Commissioning of the ALICE-PHOS trigger
The Photon Spectrometer (PHOS) of the ALICE experiment at LHC is a high-resolution electromagnetic calorimeter dedicated to the precise measurement of direct photon and neutral meson yields in p+p and Pb+Pb collisions at mid-rapidity in a pT range up to 100 GeV/c. A multi-level trigger system selects events of interest and reduces the overall data flow. PHOS generates two triggers: i) the Level 0 (L0) trigger for high luminosity p+p runs acting mainly as a spectrometer trigger and for selecting high pT photons in Pb+Pb and in p+p collisions; ii) the Level1 (L1) trigger corresponds to a more sophisticated shower analysis which refines the pT selection. The algorithms perform a pulse-shape analysis of the oversampled Avalanche Photo Diode (APD) signal followed by a sliding-window cluster finder. Both triggers are implemented in the firmware which, since SRAM-based FPGAs are used, can be changed on-line between runs. The trigger system was commissioned by cosmic rays and particles from interactions. The status of the trigger system and first results will be presented.

title: Readout electronics of the ALICE photon spectrometer
abstract: 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: 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

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: Alignment of the ALICE inner tracking system with cosmic-ray tracks
abstract: ALICE (A Large Ion Collider Experiment) is the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) experiment devoted to investigating the strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC energies. The ALICE ITS, Inner Tracking System, consists of six cylindrical layers of silicon detectors with three different technologies; in the outward direction: two layers of pixel detectors, two layers each of drift, and strip detectors. The number of parameters to be determined in the spatial alignment of the 2198 sensor modules of the ITS is about 13,000. The target alignment precision is well below 10 mu m in some cases (pixels). The sources of alignment information include survey measurements, and the reconstructed tracks from cosmic rays and from proton-proton collisions. The main track-based alignment method uses the Millepede global approach. An iterative local method was developed and used as well. We present the results obtained for the ITS alignment using about 10(5) charged tracks from cosmic rays that have been collected during summer 2008, with the ALICE solenoidal magnet switched off.

title: Inclusive $J/\psi$ production in $pp$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 2.76$ TeV
abstract: The ALICE Collaboration has measured inclusive J/psi production in pp collisions at a center of mass energy sqrt(s)=2.76 TeV at the LHC. The results presented in this Letter refer to the rapidity ranges |y|<0.9 and 2.5

title: Detecting the neutral top-pion at future muon colliders
abstract: The signals of the neutral top-pion $\pi^{0}_{t}$ at the first muon collider (FMC) are discussed by calculating its contributions to the processes $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}\longrightarrow b\bar{b}$ and $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}\longrightarrow \bar{t}c$. We find that the contributions to the process $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}\longrightarrow b\bar{b}$ are very small and the ratio of signal over square root of the background ($S/\sqrt{B})$ is smaller than 0.2. However, in most of the parameter space, the $\pi^{0}_{t}$ can generate 36 and up to 649 observable $\bar{t}c$ events at the FMC. The signals of the neutral top-pion $\pi^{0}_{t}$ may be detected via the process $\mu^{+}\mu^{-}\longrightarrow \bar{t}c$ at the FMC.

title: Rephasing Invariance and Hierarchy of the CKM Matrix
abstract: We identified a set of four rephasing invariant parameters of the CKM matrix. They are found to exhibit hierarchies in powers of λ 2 , from λ 2 to λ 8 . It is shown that, at the present level of accuracy, only the first three parameters are needed to fit all available data on flavor physics.

title: The Statistic thermodynamical entropy of de Sitter space and its one loop correction
abstract: From the partition function of canonical ensemble we derive the entropy of the de Sitter space by anti-Wick rotation. And then from the one-loop bubble $S^2\times S^2$ created from vacuum fluctuation in de Sitter background space, we obtain the one-loop quantum correction to the entropy of de Sitter space.

title: Wormhole solution in Bergmann-Wagoner scalar-tensor gravitational theory
abstract: We give a Euclidean wormhole solution in the vacuum Bergmann-Wagoner scalar-tensor gravitational theory. We show that this wormhole, unlike others, has complex charge and is a baby universe (half a wormhole).

title: Scaling of the Higgs Self-coupling and bounds on the Extra Dimension
abstract: In this paper we study the one-loop evolution equation of the Higgs quartic coupling $\lambda$ in the minimal Universal Extra Dimension model, and find that there are certain bounds on the extra dimension due to the singularity and vacuum stability conditions of the Higgs sector. In the range $250GeV \sim {R^{- 1}} \sim 80TeV$ of the compactification radius, we notice that for a given initial value $\lambda ({M_Z})$, there is an upper limit on ${R^{- 1}}$ for a Higgs mass of $183GeV \sim {m_H}({M_Z}) \sim 187GeV$; where any other compactification scales beyond that have been ruled out for theories where the evolution of $\lambda$ does not develop a Landau pole and become divergent in the whole range (that is, from the electroweak scale to the unification scale). Likewise, in the range of the Higgs mass $152GeV \sim {m_H}({M_Z}) \sim 157GeV$, for an initial value $\lambda ({M_Z})$, we are led to a lower limit on ${R^{- 1}}$; any other compactification scales below that will be ruled out for theories where the evolution of $\lambda$ does not become negative and destabilize the vacuum between the electroweak scale and the unification scale. For a Higgs mass in the range $157GeV < {m_H}({M_Z}) < 183GeV$, the evolution of $\lambda$ is finite and the theory is valid in the whole range (from the electroweak scale to the unification scale) for $250GeV \sim {R^{- 1}}