A Readout System for the STAR Time Projection Chamber

We describe the readout electronics for the STAR Time Projection Chamber. The system is made up of 136,608 channels of waveform digitizer, each sampling 512 time samples at 6-12 Mega-samples per second. The noise level is about 1000 electrons, and the dynamic range is 800:1, allowing for good energy loss ($dE/dx$) measurement for particles with energy losses up to 40 times minimum ionizing. The system is functioning well, with more than 99% of the channels working within specifications.Comment: 22 pages + 8 separate figures; 2 figures are .jpg photos to appear in Nuclear Instruments and Method

Damping Pressure Pulsations in a Wave-Powered Desalination System

Wave-driven reverse osmosis desalination systems can be a cost-effective option for providing a safe and reliable source of drinking water for large coastal communities. Such systems usually require the stabilization of pulsating pressures for desalination purposes. The key challenge is to convert a fluctuating pressure flow into a constant pressure flow. To address this task, stub-filters, accumulators, and radially elastic-pipes are considered for smoothing the pressure fluctuations in the flow. An analytical model for fluidic capacitance of accumulators and elastic pipes are derived and verified. Commercially available accumulators in combination with essentially rigid (and low cost) piping are found to be a cost-effective solution for this application, and a model for selecting accumulators with the required fluidic-capacitance for the intended system is thus presented.S. D. Bechtel, Jr. FoundationMIT Energy Initiativ

Heat flow of the Earth and resonant capture of solar 57-Fe axions

In a very conservative approach, supposing that total heat flow of the Earth is exclusively due to resonant capture inside the Earth of axions, emitted by 57-Fe nuclei on Sun, we obtain limit on mass of hadronic axion: m_a<1.8 keV. Taking into account release of heat from decays of 40-K, 232-Th, 238-U inside the Earth, this estimation could be improved to the value: m_a<1.6 keV. Both the values are less restrictive than limits set in devoted experiments to search for 57-Fe axions (m_a<216-745 eV), but are much better than limits obtained in experiments with 83-Kr (m_a<5.5 keV) and 7-Li (m_a<13.9-32 keV).Comment: 8 page

Strange Meson Enhancement in PbPb Collisions

The NA44 Collaboration has measured yields and differential distributions of K+, K-, pi+, pi- in transverse kinetic energy and rapidity, around the center-of-mass rapidity in 158 A GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. A considerable enhancement of K+ production per pi is observed, as compared to p+p collisions at this energy. To illustrate the importance of secondary hadron rescattering as an enhancement mechanism, we compare strangeness production at the SPS and AGS with predictions of the transport model RQMD.Comment: 11 pages, including 4 figures, LATE

Charged Particle Production in Proton-, Deuteron-, Oxygen- and Sulphur-Nucleus Collisions at 200 GeV per Nucleon

The transverse momentum and rapidity distributions of net protons and negatively charged hadrons have been measured for minimum bias proton-nucleus and deuteron-gold interactions, as well as central oxygen-gold and sulphur-nucleus collisions at 200 GeV per nucleon. The rapidity density of net protons at midrapidity in central nucleus-nucleus collisions increases both with target mass for sulphur projectiles and with the projectile mass for a gold target. The shape of the rapidity distributions of net protons forward of midrapidity for d+Au and central S+Au collisions is similar. The average rapidity loss is larger than 2 units of rapidity for reactions with the gold target. The transverse momentum spectra of net protons for all reactions can be described by a thermal distribution with `temperatures' between 145 +- 11 MeV (p+S interactions) and 244 +- 43 MeV (central S+Au collisions). The multiplicity of negatively charged hadrons increases with the mass of the colliding system. The shape of the transverse momentum spectra of negatively charged hadrons changes from minimum bias p+p and p+S interactions to p+Au and central nucleus-nucleus collisions. The mean transverse momentum is almost constant in the vicinity of midrapidity and shows little variation with the target and projectile masses. The average number of produced negatively charged hadrons per participant baryon increases slightly from p+p, p+A to central S+S,Ag collisions.Comment: 47 pages, submitted to Z. Phys.

Procedure for short-lived particle detection in the OPERA experiment and its application to charm decays

The OPERA experiment, designed to perform the first observation of $\nu_\mu \rightarrow \nu_\tau$ oscillations in appearance mode through the detection of the $\tau$ leptons produced in $\nu_\tau$ charged current interactions, has collected data from 2008 to 2012. In the present paper, the procedure developed to detect $\tau$ particle decays, occurring over distances of the order of 1 mm from the neutrino interaction point, is described in detail. The results of its application to the search for charmed hadrons are then presented as a validation of the methods for $\nu_\tau$ appearance detection

Solar axion search with the CAST experiment

The CAST (CERN Axion Solar Telescope) experiment is searching for solar axions by their conversion into photons inside the magnet pipe of an LHC dipole. The analysis of the data recorded during the first phase of the experiment with vacuum in the magnet pipes has resulted in the most restrictive experimental limit on the coupling constant of axions to photons. In the second phase, CAST is operating with a buffer gas inside the magnet pipes in order to extent the sensitivity of the experiment to higher axion masses. We will present the first results on the $^{4}{\rm He}$ data taking as well as the system upgrades that have been operated in the last year in order to adapt the experiment for the $^{3}{\rm He}$ data taking. Expected sensitivities on the coupling constant of axions to photons will be given for the recent $^{3}{\rm He}$ run just started in March 2008.Comment: Proceedings of the ICHEP 2008 conferenc