Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Value Health Reg Issues 2019 Mar 18;18:97-105. Epub 2019 Mar 18.

Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:

Background: Assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQOL or utility) is a complex issue especially in children with temporary health states.

Objectives: To assess the utility of prone positioning as a prophylactic postsurgical approach with the aid of 5 frequently used general instruments.

Methods: Visual analogue scale (VAS), time trade-off (TTO), modified TTO (m-TTO), standard gamble (SG), and chain of gambles (ChGs) instruments and interview with the parent caregivers were used to measure the HRQOL (utility value) of patients who were admitted in the surgical wards of Children's Medical Center Hospital between July and November 2015. Read More

Mon Not R Astron Soc 2019 May 26;485(2):2492-2504. Epub 2019 Feb 26.

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.

Previous studies have shown the filamentary structures in the cosmic web influence the alignments of nearby galaxies. We study this effect in the LOWZ sample of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey using the 'Cosmic Web Reconstruction' filament catalogue. We find that LOWZ galaxies exhibit a small but statistically significant alignment in the direction parallel to the orientation of nearby filaments. Read More

Eur Phys J C Part Fields 2019 17;79(1):38. Epub 2019 Jan 17.

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics at the Tera-scale, Melbourne, Australia.

We present global analyses of effective Higgs portal dark matter models in the frequentist and Bayesian statistical frameworks. Complementing earlier studies of the scalar Higgs portal, we use GAMBIT to determine the preferred mass and coupling ranges for models with vector, Majorana and Dirac fermion dark matter. We also assess the relative plausibility of all four models using Bayesian model comparison. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 Mar 12;9(1):4199. Epub 2019 Mar 12.

Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.

Compared to conventional attenuation x-ray radiographic imaging, the x-ray Talbot-Lau technique provides further information about the scattering and the refractive properties of the object in the beam path. Hence, this additional information should improve the diagnostic process concerning medical applications and non-destructive testing. Nevertheless, until now, due to grating fabrication process, Talbot-Lau imaging suffers from small grating sizes (70 mm diameter). Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2019 Feb;122(7):072301

Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.

Angular correlations between heavy-flavor decay electrons and charged particles at midrapidity (|η|<0.8) are measured in p-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2019 Feb;122(5):051102

Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.

High-energy neutrino emission has been predicted for several short-lived astrophysical transients including gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), core-collapse supernovae with choked jets, and neutron star mergers. IceCube's optical and x-ray follow-up program searches for such transient sources by looking for two or more muon neutrino candidates in directional coincidence and arriving within 100 s. The measured rate of neutrino alerts is consistent with the expected rate of chance coincidences of atmospheric background events and no likely electromagnetic counterparts have been identified in Swift follow-up observations. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2019 Feb;122(4):040403

Department of Physics and Center for Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Bose Institute, EN 80, Sector V, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700091, India.

Quantum nonlocality is usually associated with entangled states by their violations of Bell-type inequalities. However, even unentangled systems, whose parts may have been prepared separately, can show nonlocal properties. In particular, a set of product states is said to exhibit "quantum nonlocality without entanglement" if the states are locally indistinguishable; i. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2019 Feb;122(4):041101

Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

Neutrinos are key to probing the deep structure of matter and the high-energy Universe. Yet, until recently, their interactions had only been measured at laboratory energies up to about 350 GeV. An opportunity to measure their interactions at higher energies opened up with the detection of high-energy neutrinos in IceCube, partially of astrophysical origin. Read More

Phys Med Biol 2019 Mar 14;64(6):065013. Epub 2019 Mar 14.

Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.

X-ray dark-field imaging is a promising technique for lung diagnosis. Due to the alveolar structure of lung tissue, a higher contrast is obtained by the dark-field image compared to the attenuation image. Animal studies indicate an enhancement regarding the detection of lung diseases in early stages. Read More

J Geophys Res Space Phys 2018 Sep 7;123(9):7473-7485. Epub 2018 Aug 7.

Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Saturn's main rings have an energetic particle and gamma ray photon radiation environment produced by ring interactions of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) protons and heavier ions penetrating the planetary dipolar magnetic field. Accurate models of this radiation environment are important for interpretation of Pioneer 11 and Cassini in situ measurements near the rings and for constraints on radiolytic contributions to neutral gas production and ice chemistry. A GEANT (GEometry ANd Tracking) based simulation is used to model flux spectra of protons, electrons, positrons, charged pions, neutrons, and gamma ray photons emitted from GCR interactions with HO ice spheres approximating the ring material. Read More

Science 2019 Feb 31;363(6426):474-478. Epub 2019 Jan 31.

