The ALICE Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDC) provide information about event geometry in heavy-ion collisions through the detection of spectator nucleons and allow to estimate the delivered luminosity. ...They are also very useful in p–A collisions, allowing an unbiased estimation of collision centrality. The Run 3 operating conditions will involve a tenfold increase in instantaneous luminosity in heavy-ion collisions, with event rates that, taking into account the different processes, could reach 5 MHz in the ZDCs. The challenges posed by this demanding environment lead to a redesign of the readout system and to the transition to a continuous acquisition. The new system is based on 12 bit, 1 Gsps FMC digitizers that will continuously sample the 26 ZDC channels. Triggering, pedestal estimation and luminosity measurements will be performed on FPGA directly connected to the front-end. The new readout system and the performances foreseen in Run 3 are presented.
In the last few years, an intense R &D activity on particle detectors for future HEP applications has been carried on with the aim of developing new techniques as well as studying the performance of ...already existing detectors when operated in a high rate environment. As for Resistive Plate Chamber detectors, the main challenges to face are the improvement of their detection capabilities and longevity at very high-rates, and the search for new eco-friendly gasmixtures free from greenhouse components. Results obtained in the framework of the RPC ECOGas@GIF++ Collaboration on a thin-Resistive Plate Chamber exposed at the CERN Gamma Irradiation Facility and operated with eco-friendly gas mixtures based on Tetrafluoropropene and Carbon dioxide will be discussed in this paper.
Results obtained by the RPC ECOgas@GIF++ Collaboration, using Resistive Plate Chambers operated with new, eco-friendly gas mixtures, based on tetrafluoropropene and carbon dioxide, are shown and ...discussed in this paper. Tests aimed to assess the performance of this kind of detectors in high-irradiation conditions, analogous to the ones foreseen for the coming years at the Large Hadron Collider experiments, were performed, and demonstrate a performance basically similar to the one obtained with the gas mixtures currently in use, based on tetrafluoroethane, which is being progressively phased out for its possible contribution to the greenhouse effect. Long term aging tests are also being carried out, with the goal to demonstrate the possibility of using these eco-friendly gas mixtures during the whole High Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider.
Direct experimental evidence is presented for the production of excited multicharged atomic fragments in the laser-induced Coulomb explosion of molecules. The comparison of the fluorescence signals ...of several atomic and molecular species shows that the excited fragments come from transient excited multicharged molecules. The atomic fluorescence spectra recorded with NH3, N2, and N2O, in the 50-120 nm wavelength range, show that the excitation increases noticeably from NH3 to N2O. This effect is interpreted in terms of the initial electronic configuration, which favors a stronger excitation when the electronic density is more delocalized on the molecular nuclear structure.
Duration information about a visual stimulus requires processing as do other visual features such as size or intensity. Using positron emission tomography, iterative H215O infusions, and statistical ...parametric mapping, we investigated the neural correlates of time processing. Nine normal subjects underwent six serial rCBF. Three tasks were studied: (a) A temporal generalization task (D task) in which the subjects had to judge (by pressing one of two keys) whether the duration of the illumination of a green LED was equal to or different from that of a previously presented standard; (b) An intensity generalization task (I task) in which the judgment concerned the intensity of the LED(c) A control task (C task) in which the subjects had to press one of the two keys at random in response to LED illumination. A significant increase in rCBF during the D task, compared to that during the C task, was observed in right prefontal cortex, right inferior parietal lobule, anterior cingulate cortex, vermis, and a region corresponding to the left fusiform gyrus. A significant increase in rCBF during the I task, compared to that during the C task, was observed in right prefontal cortex, right inferior parietal lobule, right extrastriate cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, left inferior parietal lobule, vermis, and two symmetrical regions corresponding to the fusiform gyri. No significant activation was observed in the D task when compared to that in the I task. We propose that these cortical maps are best explained by the recruitment of visual attention and memory structures, which play a major role in prospective time judgements as indicated by behavioral studies. The data also suggest that the temporal dimension of a visual stimulus is processed in the same areas as other visual attributes.
The production yield and angular anisotropy of prompt Ds+ mesons were measured as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in Pb–Pb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sNN=5.02TeV ...collected with the ALICE detector at the LHC. Ds+ mesons and their charge conjugates were reconstructed at midrapidity (|y|<0.5) from their hadronic decay channel Ds+→ϕπ+, with ϕ→K−K+, in the pT intervals 2<pT<50GeV/c and 2<pT<36GeV/c for the 0–10% and 30–50% centrality intervals. For pT>10GeV/c, the measured Ds+-meson nuclear modification factor RAA is consistent with the one of non-strange D mesons within uncertainties, while at lower pT a hint for a Ds+-meson RAA larger than that of non-strange D mesons is seen. The enhanced production of Ds+ relative to non-strange D mesons is also studied by comparing the pT-dependent Ds+/D0 production yield ratios in Pb–Pb and in pp collisions. The ratio measured in Pb–Pb collisions is found to be on average higher than that in pp collisions in the interval 2<pT<8GeV/c with a significance of 2.3σ and 2.4σ for the 0–10% and 30–50% centrality intervals. The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient v2 of prompt Ds+ mesons was measured in Pb–Pb collisions in the 30–50% centrality interval and is found to be compatible with that of non-strange D mesons. The main features of the measured RAA, Ds+/D0 ratio, and v2 as a function of pT are described by theoretical calculations of charm-quark transport in a hydrodynamically expanding quark–gluon plasma including hadronisation via charm-quark recombination with light quarks from the medium. The pT-integrated production yield of Ds+ mesons is compatible with the prediction of the statistical hadronisation model.
The elliptic and triangular flow coefficients v2 and v3 of prompt D0, D+, and D⁎+ mesons were measured at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) in Pb–Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of ...sNN=5.02TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays in the transverse momentum interval 1<pT<36GeV/c in central (0–10%) and semi-central (30–50%) collisions. Compared to pions, protons, and J/ψ mesons, the average D-meson vn harmonics are compatible within uncertainties with a mass hierarchy for pT≲3GeV/c, and are similar to those of charged pions for higher pT. The coupling of the charm quark to the light quarks in the underlying medium is further investigated with the application of the event-shape engineering (ESE) technique to the D-meson v2 and pT-differential yields. The D-meson v2 is correlated with average bulk elliptic flow in both central and semi-central collisions. Within the current precision, the ratios of per-event D-meson yields in the ESE-selected and unbiased samples are found to be compatible with unity. All the measurements are found to be reasonably well described by theoretical calculations including the effects of charm-quark transport and the recombination of charm quarks with light quarks in a hydrodynamically expanding medium.
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