Robert, C., Dedes, G., Battistoni, G., Bohlen, T. T., Buvat, I., Cerutti, F., et al. (2013). Distributions of secondary particles in proton and carbon-ion therapy: a comparison between GATE/Geant4 and FLUKA Monte Carlo codes. Phys. Med. Biol., 58(9), 2879–2899.
Abstract: Monte Carlo simulations play a crucial role for in-vivo treatment monitoring based on PET and prompt gamma imaging in proton and carbon-ion therapies. The accuracy of the nuclear fragmentation models implemented in these codes might affect the quality of the treatment verification. In this paper, we investigate the nuclear models implemented in GATE/Geant4 and FLUKA by comparing the angular and energy distributions of secondary particles exiting a homogeneous target of PMMA. Comparison results were restricted to fragmentation of O-16 and C-12. Despite the very simple target and set-up, substantial discrepancies were observed between the two codes. For instance, the number of high energy (>1 MeV) prompt gammas exiting the target was about twice as large with GATE/Geant4 than with FLUKA both for proton and carbon ion beams. Such differences were not observed for the predicted annihilation photon production yields, for which ratios of 1.09 and 1.20 were obtained between GATE and FLUKA for the proton beam and the carbon ion beam, respectively. For neutrons and protons, discrepancies from 14% (exiting protons-carbon ion beam) to 57% (exiting neutrons-proton beam) have been identified in production yields as well as in the energy spectra for neutrons.
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Roca, L., & Oset, E. (2013). Lambda(1405) poles obtained from pi(0)Sigma(0) photoproduction data. Phys. Rev. C, 87(5), 055201–8pp.
Abstract: We present a strategy to extract the position of the two Lambda(1405) poles from experimental photoproduction data measured recently at different energies in the gamma p -> K+pi(0)Sigma(0) reaction at Jefferson Laboratory. By means of a chiral dynamics motivated potential with free parameters, we solve the Bethe-Salpeter equation in the coupled channels (K) over barN and pi Sigma in isospin I = 0 and parametrize the amplitude for the photonuclear reaction in terms of a linear combination of the pi Sigma -> pi Sigma and (K) over barN -> pi Sigma scattering amplitudes in I = 0, with a different linear combination for each energy. Good fits to the data are obtained with some sets of parameters, by means of which one can also predict the cross section for the K- p -> pi(0)Sigma(0) reaction. These later results help us decide among the possible solutions. The result is that the different solutions lead to two poles similar to those found in the chiral unitary approach. With the best result we find the two Lambda(1405) poles at 1385 – 68i MeV and 1419 – 22i MeV.
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Roca, L., & Oset, E. (2013). Isospin 0 and 1 resonances from pi Sigma photoproduction data. Phys. Rev. C, 88(5), 055206–7pp.
Abstract: Recently we presented a successful strategy to extract the position of the two Lambda ( 1405) poles from experimental photoproduction data on the gamma p -> K+pi(0)Sigma(0) reaction at Jefferson Lab. Following a similar strategy, we extend the previous method to incorporate also the isospin 1 component which allows us to consider in addition the experimental data on gamma p -> K+pi(+/-)Sigma(-/+). The idea is based on considering a production mechanism as model independent as possible and implementing the final state interaction of the final meson-baryon pair based on small modifications of the unitary chiral perturbation theory amplitudes. Good fits to the data are obtained with this procedure, by means of which we can also predict the cross sections for the K- p -> (K) over barN, pi Sigma, and pi Lambda reactions for the different charge channels. Besides the two poles found for the Lambda(1405) resonance, we discuss the possible existence of an isospin 1 resonance in the vicinity of the (K) over barN threshold.
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Roman, F. L., Abler, D., Kanellopoulos, V., Amoros, G., Davies, J., Dosanjh, M., et al. (2013). Hadron therapy information sharing prototype. J. Radiat. Res., 54, 56–60.
Abstract: The European PARTNER project developed a prototypical system for sharing hadron therapy data. This system allows doctors and patients to record and report treatment-related events during and after hadron therapy. It presents doctors and statisticians with an integrated view of adverse events across institutions, using open-source components for data federation, semantics, and analysis. There is a particular emphasis upon semantic consistency, achieved through intelligent, annotated form designs. The system as presented is ready for use in a clinical setting, and amenable to further customization. The essential contribution of the work reported here lies in the novel data integration and reporting methods, as well as the approach to software sustainability achieved through the use of community-supported open-source components.
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Romanets, O., Tolos, L., Garcia-Recio, C., Nieves, J., Salcedo, L. L., & Timmermans, R. (2013). Heavy-quark spin symmetry for charmed and strange baryon resonances. Nucl. Phys. A, 914, 488–493.
Abstract: We study charmed and strange odd-parity baryon resonances that are generated dynamically by a unitary baryon-meson coupled-channels model which incorporates heavy-quark spin symmetry. This is accomplished by extending the SU(3) Weinberg-Tomozawa chiral Lagrangian to SU(8) spin-flavor symmetry plus a suitable symmetry breaking. The model generates resonances with negative parity from the s-wave interaction of pseudoscalar and vector mesons with 1/2(+) and 3/2(+) baryons in all the isospin, spin, and strange sectors with one, two, and three charm units. Some of our results can be identified with experimental data from several facilities, such as the CLEO, Belle, or BaBar Collaborations, as well as with other theoretical models, whereas others do not have a straightforward identification and require the compilation of more data and also a refinement of the model. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Ruiz de Austri, R., & Perez de los Heros, C. (2013). Impact of nucleon matrix element uncertainties on the interpretation of direct and indirect dark matter search results. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 11(11), 049–19pp.
