Quarkonia Measurements with STAR

We report results on quarkonium production from the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). J/psi spectra in p+p and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV with transverse momenta in the range of 0.5-14 GeV/c and 5-8 GeV/c, respectively, are presented. We find that for p_T > 5 GeV/c yields in p+p collisions are consistent with those in minimum-bias Cu+Cu collisions scaled with the respective number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. In this range the nuclear modification factor, R_AA, is measured to be 0.9+-0.2(stat). For the first time at RHIC, high-p_T J/psi-hadron correlations were studied in p+p collisions. Implications from our measurements on J/psi production mechanisms, constraints on open bottom yields, and J/psi dissociation mechanisms at high-p_T are discussed. In addition, we give a brief status of measurements of Upsilon production in p+p and Au+Au collisions and present projections of future quarkonia measurements based on an upgrades to the STAR detector and increased luminosity achieved through stochastic cooling of RHIC.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Prepared for 3rd International Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions (Hard Probes 2008), A Toxa, Spain, June 8-14, 200

Hadron Production in Heavy Ion Collisions

We review hadron production in heavy ion collisions with emphasis on pion and kaon production at energies below 2 AGeV and on partonic collectivity at RHIC energies.Comment: 31 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in Landolt-Boernstein Volume 1-23

Cosmic Evolution in Brans-Dicke Chameleon Cosmology

We have investigated the Brans-Dicke Chameleon theory of gravity and obtained exact solutions of the scale factor $a(t)$, scalar field $\phi(t)$, an arbitrary function $f(\phi)$ which interact with the matter Lagrangian in the action of the Brans-Dicke Chameleon theory and potential $V(\phi)$ for different epochs of the cosmic evolution. We plot the functions $a(t)$, $\phi(t)$, $f(t)$ and $V(\phi)$ for different values of the Brans-Dicke parameter. In our models, there is no accelerating solution, only decelerating one with $q>0$. The physical cosmological distances have been investigated carefully. Further the statefinder parameters pair and deceleration parameter are discussed.Comment: To be appear in "The European Physical Journal - Plus (EPJ Plus)",Extended version,15 pages, 17eps figure

Hydrodynamics and Flow

In this lecture note, we present several topics on relativistic hydrodynamics and its application to relativistic heavy ion collisions. In the first part we give a brief introduction to relativistic hydrodynamics in the context of heavy ion collisions. In the second part we present the formalism and some fundamental aspects of relativistic ideal and viscous hydrodynamics. In the third part, we start with some basic checks of the fundamental observables followed by discussion of collective flow, in particular elliptic flow, which is one of the most exciting phenomenon in heavy ion collisions at relativistic energies. Next we discuss how to formulate the hydrodynamic model to describe dynamics of heavy ion collisions. Finally, we conclude the third part of the lecture note by showing some results from ideal hydrodynamic calculations and by comparing them with the experimental data.Comment: 40 pages, 35 figures; lecture given at the QGP Winter School, Jaipur, India, Feb.1-3, 2008; to appear in Springer Lecture Notes in Physic

Hard diffractive quarkonium hadroproduction at high energies

We present a study of heavy quarkonium production in hard diffractive process by the Pomeron exchange for Tevatron and LHC energies. The numerical results are computed using recent experimental determination of the diffractive parton density functions in Pomeron and are corrected by unitarity corrections through gap survival probability factor. We give predictions for single as well as central diffractive ratios. These processes are sensitive to the gluon content of the Pomeron at small Bjorken-x and may be particularly useful in studying the small-x physics. They may also be a good place to test the different available mechanisms for quarkonium production at hadron colliders.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Final version to be published in European Physical Journal

Phase transitions of hadronic to quark matter at finite T and \mu_B

The phase transition of hadronic to quark matter and the boundaries of the mixed hadron-quark coexistence phase are studied within the two Equation of State (EoS) model. The relativistic effective mean field approach with constant and density dependent meson-nucleon couplings is used to describe hadronic matter, and the MIT Bag model is adopted to describe quark matter. The boundaries of the mixed phase for different Bag constants are obtained solving the Gibbs equations. We notice that the dependence on the Bag parameter of the critical temperatures (at zero chemical potential) can be well reproduced by a fermion ultrarelativistic quark gas model, without contribution from the hadron part. At variance the critical chemical potentials (at zero temperature) are very sensitive to the EoS of the hadron sector. Hence the study of the hadronic EoS is much more relevant for the determination of the transition to the quark-gluon-plasma at finite baryon density and low-T. Moreover in the low temperature and finite chemical potential region no solutions of the Gibbs conditions are existing for small Bag constant values, B < (135 MeV)^4. Isospin effects in asymmetric matter appear relevant in the high chemical potential regions at lower temperatures, of interest for the inner core properties of neutron stars and for heavy ion collisions at intermediate energies.Comment: 24 pages and 16 figures (revtex4

