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We report on the successful implementation and characterization of a cryogenic solid hydrogen target in experiments on high-power laser-driven proton acceleration. When irradiating a solid hydrogen filament of 10 μm diameter with 10-Terawatt laser pulses of 2.5 J energy, protons with kinetic energies in excess of 20 MeV exhibiting non-thermal features in their spectrum were observed. The protons were emitted into a large solid angle reaching a total conversion efficiency of several percent. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations confirm our results indicating that the spectral modulations are caused by collisionless shocks launched from the surface of the the high-density filament into a low-density corona surrounding the target. The use of solid hydrogen targets may significantly improve the prospects of laser-accelerated proton pulses for future applications.
As its fundamental function, the brain processes and transmits information using populations of interconnected nerve cells alias neurons. The communication between these neurons occurs via discrete electric impulses called spikes. A core challenge in neuroscience has been to quantify how much information about relevant stimuli or signals a neuron transports in its spike sequences, or spike trains. The recently introduced correlation method allows to determine this so-called mutual information in terms of a neuron’s temporal spike correlations under certain stationarity assumptions. Based on the correlation method, I address several open questions regarding neural information encoding in the cortex.
In the first part (chapter 2), I investigate the role of temporal spike correlations for neural information transmission. Temporal correlations in neuronal spike trains diminish independence in the information that is transmitted by the different spikes and hence introduce redundancy to stimulus encoding. However, exact methods to describe how such spike correlations impact information transmission quantitatively have been lacking. Here, I provide a general measure for the information carried by spike trains of neurons with correlated rate modulations only, neglecting other spike correlations, and use it to investigate the effect of rate correlations on encoding redundancy. I derive it analytically by calculating the mutual information between a time correlated, rate-modulating signal and the resulting spikes of Poisson neurons. Whereas this information is determined by spike autocorrelations only, the redundancy in information encoding due to rate correlations depends on both the distribution and the autocorrelation of the rate histogram. I further demonstrate that, at very small signal strengths, the information carried by rate correlated spikes becomes identical to that of independent spikes, in effect measuring the rate modulation depth. In contrast, a vanishing signal correlation time maximizes information transmission but does not generally yield the information of independent spikes.
In the second part (chapter 3), I analyze the information transmission capabilities of two particular schemes of encoding stimuli in the synaptic inputs using integrate-and-fire neuron models. Specifically, I calculate the exact information contained in spike trains about signals which modulate either the mean or the variance of the somatic currents in neurons, as is observed experimentally. I show that the information content about mean modulating signals is generally substantially larger than about variance modulating signals for biological parameters. This result provides evidence, by means of exact calculations of the mutual information, against the potential benefit of variance encoding that had been suggested previously.
Another analysis reveals that higher information transmission is generally associated with a larger proportion of nonlinear signal encoding. Moreover, I show that a combination of signal-dependent mean and variance modulations of the input current can synergistically benefit information transmission through a nonlinear coupling of both channels. On a more general level, I identify what was previously considered an upper bound as the exact, full mutual information. Furthermore, by analyzing the statistics of the spike train Fourier coefficients, I identify the means of the Fourier coefficients as information-carrying features.
Overall, this work contributes answers to central questions of theoretical neuroscience concerning the neural code and neural information transmission. It sheds light on the role of signal-induced temporal correlations for neural coding by providing insight into how signal features shape redundancy and by establishing mathematical links between existing methods and providing new insights into the spike train statistics in stationary situations. Moreover, I determine what fraction of the mutual information is linearly decodable for two specific signal encoding schemes.
Der Urknall vor ungefähr 13.8 Milliarden Jahren markiert die Entstehung des Universums. Die gesamte Energie und Materie war in einem Punkt konzentriert und expandiert seitdem kontinuierlich. Wenige Sekundenbruchteile nach dem Urknall war die Temperatur und Dichte dieser Materie extrem hoch und die erschaffenen Elementarteilchen, speziell Quarks und Gluonen, durchliefen einen Zustand den man als Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) bezeichnet und innerhalb dessen die starke Wechselwirkung dominiert. Innerhalb dieses Plasmas können Quarks und Gluonen, welche sonst in Hadronen gebunden sind, sich frei bewegen. Die direkte Beobachtung des frühzeitlichen QGPs ist mit heutigen Mitteln nicht möglich. Allerdings ist es möglich die Dynamik und Kinematik innerhalb eines künstlich erzeugten QGPs zu erforschen und damit Rückschlüsse auf die Vorgänge während des Urknalls zu machen.
Um künstliche QGPs unter kontrollierten Bedingungen zu erzeugen, werden heutzutage ultrarelativistische Schwerionen zur Kollision gebracht. Der stärkste je gebaute Schwerionenbeschleuniger LHC befindet sich am Kernforschungzentrum CERN in der Nähe von Genf. Das ALICE Experiment, als eines der vier großen Experimente am LHC, wurde speziell gebaut um das QGP näher zu untersuchen. Vollständig ionisierte Bleikerne werden mit nahezu Lichtgeschwindigkeit in den Experimenten zur Kollision gebracht. Die deponierte Energie lässt die Temperatur der Quarks und Gluonen innerhalb der kollidierenden Nukleonen ansteigen bis eine kritische Temperatur überschritten wird und ein Phasenübergang in das QGP erfolgt. Im Laufe der Kollision kühlt das Medium ab und gelangt unter die kritische Temperatur. Nun werden aus den ehemals freien Quarks Hadronen gebildet. Diese Hadronen oder Zerfallsprodukte dieser Hadronen können daraufhin in die Detektoren des Experiments fliegen und werden dann dort gemessen.
