We report on searches for D{sup 0}-{bar D}{sup 0} mixing using decay-time distributions of D{sup 0} {yields} K{pi} and D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup (*)}e{nu} decays and a lifetime ratio analysis of D{sup 0} {yields} K{sup +}K{sup -}, {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -} decays using 91 fb{sup -1} of e{sup +}e{sup -} data taken at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage ring at energies near 10.6 GeV. Searches for CP-violation in D{sup 0} mixing and decay are also reported, as well as a measurement of R{sub D}, the ratio of the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decay rate to the Cabibbo-allowed decay rate.

This paper documents the application of a new image processing algorithm, two-dimensional non-linear additive decomposition (NLAD), which is used to identify regions in a digital image whose gray-scale (or color) intensity is different than the surrounding background. Standard image segmentation algorithms exist that allow users to segment images based on gray-scale intensity and/or shape. However, these processing techniques do not adequately account for the image noise and lighting variation that typically occurs across an image. NLAD is designed to separate image noise and background from artifacts thereby providing the ability to consistently evaluate images. The decomposition techniques used in this algorithm are based on the concepts of mathematical morphology. NLAD emulates the human capability of visually separating an image into different levels of resolution components, denoted as ''coarse'', ''fine'', and ''intermediate''. Very little resolution information overlaps any two of the component images. This method can easily determine and/or remove trends and noise from an image. NLAD has several additional advantages over conventional image processing algorithms, including no need for a transformation from one space to another, such as is done with Fourier transforms, and since only finite summations are required, the calculational effort is neither extensive nor complicated.

A measurement of the spin of the {Omega}{sup -} hyperon produced through the exclusive process {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0} {yields} {Omega}{sup -}K{sup +} is presented using a total integrated luminosity of 116 fb{sup -1} recorded with the BABAR detector at the e{sup +}e{sup -} asymmetric-energy B-Factory at SLAC. Under the assumption that the {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0} has spin 1/2, the angular distribution of the {Lambda} from {Omega}{sup -} {yields} {Lambda}K{sup -} decay is inconsistent with all half-integer {Omega}{sup -} spin values other than 3/2. Lower statistics data for the process {Omega}{sub c}{sup 0} {yields} {Omega}{sup -}{pi}{sup +} from a 230 fb{sup -1} sample are also found to be consistent with {Omega}{sup -} spin 3/2. If the {Xi}{sub c}{sup 0} spin were 3/2, an {Omega}{sup -} spin of 5/2 cannot be excluded.

We present a class of compact, monolithic, photonic sensors consisting of multiple section edge emitting lasers with functionalized lateral surface coatings for low level detection of chemical or biological agents. Specifically, we discuss 8 {micro}m x 250 {micro}m Pd-coated H{sub 2} sensors and configurations to reduce the minimum detection limit from 138ppm for passive sensors to 1ppm for active sensors. Compared with conventional optical H{sub 2} sensors that use fiber gratings, surface plasmon resonances, or surface reflectance, our sensors offer the advantages of smaller size, wider dynamic range, monolithic integration of laser source and detector, and 2-D scalability to arrays of sensors that are functionalized to detect different agents.

In the damping rings of the International Linear Collider (ILC), the resistive-wall instability is one of the dominant transverse instabilities. This instability directly influences the choice of material and aperture of the vacuum pipe, and the parameters of the transverse feedback system. This paper investigates the resistive-wall instabilities in an ILC damping ring under various conditions of beam pipe material, aperture, and fill pattern.

We have achieved {approx}30 psec single-photoelectron and {approx}12ps for multi-photoelectron timing resolution with a new 64 pixel Burle MCP-PMT with 10 micron microchannel holes. We have also demonstrated that this detector works in a magnetic field of 15kG, and achieved a single-photoelectron timing resolution of better than 60 psec. The study is relevant for a new focusing DIRC RICH detector for particle identification at future Colliders such as the super B-factory or ILC, and for future TOF techniques. This study shows that a highly pixilated MCP-PMT can deliver excellent timing resolution.

