Metagenomics of the Deep Mediterranean, a Warm Bathypelagic Habitat

BACKGROUND: Metagenomics is emerging as a powerful method to study the function and physiology of the unexplored microbial biosphere, and is causing us to re-evaluate basic precepts of microbial ecology and evolution. Most marine metagenomic analyses have been nearly exclusively devoted to photic waters. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We constructed a metagenomic fosmid library from 3,000 m-deep Mediterranean plankton, which is much warmer (approximately 14 degrees C) than waters of similar depth in open oceans (approximately 2 degrees C). We analyzed the library both by phylogenetic screening based on 16S rRNA gene amplification from clone pools and by sequencing both insert extremities of ca. 5,000 fosmids. Genome recruitment strategies showed that the majority of high scoring pairs corresponded to genomes from Rhizobiales within the Alphaproteobacteria, Cenarchaeum symbiosum, Planctomycetes, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Gammaproteobacteria. We have found a community structure similar to that found in the aphotic zone of the Pacific. However, the similarities were significantly higher to the mesopelagic (500-700 m deep) in the Pacific than to the single 4000 m deep sample studied at this location. Metabolic genes were mostly related to catabolism, transport and degradation of complex organic molecules, in agreement with a prevalent heterotrophic lifestyle for deep-sea microbes. However, we observed a high percentage of genes encoding dehydrogenases and, among them, cox genes, suggesting that aerobic carbon monoxide oxidation may be important in the deep ocean as an additional energy source. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The comparison of metagenomic libraries from the deep Mediterranean and the Pacific ALOHA water column showed that bathypelagic Mediterranean communities resemble more mesopelagic communities in the Pacific, and suggests that, in the absence of light, temperature is a major stratifying factor in the oceanic water column, overriding pressure at least over 4000 m deep. Several chemolithotrophic metabolic pathways could supplement organic matter degradation in this most depleted habitat

A search for rare B → Dμ+μ− decays

A search for rare B→Dμ+μ− decays is performed using proton-proton collision data collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9 fb−1. No significant signals are observed in the non-resonant μ+μ− modes, and upper limits of B(B0→D ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄0μ+μ−)<5.1×10−8, B(B+→D+sμ+μ−)<3.2×10−8, B(B0s→D ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄0μ+μ−)<1.6×10−7 and fc/fu⋅B(B+c→D+sμ+μ−)<9.6×10−8 are set at the 95\% confidence level, where fc and fu are the fragmentation fractions of a B meson with a c and u quark respectively in proton-proton collisions. Each result is either the first such measurement or an improvement by three orders of magnitude on an existing limit. Separate upper limits are calculated when the muon pair originates from a J/ψ→μ+μ− decay. The branching fraction of B+c→D+sJ/ψ multiplied by the fragmentation-fraction ratio is measured to be fc/fu⋅B(B+c→D+sJ/ψ)=(1.63±0.15±0.13)×10−5, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic

Observation of Two New Excited Ξb0 States Decaying to Λb0 K-π+

Two narrow resonant states are observed in the Λb0K-π+ mass spectrum using a data sample of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6 fb-1. The minimal quark content of the Λb0K-π+ system indicates that these are excited Ξb0 baryons. The masses of the Ξb(6327)0 and Ξb(6333)0 states are m[Ξb(6327)0]=6327.28-0.21+0.23±0.12±0.24 and m[Ξb(6333)0]=6332.69-0.18+0.17±0.03±0.22 MeV, respectively, with a mass splitting of Δm=5.41-0.27+0.26±0.12 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and due to the Λb0 mass measurement. The measured natural widths of these states are consistent with zero, with upper limits of Γ[Ξb(6327)0]<2.20(2.56) and Γ[Ξb(6333)0]<1.60(1.92) MeV at a 90% (95%) credibility level. The significance of the two-peak hypothesis is larger than nine (five) Gaussian standard deviations compared to the no-peak (one-peak) hypothesis. The masses, widths, and resonant structure of the new states are in good agreement with the expectations for a doublet of 1D Ξb0 resonances

Measurement of the CKM angle γ\gamma using B0→DK∗0B^0 \rightarrow D K^{*0} with D→KS0π+π−D \rightarrow K^0_S \pi^+ \pi^- decays

A model-dependent amplitude analysis of the decay $B^0\rightarrow D(K^0_S\pi^+\pi^-) K^{*0}$ is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0fb$^{-1}$, recorded at $\sqrt{s}=7$ and $8 TeV$ by the LHCb experiment. The CP violation observables $x_{\pm}$ and $y_{\pm}$, sensitive to the CKM angle $\gamma$, are measured to be \begin{eqnarray*} x_- &=& -0.15 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.03 \pm 0.01, y_- &=& 0.25 \pm 0.15 \pm 0.06 \pm 0.01, x_+ &=& 0.05 \pm 0.24 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.01, y_+ &=& -0.65^{+0.24}_{-0.23} \pm 0.08 \pm 0.01, \end{eqnarray*} where the first uncertainties are statistical, the second systematic and the third arise from the uncertainty on the $D\rightarrow K^0_S \pi^+\pi^-$ amplitude model. These are the most precise measurements of these observables. They correspond to $\gamma=(80^{+21}_{-22})^{\circ}$ and $r_{B^0}=0.39\pm0.13$, where $r_{B^0}$ is the magnitude of the ratio of the suppressed and favoured $B^0\rightarrow D K^+ \pi^-$ decay amplitudes, in a $K\pi$ mass region of $\pm50 MeV$ around the $K^*(892)^0$ mass and for an absolute value of the cosine of the $K^{*0}$ decay angle larger than $0.4$.Comment: All figures and tables, along with any supplementary material and additional information, are available at https://lhcbproject.web.cern.ch/lhcbproject/Publications/LHCbProjectPublic/LHCb-PAPER-2016-007.htm

