Measurement of beauty-hadron decay electrons in Pb--Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 2.76 TeV with ALICE

The ALICE Collaboration at the LHC studies heavy-ion collisions to investigate the properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Heavy quarks (charm and beauty) are effective probes for this purpose. Both their energy loss in the medium as well as their possible thermalization yield information about the medium properties. Experimentally, the reconstruction of hadrons with charm valence quarks is possible. For hadrons with beauty valence quarks a promising strategy is the measurement of their decay electrons. To separate these from the background electrons (mainly from charm hadron decays, photon conversions or light-meson decays) the large decay length of beauty hadrons can be utilized. It leads to a relatively large typical impact parameter of the decay electrons. By comparing the impact parameter distribution of the signal electrons with those from the background sources, the signal can be statistically separated from the background. For this purpose a maximum likelihood fit is employed using impact parameter distribution templates from simulations. The resulting nuclear modification factor for electrons from beauty-hadron decays shows a sizeable suppression for p_T > 3 GeV, albeit still with large uncertainties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings for the Hot Quarks 2014 workshop, Las Negras, Cabo de Gata Natural Park, Andalusia, Spai

Separation of the Charm and Beauty Production in p--Pb and Pb--Pb Collisions with ALICE

Measurements of heavy (charm and beauty) quarks provide useful insights into the properties of the quark--gluon plasma. The good particle identification capabilities of ALICE make a measurement based on the electrons from semi-leptonic decays of heavy-flavour hadrons feasible. This approach makes use of the large branching ratios ($\approx 10-20\%$) of heavy--flavour hadrons into electrons. Separation of the contribution from beauty-hadron decay electrons was achieved by utilizing the large decay length of the associated hadrons, making the investigation of beauty quarks in the medium possible. By comparing measurements in p--Pb and Pb--Pb collisions, it is possible to disentangle effects of cold nuclear matter from those of the hot and dense medium. The results show a strong change in the transverse momentum distribution of electrons from beauty-hadron decays in central Pb--Pb collisions with respect to the proton--proton case. No significant change from proton--proton collisions can be seen in the p--Pb case, suggesting that the modification is a final state effect

Electrons from beauty-hadron decays in central Pb-Pb collisions at √s NN = 2.76 TeV

Heavy quarks (charm and beauty) are an important probe for the characterization of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), a state of color deconfined, hadronic matter. Experimentally, the QGP is produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, where heavy quarks are automatically generated and interact with the produced medium. Within this work, the properties of the beauty quarks in the medium are measured via the semileptonic decays of the associated hadrons. The measurement is based on the particle identification and tracking capabilities of the ALICE detector at the LHC. The separation of eletrons from beauty-hadron decays from the abundant background electrons is achieved using fits of the impact parameter distribution based on templates from Monte Carlo simulations. This approach makes use of the comparatively large decay length of the beauty hadrons ($c\tau \approx 500~\mu \rm{m}$). The large particle multiplicities in central Pb--Pb collisions at \PbPbEnergy~ create a particularly challenging environment for the measurement. The determined nuclear modification factor hints at values above unity for low transverse momenta of the electrons. In this region, the beauty quarks may participate in the collective motion of the medium. The nuclear modification factor decreases towards larger \pt, where an energy loss of the partons in the medium is expected. The measured range of 1.3<\pt<8~\GeVc also represents a region where contributions from both radiative and collisional interactions with the medium can contribute and is thus particularly interesting for the understanding of the interaction of heavy quarks with the medium

Krise des Flächentarifvertrages und Integrationsfähigkeit von Arbeitgeberverbänden: empirische Untersuchungen am Beispiel zweier mittelständischer baden-württembergischer Branchen

"Ausgehend von den in der Literatur diskutierten Erosionstendenzen der deutschen Tarifpolitik und Integrationsschwächen der Arbeitgeberverbände, untersucht der Beitrag die Funktionsdefizite und Lösungsansätze der Verbände der mittelständisch geprägten baden-württembergischen Steine- & Erden- (ISTE) und Säge- & Holzindustrie (VSH). Mit Hilfe von leitfadengestützten Interviews mit den relevanten Entscheidungsträgern beider Branchen konnte analysiert werden, dass neben einer schwierigen ökonomischen Situation v.a. die heterogenen Interessen der Mitglieder für die schwindende Bindekraft der Arbeitgeberverbände ursächlich sind. Beide untersuchten Verbände versuchen durch inhaltlich-tarifpolitische wie ordnungspolitische Reformen ihre Integrationsfähigkeit zu erhöhen, können aber nur in begrenztem Umfang der steigenden stillen Tarifflucht Einhalt gebieten." (Autorenreferat)"Starting from the literature on the erosion of the German industrial relations system and the weaknesses of the employers' associations, this paper investigates the difficulties faced, and attempted solutions adopted, by employer associations in two sectors in Baden-Württemberg: quarrying (ISTE) and the manufacture of wood products (VSH). Both are characterized by small and medium sized firms. Based on interviews with experts from both sectors, the author found out that, apart from difficult economic conditions, the commitment to the employers' associations is especially diminished by the heterogeneity of members' interests. Both employer associations have tried to reform the contents of bargaining policy and to reorganize their structure to enhance their capacity of integration. Despite their efforts, there is an increasing number of firms that are critical of the collective agreements." (author's abstract