Es gibt mehrere mögliche Observablen des QGP, die messbar mit dem ALICE Experiment sind. Die Observablen, die in dieser Arbeit detailliert untersucht werden, sind die invariante Masse und der Paartransversalimpuls eines Dielektrons. Ein Dielektron besteht aus einem Elektron und einem Positron, welche miteinander korreliert sind. Dielektronen sind ideale Sonden zur Vermessung des QGPs. Sie werden durch verschiedene Prozesse während allen Kollisionsphasen produziert, wie beispielsweise bei den initialen, harten Stößen der kollidierenden Nukleonen oder durch den elektromagnetischen Zerfall verschiedener Hadronen wie π0 und J/ψ. Zusätzlich strahlt das QGP Dielektronen abhängig von seiner Temperatur ab. Theoretisch erlaubt dies die direkte Temperaturmessung des QGPs. Ein weiterer Vorteil der Dielektronenmessung gegenüber der Messung von Hadronen liegt darin, dass Elektronen und Positronen keine Farbladungen tragen und somit auch nicht mit der dominierenden starken Wechselwirkung innerhalb des QGPs interagieren und somit unbeeinflusst Informationen über seine Dynamik liefern können.
In dieser vorliegenden Arbeit werden Dielektronenspektren als Funktion der invarianten Masse und des Paartransversalimpulses in Blei-Blei-Kollisionen mit einer Schwerpunktsenergie von √sNN = 5.02 TeV gemessen. Das erste Mal in Schwerionenkollisionen konnte an einem der großen LHC Experimente der minimale Transversalimpuls der gemessenen Elektronen und Positronen auf peT > 0.2 GeV/c minimiert werden. Dies gibt im Vergleich zu der publizierten Messung mit peT > 0.4 GeV/c die Möglichkeit auch sogenannte weiche Prozesse zu messen, erhöht aber auch den Komplexit ätsgrad der Messung durch massiv gesteigerten Untergrund. Zusätzlich ist die Messung zentralitäsabhängig durchgeführt. Zentralität ist ein Maß für den Abstand der beiden Bleikerne zum Zeitpunkt der Kollision. Je zentraler eine Kollision, desto größer ist die deponierte Energie und desto größer und heißer ist das erzeugte QGP und die daraus resultierenden Effekte.
Die gemessenen Dielektronenverteilungen werden mit dem erwarteten Beiträgen aus hadronischen Zerfällen verglichen. Die Messung ergibt, dass der Beitrag aus semileptonischen Zerfällen von Charmquarks gemessen im Vakuum, welcher mit der Anzahl der binären Nukleon-Nukleon-Kollisionen in Blei-Blei-Ereignissen hochskaliert ist, nicht das Dielektronenspektrum beschreibt. Eine Modifizierung des Beitrag gemäß des unabhängig gemessenen nuklearen Modifikationsfaktors für einzelne Elektronen aus Charm- und Beautyquarks verbessert die Beschreibung des Dielektronenspektrums. Zusätzlich wurde der Beitrag virtueller direkter Photonen abgeschätzt. Die gemessenen Werte sind vergleichbar mit vorangegangenen Messungen bei einer niedrigeren Schwerpunktsenergie. Ebenso ist es möglich in periphären Kollisionen einen Beitrag durch eine Quelle zu vermessen, die Dielektronen bei niedrigem Transversalimpuls pT,ee < 0.15 GeV/c aussendet.
In this thesis, we presented the theoretical description of the magnetic properties of various frustrated spin systems. Especially in search of exotic states, such as quantum spin liquids, magnetically frustrated systems have been subject of intense research within the last four decades. Relating experimental observations in real materials with theoretical models that capture those exotic magnetic phenomena has been one of the great challenges within the field of magnetism in condensed matter.
In order to build such a bridge between experimental observations and theoretical models, we followed two complementary strategies in this thesis. One strategy was based on first principles methods that enable the theoretical prediction of electronic properties of real materials without further experimental input than the crystal structure. Based on these predictions, low-energy models that describe magnetic interactions can be extracted and, through further theoretical modelling, can be compared to experimental observations. The second strategy was to establish low-energy models through comparison of data from experiments, such as inelastic neutron scattering intensities, with calculated predictions based on a variety of plausible magnetic models guided by microscopic insights. Both approaches allow to relate theoretical magnetic models with real materials and may provide guidance for the design of new frustrated materials or the investigation of promising models related to exotic magnetic states.
Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has become an essential surface characterization technique in research and development. By concept, SPM performance crucially depends on the quality of the nano-probe element, in particular, the apex radius. Now, with the development of advanced SPM modes beyond morphology mapping, new challenges have emerged regarding the design, morphology, function, and reliability of nano-probes. To tackle these challenges, versatile fabrication methods for precise nano-fabrication are needed. Aside from well-established technologies for SPM nano-probe fabrication, focused electron beam-induced deposition (FEBID) has become increasingly relevant in recent years, with the demonstration of controlled 3D nanoscale deposition and tailored deposit chemistry. Moreover, FEBID is compatible with practically any given surface morphology. In this review article, we introduce the technology, with a focus on the most relevant demands (shapes, feature size, materials and functionalities, substrate demands, and scalability), discuss the opportunities and challenges, and rationalize how those can be useful for advanced SPM applications. As will be shown, FEBID is an ideal tool for fabrication/modification and rapid prototyping of SPM-tipswith the potential to scale up industrially relevant manufacturing.
The diffusive behavior of macromolecules in solution is a key factor in the kinetics of macromolecular binding and assembly, and in the theoretical description of many experiments. Experiments on high-density protein solutions have found that a slow down of the diffusion dynamics is larger than expected from colloidal theory for non-interaction hard-spheres. It has also been shown that the rotational diffusion anisotropy in high-density protein solutions is larger than in dilute ones. High-density protein solutions are a complex fluid that is different from the neat fluid assumption used in the hydrodynamic theory. It is therefore important to have methods to accurately calculate the translational and rotational diffusion tensor from simulations as well as simulation algorithms to explore high-density solutions.