Using solution based single molecule spectroscopy, we study the motion of the polIII {beta}-subunit DNA sliding clamp ('{beta}-clamp') on DNA. Present in all cellular (and some viral) forms of life, DNA sliding clamps attach to polymerases and allow rapid, processive replication of DNA. In the absence of other proteins, the DNA sliding clamps are thought to 'freely slide' along the DNA; however, the abundance of positively charged residues along the inner surface may create favorable electrostatic contact with the highly negatively charged DNA. We have performed single-molecule measurements on a fluorescently labeled {beta}-clamp loaded onto freely diffusing plasmids annealed with fluorescently labeled primers of up to 90 bases. We find that the diffusion constant for 1D diffusion of the {beta}-clamp on DNA satisfies D {le} 10{sup -14} cm{sup 2}/s, much slower than the frictionless limit of D = 10{sup -10} cm{sup 2}/s. We find that the {beta} clamp remains at the 3-foot end in the presence of E. coli single-stranded binding protein (SSB), which would allow for a sliding clamp to wait for binding of the DNA polymerase. Replacement of SSB with Human RP-A eliminates this interaction; free movement of sliding clamp and poor binding of clamp loader to the …

The sensitivity for identification of high-Z objects in elemental form in the massive cargo of intermodal containers with continuous bremsstrahlung radiation depends critically on discriminating the weak signal from uncollided photons from the very intense flux of scattered radiations that penetrate the cargo. We propose that this might be accomplished by rejection of detected events with E {le} 2-3 MeV that contain the majority of multiply-scattered photons along with a correction for single-scattered photons at higher energies. Monte Carlo simulations of radiographs with a 9-MeV bremsstrahlung spectrum demonstrate that rejection of detected events with E {le} 3 MeV removes the majority of signals from scattered photons emerging through cargo with Z {le} 30 and areal densities of at least 145 g cm{sup -2}. With analytical estimates of the single-scattered intensity at higher energies, accurate estimates of linear attenuation coefficients for shielded and unshielded uranium spheres with masses as small as 0.08 kg are found. The estimated maximum dose is generally so low that reasonable order tomography of interesting portions of a container should be possible.

BNL is responsible for the design and construction of the US Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) accumulator ring. Titanium Nitride (TiN) coating on the stainless steel vacuum chamber of the SNS accumulator ring is needed to reduce the secondary electron yield (SEY) and the undesirable resonant multiplication of electrons. The total SEY of TiN coated stainless steel material has been measured after coating samples were exposed to air and after electron and ion bombardment. We report here about TiN coating system setup at BNL and SEY measurements results at CERN, SLAC and KEK. We also present some simulation results of SNS accumulator ring electron-cloud effects using different SEY values.

The luminosity of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has improved significantly [1] over the first three physics runs. A number of special rf techniques have been developed to facilitate higher luminosity. The techniques described herein include: an ultra low-noise rf source for the 197 MHz storage rf system, a frequency shift switch-on technique for transferring bunches from the acceleration to the storage system, synchronizing the rings during the energy ramp (including crossing the transition energy) to avoid incidental collisions, installation of dedicated 200 MHZ cavities to provide longitudinal Landau damping on the ramp, and the development of a bunch merging scheme in the Booster to increase the available bunch intensity from the injectors.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) requires a low noise rf source to ensure that beam lifetime during a store is not limited by the rf system. The beam is particularly sensitive to noise from power line harmonics. Additionally, the rf source must be flexible enough to handle the frequency jump required for rebucketing (transferring bunches from the acceleration to the storage rf systems). This paper will describe the design of a Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) based system that provides both the noise performance and the flexibility required.

Recent work in heavy-ion fusion accelerators and final focusing systems shows a trend towards less current per beam, and thus, a greater number of beams. Final focusing magnets are susceptible to nuclear heating, radiation damage, and neutron activation. The trend towards more beams, however, means that there can be less shielding for each magnet, Excessive levels of nuclear heating may lead to magnet quench or an intolerable recirculating power for magnet cooling. High levels of radiation damage may result in short magnet lifetimes and low reliability. Finally, neutron activation of the magnet components may lead to difficulties in maintenance, recycling, and waste disposal. The present work expands upon previous, three-dimensional magnet shielding calculations for a modified version of the HYLIFE-I1 IFE power plant design. We present key magnet results as a function of the number of beams.

