Density of states in the K excitation spectra of solid and liquid lithium
Photoelectric yield measurements at the Li K edge and in an extended energy range 54-80 eV are presented. The sample temperature was varied in the range 79-480K (the liquid state). The edge consists of a steeply rising part due to the onset of transitions and a more slowly rising part which is interpreted as a rising density of states at the Fermi energy. With rising temperature the edge shifts to higher energy and broadens. Phonon broadening appears to contribute also at 79K to the width while the edge shape is consistent with a threshold exponent alpha 1 approximately=0. The structures in the range 54-80 eV are washed out on melting. These structures are well described by APW calculations by Bross (1973) of the optical density including plasmon damping.

title: Temperature Dependence of the K Absorption Edge of Lithium
abstract: The shape of the K absorption edge of Li has been measured at 293, 373, 443, and ∼480 K (liquid) by photoyield methods. Unpublished transmission data on the shape of the edge at and below room temperature have been reanalyzed. There is a marked increase of the width of the edge with increasing temperature above 293 K, indicating that the lattice plays a major role in the broadening of the edge.

title: Strangeness fluctuations and MEMO production at FAIR
abstract: We apply a coupled transport-hydrodynamics model to discuss the production of multi-strange meta-stable objects in Pb + Pb reactions at the FAIR facility. In addition to making predictions for yields of these particles we are able to calculate particle dependent rapidity and momentum distributions. We argue that the FAIR energy regime is the optimal place to search for multi-strange baryonic object (due to the high baryon density, favoring a distillation of strangeness). Additionally, we show results for strangeness and baryon density fluctuations. Using the UrQMD model we calculate the strangeness separation in phase space which might lead to an enhanced production of MEMOs compared to models that assume global thermalization.

title: Initial state fluctuations and final state correlations: Status and open questions
abstract: The recent appreciation of the importance of event-by-event fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions has lead to a large amount of diverse theoretical and experimental activity. In particular, there is significant interest in understanding the fluctuations in the initial stage of a collision, how exactly these fluctuations are propagated through the system evolution, and how they are manifested in correlations between measured particles. In order to address these questions a workshop was organized on ‘initial state fluctuations and final state correlations’, held at ECT* in Trento, Italy during the week of 2–6 July 2012. The goal was to collect recent work in order to provide a coherent picture of the current status of our understanding, to identify important questions that remain open, and to set a course for future research. Here we report the outcome of the presentations and discussions, focusing on the most important conclusions.

title: Initial-state fluctuations at the RHIC and the LHC in event-by-event ideal hydrodynamics
abstract: Triangular flow is a new observable in heavy ion collisions that provides interesting information about the structure of the initial state that enters (viscous) hydrodynamic simulations. The longitudinal correlations of the initial state triangularity is investigated to evaluate the potential to distinguish different energy deposition scenarios. We find that radiation processes in a parton cascade introduce similar longitudinal structures as the string fragmentation processes in a hadron cascade. The weak centrality dependence of triangular flow is reproduced within an event-by-event hybrid approach and confirms its sensitivity to initial state fluctuations. The transverse momentum-dependent triangular flow of identified particles at LHC energies is predicted and shows a mass splitting similar to the one observed for elliptic flow.