892 research outputs found
The Modern FPGA as Discriminator, TDC and ADC
Recent generations of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have become
indispensible tools for complex state machine control and signal processing,
and now routinely incorporate CPU cores to allow execution of user software
code. At the same time, their exceptional performance permits low-power
implementation of functionality previously the exclusive domain of dedicated
analog electronics. Specific examples presented here use FPGAs as
discriminator, time-to-digital (TDC) and analog-to-digital converter (ADC). All
three cases are examples of instrumentation for current or future astroparticle
experiments.Comment: 7 pages, v3 minor JINST editorial correction
Sensitivity of LHC experiments to exotic highly ionising particles
The experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are able to discover or
set limits on the production of exotic particles with TeV-scale masses
possessing values of electric and/or magnetic charge such that they behave as
highly ionising particles (HIPs). In this paper the sensitivity of the LHC
experiments to HIP production is discussed in detail. It is shown that a number
of different detection methods are required to investigate as fully as possible
the charge-mass range. These include direct detection as the HIPs pass through
either passive or active detectors and, in the case of magnetically charged
objects, the so-called induction method with which magnetic monopoles which
stop in accelerator and detector material could be observed. The benefit of
using complementary approaches to HIP detection is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 52 figure
Cosmic ray knee and new physics at the TeV scale
We analyze the possibility that the cosmic ray knee appears at an energy
threshold where the proton-dark matter cross section becomes large due to new
TeV physics. It has been shown that such interactions could break the proton
and produce a diffuse gamma ray flux consistent with MILAGRO observations. We
argue that this hypothesis implies knees that scale with the atomic mass for
the different nuclei, as KASKADE data seem to indicate. We find that to explain
the change in the spectral index in the flux from E^{-2.7} to E^{-3.1} the
cross section must grow like E^{0.4+\beta} above the knee, where \beta=0.3-0.6
parametrizes the energy dependence of the age (\tau \propto E^{-\beta}) of the
cosmic rays reaching the Earth. The hypothesis also requires mbarn cross
sections (that could be modelled with TeV gravity) and large densities of dark
matter (that could be clumped around the sources of cosmic rays). We argue that
neutrinos would also exhibit a threshold at E=(m_\chi/m_p)E_{knee}\approx 10^8
GeV where their interaction with a nucleon becomes strong. Therefore, the
observation at ICECUBE or ANITA of standard neutrino events above this
threshold would disprove the scenario.Comment: 10 pages, version to appear in JCA
Observations of the Askaryan Effect in Ice
We report on the first observations of the Askaryan effect in ice: coherent impulsive radio Cherenkov radiation from the charge asymmetry in an electromagnetic (EM) shower. Such radiation has been observed in silica sand and rock salt, but this is the first direct observation from an EM shower in ice. These measurements are important since the majority of experiments to date that rely on the effect for ultra-high energy neutrino detection are being performed using ice as the target medium. As part of the complete validation process for the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, we performed an experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in June 2006 using a 7.5 metric ton ice target, yielding results fully consistent with theoretical expectations
New Limits on the Ultra-high Energy Cosmic Neutrino Flux from the ANITA Experiment
We report initial results of the first flight of the Antarctic Impulsive
Transient Antenna (ANITA-1) 2006-2007 Long Duration Balloon flight, which
searched for evidence of a diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos above energies of 3
EeV. ANITA-1 flew for 35 days looking for radio impulses due to the Askaryan
effect in neutrino-induced electromagnetic showers within the Antarctic ice
sheets. We report here on our initial analysis, which was performed as a blind
search of the data. No neutrino candidates are seen, with no detected physics
background. We set model-independent limits based on this result. Upper limits
derived from our analysis rule out the highest cosmogenic neutrino models. In a
background horizontal-polarization channel, we also detect six events
consistent with radio impulses from ultra-high energy extensive air showers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 table
CosmoDC2: A Synthetic Sky Catalog for Dark Energy Science with LSST
This paper introduces cosmoDC2, a large synthetic galaxy catalog designed to
support precision dark energy science with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
(LSST). CosmoDC2 is the starting point for the second data challenge (DC2)
carried out by the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration (LSST DESC). The
catalog is based on a trillion-particle, 4.225 Gpc^3 box cosmological N-body
simulation, the `Outer Rim' run. It covers 440 deg^2 of sky area to a redshift
of z=3 and is complete to a magnitude depth of 28 in the r-band. Each galaxy is
characterized by a multitude of properties including stellar mass, morphology,
spectral energy distributions, broadband filter magnitudes, host halo
information and weak lensing shear. The size and complexity of cosmoDC2
requires an efficient catalog generation methodology; our approach is based on
a new hybrid technique that combines data-driven empirical approaches with
semi-analytic galaxy modeling. A wide range of observation-based validation
tests has been implemented to ensure that cosmoDC2 enables the science goals of
the planned LSST DESC DC2 analyses. This paper also represents the official
release of the cosmoDC2 data set, including an efficient reader that
facilitates interaction with the data
SARS-CoV-2 evolution during treatment of chronic infection
SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein is critical for virus infection via engagement of ACE21, and is a major
54 antibody target. Here we report chronic SARS-CoV-2 with reduced sensitivity to neutralising
55 antibodies in an immune suppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma, generating
56 whole genome ultradeep sequences over 23 time points spanning 101 days. Little change was
57 observed in the overall viral population structure following two courses of remdesivir over the
58 first 57 days. However, following convalescent plasma therapy we observed large, dynamic
59 virus population shifts, with the emergence of a dominant viral strain bearing D796H in S2 and
60 H69/V70 in the S1 N-terminal domain NTD of the Spike protein. As passively transferred
61 serum antibodies diminished, viruses with the escape genotype diminished in frequency, before
62 returning during a final, unsuccessful course of convalescent plasma. In vitro, the Spike escape
63 double mutant bearing H69/V70 and D796H conferred modestly decreased sensitivity to
64 convalescent plasma, whilst maintaining infectivity similar to wild type. D796H appeared to be
65 the main contributor to decreased susceptibility but incurred an infectivity defect. The
66 H69/V70 single mutant had two-fold higher infectivity compared to wild type, possibly
67 compensating for the reduced infectivity of D796H. These data reveal strong selection on SARS68
CoV-2 during convalescent plasma therapy associated with emergence of viral variants with
69 evidence of reduced susceptibility to neutralising antibodies.COG-UK is supported by funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Genome Research Limited, operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute
- …