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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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| 2. |
- Slanger, Tom G., et al.
(author)
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Variability of the mesospheric nightglow sodium D2/D1 ratio
- 2005
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In: Journal of Geophysical Research. - 0148-0227 .- 2156-2202. ; 110:23, s. 1-8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Measurements of the intensity ratio of the 589.0/589.6 nm sodium doublet in the terrestrial nightglow over an 8-year period, involving >300 separate determinations, have established that it is variable, the value RD = I(D2)/I(D1) lying between 1.2 and 1.8. Sky spectra from the Keck I telescope with the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) échelle spectrograph and the Keck II telescope with the Échellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) échelle spectrograph were used in this analysis. The result contrasts with the accepted view, from earlier measurements at midlatitude, that the ratio is 2.0, as expected on statistical grounds. The lack of dependence of the ratio on viewing elevation angle, and hence Na slant column, allows self-absorption to be ruled out as a cause of the variability. The data suggest a semiannual oscillation in the ratio, maximum at the equinoxes and minimum at the solstices. Airborne measurements over the North Atlantic (40°-50°N) in 2002 show an even larger range in the nightglow ratio and no correlation with the upper mesospheric temperature determined from the OH 6-2 bands. A laboratory study confirms that the ratio does not depend on temperature; however, it is shown to be sensitive to the [O]/[O2] ratio. It is therefore postulated that the variable ratio arises from a competition between O reacting with NaO(A3∑+), produced from the reaction of Na with O3, to yield D-line emission with a D2/D1 ratio greater than about 2.0, and quenching by O2 to produce NaO(X2II), possibly with vibrational excitation, which then reacts with O to produce emission with a ratio of less than 1.3. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.
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