Recent results on QCD and forward physics from the CMS Collaboration

A selection of recent results on QCD, diffraction and exclusive processes from the CMS experiment at LHC are here presented. The measurements refer to data which have been collected in 2010, during proton-proton collisions at the center-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV. The results rely on excellent performance of the tracking systems as well as on unprecedented calorimetry pseudo-rapidity coverage

Helicopter gust response characteristics including unsteady aerodynamic stall effects

The results of an analytical study to evaluate the general response characteristics of a helicopter subjected to various types of discrete gust encounters are presented. The analysis employed was a nonlinear coupled, multi-blade rotorfuselage analysis including the effects of blade flexibility and unsteady aerodynamic stall. Only the controls-fixed response of the basic aircraft without any aircraft stability augmentation was considered. A discussion of the basic differences between gust sensitivity of fixed and rotary wing aircraft is presented. The effects of several rotor configuration and aircraft operating parameters on initial gust-induced load factor and blade vibratory stress and pushrod loads are discussed

About multi-resolution techniques for large eddy simulation of reactive multi-phase flows

A numerical technique for mesh refinement in the HeaRT (Heat Release and Transfer) numerical code is presented. In the CFD framework, Large Eddy Simulation (LES) approach is gaining in importance as a tool for simulating turbulent combustion pro- cesses, also if this approach has an high computational cost due to the complexity of the turbulent modeling and the high number of grid points necessary to obtain a good numerical solution. In particular, when a numerical simulation of a big domain is performed with a structured grid, the number of grid points can increase so much that the simulation becomes impossible: this problem can be overcomed with a mesh refinement technique. Mesh refinement technique developed for HeaRT numerical code (a staggered finite difference code) is based on an high order reconstruction of the variables at the grid interfaces by means of a least square quasi-eno interpolation: numerical code is written in modern Fortran (2003 standard of newer) and is parallelized using domain decomposition and message passing interface (MPI) standard

Impact of Sodium Layer variations on the performance of the E-ELT MCAO module

Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics systems based on sodium Laser Guide Stars may exploit Natural Guide Stars to solve intrinsic limitations of artificial beacons (tip-tilt indetermination and anisoplanatism) and to mitigate the impact of the sodium layer structure and variability. The sodium layer may also have transverse structures leading to differential effects among Laser Guide Stars. Starting from the analysis of the input perturbations related to the Sodium Layer variability, modeled directly on measured sodium layer profiles, we analyze, through a simplified end-to-end simulation code, the impact of the low/medium orders induced on global performance of the European Extremely Large Telescope Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics module MAORY.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, SPIE conference Proceedin

Observations of Isolated Neutron Stars with the ESO Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator

High-energy observations have unveiled peculiar classes of isolated neutron stars which, at variance with radio pulsars, are mostly radio silent and not powered by the star rotation. Among these objects are the magnetars, hyper-magnetized neutron stars characterized by transient X-ray/gamma-ray emission, and neutron stars with purely thermal, and in most cases stationary, X-ray emission (a.k.a., X-ray dim isolated neutron stars or XDINSs). While apparently dissimilar in their high-energy behavior and age, both magnetars and XDINSs have similar periods and unusually high magnetic fields. This suggests a tantalizing scenario where the former evolve into the latter.Discovering so far uninvestigated similarities between the multi-wavelength properties of these two classes would be a further step forward to establish an evolutionary scenario. A most promising channels is the near infrared (NIR) one, where magnetars are characterized by a distinctive spectral flattening with respect to the extrapolation of the soft X-ray spectrum.We observed the two XDINSs RX J0420.0-5022 and RX J1856.5-3754 with the Multi-Conjugate Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD) at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) as part of the instrument guaranteed time observations program, to search for their NIR counterparts. Both RX J1856.5-3754 and RX J0420.0-5022 were not detected down to K_s ~20 and Ks ~21.5, respectively. In order to constrain the relation between XDINSs and magnetars it would be of importance to perform deeper NIR observations. A good candidate is 1RXS J214303.7+065419 which is the XDINS with the highest inferred magnetic field.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

End to end numerical simulations of the MAORY multiconjugate adaptive optics system

MAORY is the adaptive optics module of the E-ELT that will feed the MICADO imaging camera through a gravity invariant exit port. MAORY has been foreseen to implement MCAO correction through three high order deformable mirrors driven by the reference signals of six Laser Guide Stars (LGSs) feeding as many Shack-Hartmann Wavefront Sensors. A three Natural Guide Stars (NGSs) system will provide the low order correction. We develop a code for the end-to-end simulation of the MAORY adaptive optics (AO) system in order to obtain high-delity modeling of the system performance. It is based on the IDL language and makes extensively uses of the GPUs. Here we present the architecture of the simulation tool and its achieved and expected performance.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation 2014 in Montr\'eal, Quebec, Canada, with number 9148-25