Simulations provide a powerful tool to study diffusion in complex fluids. They can be used to study the macroscopic and microscopic effects of complex fluids on the diffusive behavior. There has been already a lot of work done to accurately simulate diffusion and to determine the diffusion coefficients from simulations.
The translational diffusion of molecules in simple and complex liquids can be determined with high accuracy from simulations. This is not yet the case for rotational diffusion. Existing algorithms to calculate the rotational diffusion coefficients from simulations make assumptions about the shape of the protein or only work at short times. For the simulation of diffusive behavior of macromolecules two options exist today. An all-atom integrator with explicit solvent molecules or coarse-grained (CG) simulations with an implicit solvent. CG simulations of dynamic behavior with implicit solvent are also called Brownian dynamics (BD) simulations. For the CG simulations the Ermak-McCammon algorithm is often used to solve the underlying Langevin equation. The algorithm is an extension of the Euler-Maruyama integrator to include translation and rotation in three dimensions. This algorithm only correctly reproduces the equilibrium probability for short time-steps and the error depends linearly on the time-step. It has been shown that Monte Carlo based algorithms can produce BD for translational dynamics, when appropriately parametrized. The advantage of Monte Carlo based algorithm is that they will reproduce the correct equilibrium distribution independent of the chosen time-step. This in return allows choosing larger time-steps in simulations. The aim of this thesis is to develop novel´methods to accurately determine the rotational diffusion coefficient from simulations and extend existing Monte Carlo algorithms to include rotational dynamics.
The first project addresses the question of how to accurately determine the rotational diffusion coefficients from simulations. We develop a quaternion based method to calculate the rotational diffusion tensor from simulations and a theory for the effects of periodic boundary conditions (PBC) on the rotational diffusion coefficient in simulations.
Our method for calculating rotational diffusion coefficients is based on the quaternion covariances from Favro for a freely rotating rigid molecule. The covariances as formulated by Favro are only valid in the principal coordinate system (PCS) of the rotation diffusion tensor. The covariances can be generalized for an arbitrary reference coordinate system (RCS), i.e., a simulation, given the principle axes of the rotational diffusion tensor in the RCS. We show that no prior knowledge of the diffusion tensor and its principal axes is required to calculate the generalized covariances from simulations using common root-mean-square distance (RMSD) procedures. We develop two methods to fit the covariances calculated from simulations to our generalized equations to fit the rotational diffusion tensor. In the first method we minimize the sum of the squared error deviations between model and simulation data. For this six dimensional optimization we use a simulated annealing algorithm. Alternatively the rotational diffusion tensor can also be determined from a eigenvalue decomposition of covariance after integration. To minimize the effects of sampling noise in the integration we first apply a Laplace-transformation to smooth the covariances at large times. For ideal sampling the resulting rotational diffusion coefficient should be independent of the value of the Laplace variable. In practice, however, the best results are achieved using a value close to the inverse autocorrelation time of the rotational motion.
...
We investigated the implications of string theory in the high-precision regime of quantum mechanics. In particular, we examined a quantum field theoretical propagator which was derived from string theory when compactified at the T-duality self-dual radius and which is closely related to the path integral duality. Our focus was on the hydrogen ground state energy and the 1S1/2−2S1/2 transition frequency, as they are the most precisely explored properties of the hydrogen atom. The T-duality propagator alters the photon field dynamics leading to a modified Coulomb potential. Thus, our study is complementary to investigations where the electron evolution is modified, as in studies of a minimal length in the context of the generalized uncertainty principle. The first manifestation of the T-duality propagator arises at fourth order in the fine-structure constant, including a logarithmic term. For the first time, constraints on the underlying parameter, the zero-point length, are presented. They reach down to 3.9×10−19m and are in full agreement with previous studies on black holes.
Focused electron and ion beam-induced deposition (FEBID/FIBID) are direct-write techniques with particular advantages in three-dimensional (3D) fabrication of ferromagnetic or superconducting nanostructures. Recently, two novel precursors, HCo 3 Fe(CO) 12 and Nb(NMe 3 ) 2 (N-t-Bu), were introduced, resulting in fully metallic CoFe ferromagnetic alloys by FEBID and superconducting NbC by FIBID, respectively. In order to properly define the writing strategy for the fabrication of 3D structures using these precursors, their temperature-dependent average residence time on the substrate and growing deposit needs to be known. This is a prerequisite for employing the simulation-guided 3D computer aided design (CAD) approach to FEBID/FIBID, which was introduced recently. We fabricated a series of rectangular-shaped deposits by FEBID at different substrate temperatures between 5 ∘ C and 24 ∘ C using the precursors and extracted the activation energy for precursor desorption and the pre-exponential factor from the measured heights of the deposits using the continuum growth model of FEBID based on the reaction-diffusion equation for the adsorbed precursor.
In this work we provided additional insights into our understanding of bulk QCD matter through the study of the transport coeffcients which govern the non-equilibrium microscopical processes of statistical ensembles. Specically, we focused on the low energy regime corresponding to the hadron gas, as the properties of this region of the phase diagram are still relatively unknown, and existing calculations for the transport coeffcients are either scarce, contradictory, or somewhat limited in scope; this thesis' main goal was thus to shed some light on this by providing new independent calculations of these quantities.
