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- Aamodt, K., et al.
(author)
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The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC
- 2008
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In: Journal of Instrumentation. - 1748-0221. ; 3:S08002
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is a general-purpose, heavy-ion detector at the CERN LHC which focuses on QCD, the strong-interaction sector of the Standard Model. It is designed to address the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma at extreme values of energy density and temperature in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Besides running with Pb ions, the physics programme includes collisions with lighter ions, lower energy running and dedicated proton-nucleus runs. ALICE will also take data with proton beams at the top LHC energy to collect reference data for the heavy-ion programme and to address several QCD topics for which ALICE is complementary to the other LHC detectors. The ALICE detector has been built by a collaboration including currently over 1000 physicists and engineers from 105 Institutes in 30 countries, Its overall dimensions are 16 x 16 x 26 m(3) with a total weight of approximately 10 000 t. The experiment consists of 18 different detector systems each with its own specific technology choice and design constraints, driven both by the physics requirements and the experimental conditions expected at LHC. The most stringent design constraint is to cope with the extreme particle multiplicity anticipated in central Pb-Pb collisions. The different subsystems were optimized to provide high-momentum resolution as well as excellent Particle Identification (PID) over a broad range in momentum, up to the highest multiplicities predicted for LHC. This will allow for comprehensive studies of hadrons, electrons, muons, and photons produced in the collision of heavy nuclei. Most detector systems are scheduled to be installed and ready for data taking by mid-2008 when the LHC is scheduled to start operation, with the exception of parts of the Photon Spectrometer (PHOS), Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) and Electro Magnetic Calorimeter (EMCal). These detectors will be completed for the high-luminosity ion run expected in 2010. This paper describes in detail the detector components as installed for the first data taking in the summer of 2008.
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- Rana, A., et al.
(author)
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An edge services framework (esf) for egee, lcg, AND osg
- 2006
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report on first experiences with building and operating an Edge Services Framework (ESF) based on Xen virtual machines instantiated via the Workspace Service available in Globus Toolkit, and developed as a joint project between EGEE, LCG, and OSG. Many computing facilities are architected with their compute and storage clusters behind firewalls. Edge Services are instantiated on a small set of gateways to provide access to these clusters via standard grid interfaces. Experience on EGEE, LCG, and OSG has shown that at least two issues are of critical importance when designing an infrastructure in support of Edge Services. The first concerns Edge Service configuration. It is impractical to assume that each virtual organization (VO) using a facility will employ the same Edge Service configuration, or that different configurations will coexist easily. Even within a VO, it should be possible to run different versions of the same Edge Service simultaneously. The second issue concerns resource usage: since Edge Services may become a bottleneck to a site, it is essential that an ESF be able to effectively arbitrate resource usage (e.g., memory, CPU, and networking) among different VOs. By providing virtualization on the level of instruction set architecture, virtual machines allow configuration of independent software stacks for each VM executing on a resource. Modern implementations of this abstraction are extremely efficient and have outstanding fine-grained enforcement capabilities. To securely deploy virtual machines, we use the Workspace Service from the Globus Toolkit, which allows a VO administrator to dynamically launch appropriately-configured system images. In addition, we are developing a library of such images, reflecting the needs of presently participating communities ATLAS, CMS, and CDF. We will report on first experiences building and operating this Edge Services Framework.
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- Zoller, P, et al.
(author)
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Quantum information processing and communication - Strategic report on current status, visions and goals for research in Europe
- 2005
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In: European Physical Journal D. Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1434-6060 .- 1434-6079. ; 36:2, s. 203-228
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present an excerpt of the document "Quantum Information Processing and Communication: Strategic report on current status, visions and goals for research in Europe", which has been recently published in electronic form at the website of FET (the Future and Emerging Technologies Unit of the Directorate General Information Society of the European Commission, http://www.cordis.lu/ist/fet/qipc-sr.htm). This document has been elaborated, following a former suggestion by FET, by a committee of QIPC scientists to provide input towards the European Commission for the preparation of the Seventh Framework Program. Besides being a document addressed to policy makers and funding agencies (both at the European and national level), the document contains a detailed scientific assessment of the state-of-the-art, main research goals, challenges, strengths, weaknesses, visions and perspectives of all the most relevant QIPC sub-fields, that we report here.
