Porous Ultra-Thin Films from Photocleavable Block Copolymers: In-Situ Degradation Kinetics Study of Pore Material

On the basis of the major application for block copolymers to use them as separation membranes, lithographic mask, and as templates, the preparation of highly oriented nanoporous thin films requires the selective removal of the minor phase from the pores. In the scope of this study, thin film of polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) block copolymer with a photocleavable junction groups based on ortho-nitrobenzylester (ONB) (PS-hν-PEO) was papered via the spin coating technique followed by solvent annealing to obtain highly-ordered cylindrical domains. The polymer blocks are cleaved by means of a mild UV exposure and then the pore material is washed out of the polymer film by ultra-pure water resulting in arrays of nanoporous thin films to remove one block. The removal of the PEO materials from the pores was proven using the grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) technique. The treatment of the polymer film during the washing process was observed in real time after two different UV exposure time (1 and 4 h) in order to draw conclusions regarding the dynamics of the removal process. In-situ X-ray reflectivity measurements provide statistically significant information about the change in the layer thickness as well as the roughness and electron density of the polymer film during pore formation. 4 H UV exposure was found to be more efficient for PEO cleavage. By in-situ SFM measurements, the structure of the ultra-thin block copolymer films was also analysed and, thus, the kinetics of the washing process was elaborated. The results from both measurements confirmed that the washing procedure induces irreversible change in morphology to the surface of the thin film

J/ψ suppression at forward rapidity in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The inclusive J/ ψ production has been studied in Pb–Pb and pp collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sNN=5.02 TeV , using the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC. The J/ ψ meson is reconstructed, in the centre-of-mass rapidity interval 2.5 < y < 4 and in the transverse-momentum range pT < 12 GeV/c , via its decay to a muon pair. In this Letter, we present results on the inclusive J/ ψ cross section in pp collisions at s=5.02 TeV and on the nuclear modification factor RAA . The latter is presented as a function of the centrality of the collision and, for central collisions, as a function of the transverse momentum pT of the J/ ψ . The measured RAA values indicate a suppression of the J/ ψ in nuclear collisions and are then compared to our previous results obtained in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV . The ratio of the RAA values at the two energies is also computed and compared to calculations of statistical and dynamical models. The numerical value of the ratio for central events (0–10% centrality) is 1.17±0.04(stat)±0.20(syst) . In central events, as a function of pT , a slight increase of RAA with collision energy is visible in the region 2 < pT < 6 GeV/c . Theoretical calculations qualitatively describe the measurements, within uncertainties

D-meson production in p-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV and in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV

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Pseudorapidity dependence of the anisotropic flow of charged particles in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76 TeV

We present measurements of the elliptic ($mathrm{v}_2$), triangular ($mathrm{v}_3$) and quadrangular ($mathrm{v}_4$) anisotropic azimuthal flow over a wide range of pseudorapidities ($-3.5< eta < 5$). The measurements are performed with Pb-Pb collisions at $sqrt{s_{text{NN}}} = 2.76$ TeV using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The flow harmonics are obtained using two- and four-particle correlations from nine different centrality intervals covering central to peripheral collisions. We find that the shape of $mathrm{v}_n(eta)$ is largely independent of centrality for the flow harmonics $n=2-4$, however the higher harmonics fall off more steeply with increasing $eta$. We assess the validity of extended longitudinal scaling of $mathrm{v}_2$ by comparing to lower energy measurements, and find that the higher harmonic flow coefficients are proportional to the charged particle densities at larger pseudorapidities. Finally, we compare our measurements to both hydrodynamical and transport models, and find they both have challenges when it comes to describing our data

Event-by-event mean pT fluctuations in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at the LHC

Event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum of charged particles produced in pp collisions at √s = 0.9, 2.76 and 7 TeV, and Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN = 2.76 TeV are studied as a function of the chargedparticle multiplicity using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Dynamical fluctuations indicative of correlated particle emission are observed in all systems. The results in pp collisions show little dependence on collision energy. The Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET are in qualitative agreement with the data. Peripheral Pb–Pb data exhibit a similar multiplicity dependence as that observed in pp. In central Pb–Pb, the results deviate from this trend, featuring a significant reduction of the fluctuation strength. The results in Pb– Pb are in qualitative agreement with previous measurements in Au–Au at lower collision energies and with expectations from models that incorporate collective phenomena

Charged jet cross sections and properties in proton-proton collisions at √s =7 TeV

The differential charged jet cross sections, jet fragmentation distributions, and jet shapes are measured in minimum bias proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energy √s=7 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. Jets are reconstructed from charged particle momenta in the midrapidity region using the sequential recombination kT and anti-kT as well as the SISCone jet finding algorithms with several resolution parameters in the range R ¼ 0.2–0.6. Differential jet production cross sections measured with the three jet finders are in agreement in the transverse momentum (pT) interval 20 < pjet;ch T < 100 GeV=c. They are also consistent with prior measurements carried out at the LHC by the ATLAS Collaboration. The jet charged particle multiplicity rises monotonically with increasing jet pT, in qualitative agreement with prior observations at lower energies. The transverse profiles of leading jets are investigated using radial momentum density distributions as well as distributions of the average radius containing 80% (hR80i) of the reconstructed jet pT. The fragmentation of leading jets with R ¼ 0.4 using scaled pT spectra of the jet constituents is studied. The measurements are compared to model calculations from event generators (PYTHIA, PHOJET, HERWIG). The measured radial density distributions and hR80i distributions are well described by the PYTHIA model (tune Perugia-2011). The fragmentation distributions are better described by HERWIG

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlation structures in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated par- ticles are measured by the ALICE detector in p–Pb collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre- of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 < pT, assoc < pT, trig < 5.0 GeV/c is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen- tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trig- ger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range η < 0.9. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p–Pb collisions are subtracted from both near- side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non- jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consis- tent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton– parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to in- crease linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p–Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon–nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation

Suppression of Υ(1S)at forward rapidity in Pb–Pb collisions at √sNN=2.76TeV

We report on the measurement of the inclusive $Upsilon$(1S) production in Pb-Pb collisions at $sqrt{s_{rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV carried out at forward rapidity ($2.