Paul Scherrer Institute

About: Paul Scherrer Institute is a facility organization based out in Villigen, Switzerland. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Neutron & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 9248 authors who have published 23984 publications receiving 890129 citations. The organization is also known as: PSI.

A search for μ-e conversion in muonic gold

Abstract: We report on a search for μ-e conversion in muonic gold performed with the SINDRUM II spectrometer at PSI. The measurement resulted in Γ(μ-Au→e-Aug.s.)/Γcapture(μ-Au)<7×10-13 (90% C.L.).

Description and performance of track and primary-vertex reconstruction with the CMS tracker

Abstract: A description is provided of the software algorithms developed for the CMS tracker both for reconstructing charged-particle trajectories in proton-proton interactions and for using the resulting tracks to estimate the positions of the LHC luminous region and individual primary-interaction vertices. Despite the very hostile environment at the LHC, the performance obtained with these algorithms is found to be excellent. For tt events under typical 2011 pileup conditions, the average track-reconstruction efficiency for promptly-produced charged particles with transverse momenta of p_T > 0.9GeV is 94% for pseudorapidities of |η| < 0.9 and 85% for 0.9 < |η| < 2.5. The inefficiency is caused mainly by hadrons that undergo nuclear interactions in the tracker material. For isolated muons, the corresponding efficiencies are essentially 100%. For isolated muons of p_T = 100GeV emitted at |η| < 1.4, the resolutions are approximately 2.8% in p_T, and respectively, 10μm and 30μm in the transverse and longitudinal impact parameters. The position resolution achieved for reconstructed primary vertices that correspond to interesting pp collisions is 10–12μm in each of the three spatial dimensions. The tracking and vertexing software is fast and flexible, and easily adaptable to other functions, such as fast tracking for the trigger, or dedicated tracking for electrons that takes into account bremsstrahlung.

A Large Hadron Electron Collider at CERN

Abstract: This document provides a brief overview of the recently published report on the design of the Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC), which comprises its physics programme, accelerator physics, technology and main detector concepts. The LHeC exploits and develops challenging, though principally existing, accelerator and detector technologies. This summary is complemented by brief illustrations of some of the highlights of the physics programme, which relies on a vastly extended kinematic range, luminosity and unprecedented precision in deep inelastic scattering. Illustrations are provided regarding high precision QCD, new physics (Higgs, SUSY) and electron-ion physics. The LHeC is designed to run synchronously with the LHC in the twenties and to achieve an integrated luminosity of O(100)\,fb$^{-1}$. It will become the cleanest high resolution microscope of mankind and will substantially extend as well as complement the investigation of the physics of the TeV energy scale, which has been enabled by the LHC.

Absorption Angstrom Exponent in AERONET and related data as an indicator of aerosol composition

Abstract: . Recent results from diverse air, ground, and laboratory studies using both radiometric and in situ techniques show that the fractions of black carbon, organic matter, and mineral dust in atmospheric aerosols determine the wavelength dependence of absorption (often expressed as Absorption Angstrom Exponent, or AAE). Taken together, these results hold promise of improving information on aerosol composition from remote measurements. The main purpose of this paper is to show that AAE values for an Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) set of retrievals from Sun-sky measurements describing full aerosol vertical columns are also strongly correlated with aerosol composition or type. In particular, we find AAE values near 1 (the theoretical value for black carbon) for AERONET-measured aerosol columns dominated by urban-industrial aerosol, larger AAE values for biomass burning aerosols, and the largest AAE values for Sahara dust aerosols. These AERONET results are consistent with results from other, very different, techniques, including solar flux-aerosol optical depth (AOD) analyses and airborne in situ analyses examined in this paper, as well as many other previous results. Ambiguities in aerosol composition or mixtures thereof, resulting from intermediate AAE values, can be reduced via cluster analyses that supplement AAE with other variables, for example Extinction Angstrom Exponent (EAE), which is an indicator of particle size. Together with previous results, these results strengthen prospects for determining aerosol composition from space, for example using the Glory Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS), which seeks to provide retrievals of multiwavelength single-scattering albedo (SSA) and aerosol optical depth (and therefore aerosol absorption optical depth (AAOD) and AAE), as well as shape and other aerosol properties. Multidimensional cluster analyses promise additional information content, for example by using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) to add AAOD in the near ultraviolet and CALIPSO aerosol layer heights to reduce height-absorption ambiguity.

An overview of snow photochemistry: evidence, mechanisms and impacts

Abstract: It has been shown that sunlit snow and ice plays an important role in processing atmospheric species. Photochemical production of a variety of chemicals has recently been reported to occur in snow/ice and the release of these photochemically generated species may significantly impact the chemistry of the overlying atmosphere. Nitrogen oxide and oxidant precursor fluxes have been measured in a number of snow covered environments, where in some cases the emissions significantly impact the overlying boundary layer. For example, photochemical ozone production (such as that occurring in polluted mid-latitudes) of 3–4 ppbv/day has been observed at South Pole, due to high OH and NO levels present in a relatively shallow boundary layer. Field and laboratory experiments have determined that the origin of the observed NOx flux is the photochemistry of nitrate within the snowpack, however some details of the mechanism have not yet been elucidated. A variety of low molecular weight organic compounds have been shown to be emitted from sunlit snowpacks, the source of which has been proposed to be either direct or indirect photo-oxidation of natural organic materials present in the snow. Although myriad studies have observed active processing of species within irradiated snowpacks, the fundamental chemistry occurring remains poorly understood. Here we consider the nature of snow at a fundamental, physical level; photochemical processes within snow and the caveats needed for comparison to atmospheric photochemistry; our current understanding of nitrogen, oxidant, halogen and organic photochemistry within snow; the current limitations faced by the field and implications for the future.