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- Dohmann, H., et al.
(author)
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The (d,2He) reaction on Mo96 and the double-β decay matrix elements for Zr96
- 2008
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In: Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics. - 2469-9985 .- 2469-9993. ; 78:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The 96Mo(d,2He)96Nb charge-exchange reaction was investigated at an incident energy of Ed=183.5 MeV. An excitation-energy resolution of 110 keV was achieved. The experiment was performed at KVI, Groningen, using the magnetic spectrometer BBS at three angular positions: 0°,2.5°, and 6°. We found that below 6 MeV almost the entire Gamow-Teller (GT+) strength is concentrated in a single state at 0.69 MeV excitation energy. As Mo96 is the daughter of the ?? decay nucleus Zr96, the present result provides information about the nuclear matrix elements active in the 2??? decay of Zr96.
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- Grewe, E. W., et al.
(author)
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Studies on the double-beta decay nucleus Zn-64 using the (d,He-2) reaction
- 2008
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In: Physical Review C - Nuclear Physics. - 2469-9985 .- 2469-9993. ; 77:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The (d,He-2) charge-exchange reaction on the double-beta decay (beta beta) nucleus Zn-64 has been studied at an incident energy of 183 MeV. The two protons in the S-1(0) state (indicated as He-2) were both momentum analyzed and detected simultaneously by the BBS magnetic spectrometer and its position-sensitive detector. He-2 spectra with a resolution of about 115 keV (FWHM) have been obtained allowing identification of many levels in the residual nucleus Cu-64 with high precision. Zn-64 is one of the rare cases undergoing a beta beta decay in beta(+) direction. In the experiment presented here, Gamow-Teller (GT(+)) transition strengths have been extracted. Together with the GT(-) transition strengths from Ni-64(He-3,t) data to the same intermediate nucleus Cu-64, the nuclear matrix elements of the beta beta decay of Zn-64 have been evaluated. Finally, the GT(+/-) distributions are compared with shell-model calculations and a critical assessment is given of the various residual interactions presently employed for the pf shell.
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- McKie, Brendan, et al.
(author)
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Ecosystem functioning in stream assemblages from different regions : contrasting responses to variation in detritivore richness, evenness and density.
- 2008
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In: Journal of Animal Ecology. - : Wiley. - 1365-2656 .- 0021-8790. ; 77:3, s. 495-504
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- 1. The diversity of species traits characterising a biological assemblage reflects not only its species richness but also its species evenness and total density, which together influence the concentration of traits within functional guilds, and is ultimately constrained by the regional species pool. Implications of such variation for spatio-temporal variability in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships are potentially complex, but poorly understood.2. In separate microcosm experiments maintained at laboratories in Sweden, Romania and Ireland, we investigated effects of the species richness, evenness and density of stream-living detritivores on two related processes: detritivore leaf processing efficiency (LPE) and growth. Assemblage composition varied among the laboratories, with only one taxonomic order (Plecoptera) investigated in Sweden, whereas two orders, encompassing wider trait variation, were studied in Romania (Trichoptera and Plecoptera) and Ireland (Trichoptera and Isopoda).3. Relationships between density and both LPE and growth ranged from negative to positive across all the study species, highlighting the potential for density-dependent variation in process rates to alter ecosystem functioning, but indicating that such effects vary with species identity.4. Increased diversity was associated with 25-50% higher LPE in the two more heterogeneous assemblages, but whereas LPE in the Romanian study was generally enhanced as richness increased, LPE in the Irish study only increased in less even species mixtures dominated by particular species. Mechanisms underlying these diversity effects also contrasted. The Romanian results were predominantly attributable to the selection effect, whereas there was evidence for positive complementarity among species in Ireland.5. Growth was elevated in Romanian species mixtures, reflecting positive complementarity among species, but lower than expected growth in some Swedish mixtures was associated with negative complementarity.6. Our results emphasize the potential importance of detritivore diversity for stream ecosystem functioning across multiple contrasting assemblages, but variability in both the effects of diversity on the studied processes, and the mechanisms underlying those effects, highlight challenges in generalizing impacts of diversity change for the functional integrity of naturally dynamic stream ecosystems in situ.
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