Department of Astronomy and Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.

Elements heavier than helium are produced in the lives and deaths of stars. This Review discusses when and how the process of nucleosynthesis made elements. High-mass stars fuse elements much faster, fuse heavier nuclei, and die more catastrophically than low-mass stars. Read More

Sci Rep 2019 Jan 23;9(1):352. Epub 2019 Jan 23.

School of Physical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India.

The proposed Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) utilizes a wide-band on-axis tunable muon-(anti)neutrino beam with a baseline of 1300 km to search for CP violation with high precision. Given the long baseline, DUNE is also sensitive to effects due to matter induced non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) which can interfere with the standard three-flavor oscillation paradigm. Hence it is desirable to design strategies to disentangle effects due to NSI from standard oscillations. Read More

Value Health Reg Issues 2019 Jan 9;18:74-77. Epub 2019 Jan 9.

Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Background: Health-related quality of life (utility) measures are essential components of effectiveness analyses. The health-related quality of life of health states in pediatric patients who underwent spinal surgery have not been reported previously.

Objectives: To estimate the utility of complications after spinal surgeries and side effects of acetazolamide administration. Read More

Rev Sci Instrum 2018 12;89(12):129901

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, via Sommarive 14, 38123 Povo, TN, Italy.

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Nov;121(21):211302

Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA.

A critical challenge to the cold dark matter (CDM) paradigm is that there are fewer satellites observed around the Milky Way than found in simulations of dark matter substructure. We show that there is a match between the observed satellite counts corrected by the detection efficiency of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (for luminosities L≳340  L_{⊙}) and the number of luminous satellites predicted by CDM, assuming an empirical relation between stellar mass and halo mass. The "missing satellites problem," cast in terms of number counts, is thus solved. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2019 Mar 27;656:280-296. Epub 2018 Nov 27.

National Facility on Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Bose Institute, 16, A.J.C. Bose Road, Darjeeling 734101, India; National Center for Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Block-EN, Sector-V, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091, India.

A first-ever long-term (2009-2015) study on the fine particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC) aerosol were conducted over Himalaya in order to investigate the characteristics, temporal variations and the important factors regulating the long-term trend. The study was conducted over a high altitude station, Darjeeling (27°01'N, 88°15'E, 2200 m asl) representing a typical high altitude urban atmosphere at eastern Himalaya in India. The average concentrations of PM and BC over a period of seven years were 25. Read More

J Hazard Mater 2019 Mar 22;366:10-15. Epub 2018 Nov 22.

Environmental Sciences Section, Bose Institute, P 1/12 CIT Scheme VII-M, Kolkata, 700054, India; Centre for Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Block-EN, Sector-V, Salt Lake, Kolkata, 700091, India; Department of Physics, Bose Institute, 93/1, A.P.C Road, Kolkata, 700009, India. Electronic address:

The present experimental study describes the characteristics of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emitted with PM particles during wood and rice straw burning as well as impacts of photochemical ageing on the half lives of particulate PAHs and their diagnostic ratio values. The photochemical degradation kinetics experiments were carried out by exposing the PM to light and synthetic air flow. Pseudo first order rate constants were calculated based on PAH loss as a function of exposure time. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Nov;121(18):181101

Gravitation Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam (GRAPPA), Institute for Theoretical Physics Amsterdam and Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1090 GL Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Forecasting the signal discrimination power of dark matter (DM) searches is commonly limited to a set of arbitrary benchmark points. We introduce new methods for benchmark-free forecasting that instead allow an exhaustive exploration and visualization of the phenomenological distinctiveness of DM models, based on standard hypothesis testing. Using this method, we reassess the signal discrimination power of future liquid xenon and argon direct DM searches. Read More

Rev Sci Instrum 2018 10;89(10):10F104

Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, via Sommarive 14, Povo 38123, TN, Italy.

We describe a setup for performing inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray diffraction measurements at the Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) endstation of the Linac Coherent Light Source. This technique is capable of performing high-, meV-resolution measurements of dynamic ion features in both crystalline and non-crystalline materials. A four-bounce silicon (533) monochromator was used in conjunction with three silicon (533) diced crystal analyzers to provide an energy resolution of ∼50 meV over a range of ∼500 meV in single shot measurements. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Oct;121(16):161102

Physics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California 93407, USA.

