Observations of production and transport of NOx formed by energetic particle precipitation in the polar night atmosphere

This work is focused on the effects of energetic particle precipitation of solar or magnetospheric origin on the polar middle atmosphere. The energetic charged particles have access to the atmosphere in the polar areas, where they are guided by the Earth's magnetic field. The particles penetrate down to 20-100 km altitudes (stratosphere and mesosphere) ionising the ambient air. This ionisation leads to production of odd nitrogen (NOx) and odd hydrogen species, which take part in catalytic ozone destruction. NOx has a very long chemical lifetime during polar night conditions. Therefore NOx produced at high altitudes during polar night can be transported to lower stratospheric altitudes. Particular emphasis in this work is in the use of both space and ground based observations: ozone and NO2 measurements from the GOMOS instrument on board the European Space Agency's Envisat-satellite are used together with subionospheric VLF radio wave observations from ground stations. Combining the two observation techniques enabled detection of NOx enhancements throughout the middle atmosphere, including tracking the descent of NOx enhancements of high altitude origin down to the stratosphere. GOMOS observations of the large Solar Proton Events of October-November 2003 showed the progression of the SPE initiated NOx enhancements through the polar winter. In the upper stratosphere, nighttime NO2 increased by an order of magnitude, and the effect was observed to last for several weeks after the SPEs. Ozone decreases up to 60 % from the pre-SPE values were observed in the upper stratosphere nearly a month after the events. Over several weeks the GOMOS observations showed the gradual descent of the NOx enhancements to lower altitudes. Measurements from years 2002-2006 were used to study polar winter NOx increases and their connection to energetic particle precipitation. NOx enhancements were found to occur in a good correlation with both increased high-energy particle precipitation and increased geomagnetic activity. The average wintertime polar NOx was found to have a nearly linear relationship with the average wintertime geomagnetic activity. The results from this thesis work show how important energetic particle precipitation from outside the atmosphere is as a source of NOx in the middle atmosphere, and thus its importance to the chemical balance of the atmosphere.

Multiscale study on hydrogen mobility in metallic fusion divertor material

For achieving efficient fusion energy production, the plasma-facing wall materials of the fusion reactor should ensure long time operation. In the next step fusion device, ITER, the first wall region facing the highest heat and particle load, i.e. the divertor area, will mainly consist of tiles based on tungsten. During the reactor operation, the tungsten material is slowly but inevitably saturated with tritium. Tritium is the relatively short-lived hydrogen isotope used in the fusion reaction. The amount of tritium retained in the wall materials should be minimized and its recycling back to the plasma must be unrestrained, otherwise it cannot be used for fueling the plasma. A very expensive and thus economically not viable solution is to replace the first walls quite often. A better solution is to heat the walls to temperatures where tritium is released. Unfortunately, the exact mechanisms of hydrogen release in tungsten are not known. In this thesis both experimental and computational methods have been used for studying the release and retention of hydrogen in tungsten. The experimental work consists of hydrogen implantations into pure polycrystalline tungsten, the determination of the hydrogen concentrations using ion beam analyses (IBA) and monitoring the out-diffused hydrogen gas with thermodesorption spectrometry (TDS) as the tungsten samples are heated at elevated temperatures. Combining IBA methods with TDS, the retained amount of hydrogen is obtained as well as the temperatures needed for the hydrogen release. With computational methods the hydrogen-defect interactions and implantation-induced irradiation damage can be examined at the atomic level. The method of multiscale modelling combines the results obtained from computational methodologies applicable at different length and time scales. Electron density functional theory calculations were used for determining the energetics of the elementary processes of hydrogen in tungsten, such as diffusivity and trapping to vacancies and surfaces. Results from the energetics of pure tungsten defects were used in the development of an classical bond-order potential for describing the tungsten defects to be used in molecular dynamics simulations. The developed potential was utilized in determination of the defect clustering and annihilation properties. These results were further employed in binary collision and rate theory calculations to determine the evolution of large defect clusters that trap hydrogen in the course of implantation. The computational results for the defect and trapped hydrogen concentrations were successfully compared with the experimental results. With the aforedescribed multiscale analysis the experimental results within this thesis and found in the literature were explained both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Radiation effects in supported nanoparticles

