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At least 253 records · Page 14

Status of the AFP project in the ATLAS experiment

Status of the AFP project in the ATLAS experiment is summarized. The AFP system is composed of a tracker to detect intact, diffractively scattered protons, and of a time-of-flight detector serving to suppress background from pile-up interactions. The whole system, located around 210 m from the main ATLAS detector, is placed in Roman Pots which move detectors from and to the incident proton beams. A typical distance of the closest approach of the tracker to these beams is 2–3 mm. The main physics motivation lies in measuring diffractive processes in runs with not a very high amount of pile-up.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Exclusive photoproduction of quarkonium at the LHC energies within the color dipole approach

The exclusive photoproduction of ψ(2S) meson was investigated and the coherent and the incoherent contributions were evaluated. The light-cone dipole formalism was considered in this analysis and predictions are done for PbPb collisions at the CERN-LHC energy of 2.76 TeV. A comparison is done to the recent ALICE Collaboration data for the ψ(1S) state photoproduction with good agreement.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Principles to adapt financing mechanisms for fully integrated hybrid energy systems

As the electricity sector evolves, and as all energy types (thermal, electric, chemical, etc.) become more coupled, there has been increased interest to develop and deploy hybrid energy systems (HES). This work focuses on fully integrated HES, where there are multiple energy sources and multiple energy products, often coupled through a storage buffer. A significant amount of the available literature on this work describes technology pathways for fully integrated HES; however, it is unclear how financial institutions should treat these systems. Fully integrated HES represent an increase in complexity from their stand-alone counterparts, but they also potentially mitigate financial risk and provide value to the energy system, which has not yet been accounted for in financing mechanisms that could help to enable such systems. This paper provides some examples of fully integrated HES and proposes principles to help adapt financing to adequately capture the value of such systems.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Pseudouridinylation of mRNA coding sequences alters translation

Chemical modifications of RNAs have long been established as key modulators of nonprotein-coding RNA structure and function in cells. There is a growing appreciation that messenger RNA (mRNA) sequences responsible for directing protein synthesis can also be posttranscriptionally modified. The enzymatic incorporation of mRNA modifications has many potential outcomes, including changing mRNA stability, protein recruitment, and translation. In this work, we tested how one of the most common modifications present in mRNA coding regions, pseudouridine (Ψ), impacts protein synthesis using a fully reconstituted bacterial translation system and human cells. Our work reveals that replacing a single uridine nucleotide with Ψ in an mRNA codon impedes amino acid addition and EF-Tu GTPase activation. A crystal structure of the Thermus thermophilus 70S ribosome with a tRNA Phe bound to a ΨUU codon in the A site supports these findings. We also find that the presence of Ψ can promote the low-level synthesis of multiple peptide products from a single mRNA sequence in the reconstituted translation system as well as human cells, and increases the rate of near-cognate Val-tRNA Val reacting on a ΨUU codon. The vast majority of Ψ moieties in mRNAs are found in coding regions, and our study suggests that one consequence of the ribosome encountering Ψ can be to modestly alter both translation speed and mRNA decoding.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Cooling outweighs warming across phenological transitions in the Northern Hemisphere

Vegetation phenology, i.e., seasonal biological events such as leaf-out and leaf-fall, regulates local climate through biophysical processes like evapotranspiration (ET) and albedo. However, the net surface temperature impact of these processes—whether ET cooling or albedo-induced warming predominates—and how the dominance changes across phenological transitions and regions remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effects of vegetation foliage on daytime land surface temperature (LST) following six phenological transitions, spanning from the start of season to end of season, in deciduous and mixed forests across the mid- to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere during 2013–2021 using multiple satellite products and ground observations. We quantified vegetation effect as the difference between observed LST and LST estimates from the Annual Temperature Cycle (ATC) model, representing a no-foliage scenario. We found that vegetation-induced cooling consistently outweighs warming following all phenological transitions except for the end of the season. Cooling intensity increased with vegetation greenness, ranging from 1.0 ± 0.5 °C (mean ± 0.15 SD) in 59% of forests after the start of the season (SOS) to 6.1 ± 0.8 °C in 89% of forests following the onset of maturity, before declining toward the end of the season. Over half of the regions experiencing cooling showed intensification of surface cooling with climate warming, suggesting an amplified vegetation-mediated cooling under future climate change. The findings provide a more precise understanding of the role of vegetation in modulating climate at the intraseasonal scale, highlighting the importance of integrating phenological impacts into climate adaptation strategies and Earth system modeling.

albedo↗

Advancements and opportunities to improve bottom–up estimates of global wetland methane emissions