We subsequently presented two formalisms which can be used to calculate transport coeffcients. The first one (which also was the main tool we used in the following chapters to produce our results) relies on the development of so-called Green-Kubo formulas, which relate non-equilibrium dissipative fluctuations with transport coeffcients; notably, the off-diagonal components of the energy-momentum tensor are shown to be related to the shear viscosity, its diagonal components to the bulk viscosity and fluctuations in the electric current can be related to the electric conductivity. We additionally introduced two new conductivities, namely the baryon-electric and strange electric conductivities, which we dubbed, together with the already known electric one, the "cross-conductivity", which encodes information about how electric fluctuations are correlated to changes in electric, baryonic or strange currents, or vice-versa. The second way of calculating transport coeffcient which we discussed consists in linearizing the collision term of the Boltzmann equation through the Chapman-Enskog formalism. While in principle providing direct semi-analytical results for the transport coeffcients, this approach is complicated to implement when more than a few species are considered, and as such was then mostly used as a tool to calibrate our Green-Kubo calculations.
The hadron gas model that we used for all calculations, namely the transport approach SMASH, was then presented. The main features of the model were explained, such as the collision criterion, the considered degrees of freedom and the specific way in which they microscopically interact with each other. It was verified that SMASH does reproduce analytical results of the Boltzmann equation in an expanding universe scenario, thus showing the equivalence of this transport approach and the associated kinetic theory results. A special care was taken to detail the ways in which a state of thermal and chemical equilibrium (which is necessary for Green-Kubo relations to be valid) can be reached and described using SMASH.
...
Charge states and energy loss of heavy ions after passing an inductively coupled plasma target
(2019)
In various kinds of fields such as accelerator physics, warm dense matter, high energy density physics, and inertial confinement fusion, heavy ions beam-plasma interaction plays an important role, and abundant investigations have been and are being carried out. Taking advantage of a good level of understanding on the interaction between a swift heavy ions beam and a hydrogen gas discharge plasma, an engineering application of a spherical theta-pinch device as a plasma stripper for FAIR (facility for antiproton and ion research) and a scientific application of a swift heavy ions beam as a novel plasma diagnostic tool are proposed and investigated.
The spherical theta-pinch device is manufactured, improved, and comprehensively tested for its application as a plasma stripper. The device is mainly composed of an evacuated glass vessel that can be filled with gas (for example: hydrogen) and a LRC circuit including a capacitors bank and a set of coils. Discharging the device at an initial hydrogen pressure in the glass vessel and an operation voltage for the capacitors bank, a circuit current oscillates in the LRC circuit. The oscillating circuit current in the set of coils induces a corresponding alternating magnetic field inside the glass vessel to ignite and maintain a hydrogen plasma.
Based on the built setup of circuit and plasma diagnostics, the measurements of circuit current, plasma light emission, plasma shape, and hydrogen Balmer series are carried out. The recorded signals of the circuit current and the plasma light emission of many consecutively repetitive discharges overlap perfectly, which indicate a very good reproducibility of the parameters of the LRC circuit during discharge and the generated plasma. From the measured circuit current, a real energy transfer efficiency is calculated by our proposed new model, which shows its overall tendency varying with the hydrogen pressure and the operation voltage, including the maximum value of 25% occurring at an initial hydrogen pressure of around 25 Pa and a maximum operation voltage of 14 kV. So, the discharge at an initial hydrogen pressure of 20 Pa and an operation voltage of 14 ...
We study the Wigner function for massive spin-1/2 fermions in electromagnetic fields. The Wigner function is analytically solved in five cases when electromagnetic fields are constants. For a general space-time dependent field configuration, we use the method of semi-classical expansion and solved the Wigner function at linear order in the Planck's constant. At the same order, we obtained a generalized Boltzmann equation for particle distribution, and a generalized BMT equation for spin polarization. Using the Wigner function, we calculated some physical quantities in a thermal equilibrium system.
The present thesis is primarily concerned with the application of the functional renormalization group (FRG) to spin systems. In the first part, we study the critical regime close to the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition in several systems. Our starting point is the dual-vortex representation of the two-dimensional XY model, which is obtained by applying a dual transformation to the Villain model. In order to deal with the integer-valued field corresponding to the dual vortices, we apply the lattice FRG formalism developed by Machado and Dupuis [Phys. Rev. E 82, 041128 (2010)]. Using a Litim regulator in momentum space with the initial condition of isolated lattice sites, we then recover the Kosterlitz-Thouless renormalization group equations for the rescaled vortex fugacity and the dimensionless temperature. In addition to our previously published approach based on the vertex expansion [Phys. Rev. E 96, 042107 (2017)], we also present an alternative derivation within the derivative expansion. We then generalize our approach to the O(2) model and to the strongly anisotropic XXZ model, which enables us to show that weak amplitude fluctuations as well as weak out-of-plane fluctuations do not change the universal properties of the BKT transition.
In the second part of this thesis, we develop a new FRG approach to quantum spin systems. In contrast to previous works, our spin functional renormalization group (SFRG) does not rely on a mapping to bosonic or fermionic fields, but instead deals directly with the spin operators. Most importantly, we show that the generating functional of the irreducible vertices obeys an exact renormalization group equation, which resembles the Wetterich equation of a bosonic system. As a consequence, the non-trivial structure of the su(2) algebra is fully taken into account by the initial condition of the renormalization group flow. Our method is motivated by the spin-diagrammatic approach to quantum spin system that was developed more than half a century ago in a seminal work by Vaks, Larkin, and Pikin (VLP) [Sov. Phys. JETP 26, 188 (1968)]. By embedding their ideas in the language of the modern renormalization group, we avoid the complicated diagrammatic rules while at the same time allowing for novel approximation schemes. As a demonstration, we explicitly show how VLP's results for the leading corrections to the free energy and to the longitudinal polarization function of a ferromagnetic Heisenberg model can be recovered within the SFRG. Furthermore, we apply our method to the spin-S Ising model as well as to the spin-S quantum Heisenberg model, which allows us to calculate the critical temperature for both a ferromagnetic and an antiferromagnetic exchange interaction. Finally, we present a new hybrid formulation of the SFRG, which combines features of both the pure and the Hubbard-Stratonovich SFRG that were published recently [Phys. Rev. B 99, 060403(R) (2019)].
