Precision Probes of QCD at High Energies

New physics, that is too heavy to be produced directly, can leave measurable imprints on the tails of kinematic distributions at the LHC. We use energetic QCD processes to perform novel measurements of the Standard Model (SM) Effective Field Theory. We show that the dijet invariant mass spectrum, and the inclusive jet transverse momentum spectrum, are sensitive to a dimension 6 operator that modifies the gluon propagator at high energies. The dominant effect is constructive or destructive interference with SM jet production. We compare differential next-to-leading order predictions from POWHEG to public 7 TeV jet data, including scale, PDF, and experimental uncertainties and their respective correlations. We constrain a New Physics (NP) scale of 3.5 TeV with current data. We project the reach of future 13 and 100 TeV measurements, which we estimate to be sensitive to NP scales of 8 and 60 TeV, respectively. As an application, we apply our bounds to constrain heavy vector octet colorons that couple to the QCD current. We project that effective operators will surpass bump hunts, in terms of coloron mass reach, even for sequential couplings.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, 8 tables. Minor changes. Accepted on JHE

Catching a New Force by the Tail

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is sensitive to new heavy gauge bosons that produce narrow peaks in the dilepton invariant mass spectrum up to about $m_{Z'}\sim 5$ TeV. $Z'$s that are too heavy to produce directly can reveal their presence through interference with Standard Model dilepton production. We show that the LHC can significantly extend the mass reach for such $Z'$s by performing precision measurements of the shape of the dilepton invariant mass spectrum. The high luminosity LHC can exclude, with 95$\%$ confidence, new gauge bosons as heavy as $m_{Z'} \sim 10-20$ TeV that couple with gauge coupling strength of $g_{Z'} \sim 1-2$.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

A Giraffe in the Botanic Garden of Pisa (Tuscany, Northern Italy)

The Botanic Garden of Pisa was established in 1543 as a teaching tool and research facility. As with the vast majority of its sister institutions, it focuses on plant collections. However, for a short time in the first half of the XIX century, the Botanic Garden exhibited a living giraffe, a cow, and a calf. Due to the transient nature of the exhibition, it could have easily gone unnoticed but for the fortuitous representation of the animals in a drawing of the same period and for sparse notes archived in the libraries of Pisa University. Furthermore, a XIX-century publication on the morphological and behavioural traits of three antelopes indirectly suggests that those animals had been kept in the Botanic Garden for research purposes. This paper presents the evidence of the living animal display in the Botanic Garden of Pisa and the context in which it was collecte

On a bone breccia near uliveto terme (Monte Pisano, Italy)

On a bone breccia near Uliveto Terme (Monte Pisano,Italy). The study of the macromammal remains of a bone breccia from the Uliveto quarry (Monte Pisano, Pisa) is here presented. The fossil material is scanty and very fragmented and consists mainly of Dama dama remains. The presence of Dama dama has been recognized also in another fossil site of the Monte Pisano (Grotta Cucigliana) referred to the late Aurelian

Da li je malooki mlat ikada nastanjivao Sredozemno more? Ponovno vrednovanje jedinog talijanskog nalaza vrste Sphyrina tudes (Valenciennes, 1822.)

Three species of Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran and S. zygaena) are known to inhabit the present-day Mediterranean Sea, whereas uncertainties exist about the presence of S. tudes in the same basin. Indeed, the presence of this typically western Atlantic shark in the Mediterranean Sea is supported by as few as two historical specimens that were captured at Nice (southeastern France) and Leghorn (northern Tyrrhenian coast of central Italy). Here, we provide a redescription and an updated taxonomic identification of the Leghorn specimen of smalleye hammerhead, which is currently kept in the zoological collection of the Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa and is believed by some authors to represent a misidentified representative of S. lewini. Based on first-hand observations, we confirm the taxonomic identification of this specimen as belonging to S. tudes. Considering the ontogenetically young nature of both the Nice and the Leghorn specimens of S. tudes, parturition in the Mediterranean Sea is hypothesised, which in turn may evoke the occurrence of a population of smalleye hammerheads inhabiting this basin at least as recently as the early 19th century.Tri vrste roda Sphyrna (S. lewini, S. mokarran i S. zygaena) nastanjuju današnje Sredozemno more, no postoje nejasnoće oko prisutnosti vrste S. tudes u istom području. Prisutnost ovog tipično zapadno-atlantskog morskog psa u Sredozemnom moru podupiru samo dva povijesna primjerka uhvaćena kod Nice (jugoistočna Francuska) i Leghorna (sjeverna tirenska obala središnje Italije). U ovom radu iznosi se ponovni opis te ažurirana taksonomska identifikacija primjerka malookog mlata iz Leghorna, koji se trenutno čuva u zoološkoj zbirci Prirodoslovnog muzeja Sveučilišta u Pisi, a za kojeg neki autori vjeruju da predstavlja pogrešno identificiranog predstavnika vrste S. lewini. Na temelju izravnih promatranja, autori potvrđuju taksonomsku identifikaciju analiziranog primjerka kao pripadnika vrste S. tudes. S obzirom da su primjerci vrste S. tudes iz Nice i Leghorna mlade jedinke, pretpostavlja se da su okoćeni na području Sredozemog mora što može sugerirati prisutstvo populacije ove vrste na tom području barem do početka devetnaestog stoljeća