Simultaneous Determination of Amlodipine and Valsartan

A spectrophotometric method was developed for simultaneous determination of amlodipine (Aml) and valsartan (Val) without previous separation. In this method amlodipine in methanolic solution was determined using zero order UV spectrophotometry by measuring its absorbency at 360.5 nm without any interference from valsartan

Is cosmology consistent?

We perform a detailed analysis of the latest CMB measurements (including BOOMERaNG, DASI, Maxima and CBI), both alone and jointly with other cosmological data sets involving, e.g., galaxy clustering and the Lyman Alpha Forest. We first address the question of whether the CMB data are internally consistent once calibration and beam uncertainties are taken into account, performing a series of statistical tests. With a few minor caveats, our answer is yes, and we compress all data into a single set of 24 bandpowers with associated covariance matrix and window functions. We then compute joint constraints on the 11 parameters of the ``standard'' adiabatic inflationary cosmological model. Out best fit model passes a series of physical consistency checks and agrees with essentially all currently available cosmological data. In addition to sharp constraints on the cosmic matter budget in good agreement with those of the BOOMERaNG, DASI and Maxima teams, we obtain a heaviest neutrino mass range 0.04-4.2 eV and the sharpest constraints to date on gravity waves which (together with preference for a slight red-tilt) favors ``small-field'' inflation models.Comment: Replaced to match accepted PRD version. 14 pages, 12 figs. Tiny changes due to smaller DASI & Maxima calibration errors. Expanded neutrino and tensor discussion, added refs, typos fixed. Combined CMB data, window and covariance matrix at http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~max/consistent.html or from [email protected]

Influence of pyrolysis temperature on the characteristics and lead(II) adsorption capacity of phosphorus-engineered poplar sawdust biochar

Phosphorus (P)–engineered biochars (BCP) were prepared via co-pyrolysis of poplar sawdust and monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4) (10 %, w/w) at 300 ℃, 500 ℃ and 700 ℃ to evaluate their potential lead [Pb(II)] adsorption. Effects of pH, contact time, and initial Pb(II) concentration on the Pb(II) adsorption capacity of the biochars were investigated. The physico-chemical, morphological, porous structure, crystallinity and spectroscopic characteristics of pre- and post-Pb-adsorbed biochars were analyzed to unravel the Pb(II) adsorption mechanism. Results showed that KH2PO4 reacted with biomass carbon to form stable C–P and/or C–O–P groups in BCP, and increased carbon retention and aromaticity of BCP. However, the addition of KH2PO4 led to an adverse effect on porous structure, e.g. surface area of biochars produced at 300 ℃, 500 ℃ and 700 ℃ were decreased by 41.53 %, 80.32 %, and 59.74 %, respectively. Adsorption experiments displayed that BCP produced at 300 ℃ exhibited the highest Pb(II) adsorption capacity (qmax = 154.7 mg g−1), which was almost 6 times higher than the pristine biochar (qmax = 24.3 mg g−1). Potassium polymetaphosphate [(KPO3)n] particles were attached on the surface of BCP, which facilitated the precipitation of Pb(II) to form [Pb(PO3)2]n, Pb5(PO4)3OH and PbHPO4. This study thus demonstrated the effect of pyrolysis temperature on the enhancing removal capability of P-modified biochar for Pb(II) from aqueous solutions

Measurements of the observed cross sections for exclusive light hadron production in e^+e^- annihilation at \sqrt{s}= 3.773 and 3.650 GeV

By analyzing the data sets of 17.3 pb$^{-1}$ taken at $\sqrt{s}=3.773$ GeV and 6.5 pb$^{-1}$ taken at $\sqrt{s}=3.650$ GeV with the BESII detector at the BEPC collider, we have measured the observed cross sections for 12 exclusive light hadron final states produced in $e^+e^-$ annihilation at the two energy points. We have also set the upper limits on the observed cross sections and the branching fractions for $\psi(3770)$ decay to these final states at 90% C.L.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figur