Wetlands are the single largest natural source of atmospheric methane (CH 4 ), contributing approximately 30% of total surface CH 4 emissions, and they have been identified as the largest source of uncertainty in the global CH 4 budget based on the most recent Global Carbon Project CH 4 report. High uncertainties in the bottom–up estimates of wetland CH 4 emissions pose significant challenges for accurately understanding their spatiotemporal variations, and for the scientific community to monitor wetland CH 4 emissions from space. In fact, there are large disagreements between bottom–up estimates versus top–down estimates inferred from inversion of atmospheric CH 4 concentrations. To address these critical gaps, we review recent development, validation, and applications of bottom–up estimates of global wetland CH 4 emissions, as well as how they are used in top–down inversions. These bottom–up estimates, using (1) empirical biogeochemical modeling (e.g. WetCHARTs: 125–208 TgCH 4 yr -1 ); (2) process-based biogeochemical modeling (e.g. WETCHIMP: 190 ± 39 TgCH 4 yr -1 ); and (3) data-driven machine learning approach (e.g. UpCH4: 146 ± 43 TgCH 4 yr -1 ). Bottom–up estimates are subject to significant uncertainties (~80 Tg CH 4 yr -1 ), and the ranges of different estimates do not overlap, further amplifying the overall uncertainty when combining multiple data products. These substantial uncertainties highlight gaps in our understanding of wetland CH 4 biogeochemistry and wetland inundation dynamics. Major tropical and arctic wetland complexes are regional hotspots of CH 4 emissions. However, the scarcity of satellite data over the tropics and northern high latitudes offer limited information for top–down inversions to improve bottom–up estimates. Recent advances in surface measurements of CH 4 fluxes (e.g. FLUXNET-CH 4 ) across a wide range of ecosystems including bogs, fens, marshes, and forest swamps provide an unprecedented opportunity to improve existing bottom–up estimates of wetland CH 4 estimates. We suggest that continuous long-term surface measurements at representative wetlands, high fidelity wetland mapping, combined with an appropriate modeling framework, will be needed to significantly improve global estimates of wetland CH 4 emissions. There is also a pressing unmet need for fine-resolution and high-precision satellite CH 4 observations directed at wetlands.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Will cities keep getting hotter? The interplay of urban expansion and greening reshapes future urban heat trajectories

Urban heat islands (UHIs) pose growing risks to public health, infrastructure, and resilience. While often assumed to intensify with urban growth, dynamic changes in urban expansion and vegetation greenness complicate UHI trajectories, which remain poorly understood. This study investigated the interplay of urban expansion and greenness change on UHI spatial profile across 36 Chinese megacities during 2003–2018 using multiple satellite products. We introduce a framework that classifies urban areas into four dynamic development pathways based on impervious surface area (ISA) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) trends: urbanized-greening, urbanized-browning, urbanizing-greening (UingG), and urbanizing-browning (UingB). While most urbanized centers exhibited greening driven by targeted initiatives and urbanizing suburbs showed browning due to vegetation loss, about 30% urban areas showed the reverse pattern, revealing overlooked complexity in urban development. Urban expansion and browning strengthened UHI in suburban areas, whereas greening initiatives mitigated UHI in urban center and mitigated UHI enhancement in suburban areas. Slowed warming in urban centers together with accelerated warming in suburban areas flattened the temperature gradient between urban centers and suburbs. This dynamic expanded the spatial extent of elevated temperatures and reshaped the classic urban-to-rural UHI profile into a flatter form. In UingB areas, UHI intensification was jointly driven by increase in ISA, vegetation loss, and their interaction, while in UingG areas, EVI increases and a negative interaction together offset over half of the warming driven by urban expansion. These findings reveal that UHI evolution is not unidirectional but depends on localized urbanization and greening dynamics, offering pathways for strategic heat mitigation.

greening initiative↗

Comprehensive analyses of 723 transcriptomes enhance genetic and biological interpretations for complex traits in cattle

By uniformly analyzing 723 RNA-seq data from 91 tissues and cell types, we built a comprehensive gene atlas and studied tissue specificity of genes in cattle. We demonstrated that tissue-specific genes significantly reflected the tissue-relevant biology, showing distinct promoter methylation and evolution patterns (e.g., brain-specific genes evolve slowest, whereas testisspecific genes evolve fastest). Through integrative analyses of those tissue-specific genes with large-scale genome-wide association studies, we detected relevant tissues/cell types and candidate genes for 45 economically important traits in cattle, including blood/immune system (e.g., CCDC88C) for male fertility, brain (e.g., TRIM46 and RAB6A) for milk production, and multiple growth-related tissues (e.g., FGF6 and CCND2) for body conformation. We validated these findings by using epigenomic data across major somatic tissues and sperm. Collectively, our findings provided novel insights into the genetic and biological mechanisms underlying complex traits in cattle, and our transcriptome atlas can serve as a primary source for biological interpretation, functional validation, studies of adaptive evolution, and genomic improvement in livestock.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Monte Carlo Event Generation with Continuous Normalizing Flows

We apply continuous normalizing flows trained with the flow matching method to the problem of phase-space sampling in Monte Carlo event generation for high-energy collider physics. Focusing on lepton-pair and top-quark pair production with multiple jets, the two computationally most expensive processes at the Large Hadron Collider, we train helicity-conditioned continuous normalizing flows to remap the random numbers used in matrix element evaluation. Compared to standard methods, we achieve unweighting efficiency improvements by factors of up to 184 and 25 for the two processes at their respective highest jet number, at the cost of an increased evaluation time. When combining the advantages of continuous normalizing flows with the fast evaluation times of coupling-layer-based flows, using the RegFlow approach, we find parton-level unweighted event generation walltime gains of about a factor of 10 at the highest jet numbers. These substantial gains highlight the promise of samplers based on machine learning for next-generation collider experiments.

Bothmann, Enrico [CERN; Gottingen U.] (ORCID:00000↗

Bose-Einstein condensation phenomenology in systems with repulsive interactions

The role of repulsive interactions in statistical systems of Bose particles is investigated. Three different phenomenological frameworks are considered: A mean-field model, an excluded volume model, and a model with a medium-dependent effective mass. All three models are tuned to yield similar equations of state, with only minor deviations from the ideal Bose gas at small chemical potentials. Our analysis indicates, however, that these models lead to qualitatively different results for the Bose-Einstein condensation phenomenon. We discuss the different aspects of this phenomenon, namely, an onset of the Bose-Einstein condensation, particle number fluctuations, and a behavior of the Bose condensate. The obtained results can be helpful for interpreting the lattice QCD data at small temperature and large isospin chemical potential and the data on multiple pion production in high-energy nuclear collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Transverse energy production and charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity in various systems from s N N = 7.7 to 200 GeV

Measurements of midrapidity charged-particle multiplicity distributions, dN ch /dη, and midrapidity transverse-energy distributions, dE T /dη, are presented for a variety of collision systems and energies. Included are distributions for Au+Au collisions at √s NN =200, 130, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 14.5, and 7.7 GeV, Cu+Cu collisions at √s NN =200 and 62.4 GeV, Cu+Au collisions at √s NN =200 GeV, U+U collisions at√s NN =193 GeV, d+Au collisions at √s NN =200 GeV, He3+Au collisions at √s NN =200 GeV, and p+p collisions at √s NN =200 GeV. We present centrality-dependent distributions at midrapidity in terms of the number of nucleon participants, N part , and the number of constituent quark participants, N qp . For all A+A collisions down to √s NN =7.7 GeV, we observed that the midrapidity data are better described by scaling with N qp than scaling with N part . Finally, our estimates of the Bjorken energy density, ε BJ , and the ratio of dE T /dη to dN ch /dη are presented, the latter of which is seen to be constant as a function of centrality for all systems.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Effective field theory analysis of Higgs naturalness

Assuming the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model ( SM) with a characteristic scale M ~ O (10) TeV, we investigate the naturalness of the Higgs sector at scales below M using an effective field theory (EFT) approach. We obtain the leading 1 -loop EFT contributions to the Higgs mass with a Wilsonian-like hard cutoff, and determine t he constraints on the corresponding operator coefficients for these effects to alleviate the little hierarchy problem up to the scale of the effective action Λ < M , a condition we denote by “EFT-naturalness”. We also determine the types of physics that can lead to EFT-naturalness and show that these types of new physics are best probed in vector-boson and multiple-Higgs production. The current experimental constraints on these coefficients are also discussed.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Rv2969c, essential for optimal growth in Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a DsbA-like enzyme that interacts with VKOR-derived peptides and has atypical features of DsbA-like disulfide oxidases

