Kaon physics with the KLOE detector

In this paper we discuss the recent finalized analyses by the KLOE experiment at DA$\Phi$NE: the CPT and Lorentz invariance test with entangled $K^0 \bar{K}^0$ pairs, and the precision measurement of the branching fraction of the decay ${ K^+} \rightarrow \pi^+\pi^-\pi^+(\gamma)$. We also present the status of an ongoing analysis aiming to precisely measure the $K^{\pm}$ mass

Levetiracetam in patients with epilepsy and chronic liver disease: observations in a case series.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate levetiracetam (LEV) tolerability in patients with epilepsy and liver disease. METHODS: Fourteen patients with epilepsy and concomitant liver disease were treated with LEV in an open prospective investigation mimicking the daily clinical practice. All patients were stabilized (ie, for at least 1 year) on traditional antiepileptic drugs with complete or partial control of seizures. In the 6-month pre-LEV baseline period, seizure frequency ranged from 3 to 300. Levetiracetam was added on to the basal treatment at a starting daily dose of 250 mg, and the dose was adjusted according to the tolerability and the therapeutic response. Four patients discontinued the drug within the first 3 months because of intolerable side effects. The remaining 10 continued LEV treatment, and the present follow-up is 12 to 38 months. RESULTS: In the last 6 months of observation, none of the patients showed worsening of liver function on the basis of blood chemistry, and in 4 patients, a complete normalization or a trend toward physiological values of transaminase and/or gamma-glutamyltransferase activity was observed. A greater than 50% reduction in seizure frequency occurred in all uncontrolled patients, 2 of whom achieved seizure freedom during LEV treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Based on these observations, LEV seems to be an attractive therapeutic option in epileptic patients with chronic liver diseases

Properties of charmonium in lattice QCD with 2+1 flavors of improved staggered sea quarks

We use the dynamical gluon configurations provided by the MILC collaboration in a study of the charmonium spectrum and psi leptonic width. We examine sea quark effects on mass splitting and on the leptonic decay matrix element for light masses as low as m_s/5, while keeping the strange quark mass fixed and the lattice spacing nearly constant.Comment: Lattice2003(heavy

Semileptonic decays of DD mesons in unquenched lattice QCD

We present our preliminary results for semileptonic form factors of $D$ mesons in unquenched lattice QCD. Simulations are carried out with $n_f=2+1$ dynamical quarks using gauge configurations generated by the MILC collaboration. For the valence quarks, we adopt an improved staggered light quark action and the clover heavy quark action. Our results for $D \to K$ and $D \to \pi$ form factors at $q^2=0$ are in agreement with the experimental values.Comment: Lattice2003(heavy), 3 page

Fast shower simulation in the ATLAS calorimeter

The time to simulate pp collisions in the ATLAS detector is largely dominated by the showering of electromagnetic particles in the heavy parts of the detector, especially the electromagnetic barrel and endcap calorimeters. Two procedures have been developed to accelerate the processing time of electromagnetic particles in these regions: (1) a fast shower parameterisation and (2) a frozen shower library. Both work by generating the response of the calorimeter to electrons and positrons with Geant 4, and then reintroduce the response into the simulation at runtime. In the fast shower parameterisation technique, a parameterisation is tuned to single electrons and used later by simulation. In the frozen shower technique, actual showers from low-energy particles are used in the simulation. Full Geant 4 simulation is used to develop showers down to ~1 GeV, at which point the shower is terminated by substituting a frozen shower. Judicious use of both techniques over the entire electromagnetic portion of the ATLAS calorimeter produces an important improvement of CPU time. We discuss the algorithms and their performance in this paper

Ageing test of the ATLAS RPCs at X5-GIF

An ageing test of three ATLAS production RPC stations is in course at X5-GIF, the CERN irradiation facility. The chamber efficiencies are monitored using cosmic rays triggered by a scintillator hodoscope. Higher statistics measurements are made when the X5 muon beam is available. We report here the measurements of the efficiency versus operating voltage at different source intensities, up to a maximum counting rate of about 700Hz/cm^2. We describe the performance of the chambers during the test up to an overall ageing of 4 ATLAS equivalent years corresponding to an integrated charge of 0.12C/cm^2, including a safety factor of 5.Comment: 4 pages. Presented at the VII Workshop on Resistive Plate Chambers and Related Detectors; Clermont-Ferrand October 20th-22nd, 200

Hardware prototyping and validation of a W-ΔDOR digital signal processor

Microwave tracking, usually performed by on ground processing of the signals coming from a spacecraft, represents a crucial aspect in every deep-space mission. Various noise sources, including receiver noise, affect these signals, limiting the accuracy of the radiometric measurements obtained from the radio link. There are several methods used for spacecraft tracking, including the Delta-Differential One-Way Ranging (ΔDOR) technique. In the past years, European Space Agency (ESA) missions relied on a narrowband ΔDOR system for navigation in the cruise phase. To limit the adverse effect of nonlinearities in the receiving chain, an innovative wideband approach to ΔDOR measurements has recently been proposed. This work presents the hardware implementation of a new version of the ESA X/Ka Deep Space Transponder based on the new tracking technique named Wideband ΔDOR (W-ΔDOR). The architecture of the new transponder guarantees backward compatibility with narrowband ΔDOR

A global fit to determine the pseudoscalar mixing angle and the gluonium content of the eta' meson

We update the values of the eta-eta' mixing angle and of the eta' gluonium content by fitting our measurement R_phi = BR(phi to eta' gamma)/ BR(phi to eta gamma) together with several vector meson radiative decays to pseudoscalars (V to P gamma), pseudoscalar mesons radiative decays to vectors (P to V gamma) and the eta' to gamma gamma, pi^0 to gamma gamma widths. From the fit we extract a gluonium fraction of Z^2_G = 0.12 +- 0.04, the pseudoscalar mixing angle psi_P = (40.4 +- 0.6) degree and the phi-omega mixing angle psi_V = (3.32 +- 0.09) degree. Z^2_G and psi_P are fairly consistent with those previously published. We also evaluate the impact on the eta' gluonium content determination of future experimental improvements of the eta' branching ratios and decay width.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures to submit to JHE