Abstract: The nature of b-quark jet hadronisation has been investigated using data taken at the Z peak by the DELPHI detector at LEP. Two complementary methods are used to reconstruct the energy of weakly decaying b-hadrons, E-B(weak). The average value of x(B)(weak) = E-B(weak)/E-beam is measured to be 0.699 +/- 0.011. The resulting x(B)(weak) distribution is then analysed in the framework of two choices for the perturbative contribution (parton shower and Next to Leading Log QCD calculation) in order to extract measurements of the non-perturbative contribution to be used in studies of b-hadron production in other experimental environments than LEP. In the parton shower framework, data favour the Lund model ansatz and corresponding values of its parameters have been determined within PYTHIA 6.156 from DELPHI data: a = 1.84(-0.21)(+0.23) and b = 0.642(-0.063)(+0.073) GeV-2, with a correlation factor rho = 92.2%. Combining the data on the b-quark fragmentation distributions with those obtained at the Z peak by ALEPH, OPAL and SLD, the average value of x(B)(weak) is found to be 0.7092 +/- 0.0025 and the non-perturbative fragmentation component is extracted. Using the combined distribution, a better determination of the Lund parameters is also obtained: a = 1.48(-0.10)(+0.11) and b = 0.509(-0.023)(+0.024) GeV-2, with a correlation factor rho = 92.6%.

Abstract: Muons from cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere provide a high-statistics source of particles that can be used to study the performance and calibration of the ATLAS detector. Cosmic-ray muons can penetrate to the cavern and deposit energy in all detector subsystems. Such events have played an important role in the commissioning of the detector since the start of the installation phase in 2005 and were particularly important for understanding the detector performance in the time prior to the arrival of the first LHC beams. Global cosmic-ray runs were undertaken in both 2008 and 2009 and these data have been used through to the early phases of collision data-taking as a tool for calibration, alignment and detector monitoring. These large datasets have also been used for detector performance studies, including investigations that rely on the combined performance of different subsystems. This paper presents the results of performance studies related to combined tracking, lepton identification and the reconstruction of jets and missing transverse energy. Results are compared to expectations based on a cosmic-ray event generator and a full simulation of the detector response.

Abstract: The Nd-150(3He,t) reaction at 140 MeV/u and Sm-150(t,He-3) reaction at 115 MeV/u were measured, populating excited states in Pm-150. The transitions studied populate intermediate states of importance for the (neutrinoless) beta beta decay of Nd-150 to Sm-150. Monopole and dipole contributions to the measured excitation-energy spectra were extracted by using multipole decomposition analyses. The experimental results were compared with theoretical calculations obtained within the framework of the quasiparticle random-phase approximation, which is one of the main methods employed for estimating the half-life of the neutrinoless beta beta decay (0 nu beta beta) of Nd-150. The present results thus provide useful information on the neutrino responses for evaluating the 0 nu beta beta and 2 nu beta beta matrix elements. The 2 nu beta beta matrix element calculated from the Gamow-Teller transitions through the lowest 1(+) state in the intermediate nucleus is maximally about half that deduced from the half-life measured in 2 nu beta beta direct counting experiments, and at least several transitions through 1+ intermediate states in Pm-150 are required to explain the 2 nu beta beta half-life. Because Gamow-Teller transitions in the Sm-150(t,3He) experiment are strongly Pauli blocked, the extraction of Gamow-Teller strengths was complicated by the excitation of the 2 (h) over bar omega, Lambda L = 0, Delta S = 1 isovector spin-flip giant monopole resonance (IVSGMR). However, the near absence of Gamow-Teller transition strength made it possible to cleanly identify this resonance, and the strength observed is consistent with the full exhaustion of the non-energy-weighted sum rule for the IVSGMR.

Abstract: The Lindemann criterion to discern the solid-like or liquid-like nature of a quantum cluster at T = 0 is discussed. A critical analysis of current Lindemann parameters is presented and a new parameter is proposed that is appropriate to study quantum clusters made of identical particles. A simple model wave function is introduced to fix the range of variation of these parameters. The model presents two extreme limits that correspond to either a liquid-like or a solid-like system; besides, it fulfills the Bose symmetry and also permits evaluations without symmetrization. Variational and diffusion Monte Carlo calculations are also performed for clusters of spinless bosons interacting through Lennard-Jones potentials. It is shown that the liquid-like or solid-like character of quantum clusters at zero temperature cannot be simply established in terms of a single parameter.

Abstract: By gauging the Maxwell spacetime algebra, the standard geometric framework of Einstein gravity with cosmological constant term is extended by adding six four-vector fields A(mu)(ab)(x) associated with the six Abelian tensorial charges in the Maxwell algebra. In the simplest Maxwell extension of Einstein gravity this leads to a generalized cosmological term that includes a contribution from these vector fields. We also consider going beyond the basic gravitational model by means of bilinear actions for the new Abelian gauge fields. Finally, an analogy with the supersymmetric generalization of gravity is indicated. In an appendix, we propose an equivalent description of the model in terms of a shift of the standard spin connection by the A(mu)(ab)(x) fields.