Equilibrium configurations of tripolar charges

It is shown that an ensemble of particles with tripolar (colour) charges will necessarily cohere in a hierarchy of structures, from simple clusters and strings to complex aggregates and cyclic molecule-like structures. The basic combinatoric rule remains essentially the same on different levels of the hierarchy, thus leading to a pattern of resemblance between different levels. The number of primitive charges in each structure is determined by the symmetry of the combined effective potential of this structure. The outlined scheme can serve as a framework for building a model of composite fundamental fermions.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figure

Long sandwich modules for photon veto detectors

Long lead-scintillator sandwich modules developed for the BNL experiment KOPIO are described. The individual 4 m long module consists of 15 layers of 7 mm thick extruded scintillator and 15 layers of 1 mm lead absorber. Readout is implemented via WLS fibers glued into grooves in a scintillator with 7 mm spacing and viewed from both ends by the phototubes. Time resolution of 300 ps for cosmic MIPs was obtained. Light output stability monitored for 2 years shows no degradation beyond the measurement errors. A 4 m long C-bent sandwich module was also manufactured and tested.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl