Results from (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei production and searches for exotic bound states with ALICE at the LHC

The excellent particle identification capabilities of the ALICE detector, using the time projection chamber and the time-of-flight detector, allow the detection of light nuclei and anti-nuclei. Furthermore, the high tracking resolution provided by the inner tracking system enables the separation of primary nuclei from those coming from the decay of heavier systems. This allows for the reconstruction of decays such as the hypertriton mesonic weak decay ($^3_{\Lambda}$H$\rightarrow ^3$He + $\pi^-$), the decay of a hypothetical bound state of a $\Lambda$n into a deuteron and pion or the H-dibaryon decaying into a $\Lambda$, a proton and a $\pi^{-}$. An overview of the production of stable nuclei and anti-nuclei in proton-proton, proton-lead and, in particular, lead-lead collisions is presented. Hypernuclei production rates in Pb--Pb are also shown, together with the upper limits estimated on the production of hypothetical exotica candidates. The results are compared with predictions for the production in thermal (statistical) and coalescence models.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, Quark Matter Conference at Kobe, Japan 2015 proceedings, submitted at Nuclear Physics

Review of (anti-)Nuclei Production from High Energy Experiments

An overview of nuclei and anti-nuclei production with results from different experiments are discussed. The comparison of data with the thermal and coalescence models is also discussed to understand their production mechanisms in high energy collisions.Comment: Published in conference proceedings of DAE-HEP-2016 (XXII DAE High Energy Physics Symposium, Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 203, 2018

Thermal Model Description of p--Pb Collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

The ALICE data on light flavor hadron production obtained in $p-Pb$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are studied in the thermal model using the canonical approach with exact strangeness conservation. The chemical freeze-out temperature is independent of centrality except for the lowest multiplicity bin, with values close to 160 MeV but consistent with those obtained in $Pb-Pb$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. The value of the strangeness non-equilibrium factor $\gamma_s$ is slowly increasing with multiplicity from 0.9 to 0.96, i.e. it is always very close to full chemical equilibrium.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure

Developments In Ecological Modeling Based On Cellular Automata

The models with focus on spatial clumping generally fail to consider the effects of local interactions and spatial contrasting. These factors are sometimes conclusive to the developments of ecosystems. Cellular Automata are individual potent systems in which many simple components act together locally to bring complex patterns, which may explain “self-organizing” behavior. Since cellular automaton has ability to consider local influences and spatial disparateness, it has been applied to various fields. This paper attempts to highlight important aspects of Cellular Automata and is centered on the development and application of the approach to ecological modeling. The results indicate that spatially distinct models such as cellular automata have a special capacity to connect the local operations and universal figures hence resulting in complex patterns. Keywords: Cellular automata, ecological modeling, spatially contrastin

The impact of high maternal body mass index on obstetric and perinatal outcomes

Background: The incidence of obesity has increased to pandemic proportions over the last 20 years. Maternal obesity is associated with a wide array of adverse maternal pregnancy outcomes and increased risks in the offspring. The aim of the study was to find the effect of obesity on maternal and perinatal outcome in obese women in comparison to those of normal weight women.Methods: The study was designed as a case-control study. Antenatal women with first trimester body mass index (BMI) of more than 30 kg/m2 constituted the cases and those with BMI between 18 and 24.9 kg/m2 formed the controls.Results: There was increased incidence of antepartum complications in obese women. Obese women had a significant history of prior treatment for infertility (p<0.00001). The incidence of gestational diabetes (OR 4.76, 95%CI 1.267-17.72 p=0.014), gestational hypertension (OR 3.05, 95%CI 1.01-9.20 p=0.04), induction of labor (OR 2.5, 95%CI 1.0-6.28 p=0.04), preeclampsia (OR 2.38, 95%CI 1.0-5.64 p=0.04, Caesarean section (OR 1.98, 95%CI 1.24-3.14 p=0.003), postpartum haemorrhage (OR 8.57, 95%CI 1.07-76.15 p=0.04) and wound infection (OR 8.57, 95%CI 1.07-76.15 p=0.04) and adverse neonatal outcomes such as higher mean birth weight (p<0.0001) and requirement of NICU (OR 2.79, 95%CI 1.33 -5.84 p=0.006) was higher in obese women.Conclusions: Obesity is an independent risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes and hence, interventions directed towards weight loss and prevention of excessive weight gain must begin in the preconception period.

Production of nuclei and antinuclei in pp and Pb-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC

We present first results on the production of nuclei and antinuclei such as (anti)deuterons, (anti)tritons, (anti)3He and (anti)4He in pp collisions at \s = 7 TeV and Pb-Pb collisions at \sNN = 2.76 TeV. These particles are identified using their energy loss (dE/dx) information in the Time Projection Chamber of the ALICE experiment. The Inner Tracking System gives a precise determination of the event vertex, by which primary and secondary particles are separated. The high statistics of over 360 million events for pp and 16 million events for Pb-Pb collisions give a significant number of light nuclei and antinuclei (Pb-Pb collisions: \sim30,000 anti-deuterons($\bar{d}$) and \sim4 anti-alpha($\bar{^4He}$)). The predictions of various particle ratios from the THERMUS model is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, parallel talk at Quark Matter 2011, May 23rd-28th 2011, Annecy, Franc