Global Models, The Biospheric Approach (Theory of the Noosphere)

The problem of the coevolution of mankind and the biosphere, i.e., the relationship between the process of the evolution of the biosphere and the evolution of human activity which provides a homeostasis for human civilization, has become one of the principal problems of human ecology. The first step in an extensive program of interdisciplinary research is the creation of a system of mathematical models which would serve as a framework for planning international research programs. The research described herein has two stages. The first stage, a still primitive system of models was constructed and analyzed, using systems dynamics techniques. This system of models, outlined in the second section of the paper, has already helped the authors in their contacts with experts in biology, soil science, etc., and the creation of an information base has in essence, turned into a discussion of plans for future work. Studies connected with simulating the evolution of the biosphere were developed in three directions: simulation of processes of a biotic nature, simulation of climate, and simulation of human activity. Experimental results obtained using this system in the "if...then" mode, may be helpful for understanding, at least on a qualitative basis, possible impacts of human activity on the evolution of the biosphere assuming that the present day trends remain unchanged. This system of models is at present programmed at IIASA and is ready to be used for simulation experiments. The second step in the research is based on an understanding of the fact that the systems dynamic approach is not sufficient for the elaboration and study of the system of models which describes human activity. Furthermore, it is necessary to analyze and coordinate models developed by experts in varied branches of science -- biologists, climatologists, economists, etc. Thus, it is necessary to elaborate new mathematical techniques that can be used in the investigation of global coevolution problems. Some principles for the development of these techniques were formulated at the Computing Center of the USSR Academy of Sciences and are presented herein. The three main principles are: (1) Linear parametrization of comprehensive submodels; (2) Models of human activity are split into two levels -- the decision-making level and the technological level -- and a description of the system of models at the technological level only; (3) Analysis and coordination of the system of models by constructing a set of all reachable values of performance indices (The Generalized Reachable Sets Approach). The linear parametrization procedure for a climate model which is essentially the Mintz-Arakawa global atmospheric circulation model as described by Gates et al. (1971) and modified to account for the climatic trends due to the influence of anthropogenic factors, is described in the third section of the paper. The problems of modeling human activity and the main features of the Generalized Reachable Sets approach, as well as the general scheme of analysis of global biospheric models, are presented in the fourth section of the paper. This work, which is now in the early stages, calls for a great deal of scientific effort over a long period of time. The authors anticipate that the importance of the research in this direction will be internationally recognized and supported

Mixed configuration-interaction and many-body perturbation theory calculations of energies and oscillator strengths of J=1 odd states of neon

Ab-initio theory is developed for energies of J=1 particle-hole states of neutral neon and for oscillator strengths of transitions from such states to the J=0 ground state. Hole energies of low-Z neonlike ions are evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, 4 table

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for high-mass diphoton resonances in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV and combination with 8 TeV search

Peer reviewe

Search for heavy resonances decaying into a vector boson and a Higgs boson in final states with charged leptons, neutrinos, and b quarks

Peer reviewe

Measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in transverse momentum and rapidity in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV

We present a measurement of the Z boson differential cross section in rapidity and transverse momentum using a data sample of pp collision events at a centre-of-mass energy s=8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb-1. The Z boson is identified via its decay to a pair of muons. The measurement provides a precision test of quantum chromodynamics over a large region of phase space. In addition, due to the small experimental uncertainties in the measurement the data has the potential to constrain the gluon parton distribution function in the kinematic regime important for Higgs boson production via gluon fusion. The results agree with the next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions computed with the fewz program. The results are also compared to the commonly used leading-order MadGraph and next-to-leading-order powheg generators. © 2015 CERN for the benefit of the CMS Collaboration

Search for the associated production of the Higgs boson with a top-quark pair

A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair t t ¯ H (tt¯H) is presented, using data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 fb −1 and 19.7 fb −1 collected in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV respectively. The search is based on the following signatures of the Higgs boson decay: H → hadrons, H → photons, and H → leptons. The results are characterized by an observed t t ¯ H tt¯H signal strength relative to the standard model cross section, μ = σ/σ SM ,under the assumption that the Higgs boson decays as expected in the standard model. The best fit value is μ = 2.8 ± 1.0 for a Higgs boson mass of 125.6 GeV

Search for neutral resonances decaying into a Z boson and a pair of b jets or τ leptons

A search is performed for a new resonance decaying into a lighter resonance and a Z boson. Two channels are studied, targeting the decay of the lighter resonance into either a pair of oppositely charged τ leptons or a bb‾ pair. The Z boson is identified via its decays to electrons or muons. The search exploits data collected by the CMS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 fb −1 . No significant deviations are observed from the standard model expectation and limits are set on production cross sections and parameters of two-Higgs-doublet models