First results on radiation damage in PbWO4 crystals exposed to a 20 GeV/c proton beam

We have exposed seven full length production quality crystals of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) of the CMS detector to a 20 GeV/c proton beam at the CERN PS accelerator. The exposure was done at fluxes of 10**12 p/cm**2/h and 10**13 p/cm**2/h and integral fluences of 10**12 p/cm**2 and 10**13 p/cm**2 were reached at both rates. The light transmission of the crystals was measured after irradiation and suitable cooling time for induced radioactivity to decrease to a safe level. First results of these measurements are shown. The possible damage mechanisms are discussed and simulations based on one possible model are presented. The implications for long-term operation of CMS are discussed and it is shown that in the whole barrel and at least most of the ECAL endcap hadron damage alone - even if cumulative - should not cause the crystals to fail the CMS specification of an induced absorption coefficient muIND < 1.5 /m during the first 10 years of LHC operation.Comment: 5 pages, to be published in Proc. ICATPP Conference on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics, Detectors and Medical Physics Applications (Como, Italy, 6 to 10 October 2003

Wire scanners in low energy accelerators

Fast wire scanners are today considered as part of standard instrumentation in high energy synchrotrons. The extension of their use to synchrotrons working at lower energies, where Coulomb scattering can be important and the transverse beam size is large, introduces new complications considering beam heating of the wire, composition of the secondary particle shower and geometrical consideration in the detection set-up. A major problem in treating these effects is that the creation of secondaries in a thin carbon wire by a energetic primary beam is difficult to describe in an analytical way. We are here presenting new results from a full Monte Carlo simulation of this process yielding information on heat deposited in the wire, particle type and energy spectrum of secondaries and angular dependence as a function of primary beam energy. The results are used to derive limits for the use of wire scanners in low energy accelerators.Comment: 20 pages, 8 Postscript figures, uses elsart.cl

Manufacture of Bi-cuprate thin films on MgO single crystal substrates by chemical solution deposition

Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 thin films have been deposited on MgO single crystal substrates by spin-coating a solution based on 2-ethylhexanoate precursors dissolved in xylene. Pyrolysis takes place between 200 degrees C and 450 degrees C and is accompanied by the release of 2-ethylhexanoic acid, CO2 and H2O vapour. Highly c-axis oriented Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 as well as Er-or Ho-doped Bi2Sr2(Ca, Ln)Cu2O8 (Ln = Er, Ho) films were obtained after heat treatment at 840 degrees C in air

Akkermansia muciniphila Adheres to Enterocytes and Strengthens the Integrity of the Epithelial Cell Layer

Akkermansia muciniphila is a Gram-negative mucin-degrading bacterium that resides in the gastrointestinal tracts of humans and animals. A. muciniphila has been linked with intestinal health and improved metabolic status in obese and type 2 diabetic subjects. Specifically, A. muciniphila has been shown to reduce high-fat-diet-induced endotoxemia, which develops as a result of an impaired gut barrier. Despite the accumulating evidence of the health-promoting effects of A. muciniphila, the mechanisms of interaction of the bacterium with the host have received little attention. In this study, we used several in vitro models to investigate the adhesion of A. muciniphila to the intestinal epithelium and its interaction with the host mucosa. We found that A. muciniphila adheres strongly to the Caco-2 and HT-29 human colonic cell lines but not to human colonic mucus. In addition, A. muciniphila showed binding to the extracellular matrix protein laminin but not to collagen I or IV, fibronectin, or fetuin. Importantly, A. muciniphila improved enterocyte monolayer integrity, as shown by a significant increase in the transepithelial electrical resistance (TER) of cocultures of Caco-2 cells with the bacterium. Further, A. muciniphila induced interleukin 8 (IL-8) production by enterocytes at cell concentrations 100-fold higher than those for Escherichia coli, suggesting a very low level of proinflammatory activity in the epithelium. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that A. muciniphila adheres to the intestinal epithelium and strengthens enterocyte monolayer integrity in vitro, suggesting an ability to fortify an impaired gut barrier. These results support earlier associative in vivo studies and provide insights into the interaction of A. muciniphila with the host.Peer reviewe

Design, Implementation and First Measurements with the Medipix Neutron Camera in CMS

The Medipix detector is the first device dedicated to measuring mixed-field radiation in the CMS cavern and able to distinguish between different particle types. Medipix2-MXR chips bump bonded to silicon sensors with various neutron conversion layers developed by the IEAP CTU in Prague were successfully installed for the 2008 LHC start-up in the CMS experimental and services caverns to measure the flux of various particle types, in particular neutrons. They have operated almost continuously during the 2010 run period, and the results shown here are from the proton run between the beginning of July and the end of October 2010. Clear signals are seen and different particle types have been observed during regular LHC luminosity running, and an agreement in the measured flux rate is found with the simulations. These initial results are promising, and indicate that these devices have the potential for further and future LHC and high energy physics applications as radiation monitoring devices for mixed field environments, including neutron flux monitoring. Further extensions are foreseen in the near future to increase the performance of the detector and its coverage for monitoring in CMS.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JINS

Radiation hardness qualification of PbWO4 scintillation crystals for the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

This is the Pre-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 IOPEnsuring the radiation hardness of PbWO4 crystals was one of the main priorities during the construction of the electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at CERN. The production on an industrial scale of radiation hard crystals and their certification over a period of several years represented a difficult challenge both for CMS and for the crystal suppliers. The present article reviews the related scientific and technological problems encountered

Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009 and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3% for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table, submitted to European Physical Journal

Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV