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Motohashi, H., & Starobinsky, A. A. (2017). Constant-roll inflation: Confrontation with recent observational data. EPL, 117(3), 39001–3pp.
Abstract: The previously proposed class of phenomenological inflationary models in which the assumption of inflaton slow-roll is replaced by the more general, constant-roll condition is compared with the most recent cosmological observational data, mainly the Planck ones. Models in this two-parametric class which remain viable appear to be close to the slow-roll ones, and their inflaton potentials are close to (but still different from) that of the natural inflation model. The permitted regions for the two model parameters are presented.
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Cai, Y., Herrero-Garcia, J., Schmidt, M. A., Vicente, A., & Volkas, R. R. (2017). From the Trees to the Forest: A Review of Radiative Neutrino Mass Models. Front. Physics, 5, 63–56pp.
Abstract: A plausible explanation for the lightness of neutrino masses is that neutrinos are massless at tree level, with their mass (typically Majorana) being generated radiatively at one or more loops. The new couplings, together with the suppression coming from the loop factors, imply that the new degrees of freedom cannot be too heavy (they are typically at the TeV scale). Therefore, in these models there are no large mass hierarchies and they can be tested using different searches, making their detailed phenomenological study very appealing. In particular, the new particles can be searched for at colliders and generically induce signals in lepton-flavor and lepton-number violating processes (in the case of Majorana neutrinos), which are not independent from reproducing correctly the neutrino masses and mixings. The main focus of the review is on Majorana neutrinos. We order the allowed theory space from three different perspectives: (i) using an effective operator approach to lepton number violation, (ii) by the number of loops at which the Weinberg operator is generated, (iii) within a given loop order, by the possible irreducible topologies. We also discuss in more detail some popular radiative models which involve qualitatively different features, revisiting their most important phenomenological implications. Finally, we list some promising avenues to pursue.
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Marco-Hernandez, R., Bau, M., Ferrari, M., Ferrari, V., Pedersen, F., & Soby, L. (2017). A Low-Noise Charge Amplifier for the ELENA Trajectory, Orbit, and Intensity Measurement System. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 64(9), 2465–2473.
Abstract: A low-noise head amplifier has been developed for the extra low energy antiproton ring beam trajectory, orbit, and intensity measurement system at CERN. This system is based on 24 double-electrode electrostatic beam position monitors installed around the ring. A head amplifier is placed close to each beam position monitor to amplify the electrode signals and generate a difference and a sum signal. These signals are sent to the digital acquisition system, about 50 m away from the ring, where they are digitized and further processed. The beam position can be measured by dividing the difference signal by the sum signal while the sum signal gives information relative to the beam intensity. The head amplifier consists of two discrete charge preamplifiers with junction field effect transistor (JFET) inputs, a sum and a difference stage, and two cable drivers. Special attention has been paid to the amplifier printed circuit board design to minimize the parasitic capacitances and inductances at the charge amplifier stages to meet the gain and noise requirements. The measurements carried out on the head amplifier showed a gain of 40.5 and 46.5 dB for the sum and difference outputs with a bandwidth from 200 Hz to 75 MHz and an input voltage noise density lower than 400 pV/v Hz. Twenty head amplifiers have been already installed in the ring and they have been used to detect the first beam signals during the first commissioning stage in November 2016.
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Aliaga, R. J. (2017). Real-Time Estimation of Zero Crossings of Sampled Signals for Timing Using Cubic Spline Interpolation. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 64(8), 2414–2422.
Abstract: A scheme is proposed for hardware estimation of the location of zero crossings of sampled signals with subsample resolution for timing applications, which consists of interpolating the signal with a cubic spline near the zero crossing and then finding the root of the resulting polynomial. An iterative algorithm based on the bisection method is presented that obtains one bit of the result per step and admits an efficient digital implementation using fixed-point representation. In particular, the root estimation iteration involves only two additions, and the initial values can be obtained from finite impulse response (FIR) filters with certain symmetry properties. It is shown that this allows online real-time estimation of timestamps in free-running sampling detector systems with improved accuracy with respect to the more common linear interpolation. The method is evaluated with simulations using ideal and real timing signals, and estimates are given for the resource usage and speed of its implementation.
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Sepehri, A., Pincak, R., & Olmo, G. J. (2017). M-theory, graphene-branes and superconducting wormholes. Int. J. Geom. Methods Mod. Phys., 14(11), 1750167–32pp.
Abstract: Exploiting an M-brane system whose structure and symmetries are inspired by those of graphene (what we call a graphene-brane), we propose here a similitude between two layers of graphene joined by a nanotube and wormholes scenarios in the brane world. By using the symmetries and mathematical properties of the M-brane system, we show here how to possibly increase its conductivity, to the point of making it as a superconductor. The questions of whether and under which condition this might point to the corresponding real graphene structures becoming superconducting are briefly outlined.
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