Comparison of attenuation correction methods for TGS and SGS: Do we really need selenium-75?

We compared attenuation-coefficient mapping techniques for use in tomographic gamma scanner (TGS) image reconstructions to determine whether there is a significant improvement when using fully coupled methods. For the constrained least-squares image reconstruction method tested here, we found no significant improvement. We also compared the effectiveness of different transmission source combinations for 129- and 414-keV {sup 239}Pu TGS assays. We concluded that the best source combination for TGS assays of {sup 239}Pu and other isotopes is a mixture of {sup 133}Ba, {sup 54}Mn, and {sup 60}Co. Three other source combinations were found to be at least as effective as {sup 75}Se

Identification of potential “Remedies” for Air Pollution (nitrogen) Impacts on Designated Sites (RAPIDS)

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is a significant threat to semi-natural habitats and species in the UK, resulting in on-going erosion of habitat quality and declines in many species of high conservation value. The project focused on impacts and remedies for designated conservation sites, especially Natura 2000 sites protected under the EU Habitats Directive. However, the approach and certainly the measures could be equally applied to other areas of high conservation value. Evidence was drawn together to develop a framework for identifying key N threats at individual sites as a basis to target mitigation options in the context of potential legislative, voluntary and financial instruments

Combination of searches for heavy spin-1 resonances using 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A combination of searches for new heavy spin-1 resonances decaying into diferent pairings of W, Z, or Higgs bosons, as well as directly into leptons or quarks, is presented. The data sample used corresponds to 139 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV collected during 2015–2018 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Analyses selecting quark pairs (qq, bb, tt¯, and tb) or third-generation leptons (τν and τ τ ) are included in this kind of combination for the frst time. A simplifed model predicting a spin-1 heavy vector-boson triplet is used. Cross-section limits are set at the 95% confdence level and are compared with predictions for the benchmark model. These limits are also expressed in terms of constraints on couplings of the heavy vector-boson triplet to quarks, leptons, and the Higgs boson. The complementarity of the various analyses increases the sensitivity to new physics, and the resulting constraints are stronger than those from any individual analysis considered. The data exclude a heavy vector-boson triplet with mass below 5.8 TeV in a weakly coupled scenario, below 4.4 TeV in a strongly coupled scenario, and up to 1.5 TeV in the case of production via vector-boson fusion

Search for direct production of electroweakinos in final states with one lepton, jets and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for electroweak production of wino-like chargino pairs, χ˜ + 1 χ˜ − 1 , and of wino-like chargino and next-to-lightest neutralino, χ˜ ± 1 χ˜ 0 2 , are presented. The models explored assume that the charginos decay into a W boson and the lightest neutralino, χ˜ ± 1 → W±χ˜ 0 1 . The next-to-lightest neutralinos are degenerate in mass with the chargino and decay to χ˜ 0 1 and either a Z or a Higgs boson, χ˜ 0 2 → Zχ˜ 0 1 or hχ˜ 0 1 . The searches exploit the presence of a single isolated lepton and missing transverse momentum from the W boson decay products and the lightest neutralinos, and the presence of jets from hadronically decaying Z or W bosons or from the Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b-quarks. The searches use 139 fb−1 of √ s = 13 TeV proton-proton collisions data collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider between 2015 and 2018. No deviations from the Standard Model expectations are found, and 95% confdence level exclusion limits are set. Chargino masses ranging from 260 to 520 GeV are excluded for a massless χ˜ 0 1 in chargino pair production models. Degenerate chargino and next-to-lightest neutralino masses ranging from 260 to 420 GeV are excluded for a massless χ˜ 0 1 for χ˜ 0 2 → Zχ˜ 0 1 . For decays through an on-shell Higgs boson and for mass-splitting between χ˜ ± 1 /χ˜ 0 2 and χ˜ 0 1 as small as the Higgs boson mass, mass limits are improved by up to 40 GeV in the range of 200–260 GeV and 280–470 GeV compared to previous ATLAS constraints

Measurement of the tt¯ cross section and its ratio to the Z production cross section using pp collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive top-quark-pair production cross section σtt¯ and its ratio to the Z-boson production cross section have been measured in proton–proton collisions at √s = 13.6 TeV, using 29 fb−1 of data collected in 2022 with the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Using events with an opposite-charge electron-muon pair and b-tagged jets, and assuming Standard Model decays, the top-quark-pair production cross section is measured to be σtt¯=850±3(stat.)±18(syst.)±20(lumi.) pb. The ratio of the tt¯ and the Z-boson production cross sections is also measured, where the Z-boson contribution is determined for inclusive e+e− and μ+μ− events in a fiducial phase space. The relative uncertainty on the ratio is reduced compared to the tt¯ cross section, thanks to the cancellation of several systematic uncertainties. The result for the ratio, Rtt¯/Z=1.145±0.003(stat.)±0.021(syst.)±0.002(lumi.) is consistent with the Standard Model prediction using the PDF4LHC21 PDF set

Sequence architecture of ancient rocky shorelines and their response to sea-level change : an Early Jurassic example from South Wales, UK

The sea-cliffs of Ogmore-by-Sea in Glamorgan, South Wales, expose a succession of Early Jurassic nearshore carbonates that drape rocky palaeoplatforms. A sequence-stratigraphic interpretation allows the recognition of four retrogradationally stacked parasequences, the internal facies architecture of each of which is controlled by the bathymetry and geometry of the underlying shore platforms. Preserved facies are interpreted as representative of foreshore, shoreface and offshore environments. Supratidal facies are absent, but representative storm-terrace clast assemblages are preserved in all lithofacies as a result of the cannibalization of the backshore during periods of shoreline retreat driven by sea-level rise. Biostratigraphical calibration allows the reconstruction of sea-level history and the correlation of regionally important flooding surfaces in the Rhaetian-Sinemurian of Southern Britain with the position of the contemporary shoreline. This suggests that platform incision in South Wales occurred several million years before the onset of major deposition; superseding deposits above ancient rock shore platforms may therefore not be representative of the environment in which coastal incision took place. As one of the best examples of its kind, the rockshore at Ogmore acts as a deposystem model for ancient rocky shores worldwide

Predictive and investigative modelling of flood risk within Welsh river catchments : a co-funded pilot study : preliminary report, February 2004

The first three sections of this report detail the rationale project rationale: background and inception of the pilot study (Section 1); specifications and remit of the study as a whole (Section 2), and details BGS’ role (Section 3). The remaining sections represent preliminary assessments of methodologies relevant to the modelling of flood risk in Wales: mapping methodologies (Section 4); the Holocene evolution of Welsh river catchments (Section 5); radiocarbon dating techniques and preliminary results (Section 6); the implications of the methodologies, data and interpretation for BGS alluvial mapping methodologies (Section 7), and a preliminary assessment of computer-based forward-modelling of flood risk at Aberystwyth University (Section 8)