1,081 research outputs found

    Atomic X-ray Spectroscopy of Accreting Black Holes

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    Current astrophysical research suggests that the most persistently luminous objects in the Universe are powered by the flow of matter through accretion disks onto black holes. Accretion disk systems are observed to emit copious radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, each energy band providing access to rather distinct regimes of physical conditions and geometric scale. X-ray emission probes the innermost regions of the accretion disk, where relativistic effects prevail. While this has been known for decades, it also has been acknowledged that inferring physical conditions in the relativistic regime from the behavior of the X-ray continuum is problematic and not satisfactorily constraining. With the discovery in the 1990s of iron X-ray lines bearing signatures of relativistic distortion came the hope that such emission would more firmly constrain models of disk accretion near black holes, as well as provide observational criteria by which to test general relativity in the strong field limit. Here we provide an introduction to this phenomenon. While the presentation is intended to be primarily tutorial in nature, we aim also to acquaint the reader with trends in current research. To achieve these ends, we present the basic applications of general relativity that pertain to X-ray spectroscopic observations of black hole accretion disk systems, focusing on the Schwarzschild and Kerr solutions to the Einstein field equations. To this we add treatments of the fundamental concepts associated with the theoretical and modeling aspects of accretion disks, as well as relevant topics from observational and theoretical X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 63 pages, 21 figures, Einstein Centennial Review Article, Canadian Journal of Physics, in pres

    Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

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    The elliptic, v2v_2, triangular, v3v_3, and quadrangular, v4v_4, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 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 ∣η∣<0.8|\eta|<0.8 at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, pTp_{\rm T}, out to pT=20p_{\rm T}=20 GeV/cc. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for pT>8p_{\rm T}>8 GeV/cc. The small pTp_{\rm T} 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 pT=8p_{\rm T}=8 GeV/cc. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least pT=8p_{\rm T}=8 GeV/cc indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high pTp_{\rm T}.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 sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 2.76 TeV

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    The inclusive transverse momentum (pTp_{\rm T}) distributions of primary charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range ∣η∣<0.8|\eta|<0.8 as a function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}=2.76 TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the pTp_{\rm T} range 0.15<pT<500.15<p_{\rm T}<50 GeV/cc for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%. The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor RAAR_{\rm{AA}} using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision energy. We observe that the suppression of high-pTp_{\rm T} particles strongly depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most suppressed with RAA≈0.13R_{\rm{AA}}\approx0.13 at pT=6p_{\rm T}=6-7 GeV/cc. Above pT=7p_{\rm T}=7 GeV/cc, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification factor, which reaches RAA≈0.4R_{\rm{AA}} \approx0.4 for pT>30p_{\rm T}>30 GeV/cc. In peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with RAA≈0.7R_{\rm{AA}} \approx 0.7 almost independently of pTp_{\rm T}. 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

    Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

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    The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than those measured at RHIC.Comment: 17 pages, 5 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/388

    Suppression of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

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    Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of primary charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 2.76 TeV have been measured by the ALICE Collaboration at the LHC. The data are presented for central and peripheral collisions, corresponding to 0-5% and 70-80% of the hadronic Pb-Pb cross section. The measured charged particle spectra in ∣η∣<0.8|\eta|<0.8 and 0.3<pT<200.3 < p_T < 20 GeV/cc are compared to the expectation in pp collisions at the same sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}, scaled by the number of underlying nucleon-nucleon collisions. The comparison is expressed in terms of the nuclear modification factor RAAR_{\rm AA}. The result indicates only weak medium effects (RAA≈R_{\rm AA} \approx 0.7) in peripheral collisions. In central collisions, RAAR_{\rm AA} reaches a minimum of about 0.14 at pT=6p_{\rm T}=6-7GeV/cc and increases significantly at larger pTp_{\rm T}. The measured suppression of high-pTp_{\rm T} particles is stronger than that observed at lower collision energies, indicating that a very dense medium is formed in central Pb-Pb collisions at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages, 5 captioned figures, 3 tables, authors from page 10, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/98

    Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV

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    The pTp_{\rm T}-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D0^0, D+^+, and D∗+^{*+} in the rapidity range ∣y∣<0.5|y|<0.5, and for transverse momentum 1<pT<121< p_{\rm T} <12 GeV/cc, were measured in proton-proton collisions at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D0→^0 \rightarrow Kπ\pi, D+→^+ \rightarrow Kππ\pi\pi, D∗+→^{*+} \rightarrow D0π^0\pi, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a Lint=1.1L_{\rm int} = 1.1 nb−1^{-1} event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the pTp_{\rm T}-differential production cross sections at s=2.76\sqrt{s} = 2.76 TeV and our previous measurements at s=7\sqrt{s} = 7 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

    Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

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    A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

    Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

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    Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp. Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02

    Measurement of the polarisation of W bosons produced with large transverse momentum in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment

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    This paper describes an analysis of the angular distribution of W->enu and W->munu decays, using data from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2010, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 35 pb^-1. Using the decay lepton transverse momentum and the missing transverse energy, the W decay angular distribution projected onto the transverse plane is obtained and analysed in terms of helicity fractions f0, fL and fR over two ranges of W transverse momentum (ptw): 35 < ptw < 50 GeV and ptw > 50 GeV. Good agreement is found with theoretical predictions. For ptw > 50 GeV, the values of f0 and fL-fR, averaged over charge and lepton flavour, are measured to be : f0 = 0.127 +/- 0.030 +/- 0.108 and fL-fR = 0.252 +/- 0.017 +/- 0.030, where the first uncertainties are statistical, and the second include all systematic effects.Comment: 19 pages plus author list (34 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, revised author list, matches European Journal of Physics C versio
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