Nanotechnology applications are entering the market in increasing numbers, nanoparticles being among the main classes of materials used. Particles can be used, e.g., for catalysing chemical reactions, such as is done in car exhaust catalysts today. They can also modify the optical and electronic properties of materials or be used as building blocks for thin film coatings on a variety of surfaces. To develop materials for specific applications, an intricate control of the particle properties, structure, size and shape is required. All these depend on a multitude of factors from methods of synthesis and deposition to post-processing. This thesis addresses the control of nanoparticle structure by low-energy cluster beam deposition and post-synthesis ion irradiation. Cluster deposition in high vacuum offers a method for obtaining precisely controlled cluster-assembled materials with minimal contamination. Due to the clusters small size, however, the cluster-surface interaction may drastically change the cluster properties on deposition. In this thesis, the deposition process of metal and alloy clusters on metallic surfaces is modelled using molecular dynamics simulations, and the mechanisms influencing cluster structure are identified. Two mechanisms, mechanical melting upon deposition and thermally activated dislocation motion, are shown to determine whether a deposited cluster will align epitaxially with its support. The semiconductor industry has used ion irradiation as a tool to modify material properties for decades. Irradiation can be used for doping, patterning surfaces, and inducing chemical ordering in alloys, just to give a few examples. The irradiation response of nanoparticles has, however, remained an almost uncharted territory. Although irradiation effects in nanoparticles embedded inside solid matrices have been studied, almost no work has been done on supported particles. In this thesis, the response of supported nanoparticles is studied systematically for heavy and light ion irradiation. The processes leading to damage production are identified and models are developed for both types of irradiation. In recent experiments, helium irradiation has been shown to induce a phase transformation from multiply twinned to single-crystalline nanoparticles in bimetallic alloys, but the nature of the transition has remained unknown. The alloys for which the effect has been observed are CuAu and FePt. It is shown in this thesis that transient amorphization leads to the observed transition and that while CuAu and FePt do not amorphize upon irradiation in bulk or as thin films, they readily do so as nanoparticles. This is the first time such an effect is demonstrated with supported particles, not embedded in a matrix where mixing is always an issue. An understanding of the above physical processes is essential, if nanoparticles are to be used in applications in an optimal way. This thesis clarifies the mechanisms which control particle morphology, and paves way for the synthesis of nanostructured materials tailored for specific applications.

Consent Practices and Biomedical Knowledge Production in Tissue Economies

The use of human tissue sample collections has become an important tool in biomedical research. The collection, use and distribution of human tissue samples, which include blood and diagnostic tissue samples, from which DNA can be extracted and analyzed has also become a major bio-political preoccupation, not only in national contexts, but also at the transnational level. The foundation of medical research rests on the relationship between the doctor and the research subject. This relationship is a social one, in that it is based on informed consent, privacy and autonomy, where research subjects are made aware of what they are getting involved in and are then able to make an informed decision as to whether or not to participate. Within the post-genomic era, however, our understanding of what constitutes informed consent, privacy and autonomy is changing in relation to the needs of researchers, but also as a reflection of policy aspirations. This reflects a change in the power relations between the rights of the individual in relation to the interests of science and society. Using the notions of tissue economies and biovalue (Waldby, 2002) this research explores the changing relationship between sources and users of samples in biomedical research by examining the contexts under which human tissue samples and the information that is extracted from them are acquired, circulated and exchanged in Finland. The research examines how individual rights, particularly informed consent, are being configured in relation to the production of scientific knowledge in tissue economies in Finland from the 1990s to the present. The research examines the production of biovalue through the organization of scientific knowledge production by examining the policy context of knowledge production as well as three case studies (Tampere Research Tissue Bank, Hereditary Non-polyposis Colorectal Cancer and the Finnish Genome Information Center) in which tissues are acquired, circulated and exchanged in Finland. The research shows how interpretations of informed consent have become divergent and the elements and processes that have contributed to these differences. This inquiry shows how the relationship between the interests of individuals is re-configured in relation to the interests of science and society. It indicates how the boundary between interpretations of informed consent, on the one hand, and social and scientific interests, on the other, are being re-drawn and that this process is underscored, in part, by the economic, commercial and preventive potential that research using tissue samples are believed to produce. This can be said to fundamentally challenge the western notion that the rights of the individual are absolute and inalienable within biomedical legislation.

