Readout electronics of the ALICE photon spectrometer
The photon spectrometer (PHOS) in the ALICE experiment at LHC is a PbWO4 crystal based electromagnetic calorimeter, dedicated to measuring photons, π°'s and η's over a broad pT range from about 100 MeV/c to 100 GeV/c with the best possible energy and position resolution. The front-end electronics of the PHOS is thus required to cover a large dynamic range, to achieve a timing resolution better than ~ 2 ns in order to discriminate against 1-2 GeV/c (anti-)neutrons, and to provide high pT trigger to select rare high pT events. In this paper, we present the full PHOS readout system, including the avalanche photo-diode, the low noise charge sensitive preamplifier, the 32 channel front-end electronics card, the trigger region unit and the trigger OR module. Results from PHOS commissioning with beam particles and cosmic rays will also be presented to address the performance of the PHOS readout electronics.

title: Measurement of the cross section for electromagnetic dissociation with neutron emission in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s(NN)] = 2.76 TeV.
abstract: The first measurement of neutron emission in electromagnetic dissociation of ^{208}Pb nuclei at the LHC is presented. The measurement is performed using the neutron zero degree calorimeters of the ALICE experiment, which detect neutral particles close to beam rapidity. The measured cross sections of single and mutual electromagnetic dissociation of Pb nuclei at sqrt[s(NN)]=2.76 TeV with neutron emission are σ(singleEMD)=187.4 ± 0.2(stat)(-11.2)(+13.2) (syst) b and σ(mutualEMD) = 5.7 ± 0.1(stat) ± 0.4(syst) b, respectively. The experimental results are compared to the predictions from a relativistic electromagnetic dissociation model.

title: Measurement of inelastic, single- and double-diffraction cross sections in proton–proton collisions at the LHC with ALICE
abstract: Measurements of cross sections of inelastic and diffractive processes in proton–proton collisions at LHC energies were carried out with the ALICE detector. The fractions of diffractive processes in inelastic collisions were determined from a study of gaps in charged particle pseudorapidity distributions: for single diffraction (diffractive mass MX<200 GeV/c2) $\sigma_{\mathrm{SD}}/\sigma_{\mathrm {INEL}} = 0.21 \pm 0.03, 0.20^{+0.07}_{-0.08}$, and $0.20^{+0.04}_{-0.07}$, respectively at centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76\mbox{, and }7~\mbox{TeV}$; for double diffraction (for a pseudorapidity gap Δη>3) σDD/σINEL=0.11±0.03,0.12±0.05, and $0.12^{+0.05}_{-0.04}$, respectively at $\sqrt{s} = 0.9, 2.76\mbox{, and }7~\mbox{TeV}$. To measure the inelastic cross section, beam properties were determined with van der Meer scans, and, using a simulation of diffraction adjusted to data, the following values were obtained: $\sigma_{\mathrm{INEL}} = 62.8^{+2.4}_{-4.0} (\mathrm{model}) \pm1.2 (\mathrm{lumi})$ mb at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76\ \mbox{TeV}$ and $73.2^{+2.0}_{-4.6} (\mathrm{model}) \pm2.6 (\mathrm{lumi})~\mbox{mb}$ at $\sqrt{s} = 7\ \mbox{TeV}$. The single- and double-diffractive cross sections were calculated combining relative rates of diffraction with inelastic cross sections. The results are compared to previous measurements at proton–antiproton and proton–proton colliders at lower energies, to measurements by other experiments at the LHC, and to theoretical models.

title: Level-0 trigger algorithms for the ALICE PHOS detector
abstract: The PHOS level-0 trigger provides a minimum bias trigger for p–p collisions and information for a level-1 trigger at both p–p and Pb–Pb collisions. There are two level-0 trigger generating algorithms under consideration: the Direct Comparison algorithm and the Weighted Sum algorithm. In order to study trigger algorithms via simulation, a simplified equivalent model is extracted from the trigger electronics to derive the waveform function of the Analog-or signal as input to the trigger algorithms. Simulations shown that the Weighted Sum algorithm can achieve higher trigger efficiency and provide more precise single channel energy information than the direct compare algorithm. An energy resolution of 9.75 MeV can be achieved with the Weighted Sum algorithm at a sampling rate of 40 Msps (mega samples per second) at 1 GeV. The timing performance at a sampling rate of 40 Msps with the Weighted Sum algorithm is better than that at a sampling rate of 20 Msps with both algorithms. The level-0 trigger can be delivered to ALICE CTP within 800 ns with a timing uncertainty of 2 LHC bunch crossing cycles.