First experimental study of photon polarization in radiative B-s(0) decays

The polarization of photons produced in radiative B0s decays is studied for the first time. The data are recorded by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3  fb−1 at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. A time-dependent analysis of the B0s→ϕγ decay rate is conducted to determine the parameter AΔ, which is related to the ratio of right- over left-handed photon polarization amplitudes in b→sγ transitions. A value of AΔ=−0.98+0.46−0.52+0.23−0.20 is measured. This result is consistent with the standard model prediction within 2 standard deviations

Search for dark photons produced in 13 TeV pppp collisions

Searches are performed for both promptlike and long-lived dark photons, A 0 , produced in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, using A 0 → μ þ μ − decays and a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1 . 6 fb − 1 collected with the LHCb detector. The promptlike A 0 search covers the mass range from near the dimuon threshold up to 70 GeV, while the long-lived A 0 search is restricted to the low-mass region 214 <m ð A 0 Þ < 350 MeV. No evidence for a signal is found, and 90% confidence level exclusion limits are placed on the γ – A 0 kinetic-mixing strength. The constraints placed on promptlike dark photons are the most stringent to date for the mass range 10 . 6 <m ð A 0 Þ < 70 GeV, and are comparable to the best existing limits for m ð A 0 Þ < 0 . 5 GeV. The search for long-lived dark photons is the first to achieve sensitivity using a displaced-vertex signature

The CMS Statistical Analysis and Combination Tool: Combine

Metrics: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41781-024-00121-4/metricsThis paper describes the Combine software package used for statistical analyses by the CMS Collaboration. The package, originally designed to perform searches for a Higgs boson and the combined analysis of those searches, has evolved to become the statistical analysis tool presently used in the majority of measurements and searches performed by the CMS Collaboration. It is not specific to the CMS experiment, and this paper is intended to serve as a reference for users outside of the CMS Collaboration, providing an outline of the most salient features and capabilities. Readers are provided with the possibility to run Combine and reproduce examples provided in this paper using a publicly available container image. Since the package is constantly evolving to meet the demands of ever-increasing data sets and analysis sophistication, this paper cannot cover all details of Combine. However, the online documentation referenced within this paper provides an up-to-date and complete user guide.CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)STFC (United Kingdom)Marie-Curie programme and the European Research Council and Horizon 2020 Grant, contract Nos. 675440, 724704, 752730, 758316, 765710, 824093, 101115353, 101002207, and COST Action CA16108 (European Union); the Leventis Foundation; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Portable Acceleration of CMS Computing Workflows with Coprocessors as a Service

A preprint version of the article is available at: arXiv:2402.15366v2 [physics.ins-det], https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.15366 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/MLG-23-001 (CMS Public Pages). Report numbers: CMS-MLG-23-001, CERN-EP-2023-303.Data Availability: No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.Computing demands for large scientific experiments, such as the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC, will increase dramatically in the next decades. To complement the future performance increases of software running on central processing units (CPUs), explorations of coprocessor usage in data processing hold great potential and interest. Coprocessors are a class of computer processors that supplement CPUs, often improving the execution of certain functions due to architectural design choices. We explore the approach of Services for Optimized Network Inference on Coprocessors (SONIC) and study the deployment of this as-a-service approach in large-scale data processing. In the studies, we take a data processing workflow of the CMS experiment and run the main workflow on CPUs, while offloading several machine learning (ML) inference tasks onto either remote or local coprocessors, specifically graphics processing units (GPUs). With experiments performed at Google Cloud, the Purdue Tier-2 computing center, and combinations of the two, we demonstrate the acceleration of these ML algorithms individually on coprocessors and the corresponding throughput improvement for the entire workflow. This approach can be easily generalized to different types of coprocessors and deployed on local CPUs without decreasing the throughput performance. We emphasize that the SONIC approach enables high coprocessor usage and enables the portability to run workflows on different types of coprocessors.SCOAP3. Open access funding provided by CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research

Pd(II)-Ni(II) Pyrazolate Framework as Active and Recyclable Catalyst for the Hydroamination of Terminal Alkynes

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Abstract: Well-dispersed [Pd(NH3)4]2+ sites have been introduced in the defective nickel pyrazolate porous framework, known as K@NiBDP. The resulting porous crystalline material shows a superior catalytic behavior for C–N bond formations than [Pd(NH3)4]2+ containing zeolite HY. The palladium exchanged catalyst, Pd@NiBDP, is able to promote both intra- and intermolecular hydroamination of terminal alkynes with excellent activity, reusability and selectivity towards the corresponding indole or imine versus the hydration of the alkyne. The same Pd species introduced in the microporous acid HY zeolite favors the hydration of the terminal alkyne towards the corresponding ketone, instead of the addition of the amine to the triple bond. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].status: publishe