Gravitational waves, electromagnetic radiation, and the emission of high energy particles probe the phase structure of the equation of state of dense matter produced at the crossroad of the closely related relativistic collisions of heavy ions and of binary neutron stars mergers. 3 + 1 dimensional special- and general relativistic hydrodynamic simulation studies reveal a unique window of opportunity to observe phase transitions in compressed baryon matter by laboratory based experiments and by astrophysical multimessenger observations. The astrophysical consequences of a hadron-quark phase transition in the interior of a compact star will be focused within this article. Especially with a future detection of the post-merger gravitational wave emission emanated from a binary neutron star merger event, it would be possible to explore the phase structure of quantum chromodynamics. The astrophysical observables of a hadron-quark phase transition in a single compact star system and binary hybrid star merger scenario will be summarized within this article. The FAIR facility at GSI Helmholtzzentrum allows one to study the universe in the laboratory, and several astrophysical signatures of the quark-gluon plasma have been found in relativistic collisions of heavy ions and will be explored in future experiments.
Holographic imaging techniques, which exploit the coherence properties of light, enable the reconstruction of the 3D scenery being viewed. While the standard approaches for the recording of holographic images require the superposition of scattered light with a reference field, heterodyne detection techniques enable direct measurement of the amplitude and relative phase of the electric light field. Here, we explore heterodyne Fourier imaging and its capabilities using active illumination with continuous-wave radiation at 300 GHz and a raster-scanned antenna-coupled field-effect transistor (TeraFET) for phase-sensitive detection. We demonstrate that the numerical reconstruction of the scenery provides access to depth resolution together with the capability to numerically refocus the image and the capability to detect an object obscured by another object in the beam path. In addition, the digital refocusing capability allows us to employ Fourier imaging also in the case of small lens-object distances (virtual imaging regime), thus allowing high spatial frequencies to pass through the lens, which results in enhanced lateral resolution.
In this review a summary is given on recent theoretical work, on understanding accreting supermassive black hole binaries in the gravitational wave (GW)-driven regime. A particular focus is given to theoretical predictions of properties of disks and jets in these systems during the gravitational wave driven phase. Since a previous review by Schnittman 2013, which focussed on Newtonian aspects of the problem, various relativistic aspects have been studied. In this review we provide an update on these relativistic aspects. Further, a perspective is given on recent observational developments that have seen a surge in the number of proposed supermassive black hole binary candidates. The prospect of bringing theoretical and observational efforts closer together makes this an exciting field of research for years to come.
High-energetic heavy-ion collisions offer the unique opportunity to produce and to study dense nuclear matter in the laboratory. The future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Darmstadt, Germany, will provide beams of heavy nuclei up to kinetic energies of 11 GeV/nucleon. At these energies, the nuclear matter in the collision zone of two nuclei will be compressed to densities of up to 5 − 10 times the saturation density of atomic nuclei, similar to matter densities existing in the core of massive neutron stars. Under those conditions, nucleons are expected to melt and form a new state of matter, which consists of quarks and gluons, the so called Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). The search for such a phase transition from hadronic to partonic matter, and the exploration of the nuclear matter equation-of-state at high densities are the major goals of heavy ion experiments worldwide.
The observables, which are proposed to probe the properties of dense nuclear matter and possible phase transitions, include multi-strange hyperons, antibaryons, lepton pairs, collective flow of identified particles, fluctuations and correlations of various particles, particles containing charm quarks, and hypernuclei. These observables have to be measured in multi-dimensions, i.e. as function of collision centrality, rapidity, transverse momentum, energy, emission angle, etc., which requires extremely high statistics. Moreover, some of these particles are produced very rarely.
Therefore, the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR is designed to run at collision rates of up to 10 MHz, in order to perform measurements with unprecedented precision. Due to the complicated decay topology of many observables, no hardware trigger can be applied, and the data have to be analysed online in order to filter out the interesting events.
This strategy requires free-streaming read-out electronics, which provides time stamps to all detector signals, a high performance computer center, and high-speed reconstruction algorithms, which provide an online track and event reconstruction based on time and position information of the detector hits (”4-D“ reconstruction).
The core detector of the CBM experiment is the Silicon Tracking System (STS). The main task of the STS is to provide track reconstruction and momentum de- termination of charged particles originating from beam-target interactions. To fulfil the whole tasks the STS is located in the large gap of a superconducting dipole magnet with a bending power of 1 Tm providing momentum measurements for charged particles. The STS comprises 8 detector stations, which are positioned from 30 cm to 100 cm downstream the target. The corresponding active area of the stations grows up from 40×50 cm 2 up to 100×100 cm 2 with a totalarea of 4 m2. The silicon double-sided sensors exhibit 1024 strips on each side with a stereo angle at p-side of 7.5 ◦ and a strip pitch of 58 μm. The strip length ranges from 2 cm for sensors located in a close vicinity to the beam axis, up to 12 cm for other sensors where the flux of the reaction products drops down substantially. In total, the STS consist of 896 sensors mounted on 106 detector ladders. The detector readout electronics dissipates 40 kW and will be equipped with a CO 2 bi-phase cooling system. The detector including electronics will be mounted in a thermal enclosure to allow for sensor operation at below −5 ◦ C which minimizes radiation induced leakage currents.