Abstract: We study in detail the impact of the current uncertainty in nucleon matrix elements on the sensitivity of direct and indirect experimental techniques for dark matter detection. We perform two scans in the framework of the cMSSM: one using recent values of the pion-sigma term obtained from Lattice QCD, and the other using values derived from experimental measurements. The two choices correspond to extreme values quoted in the literature and reflect the current tension between different ways of obtaining information about the structure of the nucleon. All other inputs in the scans, astrophysical and from particle physics, are kept unchanged. We use two experiments, XENON100 and IceCube, as benchmark cases to illustrate our case. We find that the interpretation of dark matter search results from direct detection experiments is more sensitive to the choice of the central values of the hadronic inputs than the results of indirect search experiments. The allowed regions of cMSSM parameter space after including XENON100 constrains strongly differ depending on the assumptions on the hadronic matrix elements used. On the other hand, the constraining potential of IceCube is almost independent of the choice of these values.
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Salvatelli, V., Marchini, A., Lopez-Honorez, L., & Mena, O. (2013). New constraints on coupled dark energy from the Planck satellite experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 88(2), 023531–9pp.
Abstract: We present new constraints on coupled dark energy from the recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies from the Planck satellite mission. We found that a coupled dark energy model is fully compatible with the Planck measurements, deriving a weak bound on the dark matter-dark energy coupling parameter xi = -0.49(-0.31)(+0.19) at 68% C.L. Moreover if Planck data are fitted to a coupled dark energy scenario, the constraint on the Hubble constant is relaxed to H-0 = 72.1(-2.3)(+3.2) km/s/Mpc, solving the tension with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) value. We show that a combined PLANCK + HST analysis provides significant evidence for coupled dark energy finding a nonzero value for the coupling parameter xi, with -0.90 < xi < -0.22 at 95% C.L. We also consider the combined constraints from the Planck data plus the baryon acoustic oscillation measurements of the 6dF Galaxy Survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Baron Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey.
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Sanjuan, R., Nebot, M., Peris, J. B., & Alcami, J. (2013). Immune Activation Promotes Evolutionary Conservation of T-Cell Epitopes in HIV-1. PLoS. Biol., 11(4), e1001523–10pp.
Abstract: The immune system should constitute a strong selective pressure promoting viral genetic diversity and evolution. However, HIV shows lower sequence variability at T-cell epitopes than elsewhere in the genome, in contrast with other human RNA viruses. Here, we propose that epitope conservation is a consequence of the particular interactions established between HIV and the immune system. On one hand, epitope recognition triggers an anti-HIV response mediated by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs), but on the other hand, activation of CD4(+) helper T lymphocytes (T-H cells) promotes HIV replication. Mathematical modeling of these opposite selective forces revealed that selection at the intrapatient level can promote either T-cell epitope conservation or escape. We predict greater conservation for epitopes contributing significantly to total immune activation levels (immunodominance), and when T-H cell infection is concomitant to epitope recognition (transinfection). We suggest that HIV-driven immune activation in the lymph nodes during the chronic stage of the disease may offer a favorable scenario for epitope conservation. Our results also support the view that some pathogens draw benefits from the immune response and suggest that vaccination strategies based on conserved T-H epitopes may be counterproductive.
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Scandale, W. et al, & Lari, L. (2013). Optimization of the crystal assisted collimation of the SPS beam. Phys. Lett. B, 726(1-3), 182–186.
Abstract: The possibility for optimization of crystal assisted collimation has been studied at the CERN SPS for stored beams of protons and Pb ions with 270 GeV/c per unit charge. A bent silicon crystal used as a primary collimator deflects halo particles in the channeling regime, directing them into a tungsten absorber. In channeling conditions a strong reduction of off-momentum particle numbers produced in the crystal and absorber, which form collimation leakage, has been observed in the first high dispersion (HD) area downstream. The present study shows that the collimation leakage is minimal for some values of the absorber offset relative to the crystal. The optimal offset value is larger for Pb ions because of their considerably larger ionization losses in the crystal, which cause large increases of particle betatron oscillation amplitudes. The optimal absorber offset allows obtaining maximal efficiency of crystal-assisted collimation.
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Serenelli, A., Pena-Garay, C., & Haxton, W. C. (2013). Using the standard solar model to constrain solar composition and nuclear reaction S factors. Phys. Rev. D, 87(4), 043001–9pp.
Abstract: While standard solar model (SSM) predictions depend on approximately 20 input parameters, SSM neutrino flux predictions are strongly correlated with a single model output parameter, the core temperature T-c. Consequently, one can extract physics from solar neutrino flux measurements while minimizing the consequences of SSM uncertainties, by studying flux ratios with appropriate power-law weightings tuned to cancel this T-c dependence. We reexamine an idea for constraining the primordial C + N content of the solar core from a ratio of CN-cycle O-15 to pp-chain B-8 neutrino fluxes, showing that non-nuclear SSM uncertainties in the ratio are small and effectively governed by a single parameter, the diffusion coefficient. We point out that measurements of both CN-I cycle neutrino branches-O-15 and N-13 beta-decay-could, in principle, lead to separate determinations of the core C and N abundances, due to out-of-equilibrium CN-cycle burning in the cooler outer layers of the solar core. Finally, we show that the strategy of constructing “minimum uncertainty” neutrino flux ratios can also test other properties of the SSM. In particular, we demonstrate that a weighted ratio of Be-7 and B-8 fluxes constrains a product of S-factors to the same precision currently possible with laboratory data.
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