A practical obstacle for stochastic cooling in high-energy colliders like RHIC is the large amount of power needed for the cooling system. Based on the coasting-beam Fokker-Planck (F-P) equation, we analytically derived the optimum cooling rate and cooling power for a beam of uniform distribution and a cooling system of linear gain function. The results indicate that the usual back-of-envelope formula over-estimated the cooling power by a factor of the mixing factor M. On the other hand, the scaling laws derived from the coasting-beam Fokker-Planck approach agree with those derived from the bunched-beam Fokker-Planck approach if the peak beam intensity is used as the effective coasting-beam intensity. A longitudinal stochastic cooling system of 4-8 GHz bandwidth in RHIC can effectively counteract intrabeam scattering, preventing the beam from escaping the RF bucket becoming debunched around the ring.

Acceleration of polarized protons in the energy range of 5 to 25 GeV is particularly difficult since depolarizing spin resonances are strong enough to cause significant depolarization but full Siberian snakes cause intolerably large orbit excursions. Using a 20-30% partial Siberian snake both imperfection and intrinsic resonances can be overcome. Such a strong partial Siberian snake was designed for the Brookhaven AGS using a dual pitch helical superconducting dipole. Multiple strong partial snakes are also discussed for spin matching at beam injection and extraction.

In this paper we discuss, and study the feasibility of a method that may be used to measure the focusing properties of a magnet. This method may prove valuable when applied to ''non-conventional'' magnets that deviate from the usual dipole magnets or other multipole magnets (quadrupoles/sextupoles etc.) which are commonly used in a synchrotron or a beam line. In this category of ''non-conventional'' magnets, fall special magnets, which come under the name ''Snakes'', which are being used in synchrotron accelerators to introduce artificial spin resonances to help overcome the intrinsic and/or imperfection spin resonances which appear during the acceleration of polarized beams. This method of measuring the focusing properties of a magnet requires the use of ''low energy'' and ''high rigidity'' heavy-ions which may be obtained from the BNL Tandem accelerator. In brief the method consists on, injecting ''narrow-beamlets'' of heavy ions into a magnet and measuring the coordinates, of these ''narrow-beamlets'', at the entrance and exit of the magnet. From the measurement of the coordinates of the ''narrow-beamlets'' we can deduce information on the R matrix (first order transfer matrix elements) and higher order matrix elements that define the focusing properties of the magnet.

We have investigated a coupled motion of two vortex cores in ferromagnetic/nonmagnetic/ferromagnetic trilayer cynliders by means of micromagnetic simulation. Dynamic motion of two vortex with parallel and antiparallel relative chiralities of curling spins around the vortex cores have been examined after excitation by 1-ns pulsed external field. With systematic variation in non-magnetic spacer layer thickness from 0 to 20 nm, the coupling between two cores becomes significant as the spacer becomes thinner. Significant coupling leads to a nonlinear chaotic coupled motion of two vortex cores for the parallel chiralities and a faster coupled gyrotropic oscillation for the antiparallel chiralities.

We report transient hole-burning and saturation recovery measurements in the CN radical with MHz frequency resolution and 20 ns time resolution. Narrow velocity groups of individual hyperfine levels of selected rotational states in CN (X{sup 2} {Sigma}{sup +}) are depleted and excited (A{sup 2}{pi}{sub i}) with a saturation laser and probed by a counterpropagating, frequency modulated probe beam. Recent work in our lab has used this method to measure and characterize the hyperfine splittings for a set of rotational, fine structure, and parity components of CN (A{sup 2}{pi}{sub i}, v=1). Extending this work, we report time and frequency dependence of the saturation signals following abrupt switching of the CW saturation beam on and off with an electro-optic amplitude modulator. Recovery of the unsaturated absorption following the turnoff of the saturation beam follows pressure-dependent kinetics, driven by collisions with the undissociated NCCN precursor with a rate coefficient of 2 x 10{sup -9} cm{sup 3} s{sup -1} molec{sup -1}. Similar recovery kinetics are observed for two-level saturation resonances, where the signal observed is a combination of X- and A-state kinetics, as well as for three-level crossover resonances, which can be chosen to probe selectively the holefilling in the X state or the …

The conclusions are: (1) LDA predicts fairly well the structures of {pi}-dimers. This has been reported before. Here we show that even the small difference between conformers can be described by LDA. Electron densities suggest a stronger bond is formed in LDA than B3LYP. (2) Though its good performance is possibly due to error cancelations, LDA may be used as a practical tool for large {pi}-dimer systems. (3) TDDFT once again does a good job for the optical transitions. The near-IR band shows a weak dependence on the functional, but a stronger one on the interplanar distance.