Transverse dynamics of charmed hadrons in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions

Transverse momentum $p_{\rm T}$ spectra and anisotropic flow distributions are studied for charmonia and charmed hadrons produced in Pb-Pb collisions and measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The investigations are performed within the framework of the Statistical Hadronization Model with the transverse dynamics evaluated using predictions from relativistic viscous hydrodynamics as implemented in the computer codes MUSIC and FluiduM. With this essentially parameter-free approach good agreement is obtained for $p_{\rm T}$ spectra in the range $p_{\rm T} < 10$ GeV/c. The observed wide distribution in $p_{\rm T}$ of anisotropic flow coefficients $v_2$ and $v_3$ for charmonia is also well reproduced, while their magnitude is generally somewhat over predicted. This finding may be connected to a difference in spatial distribution between light and charmed hadrons due to a different diffusion of light and heavy quarks in the hot fireball

Magnetotransport in heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides and graphene

We use a van der Waals pickup technique to fabricate different heterostructures containing WSe2(WS2) and graphene. The heterostructures were structured by plasma etching, contacted by one-dimensional edge contacts, and a top gate was deposited. For graphene/WSe2/SiO2 samples we observe mobilities of similar to 12 000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). Magnetic-field-dependent resistance measurements on these samples show a peak in the conductivity at low magnetic fields. This dip is attributed to the weak antilocalization (WAL) effect, stemming from spin-orbit coupling. Samples where graphene is encapsulated between WSe2(WS2) and hexagonal boron nitride show a much higher mobility of up to similar to 120 000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1). However, in these samples noWAL peak can be observed. We attribute this to a transition from the diffusive to the quasiballistic regime. At low magnetic fields a resistance peak appears, which we ascribe to a size effect due to boundary scattering. Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations in fully encapsulated samples show all integer filling factors due to complete lifting of the spin and valley degeneracies

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles 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 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 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 trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. 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 consistent 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 increase 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.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161

Multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Measurements of multi-particle azimuthal correlations (cumulants) for charged particles in p-Pb and Pb-Pb collisions are presented. They help address the question of whether there is evidence for global, flow-like, azimuthal correlations in the p-Pb system. Comparisons are made to measurements from the larger Pb-Pb system, where such evidence is established. In particular, the second harmonic two-particle cumulants are found to decrease with multiplicity, characteristic of a dominance of few-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions. However, when a $|\Delta \eta|$ gap is placed to suppress such correlations, the two-particle cumulants begin to rise at high-multiplicity, indicating the presence of global azimuthal correlations. The Pb-Pb values are higher than the p-Pb values at similar multiplicities. In both systems, the second harmonic four-particle cumulants exhibit a transition from positive to negative values when the multiplicity increases. The negative values allow for a measurement of $v_{2}\{4\}$ to be made, which is found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions at similar multiplicities. The second harmonic six-particle cumulants are also found to be higher in Pb-Pb collisions. In Pb-Pb collisions, we generally find $v_{2}\{4\} \simeq v_{2}\{6\}\neq 0$ which is indicative of a Bessel-Gaussian function for the $v_{2}$ distribution. For very high-multiplicity Pb-Pb collisions, we observe that the four- and six-particle cumulants become consistent with 0. Finally, third harmonic two-particle cumulants in p-Pb and Pb-Pb are measured. These are found to be similar for overlapping multiplicities, when a $|\Delta\eta| > 1.4$ gap is placed.Comment: 25 pages, 11 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 20, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/87

Computational approaches to understanding reaction outcomes of organic processes in ionic liquids

This review considers how various computational methods have been applied to explain the changes in reaction outcome on moving from a molecular to an ionic liquid solvent. Initially, different conceptual approaches to modelling ionic liquids are discussed, followed by a consideration of the limitations and constraints of these approaches. A series of case studies demonstrating the utility of computational approaches to explain processes in ionic liquids are considered; some of these address the solubility of species in ionic liquids while others examine classes of reaction where the outcome in ionic liquids can be explained through the application of computational approaches. Overall, the utility of computational methods to explain, and potentially predict, the effect of ionic liquids on reaction outcome is demonstrated