We report on an upward traveling, radio-detected cosmic-ray-like impulsive event with characteristics closely matching an extensive air shower. This event, observed in the third flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA), a NASA-sponsored long-duration balloon payload, is consistent with a similar event reported in a previous flight. These events could be produced by the atmospheric decay of an upward-propagating τ lepton produced by a ν_{τ} interaction, although their relatively steep arrival angles create tension with the standard model neutrino cross section. Read More

Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg 2019 Jan 22;14(1):3-10. Epub 2018 Oct 22.

Pattern Recognition Lab, Department of Computer Science, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstr. 3, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.

Purpose: Two phase gratings in an X-ray grating interferometers can solve several technical challenges for clinical use of X-ray phase contrast. In this work, we adapt and evaluate this setup design to clinical X-ray sources and detectors in a simulation study.

Methods: For a given set of gratings, we optimize the remaining parameter space of a dual-phase grating setup using a numerical wave front simulation. Read More

Mon Not R Astron Soc 2018 Dec 4;481(2):2371-2383. Epub 2018 Sep 4.

Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

Low-redshift measurements of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measure the late-time evolution of the Universe and are a vital probe of dark energy. Over the past decade both the 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey Main Galaxy Sample (SDSS MGS) have provided important distance constraints at [Formula: see text] < 0.3. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Sep;121(13):131103

Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP), The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

The observed multi-GeV γ-ray emission from the solar disk-sourced by hadronic cosmic rays interacting with gas and affected by complex magnetic fields-is not understood. Utilizing an improved analysis of the Fermi-LAT data that includes the first resolved imaging of the disk, we find strong evidence that this emission is produced by two separate mechanisms. Between 2010 and 2017 (the rise to and fall from solar maximum), the γ-ray emission was dominated by a polar component. Read More

Phys Med Biol 2018 Sep 13;63(18):185010. Epub 2018 Sep 13.

Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), 91058 Erlangen, Germany.

Talbot-Lau x-ray imaging provides additionally to the conventional attenuation image, two further images: the differential phase-contrast image which is especially sensitive to differences in refractive properties and the dark-field image which is showing the x-ray scattering properties of the object. Thus, in the dark-field image sub-pixeled object information can be observed. As it has been shown in recent studies, this is of special interest for lung imaging. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Jun;120(26):261102

Department of Electronic Information Systems, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 307 Fukasaku, Minuma, Saitama 337-8570, Japan.

Extended results on the cosmic-ray electron + positron spectrum from 11 GeV to 4.8 TeV are presented based on observations with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station utilizing the data up to November 2017. The analysis uses the full detector acceptance at high energies, approximately doubling the statistics compared to the previous result. Read More

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int 2018 Sep 5;25(26):26279-26296. Epub 2018 Jul 5.

Environmental Sciences and Biomedical Metrology Division, CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Road, New Delhi, 110012, India.

For source identification, a field campaign involving simultaneous sampling of particulate matter (PM) was conducted at eight sampling sites in the Indian mainland during winter 2014. The sampling sites include Delhi (upper IGP), Lucknow (middle IGP), and Kolkata (lower IGP) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP); Mohal-Kullu and Darjeeling in the Indo-Himalayan Range (IHR). In addition, Ajmer, located upwind of the IGP in NW-India and Giridih and Bhubaneswar, in the downwind to the IGP has also been chosen. Read More

Phys Med Biol 2018 Jul 3;63(13):135018. Epub 2018 Jul 3.

Siemens Healthcare GmbH, 91301 Forchheim, Germany. Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.

Talbot-Lau x-ray imaging (TLXI) is an innovative and promising imaging technique providing information about the x-ray attenuation, scattering, and refraction features of objects. However, the method is susceptible to vibrations and system component imprecisions, which are inevitable in clinical and industrial practice. Those influences provoke grating displacements and hence errors in the acquired raw data, which cause moiré artifacts in the reconstructed images. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 May;120(20):201101

Obserwatorium Astronomiczne, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, ul. Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland.

