Physics and Detectors at the LHC and the SLHC

The capabilities of the ATLAS and CMS detectors being prepared for the LHC are reviewed. Examples of physics signals accessible during early running and during mature high luminosity LHC operation are examined. The planning and options for the LHC and these detectors to increase the luminosity to 10^{35}cm^{-2}s^{-1} is presented. This upgrade, entitled the Super LHC (SLHC), would occur in the next decade. The resulting physics scope is discussed.Comment: Invited talk at 2005 International Linear Collider Physics and Detector Workshop and Second ILC Accelerator Workshop, Snowmass, CO (Snowmass05), 3 pages, PD

LHC Startup

The Large Hadron Collider will commence operations in the latter half of 2008. The plans of the LHC experiments ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb are described. The scenario for progression of luminosity and the strategies of these 4 experiments to use the initial data are detailed. There are significant measurements possible with integrated luminosities of 1, 10 and 100 pb^-1. These measurements will provide essential calibration and tests of the detectors, understanding of the Standard Model backgrounds and a first oportunity to look for new physics.Comment: Proceedings of DIS 200

Law of One Price in International Commodity Markets: A Fractional Cointegration Analysis

The Law of One Price (LOP) is an important component of most, if not all, international trade models because this assumption allows researchers to use a single representative price for all regions. This paper examines the long-run LOP for international commodity prices using a generalized notion of cointegration called fractional cointegration. This analysis is applied to nine pairs of price series, supporting the existence of LOP in eight cases

Palaeoproxies: botanical monitors and recorders of atmospheric change

The integration of plant and Earth sciences offers the opportunity to develop and test palaeobotanical monitors and recorders (palaeoproxies) of past atmospheric change that are understood from a mechanistic perspective, with the underpinning responses being identified and understood at the genetic level. This review highlights how this approach has been used to deliver two distinct palaeoproxies. The first is based on the negative relationship between stomata (breathing pores found on the leaf surface) and atmospheric CO2 concentration; the second is based on tracking chemical changes seen in the composition of pollen and spores to reconstruct changes in the flux of UV-B radiation on the Earth's surface and from this infer changes in stratospheric processes linked to the eruption and emplacement of Large Igneous Provinces. Here, we highlight the potential of integrating a new rapid, inexpensive chemical analysis technique with existing, robust palynological methods, opening the door to a deeper understanding of past environments via the palaeobiological record. A look to the future suggests a combined solar radiation–CO2 concentration approach could be readily applied across the geological record

The Los Alamos Supernova Light Curve Project: Computational Methods

We have entered the era of explosive transient astronomy, in which upcoming real-time surveys like the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) and Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) will detect supernovae in unprecedented numbers. Future telescopes such as the James Webb Space Telescope may discover supernovae from the earliest stars in the universe and reveal their masses. The observational signatures of these astrophysical transients are the key to unveiling their central engines, the environments in which they occur, and to what precision they will pinpoint cosmic acceleration and the nature of dark energy. We present a new method for modeling supernova light curves and spectra with the radiation hydrodynamics code RAGE coupled with detailed monochromatic opacities in the SPECTRUM code. We include a suite of tests that demonstrate how the improved physics is indispensable to modeling shock breakout and light curves.Comment: 18 pages, 19 figures, published in ApJ Supplement

Critical Structural and Functional Roles for the N-Terminal Insertion Sequence in Surfactant Protein B Analogs

Surfactant protein B (SP-B; 79 residues) belongs to the saposin protein superfamily, and plays functional roles in lung surfactant. The disulfide cross-linked, N- and C-terminal domains of SP-B have been theoretically predicted to fold as charged, amphipathic helices, suggesting their participation in surfactant activities. Earlier structural studies with Mini-B, a disulfide-linked construct based on the N- and C-terminal regions of SP-B (i.e., approximately residues 8-25 and 63-78), confirmed that these neighboring domains are helical; moreover, Mini-B retains critical in vitro and in vivo surfactant functions of the native protein. Here, we perform similar analyses on a Super Mini-B construct that has native SP-B residues (1-7) attached to the N-terminus of Mini-B, to test whether the N-terminal sequence is also involved in surfactant activity.FTIR spectra of Mini-B and Super Mini-B in either lipids or lipid-mimics indicated that these peptides share similar conformations, with primary alpha-helix and secondary beta-sheet and loop-turns. Gel electrophoresis demonstrated that Super Mini-B was dimeric in SDS detergent-polyacrylamide, while Mini-B was monomeric. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR), predictive aggregation algorithms, and molecular dynamics (MD) and docking simulations further suggested a preliminary model for dimeric Super Mini-B, in which monomers self-associate to form a dimer peptide with a "saposin-like" fold. Similar to native SP-B, both Mini-B and Super Mini-B exhibit in vitro activity with spread films showing near-zero minimum surface tension during cycling using captive bubble surfactometry. In vivo, Super Mini-B demonstrates oxygenation and dynamic compliance that are greater than Mini-B and compare favorably to full-length SP-B.Super Mini-B shows enhanced surfactant activity, probably due to the self-assembly of monomer peptide into dimer Super Mini-B that mimics the functions and putative structure of native SP-B