Image fusion techniqes for remote sensing applications

Image fusion refers to the acquisition, processing and synergistic combination of information provided by various sensors or by the same sensor in many measuring contexts. The aim of this survey paper is to describe three typical applications of data fusion in remote sensing. The first study case considers the problem of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry, where a pair of antennas are used to obtain an elevation map of the observed scene; the second one refers to the fusion of multisensor and multitemporal (Landsat Thematic Mapper and SAR) images of the same site acquired at different times, by using neural networks; the third one presents a processor to fuse multifrequency, multipolarization and mutiresolution SAR images, based on wavelet transform and multiscale Kalman filter. Each study case presents also results achieved by the proposed techniques applied to real data

Habitat and scale shape the demographic fate of the keystone sea urchin <i>Paracentrotus lividus</i> in Mediterranean macrophyte communities

Demographic processes exert different degrees of control as individuals grow, and in species that span several habitats and spatial scales, this can influence our ability to predict their population at a particular life-history stage given the previous life stage. In particular, when keystone species are involved, this relative coupling between demographic stages can have significant implications for the functioning of ecosystems. We examined benthic and pelagic abundances of the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus in order to: 1) understand the main life-history bottlenecks by observing the degree of coupling between demographic stages; and 2) explore the processes driving these linkages. P. lividus is the dominant invertebrate herbivore in the Mediterranean Sea, and has been repeatedly observed to overgraze shallow beds of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica and rocky macroalgal communities. We used a hierarchical sampling design at different spatial scales (100 s, 10 s and &lt;1 km) and habitats (seagrass and rocky macroalgae) to describe the spatial patterns in the abundance of different demographic stages (larvae, settlers, recruits and adults). Our results indicate that large-scale factors (potentially currents, nutrients, temperature, etc.) determine larval availability and settlement in the pelagic stages of urchin life history. In rocky macroalgal habitats, benthic processes (like predation) acting at large or medium scales drive adult abundances. In contrast, adult numbers in seagrass meadows are most likely influenced by factors like local migration (from adjoining rocky habitats) functioning at much smaller scales. The complexity of spatial and habitat-dependent processes shaping urchin populations demands a multiplicity of approaches when addressing habitat conservation actions, yet such actions are currently mostly aimed at managing predation processes and fish numbers. We argue that a more holistic ecosystem management also needs to incorporate the landscape and habitat-quality level processes (eutrophication, fragmentation, etc.) that together regulate the populations of this keystone herbivore

‘Hartite’ renamed branchite

Historical samples of branchite, described by the Tuscan naturalist Paolo Savi (1798–1871) at the end of the 1830s, were re-examined through single-crystal X-ray diffraction, showing their identity with hartite, C20H34, a hydrocarbon mineral described by Haidinger in 1841. The refined unit-cell parameters are a = 11.4116(7), b = 20.9688(12), c = 7.4100(4) Å, α = 93.947(2), β = 100.734(2), γ = 80.524(2)°, V = 1716.99(17) Å3 and Z = 4; space group P1. The crystal structure was solved and refined up to R1 = 0.0424 for 13512 reflections with Fo &gt; 4σ(Fo) and 1265 refined parameters. As the name ‘branchite’ has priority over ‘hartite’, the reinstatement of the former name and the discreditation of the latter were approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA–CNMNC). Branchite is one of only eleven minerals formed by C and H listed in the official IMA List of Minerals. The type locality of branchite is the Botro di Lavajano, Monte Vaso, Chianni, Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. Neotype material is kept in the Natural History Museum of the Pisa University under catalogue number 14426

Hotspots of predation persist outside marine reserves in the historically fished Mediterranean Sea

8 páginas, 4 figuras, 2 tablas.The Mediterranean Sea has sustained historically high levels of fishing since pre-Roman times. This onceabundant sea has witnessed major declines in apex predators, now largely restricted to isolated pockets within marine reserves. This depletion could critically impact macrophyte communities that are strongly structured by top-down processes.We evaluated rates of predation on the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, a key herbivore of macroalgal and Posidonia oceanica seagrass seascapes, across a large stretch of the Western Mediterranean coastline. Fish predation was generally higher inside reserves, but was equally high at several locations outside these boundaries. Although critically low at some locations compared to reserves, predation was functionally ubiquitous in most habitats, seasons and sites. Fish were still primarily responsible for this predation with no clear evidence of meso-predator release. Macroalgal habitats were consistently subject to higher predation than in seagrass meadows, functionally critical given the vulnerability of macroalgal systems to overgrazing. Predation hotspots were clearly associated with high fish predator numbers and low refuge availability. Taken together, these results suggest that long-term overfishing may not necessarily reflect a complete loss of trophic function. Pockets of fish predation may still persist, linked to habitat complexity, predator behavioral adaptations and landscape-level features. Given the essential role top-down control plays in macroalgal communities, regulating fishing at these predation hotspots is vital to effectively conserve habitats from future hysteretic shifts. Even historically fished seas may retain areas where trophic function persists; identifying these areas is critical to preserving the remaining ecological integrity of these coastlines.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (projects CTM2010-22273-C02-01-02 and CTM2013-48027-C03-R) and supported J. B. (scholarship BES-2011-043630) and CSIC- 201330E062 supported R. A.'s visitorship.Peer reviewe