Production of psi(2S) Mesons in ppbar Collisions at 1.96 TeV

We have measured the differential cross section for the inclusive production of psi(2S) mesons decaying to mu^{+} mu^{-1} that were produced in prompt or B-decay processes from ppbar collisions at 1.96 TeV. These measurements have been made using a data set from an integrated luminosity of 1.1 fb^{-1} collected by the CDF II detector at Fermilab. For events with transverse momentum p_{T} (psi(2S)) > 2 GeV/c and rapidity |y(psi(2S))| psi(2S)X) Br(psi(2S) -> mu^{+} mu^{-}) to be 3.29 +- 0.04(stat.) +- 0.32(syst.) nb.

Observation of exclusive charmonium production and gamma+gamma to mu+mu- in p+pbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

We have observed the reactions p+pbar --> p+X+pbar, with X being a centrally produced J/psi, psi(2S) or chi_c0, and gamma+gamma --> mu+mu-, in proton- antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV using the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab. The event signature requires two oppositely charged muons, each with pseudorapidity |eta| mu+mu-. Events with a J/psi and an associated photon candidate are consistent with exclusive chi_c0 production through double pomeron exchange. The exclusive vector meson production is as expected for elastic photo- production, gamma+p --> J/psi(psi(2S)) + p, which is observed here for the first time in hadron-hadron collisions. The cross sections ds/dy(y=0) for p + pbar --> p + X + pbar with X = J/psi, psi(2S) orchi_c0 are 3.92+/-0.62 nb, 0.53+/-0.14 nb, and 75+/-14 nb respectively. The cross section for the continuum, with |eta(mu+/-)|

Measurement of Particle Production and Inclusive Differential Cross Sections in pbar{p} Collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

We report a set of measurements of particle production in inelastic pbar{p} collisions collected with a minimum-bias trigger at the Tevatron Collider with the CDF II experiment. The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum differential cross section is measured, with improved precision, over a range about ten times wider than in previous measurements. The former modeling of the spectrum appears to be incompatible with the high particle momenta observed. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the event particle multiplicity is analyzed to study the various components of hadron interactions. This is one of the observable variables most poorly reproduced by the available Monte Carlo generators. A first measurement of the event transverse energy sum differential cross section is also reported. A comparison with a Pythia prediction at the hadron level is performed. The inclusive charged particle differential production cross section is fairly well reproduced only in the transverse momentum range available from previous measurements. At higher momentum the agreement is poor. The transverse energy sum is poorly reproduced over the whole spectrum. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the particle multiplicity needs the introduction of more sophisticated particle production mechanisms, such as multiple parton interactions, in order to be better explained.

Measurement of particle production and inclusive differential cross sections in pp̅ collisions at √s=1.96 TeV

We report a set of measurements of particle production in inelastic pbar{p} collisions collected with a minimum-bias trigger at the Tevatron Collider with the CDF II experiment. The inclusive charged particle transverse momentum differential cross section is measured, with improved precision, over a range about ten times wider than in previous measurements. The former modeling of the spectrum appears to be incompatible with the high particle momenta observed. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the event particle multiplicity is analyzed to study the various components of hadron interactions. This is one of the observable variables most poorly reproduced by the available Monte Carlo generators. A first measurement of the event transverse energy sum differential cross section is also reported. A comparison with a Pythia prediction at the hadron level is performed. The inclusive charged particle differential production cross section is fairly well reproduced only in the transverse momentum range available from previous measurements. At higher momentum the agreement is poor. The transverse energy sum is poorly reproduced over the whole spectrum. The dependence of the charged particle transverse momentum on the particle multiplicity needs the introduction of more sophisticated particle production mechanisms, such as multiple parton interactions, in order to be better explained.

Search for exclusive Z boson production and observation of high mass ppbar->gammagamma->p+ll+pbar events in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

We present a search for exclusive Z boson production in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV, using the CDF II detector at Fermilab. We observe no exclusive Z->ll candidates and place the first upper limit on the exclusive Z cross section in hadron collisions, sigma(exclu) gammagamma->p+ll+pbar, and measure the cross section for M(ll) > 40 GeV/c2 and |eta(l)|

Observation of exclusive charmonium production and gamma+gamma to mu+mu- in p+pbar collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV

We have observed the reactions p+pbar --> p+X+pbar, with X being a centrally produced J/psi, psi(2S) or chi_c0, and gamma+gamma --> mu+mu-, in proton- antiproton collisions at sqrt{s} = 1.96 TeV using the Run II Collider Detector at Fermilab. The event signature requires two oppositely charged muons, each with pseudorapidity |eta| mu+mu-. Events with a J/psi and an associated photon candidate are consistent with exclusive chi_c0 production through double pomeron exchange. The exclusive vector meson production is as expected for elastic photo- production, gamma+p --> J/psi(psi(2S)) + p, which is observed here for the first time in hadron-hadron collisions. The cross sections ds/dy(y=0) for p + pbar --> p + X + pbar with X = J/psi, psi(2S) orchi_c0 are 3.92+/-0.62 nb, 0.53+/-0.14 nb, and 75+/-14 nb respectively. The cross section for the continuum, with |eta(mu+/-)|

Measurement of the WW+WZ production cross section using a matrix element technique in lepton+jets events

We present a measurement of the $WW+WZ$ production cross section observed in a final state consisting of an identified electron or muon, two jets, and missing transverse energy. The measurement is carried out in a data sample corresponding to up to 4.6~fb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity at $\sqrt{s} = 1.96$ TeV collected by the CDF II detector. Matrix element calculations are used to separate the diboson signal from the large backgrounds. The $WW+WZ$ cross section is measured to be $17.4\pm3.3$~pb, in agreement with standard model predictions. A fit to the dijet invariant mass spectrum yields a compatible cross section measurement.

Search for the associated production of the standard-model Higgs boson in the all-hadronic channel

"We report on a search for the standard-model Higgs boson in pp collisions at s=1.96 TeV using an integrated luminosity of 2.0 fb(-1). We look for production of the Higgs boson decaying to a pair of bottom quarks in association with a vector boson V (W or Z) decaying to quarks, resulting in a four-jet final state. Two of the jets are required to have secondary vertices consistent with B-hadron decays. We set the first 95% confidence level upper limit on the VH production cross section with V(-> qq/qq('))H(-> bb) decay for Higgs boson masses of 100-150 GeV/c(2) using data from run II at the Fermilab Tevatron. For m(H)=120 GeV/c(2), we exclude cross sections larger than 38 times the standard-model prediction."

Search for new physics in the μμ+e/μ+E̸T channel with a low-pT lepton threshold at the Collider Detector at Fermilab

A search for new physics using three-lepton (trilepton) data collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 976 pb-1 is presented. The standard model predicts a low rate of trilepton events, which makes some supersymmetric processes, such as chargino-neutralino production, measurable in this channel. The mu+mu+l signature is investigated, where l is an electron or a muon, with the additional requirement of large missing transverse energy. In this analysis, the lepton transverse momenta with respect to the beam direction (pT) are as low as 5 GeV/c, a selection that improves the sensitivity to particles which are light as well as to ones which result in leptonically decaying tau leptons. At the same time, this low-p_T selection presents additional challenges due to the non-negligible heavy-quark background at low lepton momenta. This background is measured with an innovative technique using experimental data. Several dimuon and trilepton control regions are investigated, and good agreement between experimental results and standard-model predictions is observed. In the signal region, we observe one three-muon event and expect 0.4+/-0.1 mu+mu+l events

Measurement of the Single Top Quark Production Cross Section at CDF

We report a measurement of the single top quark production cross section in 2.2 ~fb-1 of p-pbar collision data collected by the Collider Detector at Fermilab at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. Candidate events are classified as signal-like by three parallel analyses which use likelihood, matrix element, and neural network discriminants. These results are combined in order to improve the sensitivity. We observe a signal consistent with the standard model prediction, but inconsistent with the background-only model by 3.7 standard deviations with a median expected sensitivity of 4.9 standard deviations. We measure a cross section of 2.2 +0.7 -0.6(stat+sys) pb, extract the CKM matrix element value |V_{tb}|=0.88 +0.13 -0.12 (stat+sys) +- 0.07(theory), and set the limit |V_{tb}|>0.66 at the 95% C.L.

Inclusive Search for Standard Model Higgs Boson Production in the WW Decay Channel using the CDF II Detector

We present a search for standard model (SM) Higgs boson production using ppbar collision data at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV, collected with the CDF II detector and corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 fb-1. We search for Higgs bosons produced in all processes with a significant production rate and decaying to two W bosons. We find no evidence for SM Higgs boson production and place upper limits at the 95% confidence level on the SM production cross section (sigma(H)) for values of the Higgs boson mass (m_H) in the range from 110 to 200 GeV. These limits are the most stringent for m_H > 130 GeV and are 1.29 above the predicted value of sigma(H) for mH = 165 GeV.