Analytical QCD and multiparticle production

We review the perturbative approach to multiparticle production in hard collision processes. It is investigated to what extent parton level analytical calculations at low momentum cut-off can reproduce experimental data on the hadronic final state. Systematic results are available for various observables with the next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy (the so-called modified leading logarithmic approximation - MLLA). We introduce the analytical formalism and then discuss recent applications concerning multiplicities, inclusive spectra, correlations and angular flows in multi-jet events. In various cases the perturbative picture is surprisingly successful, even for very soft particle production.Comment: 97 pages, LaTeX, 22 figures, uses sprocl.sty (included

Unifying the Fixed Order Evolution of Fragmentation Functions with the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation

An approach which unifies the Double Logarithmic Approximation at small x and the leading order DGLAP evolution of fragmentation functions at large x is presented. This approach reproduces exactly the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation, but is more complete due to the degrees of freedom given to the quark sector and the inclusion of the fixed order terms. We find that data from the largest x values to the peak region can be better fitted than with other approaches

Novel Scaling Behavior for the Multiplicity Distribution under Second-Order Quark-Hadron Phase Transition

Deviation of the multiplicity distribution $P_q$ in small bin from its Poisson counterpart $p_q$ is studied within the Ginzburg-Landau description for second-order quark-hadron phase transition. Dynamical factor $d_q\equiv P_q/p_q$ for the distribution and ratio $D_q\equiv d_q/d_1$ are defined, and novel scaling behaviors between $D_q$ are found which can be used to detect the formation of quark-gluon plasma. The study of $d_q$ and $D_q$ is also very interesting for other multiparticle production processes without phase transition.Comment: 4 pages in revtex, 5 figures in eps format, will be appeared in Phys. Rev.

Intermittency in Branching Processes

We study the intermittency properties of two branching processes, one with a uniform and another with a singular splitting kernel. The asymptotic intermittency indices, as well as the leading corrections to the asymptotic linear regime are explicitly computed in an analytic framework. Both models are found to possess a monofractal spectrum with $\varphi_{q}=q-1$. Relations with previous results are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, UCLA93/TEP/2

Evolution des sols sous palmeraie après défrichement de la forêt

L'IRHO s'est préoccupé de déterminer quels pouvaient être les effets sur l'évolution des sols des techniques utilisées pour créer et exploiter une plantation industrielle de palmiers. Les résultats sont rassurants et confirment le bien-fondé des méthodes préconisées. Les travaux réalisés par l'ORSTOM en Côte-d'Ivoire ont montré que les risques d'érosion sont pratiquement nuls en plantation adulte quand le sol est bien protégé par la plante de couverture. L'IRHO a étudié l'évolution de la matière organique, du pH et du complexe absorbant du sol pour des plantations âgées de 1 à 14 ans, le sol étudié appartenant à la grande formation des sables sédimentaires du Tertiaire (La Mé, Côte-d'Ivoire). Dans l'année qui suit le défrichement, on constate pour le carbone, l'azote total, les acides humiques, une augmentation des teneurs dans l'interligne andainé par rapport aux teneurs sous forêt. Les teneurs de l'interligne dégagé, qui ne profite pas de la décomposition de l'andain, sont au plus égales aux teneurs initiales. Dans les années qui suivent on assiste à une baisse plus ou moins importante des teneurs, selon les éléments, jusque vers 4 ans. Elles se stabilisent ensuite dans la couche superficielle (0-30 cm) à 60 p. 100 de la teneur sous forêt pour la matière organique, 75 p. 100 pour l'azote, 35 p. 100 pour les acides humiques et 65 p. 100 les acides fulviques. Le sol sous palmeraie tend à évoluer vers un nouvel état chimique qui s'est révélé être très favorable à la culture industrielle de plusieurs générations successives de palmier

QuaSI: Quantile Sparse Image Prior for Spatio-Temporal Denoising of Retinal OCT Data

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) enables high-resolution and non-invasive 3D imaging of the human retina but is inherently impaired by speckle noise. This paper introduces a spatio-temporal denoising algorithm for OCT data on a B-scan level using a novel quantile sparse image (QuaSI) prior. To remove speckle noise while preserving image structures of diagnostic relevance, we implement our QuaSI prior via median filter regularization coupled with a Huber data fidelity model in a variational approach. For efficient energy minimization, we develop an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) scheme using a linearization of median filtering. Our spatio-temporal method can handle both, denoising of single B-scans and temporally consecutive B-scans, to gain volumetric OCT data with enhanced signal-to-noise ratio. Our algorithm based on 4 B-scans only achieved comparable performance to averaging 13 B-scans and outperformed other current denoising methods.Comment: submitted to MICCAI'1

Criticality, Fractality and Intermittency in Strong Interactions

Assuming a second-order phase transition for the hadronization process, we attempt to associate intermittency patterns in high-energy hadronic collisions to fractal structures in configuration space and corresponding intermittency indices to the isothermal critical exponent at the transition temperature. In this approach, the most general multidimensional intermittency pattern, associated to a second-order phase transition of the strongly interacting system, is determined, and its relevance to present and future experiments is discussed.Comment: 15 pages + 2 figures (available on request), CERN-TH.6990/93, UA/NPPS-5-9

Generalizing the DGLAP Evolution of Fragmentation Functions to the Smallest x Values

An approach which unifies the Double Logarithmic Approximation at small x and the leading order DGLAP evolution of fragmentation functions at large x is presented. This approach reproduces exactly the Modified Leading Logarithm Approximation, but is more complete due to the degrees of freedom given to the quark sector and the inclusion of the fixed order terms. We find that data from the largest x values to the peak region can be better fitted than with other approaches.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Long-term in vivo imaging of fibrillar tau in the retina of P301S transgenic mice.

Tauopathies are widespread neurodegenerative disorders characterised by the intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau. Especially in Alzheimer's disease, pathological alterations in the retina are discussed as potential biomarkers to improve early diagnosis of the disease. Using mice expressing human mutant P301S tau, we demonstrate for the first time a straightforward optical approach for the in vivo detection of fibrillar tau in the retina. Longitudinal examinations of individual animals revealed the fate of single cells containing fibrillar tau and the progression of tau pathology over several months. This technique is most suitable to monitor therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing the accumulation of fibrillar tau. In order to evaluate if this approach can be translated to human diagnosis, we tried to detect fibrillar protein aggregates in the post-mortem retinas of patients that had suffered from Alzheimer's disease or Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. Even though we could detect hyperphosphorylated tau, we did not observe any fibrillar tau or Aß aggregates. In contradiction to previous studies, our observations do not support the notion that Aβ or tau in the retina are of diagnostic value in Alzheimer's disease