The task of the STS is to measure the trajectories of up to 800 charged particles per collision with an efficiency of more than 95% and a momentum resolution of 1 − 2%. In order to guarantee the required performance over the full lifetime of the CBM experiment, the detector system has to have a low material budget, a high granularity, a high signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, and a high radiation tolerance. As a result of optimisation studies, the STS consists of double-sided silicon microstrip sensors, about 300 μm thick, which have to provide a SNR ratio of more than 10, even after radiation with the expected equivalent lifetime fluence of 10 14 1 MeV n eq cm −2.
This thesis is devoted to the characterization of double-sided silicon microstrip sensors with an emphasis on investigation of their radiation hardness. Different prototypes of double sided silicon sensors produced by two vendors have been irradiated by 23 MeV protons up to the double life time fluence for the CBM experiment (2 × 10 14 1 MeV n eq cm −2 ).
The sensor properties have been characterised before and after irradiation. It was found, that after irradiation with a double lifetime fluence the leakage current increased 1000 times, which results in an increased shot noise. Moreover, the relative charge collection efficiency of irradiated with respect to non-irradiated sensors drops down to 85% for the lifetime equivalent fluence, and down to 73% for the double lifetime fluence, both for the p-side and n-side. For non-irradiated sensors the SNR was found to be in the range of 20 − 25, whereas for irradiated sensors it dropped down to 12 − 17.
In addition to the sensor characterization, a part of this thesis was devoted to the optimisation of the sensor readout scheme. In order to investigate the possible increase of SNR, and to reduce the number of readout channels in the outer aperture of STS, three versions of routing lines have been realized for the p-side readout of the sensor prototype, and have been tested in the laboratory and under beam conditions.
The tests have been performed with different inclination angles between beam direction and sensor surface, corresponding to the polar angle acceptance of the CBM experiment, which is from 2.5 ◦ to 25 ◦.
As a result of the studies carried out in this thesis work, the radiation hardness of the double-sided silicon microstrip sensors developed for the CBM STS detector was confirmed. Also the advantage of individual read-out of sensor channels in the lateral regions of the detector was verified. This allowed to start the tendering process for sensor series production in industry, an important step towards the construction of the detector in the coming years.
The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment (CBM) at FAIR and the NA61/SHINE experiment at CERN SPS aim to study the area of the QCD phase diagram at high net baryon densities and moderate temperatures using heavy-ion collisions. The FAIR and SPS accelerators cover energy ranges 2-11 and 13-150 GeV per nucleon respectively in laboratory frame for heavy ions up to Au and Pb. One of the key observables to study the properties of a matter created in such collisions is an anisotropic transverse flow of particles.
In this work, the performance of the CBM experiment for anisotropic flow measurements is studied with Monte-Carlo simulations using gold ions at SIS-100 energies employing different heavy-ion event generators. Also, procedures for centrality estimation and charged hadron identification are described and corresponding frameworks are developed.
The measurement of the reaction plane angle is performed with Projectile Spectator Detector (PSD), which is a hadron calorimeter located at a very forward angle. To prevent radiation damage by the high-intensity ion beam, the PSD has a hole in the center to let the beam pass through. Various combinations of CBM detector subsystems are used to investigate the possible systematic biases in flow and centrality measurements. Effects of detector azimuthal non uniformity and the PSD beam hole size on physics performance are studied. The resulting performance of CBM for flow measurements is demonstrated for identified charged hadron anisotropic flow as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum in different centrality classes.
The measurement techniques developed for CBM were also validated with the experimental data recently collected by the NA61/SHINE experiment at CERN SPS for Pb+Pb collisions at the beam momenta 30A GeV/c. Compared to the existing data from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS, the new data allows for a more precise measurement of anisotropic flow harmonics. The fixed target setup of NA61/SHINE also allows extending flow measurements available from the STAR at the RHIC beam energy scan (BES) program to a wide rapidity range up to the forward region where the projectile nucleon spectators appear. In this thesis, an analysis of the anisotropic flow harmonics in Pb+Pb collisions at beam momenta 30A GeV/c collected by the NA61/SHINE experiment in the year 2016 is presented. Flow coefficients are measured relative to the spectator plane estimated with the Projectile Spectators Detector (PSD). The flow coefficients are obtained as a function of rapidity and transverse momentum in different classes of collision centrality. The results are compared with the corresponding NA49 data and the measurements from the RHIC BES program.
Entwicklung und Inbetriebnahme zweier supraleitender 217 MHz CH-Strukturen für das HELIAC-Projekt
(2019)
Im Rahmen der hier vorgestellten Arbeit wurden zwei baugleiche CH-Strukturen für das im Bau befindliche HELIAC-Projekt (HELmholtz LInear ACcelerator) entwickelt und während der Produktion bis hin zu den finalen Kalttests bei 4.2 K begleitet. Zusammen mit der CH-Struktur des Demonstrator-Projektes ermöglichen sie die vollständige Inbetriebnahme und den ersten Strahltest des ersten Kryomoduls des HELIAC's, welcher aus vier Kryomodulen mit insgesamt 12 CH-Strukturen besteht. Im Vergleich zu bisherigen CH-Strukturen wurde das Design der Kavitäten im Rahmen dieser Dissertation grundlegend überarbeitet und optimiert. Durch die Entfernung der Girder und die konisch geformten Endkappen konnte die Stabilität der neuen CH-Strukturen deutlich erhöht werden, sodass die Drucksensitivität im Vergleich zur ersten CH-Kavität des Demonstrator-Projektes um ca. 80% reduziert werden konnte. Durch die nach außen gezogenen Lamellen der dynamischen Tuner konnte die mechanische Spannung sowie die benötigte Anzahl an Lamellen und damit das Risiko für das Auftreten von Multipacting reduziert werden. Das verringerte Risiko für Multipacting durch die entsprechenden Optimierungen der Kavitäten konnte durch die dauerhafte Überwindung aller Multipacting-Barrieren in den späteren Messungen verifiziert werden. Die Optimierung beider Kavitäten erfolgte dabei mit Hilfe der Simulationsprogramme CST Studio Suite und Ansys Workbench.
