Sea-Ice Detection from RADARSAT Images by Gamma-based Bilateral Filtering

Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is commonly considered a powerful sensor to detect sea ice. Unfortunately, the sea-ice types in SAR images are difficult to be interpreted due to speckle noise. SAR image denoising therefore becomes a critical step of SAR sea-ice image processing and analysis. In this study, a two-phase approach is designed and implemented for SAR sea-ice image segmentation. In the first phase, a Gamma-based bilateral filter is introduced and applied for SAR image denoising in the local domain. It not only perfectly inherits the conventional bilateral filter with the capacity of smoothing SAR sea-ice imagery while preserving edges, but also enhances it based on the homogeneity in local areas and Gamma distribution of speckle noise. The Gamma-based bilateral filter outperforms other widely used filters, such as Frost filter and the conventional bilateral filter. In the second phase, the K-means clustering algorithm, whose initial centroids are optimized, is adopted in order to obtain better segmentation results. The proposed approach is tested using both simulated and real SAR images, compared with several existing algorithms including K-means, K-means based on the Frost filtered images, and K-means based on the conventional bilateral filtered images. The F1 scores of the simulated results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach whose overall accuracies maintain higher than 90% as variances of noise range from 0.1 to 0.5. For the real SAR images, the proposed approach outperforms others with average overall accuracy of 95%

Global search for new physics at CDF

A model-independent global search for new physics has been performed at the CDF experiment. This search examines 399 final states, looking for discrepancies between observation and the standard model expectation in populations, kinematic shapes, bumps in mass distributions suggestive of new resonances and the tails of the summed transverse momentum distribution. This global search reveals no evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model in 2.0 fb^-1 of p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV.Comment: Comments: 3 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to the proceedings of the SUSY08 Conferenc

Production rates for hadrons, pentaquarks Θ+\Theta ^+ and Θ∗++\Theta ^{*++}, and di-baryon (ΩΩ)0+(\Omega\Omega)_{0^{+}} in relativistic heavy ion collisions by a quark combination model

The hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions is well described by the quark combination model. The mixed ratios for various hadrons and the transverse momentum spectra for long-life hadrons are predicted and agree with recent RHIC data. The production rates for the pentaquarks $\Theta ^+$, $\Theta ^{*++}$ and the di-baryon $(\Omega\Omega)_{0^{+}}$ are estimated, neglecting the effect from the transition amplitude for constituent quarks to form an exotic state.Comment: The difference between our model and other combination models is clarified. The scaled transverse momentum spectra for pions, kaons and protoms at both 130 AGeV and 200 AGeV are given, replacing the previous results in transverse momentum spectr

Searching for long-lived particles beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider

Particles beyond the Standard Model (SM) can generically have lifetimes that are long compared to SM particles at the weak scale. When produced at experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, these long-lived particles (LLPs) can decay far from the interaction vertex of the primary proton–proton collision. Such LLP signatures are distinct from those of promptly decaying particles that are targeted by the majority of searches for new physics at the LHC, often requiring customized techniques to identify, for example, significantly displaced decay vertices, tracks with atypical properties, and short track segments. Given their non-standard nature, a comprehensive overview of LLP signatures at the LHC is beneficial to ensure that possible avenues of the discovery of new physics are not overlooked. Here we report on the joint work of a community of theorists and experimentalists with the ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb experiments—as well as those working on dedicated experiments such as MoEDAL, milliQan, MATHUSLA, CODEX-b, and FASER—to survey the current state of LLP searches at the LHC, and to chart a path for the development of LLP searches into the future, both in the upcoming Run 3 and at the high-luminosity LHC. The work is organized around the current and future potential capabilities of LHC experiments to generally discover new LLPs, and takes a signature-based approach to surveying classes of models that give rise to LLPs rather than emphasizing any particular theory motivation. We develop a set of simplified models; assess the coverage of current searches; document known, often unexpected backgrounds; explore the capabilities of proposed detector upgrades; provide recommendations for the presentation of search results; and look towards the newest frontiers, namely high-multiplicity 'dark showers', highlighting opportunities for expanding the LHC reach for these signals

Kondo effect and its destruction in hetero-bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides

Moir\'e structures, along with line-graph-based $d$-electron systems, represent a setting to realize flat bands. One form of the associated strong correlation physics is the Kondo effect. Here, we address the Kondo-driven heavy fermion state and its destruction in AB-stacked hetero-bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide with tunable filling factor and perpendicular displacement field. In an extended range of the tunable displacement field, the relative filling of the more correlated orbital is enforced to be $\nu_d \approx 1$ by the interaction, which agrees with the experimental observation. We also argue that the qualitative behavior of the crossover associated with the Kondo picture in an extended correlation regime provides the understanding of the energy scales that have been observed in this system. Our results set the stage to address the amplified quantum fluctuations that the Kondo effect may produce in these structures and new regimes that the systems open up for Kondo-destruction quantum criticality.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figure