Abstract: We describe a measurement of the time-integrated luminosity of the data collected by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider at the Upsilon(4S), Upsilon(3S), and Upsilon(2S) resonances and in a continuum region below each resonance. We measure the time-integrated luminosity by counting e(+)e(-)-> e(+)e(-) and (for the Upsilon(4S) only) e(+)e(-)->mu(+)mu(-) candidate events, allowing additional photons in the final state. We use data-corrected simulation to determine the cross-sections and reconstruction efficiencies for these processes, as well as the major backgrounds. Due to the large cross-sections of e(+)e(-)-> e(+)e(-) and e(+)e(-)->mu(+)mu(-), the statistical uncertainties of the measurement are substantially smaller than the systematic uncertainties. The dominant systematic uncertainties are due to observed differences between data and simulation, as well as uncertainties on the cross-sections. For data collected on the Upsilon(3S) and Upsilon(2S) resonances, an additional uncertainty arises due to Upsilon -> e(+)e(-)X background. For data collected off the Upsilon resonances, we estimate an additional uncertainty due to time dependent efficiency variations, which can affect the short off-resonance runs. The relative uncertainties on the luminosities of the on-resonance (off-resonance) samples are 0.43% (0.43%) for the Upsilon(4S), 0.58% (0.72%) for the Upsilon(3S), and 0.68% (0.88%) for the Upsilon(2S).

Abstract: The newly built second experimental area EAR2 of then n_ToF spallation neutron source at CERN allows to perform (n, charged particles) experiments on short-lived highly radioactive targets. This paper describes a detection apparatus and the experimental procedure for the determination of the cross-section of the Be-7(n,alpha)alpha reaction, which represents one of the focal points toward the solution of the cosmological Lithium abundance problem, and whose only measurement, at thermal energy, dates back to 1963. The apparently unsurmountable experimental difficulties stemming from the huge Be-7 gamma-activity, along with the lack of a suitable neutron beam facility, had so far prevented further measurements. The detection system is subject to considerable radiation damage, but is capable of disentangling the rare reaction signals from the very high background. This newly developed setup could likely be useful also to study other challenging reactions requiring the detectors to be installed directly in the neutron beam.

Abstract: In this work we study the effects on the spatial resolution when depth of interaction (001) information is included in the parameterization of the line of response (LOR) for a small animal positron emission tomography (PET) system. One of the most important degrading factors for PET is the parallax error introduced in systems that do not provide DOI information of the recorded gamma-rays. Our group has designed a simple and inexpensive method for DOI determination in continuous scintillation crystals. This method is based, on one hand, in the correlation between the scintillation light distribution width in monolithic crystals and the DOI, and, on the other hand, on a small modification of the widely applied charge dividing circuits (CDR). In this work we present a new system calibration that includes the DOI information, and also the development of the correction equations that relates the LOR without and with DOI information. We report the results obtained for different measurements along the transaxial field of view (FOV) and the image quality enhancement achieved specially at the edge of the FOV.