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Palomo, R., Pujades, M. C., Gimeno-Olmos, J., Carmona, V., Lliso, F., Candela-Juan, C., et al. (2015). Evaluation of lens absorbed dose with Cone Beam IGRT procedures. J. Radiol. Prot., 35(4), N33–N41.
Abstract: The purpose of this work is to evaluate the absorbed dose to the eye lenses due to the cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) system used to accurately position the patient during head-and-neck image guided procedures. The on-board imaging (OBI) systems (v. 1.5) of Clinac iX and TrueBeam (Varian) accelerators were used to evaluate the imparted dose to the eye lenses and some additional points of the head. All CBCT scans were acquired with the Standard-Dose Head protocol from Varian. Doses were measured using thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLDs) placed in an anthropomorphic phantom. TLDs were calibrated at the beam quality used to reduce their energy dependence. Average dose to the lens due to the OBI systems of the Clinac iX and the TrueBeam were 0.71 +/- 0.07 mGy/CBCT and 0.70 +/- 0.08 mGy/CBCT, respectively. The extra absorbed dose received by the eye lenses due to one CBCT acquisition with the studied protocol is far below the 500 mGy threshold established by ICRP for cataract formation (ICRP 2011 Statement on Tissue Reactions). However, the incremental effect of several CBCT acquisitions during the whole treatment should be taken into account.
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Aliaga, R. J., Herrero-Bosch, V., Capra, S., Pullia, A., Duenas, J. A., Grassi, L., et al. (2015). Conceptual design of the TRACE detector readout using a compact, dead time-less analog memory ASIC. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 800, 34–39.
Abstract: The new TRacking Array for light Charged particle Ejectiles (TRACE) detector system requires monitorization and sampling of all pulses in a large number of channels with very strict space and power consumption restrictions for the front-end electronics and cabling, Its readout system is to be based on analog memory ASICs with 64 channels each that sample a 1 μs window of the waveform of any valid pulses at 200 MHz while discarding any other signals and are read out at 50 MHz with external ADC digitization. For this purpose, a new, compact analog memory architecture is described that allows pulse capture with zero dead time in any channel while vastly reducing the total number of storage cells, particularly for large amounts of input channels. This is accomplished by partitioning the typical Switched Capacitor Array structure into two pipelined, asymmetric stages and introducing FIFO queue-like control circuitry for captured data, achieving total independence between the capture and readout operations.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). First measurement of the differential branching fraction and CP asymmetry of the B-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(-) decay. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 034–21pp.
Abstract: The differential branching fraction with respect to the dimuon invariant mass squared, and the CP asymmetry of the B-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(-) decay are measured for the first time. The CKM matrix elements vertical bar V-td vertical bar, and vertical bar V-ts vertical bar, and the ratio vertical bar V-td/V-ts vertical bar are determined. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The total branching fraction and CP asymmetry of B-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(-) decays are measured to be B(B-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(-)) = (1.83 +/- 0.24 +/- 0.05) x 10(-8) and A(cp)(B-+/- -> pi(+/-)mu(+/-)mu(-)) = -0.11 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.01, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. These are the most precise measurements of these observables to date, and they are compatible with the predictions of the Standard Model.
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Escudero, M., Mena, O., Vincent, A. C., Wilkinson, R. J., & Boehm, C. (2015). Exploring dark matter microphysics with galaxy surveys. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 09(9), 034–16pp.
Abstract: We use present cosmological observations and forecasts of future experiments to illustrate the power of large-scale structure (LSS) surveys in probing dark matter (DM) microphysics and unveiling potential deviations from the standard ACDM scenario. To quantify this statement, we focus on an extension of ACDM with DM-neutrino scattering, which leaves a distinctive imprint on the angular and matter power spectra. After finding that future CMB experiments (such as COrE+) will not significantly improve the constraints set by the Planck satellite, we show that the next generation of galaxy clustering surveys (such as DESI) could play a leading role in constraining alternative cosmologies and even have the potential to make a discovery. Typically we find that DESI would be an order of magnitude more sensitive to DM interactions than Planck, thus probing effects that until now have only been accessible via N-body simulations.
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Tain, J. L., Algora, A., Agramunt, J., Guadilla, V., Jordan, M. D., Montaner-Piza, A., et al. (2015). A decay total absorption spectrometer for DESPEC at FAIR. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 803, 36–46.
Abstract: This paper presents the design of a total absorption gamma-ray spectrometer for the determination of beta-decay intensity distributions of exotic nuclear species at the focal plane of the FAIR-NUSTAR Super Fragment Separator. The spectrometer is a key instrument in the DESPEC experiment and the proposed implementation follows extensive design studies and prototype tests. Two options were contemplated, based on Nal(TI) and LaBr3:Ce inorganic scintillation crystals respectively. Monte Carlo simulations and technical considerations determined the optimal configurations consisting of sixteen 15 x 15 x 25 cm(3) crystals for the Nal(Tl) option and one hundred and twenty-eight 5.5 x 5.5 x 11 cm(3) crystals for the LaBr3:Ce option. Minimization of dead material was crucial for maximizing the spectrometer full-energy peak efficiency. Module prototypes were build to verify constructional details and characterize their performance. The measured energy and timing resolution was found to agree rather well with estimates based on simulations of scintillation light transport and collection. The neutron sensitivity of the spectrometer, important when measuring beta-delayed neutron emitters, was investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations.
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