We present non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of wave propagation in nanocrystals. We find that the width of the traveling wave front increases with grain size, d, as d{sup 1/2}. This width also decreases with the pressure behind the front. We extrapolate our results to micro-crystals and obtain reasonable agreement with experimental data. In addition, our extrapolation agrees with models that only take into account the various velocities of propagation along different crystalline orientations, without including grain boundary effects. Our results indicate that, even at the nanoscale, the role of grain boundaries as scattering centers or as sources of plasticity does not increase significantly the width of the traveling wave.

During the past two years, significant experimental and theoretical progress has been made in the US heavy ion fusion science program in longitudinal beam compression, ion-beam-driven warm dense matter, beam acceleration, high brightness beam transport; and advanced theory and numerical simulations. Innovations in longitudinal compression of intense ion beams by > 50 X propagating through background plasma enable initial beam target experiments in warm dense matter to begin within the next two years. They are assessing how these new techniques might apply to heavy ion fusion drivers for inertial fusion energy.

We present measurements of the Branching Fraction and photon energy spectrum in B {yields} X{sub S}{gamma} decays in a sample of 89 million B{bar B} pairs collected at the BABAR detector at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's PEP-II asymmetric B-factory. Results from a fully-inclusive and a sum of 38 exclusive final states techniques are presented and found to be consistent with the Standard Model calculations, as well as experimental results obtained from semileptonic B {yields} X{sub c}lv decays.

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An approach to determine the total measurement uncertainty (TMU) associated with Generalized Geometry Holdup (GGH) [1,2,3] measurements was developed and implemented in 2004 and 2005 [4]. This paper describes a condensed version of the TMU calculational model, including recent developments. Recent modifications to the TMU calculation model include a change in the attenuation uncertainty, clarifying the definition of the forward background uncertainty, reducing conservatism in the random uncertainty by selecting either a propagation of counting statistics or the standard deviation of the mean, and considering uncertainty in the width and height as a part of the self attenuation uncertainty. In addition, a detection limit is calculated for point sources using equations derived from summary equations contained in Chapter 20 of MARLAP [5]. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) Recommendation 2007-1 to the Secretary of Energy identified a lack of requirements and a lack of standardization for performing measurements across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex. The DNFSB also recommended that guidance be developed for a consistent application of uncertainty values. As such, the recent modifications to the TMU calculational model described in this paper have not yet been implemented. The Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) is continuing to perform …

Penetration deformation of columnar prismatic enamel was investigated using instrumented nanoindentation testing, carried out at three constant strain rates (0.05 s{sup -1}, 0.005 s{sup -1}, and 0.0005 s{sup -1}). Enamel demonstrated better resistance to penetration deformation and greater elastic modulus values were measured at higher strain rates. The origin of the rate-dependent deformation was rationalized to be the shear deformation of nanoscale protein matrix surrounding each hydroxyapatite crystal rods. And the shear modulus of protein matrix was shown to depend on strain rate in a format: G{sub p} = 0.213 + 0.021 ln {dot {var_epsilon}}. Most biological composites compromise reinforcement mineral components and an organic matrix. They are generally partitioned into multi-level to form hierarchical structures that have supreme resistance to crack growth [1]. The molecular mechanistic origin of toughness is associated with the 'sacrificial chains' between the individual sub-domains in a protein molecule [2]. As the protein molecule is stretched, these 'sacrificial chains' break to protect its backbone and dissipate energy [3]. Such fresh insights are providing new momentum toward updating our understanding of biological materials [4]. Prismatic enamel in teeth is one such material. Prismatic microstructure is frequently observed in the surface layers of many biological materials, as …