title: Underlying Event measurements in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 0.9 $ and 7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the LHC
abstract: A bstractWe present measurements of Underlying Event observables in pp collisions at $ \sqrt {s} = 0.9 $ and 7TeV. The analysis is performed as a function of the highest charged-particle transverse momentum pT,LT in the event. Different regions are defined with respect to the azimuthal direction of the leading (highest transverse momentum) track: Toward, Transverse and Away. The Toward and Away regions collect the fragmentation products of the hardest partonic interaction. The Transverse region is expected to be most sensitive to the Underlying Event activity. The study is performed with charged particles above three different pT thresholds: 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 GeV/c. In the Transverse region we observe an increase in the multiplicity of a factor 2–3 between the lower and higher collision energies, depending on the track pT threshold considered. Data are compared to Pythia 6.4, Pythia 8.1 and Phojet. On average, all models considered underestimate the multiplicity and summed pT in the Transverse region by about 10–30%.

title: A NUMERICAL STUDY OF IMPROVED WILSON QUARK ACTIONS ON ANISOTROPIC LATTICES
abstract: Tadpole improved Wilson quark actions with clover terms on anisotropic lattices are studied numerically. Using asymmetric lattice volumes, the pseudo-scalar meson dispersion relations are measured for 8 lowest lattice momentum modes with quark mass values ranging from the strange to the charm quark with various values of the gauge coupling β and 3 different values of the bare speed of light parameter ν. These results can be utilized to extrapolate or interpolate to obtain the optimal value for the bare speed of light parameter νopt(m) at a given gauge coupling for all bare quark mass values m. In particular, the optimal values of ν at the physical strange and charm quark mass are given for various gauge couplings. The lattice action with these optimized parameters can then be used to study physical properties of hadrons involving either light or heavy quarks.

title: Excited spectroscopy of charmed mesons from lattice QCD
abstract: A bstractWe present spectra of highly excited D and Ds mesons up to around 3.8 GeV determined using dynamical lattice QCD. We employ novel computational techniques and the variational method with a large basis of carefully constructed operators in order to extract and reliably identify the continuum spin of an extensive set of excited states. These include states with high spin and states identified as having an explicit gluonic contribution. Calculations were performed on two volumes, both with a pion mass of approximately 400 MeV, achieving a high statistical precision for both ground and excited states. We discuss our results in light of experimental observations, comment on the phenomenological implications and identify the lightest ‘supermultiplet’ of hybrid mesons in each sector.

title: The quantized Schwarzschild Black Hole and the possible origin of Dark Matter

title: Interactions of Charmed Mesons with Light Pseudoscalar Mesons from Lattice QCD and Implications on the Nature of the $D_{s0}^*(2317)$
abstract: We study the scattering of charmed mesons (D, D{sub s}) with light pseudoscalar mesons ({pi}, K) in full lattice QCD. The S-wave scattering lengths are calculated using L{umlt u}schers finite volume technique. We use the relativistic Fermilab formulation for the charm quark. For the light quark, we use domain-wall fermions in the valence sector and improved Kogut-Susskind sea quarks. We calculate the scattering lengths of isospin-3/2 D{pi}, D{sub s}{pi}, D{sub s}K, isospin-0 D{anti K} and isospin-1 D{anti K} channels on the lattice. For the chiral extrapolation, we use the chiral unitary approach to next-to-leading order, which at the same time allows us to give predictions for other channels. Furthermore, the hadronic molecular interpretation of the D{sub s0}*(2317) is consistent with our results. The isospin breaking decay width {Gamma}(D{sub s0}*(2317){yields}D{sub s}{pi}) in the hadronic molecular picture is updated to be (89{+-}22)keV.

title: NON-ABELIAN VORTEX-STRING DYNAMICS FROM NONLINEAR REALIZATION
abstract: The dynamics of the non-Abelian vortex-string, which describes its low energy oscillations into the target D = 3+1 space–time as well as its orientations in the internal space, is derived by the approach of nonlinear realization. The resulting action correlating these two sectors is found to have an invariant synthesis form of the Nambu–Goto-CPN-1 model actions. Higher order corrections to the vortex actions are presented up to the order of quartic derivatives. General p-brane dynamics in terms of the internal symmetry breaking is also discussed.