Abstract: Purpose: Recently, the manufacturer of the HDR Ir-192 mHDR-v2 brachytherapy source reported small design changes (referred to herein as mHDR-v2r) that are within the manufacturing tolerances but may alter the existing dosimetric data for this source. This study aimed to (1) check whether these changes affect the existing dosimetric data published for this source; (2) obtain new dosimetric data in close proximity to the source, including the contributions from 192Ir electrons and considering the absence of electronic equilibrium; and (3) obtain scatter dose components for collapsed cone treatment planning system implementation. Methods: Three different Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport codes were used: MCNP5, PENELOPE2008, and GEANT4. The source was centrally positioned in a 40 cm radius water phantom. Absorbed dose and collision kerma were obtained using 0.1 mm (0.5 mm) thick voxels to provide high-resolution dosimetry near (far from) the source. Dose-rate distributions obtained with the three MC codes were compared. Results: Simulations of mHDR-v2 and mHDR-v2r designs performed with three radiation transport codes showed agreement typically within 0.2% for r >= 0.25 cm. Dosimetric contributions from source electrons were significant for r<0.25 cm. The dose-rate constant and radial dose function were similar to those from previous MC studies of the mHDR-v2 design. The 2D anisotropy function also coincided with that of the mHDR-v2 design for r >= 0.25 cm. Detailed results of dose distributions and scatter components are presented for the modified source design. Conclusions: Comparison of these results to prior MC studies showed agreement typically within 0.5% for r >= 0.25 cm. If dosimetric data for r<0.25 cm are not needed, dosimetric results from the prior MC studies will be adequate. c 2011 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Abstract: Photons couple to Axion-Like Particles (ALPs) or more generally to any pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson in the presence of an external electromagnetic field. Mixing between photons and ALPs in the strong magnetic field of a Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) jet during the prompt emission phase can leave observable imprints on the gamma-ray polarization and spectrum. Mixing in the intergalactic medium is not expected to modify these signatures for ALP mass > 10(-14) eV and/or for < nG magnetic field. We show that the depletion of photons due to conversion to ALPs changes the linear degree of polarization from the values predicted by the synchrotron model of gamma ray emission. We also show that when the magnetic field orientation in the propagation region is perpendicular to the field orientation in the production region, the observed synchrotron spectrum becomes steeper than the theoretical prediction and as detected in a sizable fraction of GRB sample. Detection of the correlated polarization and spectral signatures from these steep-spectrum GRBs by gamma-ray polarimeters can be a very powerful probe to discover ALPs. Measurement of gamma-ray polarization from GRBs in general, with high statistics, can also be useful to search for ALPs.

Abstract: The yrast sequence of the neutron-rich dysprosium isotope Dy-168 has been studied using multinucleon transfer reactions following collisions between a 460-MeV Se-82 beam and an Er-170 target. The reaction products were identified using the PRISMA magnetic spectrometer and the gamma rays detected using the CLARA HPGe-detector array. The 2(+) and 4(+) members of the previously measured ground-state rotational band of Dy-168 have been confirmed and the yrast band extended up to 10(+). A tentative candidate for the 4(+) -> 2(+) transition in Dy-170 was also identified. The data on these nuclei and on the lighter even-even dysprosium isotopes are interpreted in terms of total Routhian surface calculations and the evolution of collectivity in the vicinity of the proton-neutron valence product maximum is discussed.

Abstract: We discuss in detail the flavor structure of the supersymmetric SOd(10) grand unified models with the three traditional 16-dimensional matter spinors mixed with a set of extra ten-dimensional vector multiplets which can provide the desired sensitivity of the standard model matter spectrum to the grand unified theory symmetry breakdown at the renormalizable level. We put the qualitative argument that a successful fit of the quark and lepton data requires an active participation of more than a single vector matter multiplet on a firm, quantitative ground. We find that the strict no-go obtained for the fits of the charged-sector observables in case of a single active matter 10 is relaxed if a second vector multiplet is added to the matter sector and excellent, though nontrivial, fits can be devised. Exploiting the unique calculable part of the neutrino mass matrix governed by the SUd(2)(L) triplet in the 54-dimensional Higgs multiplet, a pair of genuine predictions of the current setting is identified: a nonzero value of the leptonic 1-3 mixing close to the current 90% C.L. limit and a small leptonic Dirac CP phase are strongly preferred by all solutions with the global-fit chi(2) values below 50.

Abstract: We present a measurement of the branching fractions of the 22 decay channels of the B-0 and B+ mesons to (D) over bar (()*()) D-(*()) K, where the D-(*()) and (D) over bar (()*()) mesons are fully reconstructed. Summing the 10 neutral modes and the 12 charged modes, the branching fractions are found to be B(B-0 -> (D) over bar (()*()) D-(*()) K) = (3.68 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.24)% and B(B+ -> (D) over bar (()*()) D-(*()) K) = (4.05 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.28)%, where the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic. The results are based on 429 fb(-1) of data containing 471 X 10(6)B (B) over bar pairs collected at the Y(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.