Topological susceptibility in two flavors lattice QCD with the optimal domain-wall fermion
We determine the topological susceptibility of the gauge configurations generated by lattice simulations using two flavors of optimal domain-wall fermion on the 16 3 × 32 lattice with length 16 in the fifth dimension, at the lattice spacing a ≃ 0.1 fm . Using the adaptive thick-restart Lanczos algorithm, we project the low-lying eigenmodes of the overlap Dirac operator, and obtain the topological charge of each configuration, for eight ensembles with pion masses in the range 220–550 MeV. From the topological charge, we compute the topological susceptibility and the second normalized cumulant. Our result of the topological susceptibility agrees with the sea-quark mass dependence predicted by the chiral perturbation theory and provides a determination of the chiral condensate, Σ MS ¯ ( 2 GeV ) = [ 259 ( 6 ) ( 7 ) MeV ] 3 , and the pion decay constant F π = 92 ( 12 ) ( 2 ) MeV .

title: GPU-Based Conjugate Gradient Solver for Lattice QCD with Domain-Wall Fermions
abstract: We present the first GPU-based conjugate gradient (CG) solver for lattice QCD with domain-wall fermions (DWF). It is well-known that CG is the most time-consuming part in the Hybrid Monte Carlo simulation of unquenched lattice QCD, which becomes even more computational demanding for lattice QCD with exact chiral symmetry. We have designed a CG solver for the general 5-dimensional DWF operator on NVIDIA CUDA architecture with mixed-precision, using the defect correction as well as the reliable updates algorithms. We optimize our computation by even-odd preconditioning in the 4D space-time lattice, plus several innovative techniques for CUDA kernels. For NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285/480, our CG solver attains 180/233 Gflops (sustained).

title: RHAPSODY. I. STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES AND FORMATION HISTORY FROM A STATISTICAL SAMPLE OF RE-SIMULATED CLUSTER-SIZE HALOS
abstract: We present the rst results from the Rhapsody cluster re-simulation project: a sample of 96 \zoom-in" simulations of dark matter halos of 10 14:8 0:05 h 1 M , selected from a 1 h 3 Gpc 3 volume. This simulation suite is the rst to resolve this many halos with 5 10 6 particles per halo in the cluster mass regime, allowing us to statistically characterize the distribution of and correlation between halo properties at xed mass. We focus on the properties of the main halos and how they are aected by formation history, which we track back to z = 12, over ve decades in mass. We give particular attention to the impact of the formation history on the density proles of the halos. We nd that the deviations from the Navarro{Frenk{White (NFW) model and the Einasto model depend on formation time. Late-forming halos tend to have considerable deviations from both models, partly due to the presence of massive subhalos, while early-forming halos deviate less but still signicantly from the NFW model and are better described by the Einasto model. We nd that the halo shapes depend only moderately on formation time. Departure from spherical symmetry impacts the density proles through the anisotropic distribution of massive subhalos. Further evidence of the impact of subhalos is provided by analyzing the phase-space structure. A detailed analysis of the properties of the subhalo population in Rhapsody is presented in a companion paper.

title: SUSSING MERGER TREES: the influence of the halo finder
abstract: Merger tree codes are routinely used to follow the growth and merger of dark matter haloes in simulations of cosmic structure formation. Whereas in Srisawat et. al. we compared the trees built using a wide variety of such codes, here we study the influence of the underlying halo catalogue upon the resulting trees. We observe that the specifics of halo finding itself greatly influences the constructed merger trees. We find that the choices made to define the halo mass are of prime importance. For instance, amongst many potential options different finders select self-bound objects or spherical regions of defined overdensity, decide whether or not to include substructures within the mass returned and vary in their initial particle selection. The impact of these decisions is seen in tree length (the period of time a particularly halo can be traced back through the simulation), branching ratio (essentially the merger rate of subhaloes) and mass evolution. We therefore conclude that the choice of the underlying halo finder is more relevant to the process of building merger trees than the tree builder itself. We also report on some built-in features of specific merger tree codes that (sometimes) help to improve the quality of the merger trees produced.

