Four Decades of Computing in Subnuclear Physics - from Bubble Chamber to LHC

This manuscript addresses selected aspects of computing for the reconstruction and simulation of particle interactions in subnuclear physics. Based on personal experience with experiments at DESY and at CERN, I cover the evolution of computing hardware and software from the era of track chambers where interactions were recorded on photographic film up to the LHC experiments with their multi-million electronic channels

Communication of military couples during deployment predicting generalized anxiety upon reunion

This study draws on the emotional cycle of deployment model (Pincus, House, Christenson, & Adler, 2001) to consider how the valence of communication between military personnel and at-home partners during deployment predicts their generalized anxiety upon reunion. Online survey data were collected from 555 military couples (N = 1,110 individuals) once per month for 8 consecutive months beginning at homecoming. Dyadic growth curve modeling results indicated that people’s anxiety declined across the transition. For at-home partners, constructive communication during deployment predicted a steeper decline in anxiety over time. For both returning service members and at-home partners, destructive communication during deployment predicted more anxiety upon reunion but a steeper decline in anxiety over time. Results were robust beyond the frequency of communication during deployment and a host of individual, relational, and military variables. These findings advance the emotional cycle of deployment model, highlight the importance of the valence of communication during deployment, and illuminate how the effects of communication during deployment can endure after military couples are reunited

Procedure for pressure contact on high-power semiconductor devices free of thermal fatigue

To eliminate thermal fatigue, a procedure for manufacturing semiconductor power devices with pure pressure contact without solid binding was developed. Pressure contact without the use of a solid binding to avoid a limitation of the maximum surface in the contact was examined. A silicon wafer covered with a relatively thick metal layer is imbedded with the aid of a soft silver foil between two identically sized hard contact discs (molybdenum or tungsten) which are rotationally symmetrical. The advantages of this concept are shown for large diameters. The pressure contact was tested successfully in many devices in a large variety of applications

Amplitude equations for coupled electrostatic waves in the limit of weak instability

We consider the simplest instabilities involving multiple unstable electrostatic plasma waves corresponding to four-dimensional systems of mode amplitude equations. In each case the coupled amplitude equations are derived up to third order terms. The nonlinear coefficients are singular in the limit in which the linear growth rates vanish together. These singularities are analyzed using techniques developed in previous studies of a single unstable wave. In addition to the singularities familiar from the one mode problem, there are new singularities in coefficients coupling the modes. The new singularities are most severe when the two waves have the same linear phase velocity and satisfy the spatial resonance condition $k_2=2k_1$. As a result the short wave mode saturates at a dramatically smaller amplitude than that predicted for the weak growth rate regime on the basis of single mode theory. In contrast the long wave mode retains the single mode scaling. If these resonance conditions are not satisfied both modes retain their single mode scaling and saturate at comparable amplitudes.Comment: 34 pages (Latex), no figure