Search for GUT Monopoles at Super-Kamiokande

GUT monopoles captured by the Sun's gravitation are expected to catalyze proton decays via the Callan-Rubakov process. In this scenario, protons, which initially decay into pions, will ultimately produce \nu_{e}, \nu_{\mu} and \bar{\nu}_{\mu}. After undergoing neutrino oscillation, all neutrino species appear when they arrive at the Earth, and can be detected by a 50,000 metric ton water Cherenkov detector, Super-Kamiokande (SK). A search for low energy neutrinos in the electron total energy range from 19 to 55 MeV was carried out with SK and gives a monopole flux limit of F_M(\sigma_0/1 mb) < 6.3 \times 10^{-24} (\beta_M/10^{-3})^2 cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} at 90% C.L., where \beta_M is the monopole velocity in units of the speed of light and \sigma_0 is the catalysis cross section at \beta_M=1. The obtained limit is more than eight orders of magnitude more stringent than the current best cosmic-ray supermassive monopole flux limit, F_M < 1 \times 10^{-15} cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1} for \beta_M < 10^{-3} and also two orders of magnitude lower than the result of the Kamiokande experiment, which used a similar detection method.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure

Evidence for the Appearance of Atmospheric Tau Neutrinos in Super-Kamiokande

Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data were fit with an unbinned maximum likelihood method to search for the appearance of tau leptons resulting from the interactions of oscillation-generated tau neutrinos in the detector. Relative to the expectation of unity, the tau normalization is found to be 1.42 \pm 0.35 \ (stat) {\}^{+0.14}_{-0.12}\ (syst) excluding the no-tau-appearance hypothesis, for which the normalization would be zero, at the 3.8$\sigma$ level. We estimate that 180.1 \pm 44.3\ (stat) {\}^{+17.8}_{-15.2}\ (syst) tau leptons were produced in the 22.5 kton fiducial volume of the detector by tau neutrinos during the 2806 day running period. In future analyses, this large sample of selected tau events will allow the study of charged current tau neutrino interaction physics with oscillation produced tau neutrinos.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. This is the version as published in Physical Review Letters including the supplemental figure. A typographical error in the description of figure 3 is also correcte

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis and some other medicinal plants commonly used in South-East Asia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Eight medicinal plants were tested for their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Different extraction methods were also tested for their effects on the bioactivities of the medicinal plants.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Eight plants, namely <it>Herba Polygonis Hydropiperis </it>(<it>Laliaocao</it>), <it>Folium Murraya Koenigii </it>(<it>Jialiye</it>), <it>Rhizoma Arachis Hypogea </it>(<it>Huashenggen</it>), <it>Herba Houttuyniae </it>(<it>Yuxingcao</it>), <it>Epipremnum pinnatum </it>(<it>Pashulong</it>), <it>Rhizoma Typhonium Flagelliforme </it>(<it>Laoshuyu</it>), <it>Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis </it>(<it>Houpo</it>) and <it>Rhizoma Imperatae </it>(<it>Baimaogen</it>) were investigated for their potential antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Extracts of <it>Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis </it>had the strongest activities against <it>M. Smegmatis</it>, <it>C. albicans</it>, <it>B. subtilis </it>and <it>S. aureus</it>. Boiled extracts of <it>Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis</it>, <it>Folium Murraya Koenigii, Herba Polygonis Hydropiperis </it>and <it>Herba Houttuyniae </it>demonstrated greater antioxidant activities than other tested medicinal plants.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Among the eight tested medicinal plants, <it>Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis </it>showed the highest antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Different methods of extraction yield different spectra of bioactivities.</p

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Shared and distinct transcriptional programs underlie the hybrid nature of iNKT cells

Invariant natural killer T cells (iNKT cells) are innate-like T lymphocytes that act as critical regulators of the immune response. To better characterize this population, we profiled gene expression in iNKT cells during ontogeny and in peripheral subsets as part of the Immunological Genome Project. High-resolution comparative transcriptional analyses defined developmental and subset-specific programs of gene expression by iNKT cells. In addition, we found that iNKT cells shared an extensive transcriptional program with NK cells, similar in magnitude to that shared with major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted T cells. Notably, the program shared by NK cells and iNKT cells also operated constitutively in γδ T cells and in adaptive T cells after activation. Together our findings highlight a core effector program regulated distinctly in innate and adaptive lymphocytes

Experimental studies of e + e -→ some charmless processes containing K S0 at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV

We measure the observed cross sections for the charmless processes e + e -→K S0 K - K - K + π ++ c.c., K S0 K - π + η+c.c., K S0 K - π + π + π - η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + π 0+c.c., K S0 K - ρ ++c.c. and K S0 K - π + ρ 0+c.c. We also extract upper limits on the branching fractions for ψ(3770) decays into these final states at 90% C.L. Analyzed data samples correspond to 17.3 pb-1 and 6.5 pb-1 integrated luminosities registered, respectively, at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV, with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider. © 2009 Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Determination of the number of J/ψ events with J/ψ → inclusive decays

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