On the radio and NIR jet of PKS 2155-304 and its close environment

PKS 2155-304 is one of the brightest BL Lac object in the sky and a very well studied target from radio to TeV bands. We report on high-resolution (~ 0.12 arcsec) direct imaging of the field of PKS 2155-304 using adaptive optics near-IR observations in J and Ks bands obtained with the ESO multi-conjugate adaptive optic demonstrator (MAD) at the Very Large Telescope. These data are complemented with archival VLA images at various frequencies to investigate the properties of the close environment of the source. We characterized the faint galaxies that form the poor group associated to the target. No radio emission is present for these galaxies, while an old radio jet at ~ 20 kpc from the nucleus of PKS 2155-304 and a jet-like structure of ~ 2 kpc (~ 1 arcsec) in the eastern direction are revealed. No counterparts of these radio jets are found in the NIR or in archival Chandra observations.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

MAD Adaptive Optics Imaging of High Luminosity Quasars: A Pilot Project

We present near-IR images of five luminous quasars at z~2 and one at z~4 obtained with an experimental adaptive optics instrument at the ESO Very Large Telescope. The observations are part of a program aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of multi-conjugated adaptive optics imaging combined with the use of natural guide stars for high spatial resolution studies on large telescopes. The observations were mostly obtained under poor seeing conditions but in two cases. In spite of these non optimal conditions, the resulting images of point sources have cores of FWHM ~0.2 arcsec. We are able to characterize the host galaxy properties for 2 sources and set stringent upper limits to the galaxy luminosity for the others. We also report on the expected capabilities for investigating the host galaxies of distant quasars with adaptive optics systems coupled with future Extremely Large Telescopes. Detailed simulations show that it will be possible to characterize compact (2-3 kpc) quasar host galaxies for QSOs at z = 2 with nucleus K-magnitude spanning from 15 to 20 (corresponding to absolute magnitude -31 to -26) and host galaxies that are 4 mag fainter than their nuclei.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, accepted for pubblication in The Astronomical Journa

The jet of the BL Lac object PKS 0521 -365 in the near-IR : MAD adaptive optics observations

BL Lac objects are low--power active nuclei exhibiting a variety of peculiar properties that are caused by the presence of a relativistic jet and orientation effects. We present here adaptive optics near-IR images at high spatial resolution of the nearby BL Lac object PKS 0521-365, which is known to display a prominent jet both at radio and optical frequencies. The observations were obtained in Ks--band using the ESO multi-conjugated adaptive optics demonstrator at the Very Large Telescope. This allowed us to obtain images with 0.1 arcsec effective resolution. We performed a detailed analysis of the jet and its related features from the near-IR images, and combined them with images previously obtained with HST in the R band and by a re-analysis of VLA radio maps. We find a remarkable similarity in the structure of the jet at radio, near-IR, and optical wavelengths. The broad--band emission of the jet knots is dominated by synchrotron radiation, while the nucleus also exhibits a significant inverse Compton component. We discovered the near-IR counterpart of the radio hotspot and found that the near-IR flux is consistent with being a synchrotron emission from radio to X-ray. The bright red object (red-tip), detached but well aligned with the jet, is well resolved in the near-IR and has a linear light profile. Since it has no radio counterpart, we propose that it is a background galaxy not associated with the jet. The new adaptive optics near-IR images and previous observations at other frequencies allow us to study the complex environment around the remarkable BL Lac object PKS 0521-365. These data exemplify the capabilities of multi conjugate adaptive optics observations of extragalactic extended sources.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics 9 pages. A & A 2009, in pres

Assessing influence factors on daily ammonia and greenhouse gas concentrations from an open-sided cubicle barn in hot mediterranean climate

Measurement of gas concentrations constitutes basic knowledge for the computation of emissions from livestock buildings. Although it is well known that hot climate conditions increase gas emissions, in the literature the relation between gas concentrations from open barns and animalrelated parameters has not been investigated yet. This study aimed at filling this gap by evaluating daily gas concentrations within an open-sided barn in hot Mediterranean climate. The influence of microclimatic parameters (MC) and cow behavior and barn management (CBBM) were evaluated for ammonia (NH3 ), methane (CH4 ), and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentrations. Results showed that both MC and CBBM affected concentrations of NH3 (p < 0.02), CH4 (p < 0.001), and CO2 (p < 0.001). Higher values of NH3 concentration were detected during the cleaning of the floor by a tractor with scraper, whereas the lowest NH3 concentrations were recorded during animal lying behavior. Measured values of CO2 and CH4 were highly correlated (C = 0.87–0.89) due to the same sources of production (i.e., digestion and respiration). The different management of the cooling systems during the two observation periods reduced significantly CH4 concentrations in the barn when the cooling system in the feeding area was switched off. Based on methodological choices due to the specific barn typology, parameters related to animals can provide information on the variation of gas concentrations in the barn environment in hot climate conditions