Spectral lines are among the most powerful signatures for dark matter (DM) annihilation searches in very-high-energy γ rays. The central region of the Milky Way halo is one of the most promising targets given its large amount of DM and proximity to Earth. We report on a search for a monoenergetic spectral line from self-annihilations of DM particles in the energy range from 300 GeV to 70 TeV using a two-dimensional maximum likelihood method taking advantage of both the spectral and spatial features of the signal versus background. Read More

Radiat Res 2018 09 4;190(3):217-225. Epub 2018 Jun 4.

a   Dipartimento Biologia e Biotecnologie "C. Darwin", SAPIENZA Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.

Deep underground laboratories (DULs) were originally created to host particle, astroparticle or nuclear physics experiments requiring a low-background environment with vastly reduced levels of cosmic-ray particle interference. More recently, the range of science projects requiring an underground experiment site has greatly expanded, thus leading to the recognition of DULs as truly multidisciplinary science sites that host important studies in several fields, including geology, geophysics, climate and environmental sciences, technology/instrumentation development and biology. So far, underground biology experiments are ongoing or planned in a few of the currently operating DULs. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Mar;120(13):131101

CEICO, Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Praha 8, Czechia.

The coincident detection of gravitational waves (GW) and a gamma-ray burst from a merger of neutron stars has placed an extremely stringent bound on the speed of GWs. We showed previously that the presence of gravitational slip (η) in cosmology is intimately tied to modifications of GW propagation. This new constraint implies that the only remaining viable source of gravitational slip is a conformal coupling to gravity in scalar-tensor theories, while viable vector-tensor theories cannot now generate gravitational slip at all. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Mar;120(12):121101

Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP), and Department of Physics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.

Milagro observations have found bright, diffuse TeV emission concentrated along the galactic plane of the Milky Way. The intensity and spectrum of this emission is difficult to explain with current models of hadronic γ-ray production, and has been named the "TeV excess." We show that TeV emission from pulsars naturally explains this excess. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Mar;120(12):121301

Département de Physique Théorique and Centre for Astroparticle Physics (CAP), Université de Genève, 24 quai E. Ansermet, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland.

For the current central values of the Higgs boson and top quark masses, the standard model Higgs potential develops an instability at a scale of the order of 10^{11}  GeV. We show that a cosmological signature of such instability could be dark matter in the form of primordial black holes seeded by Higgs fluctuations during inflation. The existence of dark matter might not require physics beyond the standard model. Read More

Living Rev Relativ 2018 12;21(1). Epub 2018 Apr 12.

85Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Canada.

Euclid is a European Space Agency medium-class mission selected for launch in 2020 within the cosmic vision 2015-2025 program. The main goal of Euclid is to understand the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Euclid will explore the expansion history of the universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and red-shifts of galaxies as well as the distribution of clusters of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky. Read More

Med Phys 2018 Jun 27;45(6):2565-2571. Epub 2018 Apr 27.

Department of Radiology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, 80336, Munich, Germany.

Purpose: Talbot-Lau x-ray interferometry provides information about the scattering and refractive properties of an object - in addition to the object's attenuation features. Until recently, this method was ineligible for imaging human-sized objects as it is challenging to adapt Talbot-Lau interferometers (TLIs) to the relevant x-ray energy ranges. In this work, we present a preclinical Talbot-Lau prototype capable of imaging human-sized objects with proper image quality at clinically acceptable dose levels. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Mar;120(10):102301

Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.

The azimuthal anisotropy coefficient v_{2} of prompt D^{0}, D^{+}, D^{*+}, and D_{s}^{+} mesons was measured in midcentral (30%-50% centrality class) Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV, with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The D mesons were reconstructed via their hadronic decays at midrapidity, |y|<0. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Feb;120(7):071801

Oskar Klein Centre and Department of Physics, Stockholm University, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden.

We present a measurement of the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters using three years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory. The DeepCore infill array in the center of IceCube enables the detection and reconstruction of neutrinos produced by the interaction of cosmic rays in Earth's atmosphere at energies as low as ∼5  GeV. That energy threshold permits measurements of muon neutrino disappearance, over a range of baselines up to the diameter of the Earth, probing the same range of L/E_{ν} as long-baseline experiments but with substantially higher-energy neutrinos. Read More

Phys Rev Lett 2018 Feb;120(7):072701

Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen 91058, Germany.

