Determining the inelastic proton-proton cross section at the Large Hadron Collider using minimum bias events

Described in this paper is a new method for determining the non-diffractive part of the inelastic proton-proton cross section, at the LHC centre of mass energy of 14TeV. The method is based on counting the number of inelastic proton-proton interactions in the collision regions. According to preliminary investigation, this measurement will be best suited for the initial low luminosity phase of the LHC. The dominant uncertainty on this measurement comes from knowledge of the proton-proton luminosity

Angular asymmetries as a probe for anomalous contributions to HZZ vertex at the LHC

In this article, the prospects for studying the tensor structure of the HZZ vertex with the LHC experiments are presented. The structure of tensor couplings in Higgs di-boson decays is investigated by measuring the asymmetries and by studing the shapes of the final state angular distributions. The expected background contributions, detector resolution, and trigger and selection efficiencies are taken into account. The potential of the LHC experiments to discover sizeable non-Standard Model contributions to the HZZ vertex with $300\;{\rm fb}^{-1}$ and $3000\;{\rm fb}^{-1}$ is demonstrated.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; added 3 references for section 1; added 3 references, added missing unit GeV in Table III and 4 clarifying sentences to the tex

Vertex reconstruction framework and its implementation for CMS

The class framework developed for vertex reconstruction in CMS is described. We emphasize how we proceed to develop a flexible, efficient and reliable piece of reconstruction software. We describe the decomposition of the algorithms into logical parts, the mathematical toolkit, and the way vertex reconstruction integrates into the CMS reconstruction project ORCA. We discuss the tools that we have developed for algorithm evaluation and optimization and for code release.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, LaTeX, no figures. PSN TULT01

New vertex reconstruction algorithms for CMS

The reconstruction of interaction vertices can be decomposed into a pattern recognition problem (``vertex finding'') and a statistical problem (``vertex fitting''). We briefly review classical methods. We introduce novel approaches and motivate them in the framework of high-luminosity experiments like at the LHC. We then show comparisons with the classical methods in relevant physics channelsComment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 5 pages, LaTeX, 3 eps figures. PSN TULT01

Evidence of a bond-nematic phase in LiCuVO4

Polarized and unpolarized neutron scattering experiments on the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 show that the phase transition at HQ of 8 Tesla is driven by quadrupolar fluctuations and that dipolar correlations are short-range with moments parallel to the applied magnetic field in the high-field phase. Heat-capacity measurements evidence a phase transition into this high-field phase, with an anomaly clearly different from that at low magnetic fields. Our experimental data are consistent with a picture where the ground state above HQ has a next-nearest neighbour bond-nematic order along the chains with a fluid-like coherence between weakly coupled chains.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

New high magnetic field phase of the frustrated S=1/2S=1/2 chain compound LiCuVO4_4

Magnetization of the frustrated $S=1/2$ chain compound LiCuVO$_4$, focusing on high magnetic field phases, is reported. Besides a spin-flop transition and the transition from a planar spiral to a spin modulated structure observed recently, an additional transition was observed just below the saturation field. This newly observed magnetic phase is considered as a spin nematic phase, which was predicted theoretically but was not observed experimentally. The critical fields of this phase and its dM/dH curve are in good agreement with calculations performed in a microscopic model (M. E. Zhitomirsky and H. Tsunetsugu, preprint, arXiv:1003.4096v2).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Ion counting efficiencies at the IGISOL facility

At the IGISOL-JYFLTRAP facility, fission mass yields can be studied at high precision. Fission fragments from a U target are passing through a Ni foil and entering a gas filled chamber. The collected fragments are guided through a mass separator to a Penning trap where their masses are identified. This simulation work focuses on how different fission fragment properties (mass, charge and energy) affect the stopping efficiency in the gas cell. In addition, different experimental parameters are varied (e. g. U and Ni thickness and He gas pressure) to study their impact on the stopping efficiency. The simulations were performed using the Geant4 package and the SRIM code. The main results suggest a small variation in the stopping efficiency as a function of mass, charge and kinetic energy. It is predicted that heavy fragments are stopped about 9% less efficiently than the light fragments. However it was found that the properties of the U, Ni and the He gas influences this behavior. Hence it could be possible to optimize the efficiency.Comment: 52 pages, 44 figure