2% (74.9% to 82.9%). CTA using more than 64 detector rows was associated with a higher empirical sensitivity than CTA using up to 64 rows (93.4% v 86.5%, P=0.002) and specificity (84.4% v 72.6%, P<0.001). The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve for CTA was 0.897 (0.889 to 0.906), and the diagnostic performance of CTA was slightly lower in women than in with men (area under the curve 0.874 (0.858 to 0.890) v 0.907 (0.897 to 0.916), P<0.001). The diagnostic performance of CTA was slightly lower in patients older than 75 (0.864 (0.834 to 0.894), P=0.018 v all other age groups) and was not significantly influenced by angina pectoris type (typical angina 0.895 (0.873 to 0.917), atypical angina 0.898 (0.884 to 0.913), non-anginal chest pain 0.884 (0.870 to 0.899), other chest discomfort 0.915 (0.897 to 0.934)). Conclusions In a no-treat/treat threshold model, the diagnosis of obstructive CAD using coronary CTA in patients with stable chest pain was most accurate when the clinical pretest probability was between 7% and 67%. Performance of CTA was not influenced by the angina pectoris type and was slightly higher in men and lower in older patients. Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42012002780
Measurements of and production in proton–proton interactions at in the NA61/SHINE experiment
Double-differential yields of and
resonances produced in \pp interactions
were measured at a laboratory beam momentum of 158~\GeVc. This measurement is
the first of its kind in \pp interactions below LHC energies. It was performed
at the CERN SPS by the \NASixtyOne collaboration. Double-differential
distributions in rapidity and transverse momentum were obtained from a sample
of 2610 inelastic events. The spectra are extrapolated to full phase
space resulting in mean multiplicity of (6.73
0.25 0.67) and (2.71
0.18 0.18). The rapidity and transverse momentum
spectra and mean multiplicities were compared to predictions of string-hadronic
and statistical model calculations
Search for the QCD critical point at SPS energies
Lattice QCD calculations locate the QCD critical point at energies accessible at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). We present average transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations, as well as baryon and anti-baryon transverse mass spectra which are expected to be sensitive to effects of the critical point. The future CP search strategy of the NA61/SHINE experiment at the SPS is also discussed.Lattice QCD calculations locate the QCD critical point at energies accessible at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS). We present average transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations, as well as baryon and anti-baryon transverse mass spectra which are expected to be sensitive to effects of the critical point. The future CP search strategy of the NA61/SHINE experiment at the SPS is also discussed
Measurements of and production in proton–proton interactions at in the NA61/SHINE experiment
International audienceThe production of and hyperons in inelastic p+p interactions is studied in a fixed target experiment at a beam momentum of 158 . Double differential distributions in rapidity and transverse momentum are obtained from a sample of 33M inelastic events. They allow to extrapolate the spectra to full phase space and to determine the mean multiplicity of both and . The rapidity and transverse momentum spectra are compared to transport model predictions. The mean multiplicity in inelastic p+p interactions at 158 is used to quantify the strangeness enhancement in A+A collisions at the same centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair
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