title: RHAPSODY. II. SUBHALO PROPERTIES AND THE IMPACT OF TIDAL STRIPPING FROM A STATISTICAL SAMPLE OF CLUSTER-SIZE HALOS
abstract: We discuss the properties of subhalos in cluster-size halos, using a high-resolution statistical sample: the RHAPSODY simulations introduced in Wu et al. We demonstrate that the criteria applied to select subhalos have significant impact on the inferred properties of the sample, including the scatter in the number of subhalos, the correlation between the subhalo number and formation time, and the shape of subhalos' spatial distribution and velocity structure. We find that the number of subhalos, when selected using the peak maximum circular velocity in their histories (a property expected to be closely related to the galaxy luminosity), is uncorrelated with the formation time of the main halo. This is in contrast to the previously reported correlation from studies where subhalos are selected by the current maximum circular velocity; we show that this difference is a result of the tidal stripping of the subhalos. We also find that the dominance of the main halo and the subhalo mass fraction are strongly correlated with halo concentration and formation history. These correlations are important to take into account when interpreting results from cluster samples selected with different criteria. Our sample also includes a fossil cluster, which is presented separately and placed in the context of the rest of the sample.

title: Topological susceptibility to the one-loop order in chiral perturbation theory
abstract: We derive the topological susceptibility to the one-loop order in the chiral effective theory of QCD, for an arbitrary number of flavors.

title: QGP tomography with photon tagged jets in ALICE
abstract: γ+jet events provide a tomographic measurement of the medium formed in heavy ion collisions at LHC energies. Tagging events with a well identified high pT direct photon and measuring the correlation distribution of hadrons emitted oppositely to the photon in ALICE, allows us to determine, with a good approximation, both the jet fragmentation function and the back-to-back azimuthal alignment of the direct photon and the jet. Comparing these two observables measured in pp collisions with the ones measured in AA collisions will reveal the modifications of the jet structure induced by the medium formed in AA collisions and consequently will infer the medium properties.

title: Two particle correlations with photon and pi0 triggers in ALICE at LHC
abstract: Comparing the measurements of the hadronic final state from partonic showers in proton-proton and heavy-ion collisions will reveal the modifications generated by the medium on partons produced in hard scatterings. This can be achieved by selecting the hard processes in which there is a direct photon in the final state. The experimental technique consists in tagging events with a well identified high energy direct photon and in measuring the azimuthal angle correlation with charged hadrons. To establish a reference measurement for heavy-ion collisions, proton-proton collision data collected with ALICE have been analyzed. Preliminary results are presented together with photon and $\pi^{0}$-charged hadrons correlations showing the characteristic di-jet pattern from where the partonic momentum $k_{T}$ is extracted.

title: Two particle correlations: A probe of the LHC QCD medium
abstract: The properties of γ-jet pairs emitted in heavy-ion collisions provide an accurate mean to perform a tomographic measurement of the medium created in the collision through the study of the medium modified jet properties. The idea is to measure the distribution of hadrons emitted on the opposite side of the direct photon. The feasibility of such measurements is studied by applying the approach on the simulation data, we have demonstrated that this method allows us to measure, with a good approximation, both the jet fragmentation and the back-to-back azimuthal alignment of the direct photon and the jet. Comparing these two observables measured in pp collisions with the ones measured in AA collisions reveals the modifications induced by the medium on the jet structure and consequently allows us to infer the medium properties. In this contribution, we discuss a first attempt of such measurements applied to real proton-proton data from the ALICE experiment.

title: Hard Probes in CMS
abstract: This paper reviews recent experimental results on hard probes in heavy-ion collisions from the CMS Collaboration. These studies include various energy loss phenomena (jet nuclear modification factors, tagged b-quark jets, di-jet and photon-jet energy imbalance); observables characterizing jet properties like jet fragmentation function and jet shapes; and measurements of high-pT charged hadrons from jet fragmentation (nuclear modification factors up to 100 GeV/c. All of the presented results utilize the high statistics PbPb data, about 150 μb−1, collected in late 2011 at the LHC.

title: Transverse momentum spectra of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 900 GeV with ALICE at the LHC
abstract: The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum distribution is measured in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 900$~GeV at the LHC using the ALICE detector. The measurement is performed in the central pseudorapidity region $(|\eta|_{\rm INEL}=0.483\pm0.001$~(stat.)~$\pm0.007$~(syst.)~GeV/$c$ and $\left_{\rm NSD}=0.489\pm0.001$~(stat.)~$\pm0.007$~(syst.)~GeV/$c$, respectively. The data exhibit a slightly larger $\left$ than measurements in wider pseudorapidity intervals. The results are compared to simulations with the Monte Carlo event generators PYTHIA and PHOJET