Beide Kavitäten wurden von der Firma Research Instruments (RI) gefertigt und während der gesamten Konstruktion durch diverse Zwischenmessungen überwacht. Nach jedem einzelnen Produktionsschritt wurden alle Einflüsse auf die Resonanzfrequenz so präzise ermittelt, dass die Zielfrequenz bei 4.2 K auf mehr als 1‰ genau erreicht werden konnte. Sowohl während der Zwischenmessungen als auch während den finalen Messungen bei 4.2 K wurden automatisierte Aufzeichnungsroutinen verwendet, welche eine sekundengenaue Auslese der Messdaten und damit eine hohe Messgenauigkeit ermöglichten. Im Hinblick auf die Komplexität der CH-Strukturen sind die geringen Abweichungen von der Zielfrequenz der direkte Beweis dafür, wie erfolgreich und präzise die Auswertungen und daraus folgenden Abschätzungen der einzelnen Zwischenmessungen waren. Insgesamt konnten bis auf die mechanischen Eigenmoden alle Ergebnisse der Simulationen durch entsprechende Messungen in guter Näherung verifiziert werden. In jeder Kavität wurden zwei dynamische Tuner verbaut, welche statische und dynamische Frequenzabweichungen im späteren Betrieb ausgleichen können. Die dynamischen Tuner wurden hinsichtlich ihrer mechanischen Stabilität und der erzeugbaren Frequenzänderung sowie ihrer mechanischen Eigenfrequenzen ausführlich mit Hilfe der Simulationsprogramme CST Studio Suite und Ansys Workbench untersucht und optimiert. Um die Ergebnisse der Simulationen zu überprüfen wurden ein eigens dafür entworfener und in der Werkstatt des Instituts für Angewandte Physik gefertigter Messaufbau verwendet, welcher es ermöglichte alle entscheidenden Eigenschaften der dynamischen Tuner präzise zu vermessen. Insgesamt stellen die ausführlichen Messungen mit Hilfe des entworfenen Aufbaus die bisher umfassendsten Messungen dynamischer Balgtuner innerhalb supraleitender CH-Strukturen dar und zeigen, mit welchen Abweichungen zwischen Simulationen und Messungen bei zukünftigen Kavitäten zu rechnen ist. Auch die Feldverteilung entlang der Strahlachse wurde während der Produktion der Kavitäten mit Hilfe der Störkörpermessmethode überprüft. Die dadurch ermittelten Werte stimmten mit einer maximalen Diskrepanz von 9% sehr gut mit den Simulationen überein.
Um eine möglichst gute Oberflächenqualität zu garantieren wurden an der Innenfläche beider Strukturen mindestens 200µm mit einer Mischung aus Fluss-, Salpeter und Phosphorsäure in mehreren Schritten abgetragen. Durch das Aufteilen der Behandlung in einzelne Schritte konnte der Einfluss der Oberflächenbehandlung auf die Resonanzfrequenz besser abgeschätzt und vorausgesehen werden. Dies führte, zusammen mit den Messungen zur Bestimmung der Drucksensitivität und der thermischen Kontraktion der Kavität beim Abkühlen, zu der hohen Übereinstimmung der gemessenen finalen Resonanzfrequenz mit der Zielfrequenz.
Die abschließenden Kalttests der beiden Kavitäten, ohne Heliummantel, wurden am Institut für Angewandte Physik der Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität in einem vertikalen Bad-Kryostaten durchgeführt. Die erste CH-Struktur konnte erfolgreich bis zu einem maximalen Feldgradienten von 9.2 MV/m getestet werden, was einer effektiven Spannung von 3.37 MV entspricht. Die unbelastete Güte fiel dabei von anfangs 1.08 ∙ 109 auf 2.6 ∙ 108 ab. Die Vorgaben des HELIAC-Projektes liegen bei einem Beschleunigungsgradienten von 5.5 MV/m mit einer unbelasteten Güte von mindestens 3 ∙ 108. Diese Werte wurden von der ersten Kavität deutlich übertroffen, sodass sie für den Betrieb innerhalb des ersten Kryomoduls uneingeschränkt verwendet werden kann.
Bei der zweiten Kavität trat beim Abkühlen auf 4.2 K ein Vakuumleck auf, welches unter Raumtemperatur nicht detektierbar war. Aufgrund der schlechten Vakuumbedingungen innerhalb der Kavität konnten somit keine Messungen hinsichtlich der Leistungsfähigkeit durchgeführt werden, solange das Kaltleck vorhanden war. Ein erneuter Kalttest der Kavität nach Beseitigung des Lecks konnte zeitlich nicht mehr im Rahmen dieser Arbeit durchgeführt werden und ist aus diesem Grund Gegenstand nachfolgender Untersuchungen.
Insgesamt stellen die Entwicklungen, Untersuchungen und Messungen im Rahmen der hier vorgestellten Dissertation einen entscheidenden Schritt zur Inbetriebnahme des ersten Kryomoduls des HELIAC's sowie der Entwicklung weiterer CH-Kavitäten dar. Das überarbeitete Design der CH-Strukturen hat sich als erfolgreich erwiesen, weswegen es als Ausgangspunkt für die Entwicklung aller nachfolgenden CH-Strukturen des HELIAC, bis hin zur Fertigstellung des kompletten Beschleunigers, verwendet wird.
