1,752 research outputs found
Atmospheric Muons Measured with IceCube
IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov detector in the deep ice at the
geographic South Pole. The dominant event yield is produced by penetrating
atmospheric muons with energies above several 100 GeV. Due to its large
detector volume, IceCube provides unique opportunities to study atmospheric
muons with large statistics in detail. Measurements of the energy spectrum and
the lateral separation distribution of muons offer insights into hadronic
interactions during the air shower development and can be used to test hadronic
models.
We will present an overview of various measurements of atmospheric muons in
IceCube, including the energy spectrum of muons between 10 TeV and 1 PeV. This
is used to derive an estimate of the prompt contribution of muons, originating
from the decay of heavy (mainly charmed) hadrons and unflavored mesons. We will
also present measurements of the lateral separation distributions of TeV muons
between 150 m and 450 m for several initial cosmic ray energies between 1 PeV
and 16 PeV. Finally, the angular distribution of atmospheric muons in IceCube
will be discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; Proceedings of the International Symposium on
Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions (ISVHECRI 2018), to appear in EPJ
Web of Conference
Quality of Life Following Massive Weight Loss and Body Contouring Surgery: an Exploratory Study.
Reconstructive surgery is a major growth intervention for body improvement, enhancing appearance and psychological well-being following massive weight loss. The psychosocial benefits include greater capacity for social networking, lower scores of body uneasiness, body image satisfaction, improved mental well-being and physical function. However little collective evidence exists regarding the impact of body contouring on patients Quality of Life (QoL) and there is a lack of systematic review and randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with a scarcity of high level evidence. The purpose of this exploratory study was to explore the QoL perceptions, experiences and outcomes of patients who have undergone body contouring following significant weight loss and to explore the relevance and potential utility of the Obesity Psychosocial State Questionnaire (OPSQ) as a valuable QoL outcomes measuring tool for use in clinical research. Data were collected in a community setting in the south of England via digitally recorded semi-structured interviews with twenty participants (18 women and 2 men), who also self-completed the Obesity Psychosocial State Questionnaire (OBSQ). Medical notes were reviewed retrospectively to gather data about body mass index (BMI), co-morbidities, eating profiles/lifestyle, uptake of bariatric surgery and type/number of body contouring procedures undergone. A thematic approach was adopted to analyse the interviews and medical record data, supported by Nvivo7 qualitative software, and a statistical approach to analyse the questionnaire data, supported by Statistical Analysis Software. The results provide unique glimpses of the body contouring interventions for empowering and facilitating a ‘transformation’, a ‘new identity’, a ‘new start’ in life, improved physical function, greater body image satisfaction, a stronger sense of well-being and an improved quality of life. A few of the participants who reported that their weight gain was powered by childhood traumas (abuse, neglect, abandonment) continued to struggle for ‘normality’, with fragile eating control and addictive traits. Eating disordered trauma survivors mentioned post traumatic flashbacks and underlying conflicts that triggered powerlessness and emotional eating. The emotional flooding with psychological and body related memories did not appear to be fully processed or released, despite counselling and binge eating programmes. The participants also confirmed the value of the OBSQ, whilst highlighting its limited set of three questions on feelings of self-efficacy towards eating habits. The study findings show that body contouring optimises quality of life with significant improvement in physical function, body image, mental health and psychosocial function. Further research is warranted to extent the scope of the findings within a sample drawn from multiple treatment centres. This would valuably: • Explore gender, ethnic and cultural variables, important to optimising quality of life. • Clarify distinguishing features between short and long-term QoL outcomes. • Lead to the development of national policy and guidelines on reconstructive ‘body contouring’ surgery following massive weight loss, in line with the call from the British Association for Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons (BAPRAS) A future multi-centre collaborative study could employ the OBSQ, supplemented by an additional tool to explore factors that influence eating habits such as the three factor eating questionnaire (such as the TFEQ-R1 21 Scale). Such research could enhance understanding of quality of life and long-term weight management
Astroparticle Physics with the Forward Physics Facility at the High-Luminosity LHC
High-energy collisions at the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC)
will produce an enormous flux of particles along the beam collision axis that
is not accessible by existing LHC experiments. Multi-particle production in the
far-forward region is of particular interest for astroparticle physics.
High-energy cosmic rays produce large particle cascades in the atmosphere,
extensive air showers (EAS), which are driven by hadron-ion collisions under
low momentum transfer in the non-perturbative regime of QCD. Thus, the
understanding of high-energy hadronic interactions in the forward region is
crucial for the interpretation of EAS data and for the estimation of
backgrounds for searches of astrophysical neutrinos. The Forward Physics
Facility (FPF) is a proposal to build a new underground cavern at the HL-LHC
which will host a variety of far-forward experiments to detect particles
outside the acceptance of the existing LHC experiments.
We will present the current status of plans for the FPF and highlight the
synergies with astroparticle physics. In particular, we will discuss how
measurements at the FPF will improve the modeling of high-energy hadronic
interactions in the atmosphere and thereby reduce the associated uncertainties
of measurements in the context of multi-messenger astrophysics.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, presented at the 38th International Cosmic Ray
Conference (ICRC2023
Cosmic Ray Measurements with IceCube and IceTop
IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov detector in the deep ice at the
geographic South Pole. The dominant event yield in the deep ice detector
consists of penetrating atmospheric muons with energies above approximately 300
GeV, produced in cosmic ray air showers. In addition, the surface array,
IceTop, measures the electromagnetic component and GeV muons of air showers.
Hence, IceCube and IceTop yield unique opportunities to study cosmic rays with
unprecedented statistics in great detail. We will present recent results of
comic ray measurements from IceCube and IceTop. In this overview, we will
highlight measurements of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays from 250 TeV up to
the EeV range and their mass composition above 3 PeV. We will also report
recent results from measurements of the muon content in air showers and discuss
their consistency with predictions from current hadronic interaction models.Comment: Submission to SciPost Phys. Proc. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1909.0442
Edward J. Hughes. Proust, Class, & Nation. Oxford, New York: Oxford UP, 2011. xiii + 287 pp.
Review of Edward J. Hughes. Proust, Class, & Nation. Oxford, New York: Oxford UP, 2011. xiii + 287 pp
Probing Hadronic Interactions with Cosmic Rays
High-energy cosmic rays interact in the Earth's atmosphere and produce
extensive air showers (EASs) which can be measured with large detector arrays
at the ground. The interpretation of these measurements relies on models of the
EAS development which represents a challenge as well as an opportunity to test
quantum chromodynamics (QCD) under extreme conditions. The EAS development is
driven by hadron-ion collisions under low momentum transfer in the
non-perturbative regime of QCD. Under these conditions, hadron production
cannot be described using first principles and these interactions cannot be
probed with existing collider experiments. Thus, accurate measurements of the
EAS development provide a unique probe of multi-particle production in hadronic
interactions.Comment: Presented at the Roma International Conference on AstroParticle
Physics (RICAP 2022
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