Plasma heating and confinement in the GOL-3 multiple mirror trap

Experiments on plasma confinement in a multiple mirror configuration are carried out at GOL-3 facility in Novosibirsk. Feature of experiments at this facility is high plasma density (up to 5⋅10²¹ m⁻³ ). High ion temperature (up to 2 keV) essentially differs the regime with multimirror configuration from previously studied plasma heating by the Ebeam in a uniform magnetic field. Physical mechanism of effective heating of plasma ions, substantially dependent on corrugation of the magnetic field is discussed. In this paper the new experimental data from the GOL-3 facility are presented and the main attention to a stage of ion heating is addressed.Експерименти по нагріванню й утриманню плазми в багатопробковій пастці проводяться на установці ГОЛ- 3 у Новосибірську. Особливістю плазми в цій пастці є її відносно висока (до 5⋅10²¹ м⁻³ ) густина. Нагрівання плазми релятивістським електронним пучком у багатопробковій пастці істотно відрізняється від нагрівання в простому соленоїді тим, що спостерігається збільшення іонної температури аж до 2 кэВ. У роботі обговорюється механізм швидкого нагрівання іонів і представляються нові експериментальні результати, отримані на установці ГОЛ-3.Эксперименты по нагреву и удержанию плазмы в многопробочной ловушке проводятся на установке ГОЛ-3 в Новосибирске. Особенностью плазмы в этой ловушке является ее относительно высокая (до 5⋅10²¹ м⁻³ ) плотность. Нагрев плазмы релятивистским электронным пучком в многопробочной ловушке существенно отличается от нагрева в простом соленоиде тем, что наблюдается увеличение ионной температуры вплоть до 2 кэВ. В работе обсуждается механизм быстрого нагрева ионов и представляются новые экспериментальные результаты, полученные на установке ГОЛ-3

Plasma heating and confinementat the GOL-3-II facility

Results of experiments on plasma heating and confinement in multimirror open trap GOL-3-II are presented. This facility is intended for heating and confinement of a relatively dense (10¹⁵-10¹⁷ cm⁻³) plasma in axially-symmetrical magnetic system. The plasma heating is provided by a high-power electron beam (1 MeV, 30 kA, 8 µs, 200 kJ). Results of the experiments with multimirror configuration of the device indicate that the confinement time of the plasma with ne ~ (0,5÷5).10¹⁵ cm⁻³ and Te ~1 keV increases more than order of magnitude in comparison with single mirror device

Double volume reflection of a proton beam by a sequence of two bent crystals

The doubling of the angle of beam deflection due to volume reflection of protons by a sequence of two bent silicon crystals was experimentally observed at the 400 GeV proton beam of the CERN SPS. A similar sequence of short bent crystals can be used as an efficient primary collimator for the Large Hadron Collider

What is the Oxygen Isotope Composition of Venus? The Scientific Case for Sample Return from Earth’s “Sister” Planet

Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour and both bodies are of similar size and mass. As a consequence, Venus is often described as Earth’s sister planet. But the two worlds have followed very different evolutionary paths, with Earth having benign surface conditions, whereas Venus has a surface temperature of 464 °C and a surface pressure of 92 bar. These inhospitable surface conditions may partially explain why there has been such a dearth of space missions to Venus in recent years.The oxygen isotope composition of Venus is currently unknown. However, this single measurement (Δ17O) would have first order implications for our understanding of how large terrestrial planets are built. Recent isotopic studies indicate that the Solar System is bimodal in composition, divided into a carbonaceous chondrite (CC) group and a non-carbonaceous (NC) group. The CC group probably originated in the outer Solar System and the NC group in the inner Solar System. Venus comprises 41% by mass of the inner Solar System compared to 50% for Earth and only 5% for Mars. Models for building large terrestrial planets, such as Earth and Venus, would be significantly improved by a determination of the Δ17O composition of a returned sample from Venus. This measurement would help constrain the extent of early inner Solar System isotopic homogenisation and help to identify whether the feeding zones of the terrestrial planets were narrow or wide.Determining the Δ17O composition of Venus would also have significant implications for our understanding of how the Moon formed. Recent lunar formation models invoke a high energy impact between the proto-Earth and an inner Solar System-derived impactor body, Theia. The close isotopic similarity between the Earth and Moon is explained by these models as being a consequence of high-temperature, post-impact mixing. However, if Earth and Venus proved to be isotopic clones with respect to Δ17O, this would favour the classic, lower energy, giant impact scenario.We review the surface geology of Venus with the aim of identifying potential terrains that could be targeted by a robotic sample return mission. While the potentially ancient tessera terrains would be of great scientific interest, the need to minimise the influence of venusian weathering favours the sampling of young basaltic plains. In terms of a nominal sample mass, 10 g would be sufficient to undertake a full range of geochemical, isotopic and dating studies. However, it is important that additional material is collected as a legacy sample. As a consequence, a returned sample mass of at least 100 g should be recovered.Two scenarios for robotic sample return missions from Venus are presented, based on previous mission proposals. The most cost effective approach involves a “Grab and Go” strategy, either using a lander and separate orbiter, or possibly just a stand-alone lander. Sample return could also be achieved as part of a more ambitious, extended mission to study the venusian atmosphere. In both scenarios it is critical to obtain a surface atmospheric sample to define the extent of atmosphere-lithosphere oxygen isotopic disequilibrium. Surface sampling would be carried out by multiple techniques (drill, scoop, “vacuum-cleaner” device) to ensure success. Surface operations would take no longer than one hour.Analysis of returned samples would provide a firm basis for assessing similarities and differences between the evolution of Venus, Earth, Mars and smaller bodies such as Vesta. The Solar System provides an important case study in how two almost identical bodies, Earth and Venus, could have had such a divergent evolution. Finally, Venus, with its runaway greenhouse atmosphere, may provide data relevant to the understanding of similar less extreme processes on Earth. Venus is Earth’s planetary twin and deserves to be better studied and understood. In a wider context, analysis of returned samples from Venus would provide data relevant to the study of exoplanetary systems

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Setting a baseline for global urban virome surveillance in sewage

The rapid development of megacities, and their growing connectedness across the world is becoming a distinct driver for emerging disease outbreaks. Early detection of unusual disease emergence and spread should therefore include such cities as part of risk-based surveillance. A catch-all metagenomic sequencing approach of urban sewage could potentially provide an unbiased insight into the dynamics of viral pathogens circulating in a community irrespective of access to care, a potential which already has been proven for the surveillance of poliovirus. Here, we present a detailed characterization of sewage viromes from a snapshot of 81 high density urban areas across the globe, including in-depth assessment of potential biases, as a proof of concept for catch-all viral pathogen surveillance. We show the ability to detect a wide range of viruses and geographical and seasonal differences for specific viral groups. Our findings offer a cross-sectional baseline for further research in viral surveillance from urban sewage samples and place previous studies in a global perspective

Searches for electroweak neutralino and chargino production in channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons in pp collisions at 8 TeV

Searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) are presented based on the electroweak pair production of neutralinos and charginos, leading to decay channels with Higgs, Z, and W bosons and undetected lightest SUSY particles (LSPs). The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of about 19.5 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV collected in 2012 with the CMS detector at the LHC. The main emphasis is neutralino pair production in which each neutralino decays either to a Higgs boson (h) and an LSP or to a Z boson and an LSP, leading to hh, hZ, and ZZ states with missing transverse energy (E-T(miss)). A second aspect is chargino-neutralino pair production, leading to hW states with E-T(miss). The decays of a Higgs boson to a bottom-quark pair, to a photon pair, and to final states with leptons are considered in conjunction with hadronic and leptonic decay modes of the Z and W bosons. No evidence is found for supersymmetric particles, and 95% confidence level upper limits are evaluated for the respective pair production cross sections and for neutralino and chargino mass values