The brain is a large complex system which is remarkably good at maintaining stability under a wide range of input patterns and intensities. In addition, such a stable dynamical state is able to sustain essential functions, including the encoding of information about the external environment and storing memories. In order to succeed in these challenging tasks, neural circuits rely on a variety of plasticity mechanisms that act as self-organizational rules and regulate their dynamics. Based on toy models of self-organized criticality, this stable state has been proposed to be a phase transition point, poised between distinct types of unhealthy dynamics, in what has become known as the critical brain hypothesis. It is not yet known, however, if and how self-organization could drive biological neural networks towards a critical state while maintaining or improving their learning and memory functions.
Here, we investigate the emergence of criticality signatures in the form of neuronal avalanches due to self-organizational plasticity rules in a recurrent neural network. We show that power-law distributions of events, widely observed in experiments, arise from a combination of biologically inspired synaptic and homeostatic plasticity but are highly dependent on the external drive. Additionally, we describe how learning abilities and fading memory emerge and are improved by the same self-organizational processes. We finally propose an application of these enhanced functions, focusing on sequence and simple language learning tasks.
Taken together, our results suggest that the same self-organizational processes can be responsible for improving the brain’s spatio-temporal learning abilities and memory capacity while also giving rise to criticality signatures under particular input conditions, thus proposing a novel link between such abilities and neuronal avalanches. Although criticality was not verified, the detailed study of self-organization towards critical dynamics further elucidates its potential emergence and functions in the brain.
Als Plasmafenster wird ein Aufbau bezeichnet, welcher zwei Bereiche unterschiedlicher Drücke voneinander trennt, Teilchenstrahlen jedoch nahezu verlustfrei passieren lässt.
Diese Anwendung einer kaskadierten Bogenentladung wurde von A. Hershcovitch vorgeschlagen.
Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein solches Plasmafenster mit Kanaldurchmessern von 3.3 mm und 5.0 mm aufgebaut sowie die erreichbaren Druckunterschiede untersucht.
Auf der Bestimmung des Einflusses der Plasmaparametern und deren Abhängigkeit von äußeren Parametern auf die erreichbare Trennung der Druckbereiche liegt der Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit.
Ein ausgeklügeltes optisches System ermöglicht die simultane Aufnahme mehrerer Spektren entlang der Entladungsachse, welche die gleichzeitige Bestimmung der Elektronendichte und -temperatur ermöglichen.
Für die Analyse der Plamaparameter aus über 6700 Spektren wird eine selbst entwickelte Software genutzt.
Die gemessenen Elektronendichte reicht von 8e14 cm^-3 bis zu 4.2e16 cm^-3.
Sie skaliert sowohl mit der Entladungsstromstärke als auch dem Teilchenfluss.
Für die Elektronentemperatur stellen sich Werte zwischen 1 eV und 1.3 eV ein, sie variiert nur leicht mit der Stromstärke und dem Teilchenfluss.
Wie später gezeigt wird, stimmen die hier präsentierten Daten gut mit Ergebnissen aus Simulationen und Experimenten anderer Arbeitsgruppen überein.
Als Betriebsgas wurde eine 98%Ar-2%H2 Mixtur genutzt, da die Stark-Verbreiterung der H-beta-Linie sowie die physikalischen Eigenschaften von Argon gut beschrieben sind und somit eine akkurate Elektronendichte- und -temperaturbestimmung ermöglichen.
Während die Drücke auf der Niederdruckseite einigen mbar entsprechen, werden auf der Hochdruckseite Drücke bis zu 750 mbar bei Teilchenflüsse zwischen 4.5e20 s^-1 und 18e20 s^-1 sowie Stromstärken von 45 A bis 60 A erreicht.
Die erzielten Druckverhältnisse entsprechen Werten zwischen 40 und 150, was eine Steigerung um einen Faktor von bis zu 12 gegenüber dem Druckverhältnis einer einfachen differentiellen Pumpstufe entspricht.
Zusätzlich zur Trennung der Druckbereiche kann am vorgestellten Experiment die Starkverbreiterung von Emissionslinien untersucht werden.
Vorteilhaft gegenüber anderen Aufbauten ist hier die Möglichkeit, zeitgleich Spektren unterschiedlicher Elektronendichten aufzunehmen.
Die entwickelte Software ist in der Lage, akkurate Halbwertsbreiten zu bestimmen und daher für eine solche Anwendung gut geeignet.
Alleinstellungsmerkmale dieses Aufbaus sind unter anderem die angesprochene Möglichkeit der simultanen Bestimmung von Plasmaparamertern und Linienverbreiterungen sowie der Verzicht auf Keramikisolatoren zwischen den Kühlplatten des Aufbaus.
Optische Analysen ergaben keine signifikante Schädigung der Bestandteile des Aufbaus nach einer Betriebsdauer von über 10 h; einzig die Kathodenspitzen müssen alle 5 h ausgetauscht werden.
Im Rahmen der hier vorgestellten Arbeit wurden eine Master- sowie Bachelorarbeit betreut und erfolgreich zum Abschluss gebracht.
Wie im Rahmen dieser Arbeit gezeigt, ist das entwickelte Plasmapfenster in der Lage, zwei Bereiche unterschiedlicher Drücke zu trennen und diese Trennung sicher aufrecht zu erhalten.
Die zugrundeliegenden Plasmaparameter sind erforscht und ihr Einfluss auf die Trennungseigentschaft des Plasmafensters beschrieben.
Als nächsten Schritt bietet sich die Erschließung technischer Einsatzmöglichkeiten des Plasmafensters an, so könnte dieses als Plasmastripper oder zum Schutz einer Beschleunigerstruktur vor durch Kollisionsexperimente entstandene radioaktive Isotope oder Sekundärteilchen.