Results from a search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) of ^{136}Xe are presented using the first year of data taken with the upgraded EXO-200 detector. Relative to previous searches by EXO-200, the energy resolution of the detector has been improved to σ/E=1.23%, the electric field in the drift region has been raised by 50%, and a system to suppress radon in the volume between the cryostat and lead shielding has been implemented. Read More

Sci Adv 2018 Feb 28;4(2):eaao7228. Epub 2018 Feb 28.

W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old neutron stars that spin hundreds of times per second and appear to pulsate as their emission beams cross our line of sight. To date, radio pulsations have been detected from all rotation-powered MSPs. In an attempt to discover radio-quiet gamma-ray MSPs, we used the aggregated power from the computers of tens of thousands of volunteers participating in the Einstein@Home distributed computing project to search for pulsations from unidentified gamma-ray sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope data. Read More

Eur Phys J C Part Fields 2017 13;77(6):389. Epub 2017 Jun 13.

115Stefan Meyer Institut für Subatomare Physik (SMI), Vienna, Austria.

The transverse momentum distributions of the strange and double-strange hyperon resonances ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]) produced in p-Pb collisions at [Formula: see text] TeV were measured in the rapidity range [Formula: see text] for event classes corresponding to different charged-particle multiplicity densities, [Formula: see text]d[Formula: see text]/d[Formula: see text]. The mean transverse momentum values are presented as a function of [Formula: see text]d[Formula: see text]/d[Formula: see text], as well as a function of the particle masses and compared with previous results on hyperon production. The integrated yield ratios of excited to ground-state hyperons are constant as a function of [Formula: see text]d[Formula: see text]/d[Formula: see text]. Read More

Sci Rep 2018 02 2;8(1):2325. Epub 2018 Feb 2.

Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, 91058, Erlangen, Germany.

X-ray grating-based phase-contrast imaging has raised interest regarding a variety of potential clinical applications, whereas the method is feasible using a medical x-ray tube. Yet, the transition towards a clinical setup remains challenging due to the requirement of mechanical robustness of the interferometer and high demands applying to medical equipment in clinical use. We demonstrate the successful implementation of a Talbot-Lau interferometer in an interventional c-arm setup. Read More

J Environ Radioact 2018 Apr 30;184-185:63-70. Epub 2018 Jan 30.

Centre for Astroparticle Physics and Space Science, Bose Institute, Block-EN, Sector-V, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700091, India. Electronic address:

The present paper deals with monitoring soil radon-222 concentration at two different locations, designated Site A and Site B, 200 m apart at Jadavpur University campus, Kolkata, India, with a view to find possible precursors for the earthquakes that occurred within a few hundred kilometers from the monitoring site. The solid state nuclear track detector CR-39 has been used for detection of radon gas coming out from soil. Radon-222 time series at both locations during the period August 2012-December 2013 have been analysed. Read More

Sci Rep 2018 01 9;8(1):129. Epub 2018 Jan 9.

Environmental Sciences Section, Bose Institute, P 1/12 CIT Scheme VII-M, Kolkata, 700054, India.

Substantial impacts on climate have been documented for soot‒sulfuric acid (HSO) interactions in terms of optical and hygroscopic properties of soot aerosols. However, the influence of HSO on heterogeneous chemistry on soot remains unexplored. Additionally, oxidation rate coefficients for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons intrinsic to the atmospheric particles evaluated in laboratory experiments seem to overestimate their degradation in ambient atmosphere, possibly due to matrix effects which are hitherto not mimicked in laboratory experiments. Read More

Eur Phys J C Part Fields 2018 16;78(10):831. Epub 2018 Oct 16.

31Department of Physics and Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 USA.

With the observation of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, interest has risen in models of PeV-mass decaying dark matter particles to explain the observed flux. We present two dedicated experimental analyses to test this hypothesis. One analysis uses 6 years of IceCube data focusing on muon neutrino 'track' events from the Northern Hemisphere, while the second analysis uses 2 years of 'cascade' events from the full sky. Read More

Eur Phys J C Part Fields 2018 11;78(12):1006. Epub 2018 Dec 11.

8IFIC, Instituto de Física Corpuscular (CSIC, Universitat de València) c/ Catedrático José Beltrán, 2 E-46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain.

One of the main objectives of the ANTARES telescope is the search for point-like neutrino sources. Both the pointing accuracy and the angular resolution of the detector are important in this context and a reliable way to evaluate this performance is needed. In order to measure the pointing accuracy of the detector, one possibility is to study the shadow of the Moon, i. Read More