Reply to 'Commentary on 'Total Hadronic Cross Section Data and the Froissart-Martin Bound', by Fagundes, Menon and Silva'
A reply to the above mentioned commentary by M.M. Block and F. Halzen on our quoted work is presented. We answer to each point raised by these authors and argument that our data reductions, strategies and methodology are adequate to the nonlinear-fit-problem in focus. In order to exemplify some arguments, additional information from our subsequent analysis is referred to. A brief commentary on the recent results by Block and Halzen is also presented. We understand that this reply gives support to the results and conclusions presented in our quoted work.

title: Total Hadronic Cross-Section Data and the Froissart–Martin Bound
abstract: The energy dependence of the total hadronic cross section at high energies is investigated with focus on the recent experimental result by the Total Elastic and Diffractive Cross-section Measurement Collaboration at 7 TeV and the Froissart–Martin bound. On the basis of a class of analytical parametrization with the exponent γ in the leading logarithm contribution as a free parameter, different variants of fits to pp and $\bar{\textrm{p}}$p total cross-section data above 5 GeV are developed. Two ensembles are considered, the first comprising data up to 1.8 TeV and the second also including the data collected at 7 TeV. We show that in all fit variants applied to the first ensemble, the exponent is statistically consistent with γ = 2. Applied to the second ensemble, however, the same variants yield γ values above 2, a result already obtained in two other analysis, by Amaldi et al. and by the UA4/2 Collaboration. As recently discussed by Azimov, this faster-than-squared-logarithm rise does not necessarily violate unitarity. Our results suggest that the energy dependence of the hadronic total cross section at high energies still constitutes an open problem.

title: Discrete symmetries, invisible axion, and lepton number symmetry in an economic 3-3-1 model
abstract: We show that Peccei-Quinn and lepton number symmetries can be a natural outcome in a 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos after imposing a Z11^ Z2 symmetry. This symmetry is suitably accommodated in this model when we augment its spectrum by including merely one singlet scalar field. We work out the breaking of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry, yielding the axion, and study the phenomenological consequences. The main result of this work is that the solution to the strong CP problem can be implemented in a natural way, implying an invisible axion phenomenologically unconstrained, free of domain wall formation, and constituting a good candidate for the cold dark matter.

title: How the Inverse See-Saw Mechanism Can Reveal Itself Natural, Canonical and Independent of the Right-Handed Neutrino Mass
abstract: The common lore in the literature of neutrino mass generation is that the canonical see-saw mechanism beautifully offers an explanation for the tiny neutrino mass but at the cost of introducing right-handed neutrinos at a scale that is out of range for the current experiments. The inverse see-saw mechanism is an interesting alternative to the canonical one once it leads to tiny neutrino masses with the advantage of being testable at TeV scale. However, this last mechanism suffers from an issue of naturalness concerning the scale responsible for such small masses, namely, the parameter µ that is related to lepton number violation and is supposed to be at the keV scale, much lower than the electroweak one. However, no theoretical framework was built that offers an explanation for obtaining this specific scale. In this work we propose a variation of the inverse see-saw mechanism by assuming a minimal scalar and fermionic set of singlet fields, along with a Z5 Z2 symmetry, that allows a dynamical explanation for the smallness of µ, recovering the neat canonical see-saw formula and with right-handed (RH) neutrinos free to be at the electroweak scale, thus testable at LHC and current neutrino experiments. PACS: 14.60.St; 12.60.Fr.

title: COOLING SYSTEM FOR THE MERIT HIGH‐POWER TARGET EXPERIMENT
abstract: MERIT is a proof‐of‐principle experiment of a target station suitable as source for future muon colliders or neutrino factories. When installed at the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) PS (Proton Synchrotron) complex fast‐extracted high‐intensity proton beams intercepted a free mercury jet inside a normal‐conducting, pulsed 15‐T capture solenoid magnet cooled with liquid nitrogen. Up to 25 MJ of Joule heat was dissipated in the magnet during a pulse. The fully automated, remotely controlled cryogenic system of novel design permitted the transfer of nitrogen by the sole means of differential pressures inside the vessels. This fast cycling system permitted several hundred tests in less than three weeks during the 2007 data taking campaign.

title: Performance of CMS hadron calorimeter timing and synchronization using test beam, cosmic ray, and LHC beam data
abstract: This paper discusses the design and performance of the time measurement technique and of the synchronization systems of the CMS hadron calorimeter. Time measurement performance results are presented from test beam data taken in the years 2004 and 2006. For hadronic showers of energy greater than 100 GeV, the timing resolution is measured to be about 1.2 ns. Time synchronization and out-of-time background rejection results are presented from the Cosmic Run At Four Tesla and LHC beam runs taken in the Autumn of 2008. The inter-channel synchronization is measured to be within ±2 ns.

title: A mobile data acquisition system
abstract: A mobile data aquisition (MobiDAQ) was developed for the ATLAS central hadronic calorimeter (TileCal). MobiDAQ has been designed in order to test the functionalities of the TileCal front-end electronics and to acquire calibration data before the final back-end electronics were built and tested. MobiDAQ was also used to record the first cosmic ray events acquired by an ATLAS subdetector in the underground experimental area.