Optimization of the noise performance of the AGIPD prototype chips
The charge integrating readout electronics AGIPD (adaptive gain integrating pixel detector) is a hybrid detector system developed for the European XFEL. It features a threefold dynamic gain switching to be able to resolve single photons and to cover a dynamic range of 104·12.4 keV photons. As a result of dynamic gain switching, single photon resolution will be achieved in the high gain stage, while the maximum dynamic range will be reached in the low gain stage. The specification to resolve single photons requires a signal-over-noise ratio of at least 10 for a single incoming photon with an energy of 12.4 keV. When using a silicon sensor, that translates to an equivalent noise charge of less than 343 e-. Several AGIPD prototype chips have been designed and characterized, particularly focusing on the noise performance. During the testing phase, the dominant noise sources were identified and the corresponding circuit blocks were improved in the subsequent ASICs. This paper reports on the procedures to identify the dominating noise sources, the optimization process of the circuit blocks and discusses the effect of the optimization on the noise performance.

title: Search for nonpointing and delayed photons in the diphoton and missing transverse momentum final state in 8 TeV pp collisions at the LHC using the ATLAS detector
abstract: A search has been performed, using the full 20.3 fb(-1) data sample of 8 TeV proton-proton collisions collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, for photons originating from a displaced vertex due to the decay of a neutral long-lived particle into a photon and an invisible particle. The analysis investigates the diphoton plus missing transverse momentum final state, and is therefore most sensitive to pair production of long-lived particles. The analysis technique exploits the capabilities of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter to make precise measurements of the flight direction, as well as the time of flight, of photons. No excess is observed over the Standard Model predictions for background. Exclusion limits are set within the context of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking models, with the lightest neutralino being the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle and decaying into a photon and gravitino with a lifetime in the range from 250 ps to about 100 ns.

title: Performance of a DEPFET prototype module for the ILC vertex detector
abstract: For the detection of secondary vertices of long lived bottom and charm quarks at the proposed International Linear Collider (ILC) a DEPFET pixel detector is one of the favored technology options. DEPFET pixel sensors, in which the amplifying transistor structure is contained in the pixel cell itself on a fully depleted bulk, are unique devices in terms of their large signal and low noise capability and their obtainable spatial resolution with very thin detectors. DEPFET pixel prototype modules with close to ILC specifications have been tested in the laboratory and, for the first time, in a 6 GeV electron test beam. The different noise sources have been calculated and compared with the measured value of ENC/spl ap/225 e/sup -/ for the entire readout chain.

title: Test results of the Data Handling Processor for the DEPFET Pixel Vertex Detector
abstract: In the new Belle II detector, which is currently under construction at the SuperKEKB accelerator, a two layer pixel detector will be introduced to improve the vertex reconstruction in a ultra high luminosity environment. The pixel detector will be produced using the DEPFET technology. A new ASIC (Data Handling Processor or DHP) designed to steer the readout process, pre-process and compress the raw data has been developed. The DHP will be directly bump bonded to the balcony of the all-silicon DEPFET module. The current chip prototype has been produced in CMOS 90 nm. Its test results, including the data processing quality, the signal integrity of the gigabit transmission lines will be presented here. For the final chip, which will be produced using CMOS 65 nm, single event upset (SEU) cross sections were measured. An additional chip, containing memory blocks to be tested, was submitted and produced using this technology.

title: A serial powering scheme for the ATLAS pixel detector at sLHC
abstract: Powering concepts, such as serial powering and DC-DC conversion, are in development for the silicon trackers at sLHC to achieve an efficient power distribution with a minimum volume of cables. This paper will describe the serial powering scheme developed for the upgraded ATLAS pixel detector, with focus on the scheme architecture and on the main components involved: the Shunt-LDO regulator and the protection scheme. Issues connected to system aspects will be discussed, and the advantages in terms of material reduction provided by the proposed serial powering scheme will be presented.

title: DMAPS: a fully depleted monolithic active pixel sensor—analog performance characterization
abstract: Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) have been developed since the late 1990s based on silicon substrates with a thin epitaxial layer (thickness of 10–15 μm) in which charge is collected on an electrode, albeit by disordered and slow diffusion rather than by drift in a directed electric field. As a consequence, the signal of these conventional MAPS is small (≈1000 e−) and the radiation tolerance is limited. In this paper, the development of a fully Depleted Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (DMAPS) based on a high resistivity substrate allowing the creation of a fully depleted detection volume is presented. This concept overcomes the inherent limitations of charge collection by diffusion in the standard MAPS designs. We present results from a prototype chip EPCB01 designed in a commercial 150 nm CMOS technology. The technology provides a thin (≈50 μm) high resistivity n-type silicon substrate as well as an additional deep p-well which allows to integrate full CMOS circuitry inside the pixel. Different matrix types with several variants of collection electrodes and pixel electronics have been implemented. Measurements of the analog performance of this first implementation of DMAPS pixels are presented.

title: Observations of Electromagnetically Coupled Dust in the Jovian Magnetosphere
abstract: We report on dust measurements obtained during the seventh orbit of the Galileo spacecraft about Jupiter. The most prominent features observed are highly time variable dust streams recorded throughout the Jovian system. The impact rate varied by more than an order of magnitude with a 5 and 10 hour periodicity, which shows a correlation with Galileo's position relative to the Jovian magnetic field. This behavior can be qualitatively explained by strong coupling of nanometer-sized dust to the Jovian magnetic field. In addition to the 5 and 10 h periodicities, a longer period which is compatible with Io's orbital period is evident in the dust impact rate. This feature indicates that Io most likely is the source of the dust streams. During a close (3,095 km altitude) flyby at Ganymede on 5 April 1997 an enhanced rate of dust impacts has been observed, which suggests that Ganymede is a source of ejecta particles. Within a distance of about 25 RJ(Jupiter radius, RJ= 71,492 km) from Jupiter impacts of micrometer-sized particles have been recorded which could be particles on bound orbits about Jupiter.

title: Investigation of elastic hadron electron scattering at 540 GeV/c in order to measure the electromagnetic charge radius of the proton

title: Nuclear dependence of charm production
abstract: Using data taken by SELEX during the 1996–1997 fixed target run at Fermilab, we study the production of charmed hadrons on copper and carbon targets with Σ−, p, π−, and π+ beams. Parametrizing the dependence of the inclusive production cross section on the atomic number A as Aα, we determine α for D+, D0, Ds+, D+(2010), Λc+, and their respective anti-particles, as a function of their transverse momentum pt and scaled longitudinal momentum xF. Within our statistics there is no dependence of α on xF for any charm species for the interval 0.1<xF<1.0. The average value of α for charm production by pion beams is αmeson=0.850±0.028. This is somewhat larger than the corresponding average αbaryon=0.755±0.016 for charm production by baryon beams (Σ−, p).