The gene product of M. tuberculosis Rv2969c is shown to be a disulfide oxidase enzyme that has a canonical DsbA-like fold with novel structural and functional characteristics. The bacterial disulfide machinery is an attractive molecular target for developing new antibacterials because it is required for the production of multiple virulence factors. The archetypal disulfide oxidase proteins in Escherichia coli (Ec) are DsbA and DsbB, which together form a functional unit: DsbA introduces disulfides into folding proteins and DsbB reoxidizes DsbA to maintain it in the active form. In Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), no DsbB homologue is encoded but a functionally similar but structurally divergent protein, MtbVKOR, has been identified. Here, the Mtb protein Rv2969c is investigated and it is shown that it is the DsbA-like partner protein of MtbVKOR. It is found that it has the characteristic redox features of a DsbA-like protein: a highly acidic catalytic cysteine, a highly oxidizing potential and a destabilizing active-site disulfide bond. Rv2969c also has peptide-oxidizing activity and recognizes peptide segments derived from the periplasmic loops of MtbVKOR. Unlike the archetypal EcDsbA enzyme, Rv2969c has little or no activity in disulfide-reducing and disulfide-isomerase assays. The crystal structure of Rv2969c reveals a canonical DsbA fold comprising a thioredoxin domain with an embedded helical domain. However, Rv2969c diverges considerably from other DsbAs, including having an additional C-terminal helix (H8) that may restrain the mobility of the catalytic helix H1. The enzyme is also characterized by a very shallow hydrophobic binding surface and a negative electrostatic surface potential surrounding the catalytic cysteine. The structure of Rv2969c was also used to model the structure of a paralogous DsbA-like domain of the Ser/Thr protein kinase PknE. Together, these results show that Rv2969c is a DsbA-like protein with unique properties and a limited substrate-binding specificity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Dispersal behaviour of Euwallacea nr. fornicatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in avocado groves and estimation of lure sampling range

Abstract Invasive ambrosia beetles in the Euwallacea nr. fornicatus species complex (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) threaten avocado production in multiple countries. These pests are currently monitored with lures containing quercivorol; α‐copaene was also recently discovered to be an effective attractant. We investigated dispersal behaviour of female E . nr . fornicatus in two Florida avocado groves using mark–release–recapture experiments and laboratory flight mills. Additionally, we estimated the sampling range of quercivorol and α‐copaene lures deployed alone and in tandem. The two‐component lure recaptured 31.2% of marked beetles, which was significantly more than quercivorol (11.2%) or α‐copaene (8.8%) alone. Contour analysis indicated that wind speed and direction can influence the number of females that disperse, as well as the direction and distance of their flight. Two methods were used to estimate sampling range and both of them indicated comparable effective ranges for the three lure treatments, with 80% of marked beetles being recaptured within 30–35 m of the release point. Average total flight distance in laboratory tests was 81.0 m in 24 h, with a maximum distance recorded at 400 m. The combination of quercivorol and α‐copaene lures provides the best detection of pest E . nr. fornicatus in Florida, with a recommended trap spacing of approximately 30 m in surveillance programmes for this pest in avocado groves.

Owens, David↗

Resilience of seed production to a severe El Niño-induced drought across functional groups and dispersal types

More frequent and severe El Niño Southern Oscillations (ENSO) are causing episodic periods of decreased rainfall. Although the effects of these ENSO-induced droughts on tree growth and mortality have been well studied, the impacts on other demographic rates such as reproduction are less well known. We use a four-year seed rain dataset encompassing the most severe ENSO-induced drought in more than 30 years to assess the resilience (i.e., resistance and recovery) of the seed composition and abundance of three forest types in a tropical dry forest. We found that forest types showed distinct differences in the timing, duration, and intensity of drought during the ENSO event, which likely mediated seed composition shifts and resilience. Drought-deciduous species were particularly sensitive to the drought with overall poor resilience of seed production, whereby seed abundance of this functional group failed to recover to predrought levels even two years after the drought. Liana and wind-dispersed species were able to maintain seed production both during and after drought, suggesting that ENSO events promote early successional species or species with a colonization strategy. Combined, these results suggest that ENSO-induced drought mediates the establishment of functional groups and dispersal types suited for early successional conditions with more open canopies and reduced competition among plants. Finally, the effects of the ENSO-induced drought on seed composition and abundance were still evident two years after the event suggesting the recovery of seed production requires multiple years that may lead to shifts in forest composition and structure in the long term, with potential consequences for higher trophic levels like frugivores.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Inflammatory monocytes expressing tissue factor drive SIV and HIV coagulopathy

In HIV infection, persistent inflammation despite effective antiretroviral therapy is linked to increased risk of noninfectious chronic complications such as cardiovascular and thromboembolic disease. Thus, a better understanding of inflammatory and coagulation pathways in HIV infection is needed to optimize clinical care. Markers of monocyte activation and coagulation independently predict morbidity and mortality associated with non-AIDS events. We identified a specific subset of monocytes that express tissue factor (TF), persist after virological suppression, and trigger the coagulation cascade by activating factor X. This subset of monocytes expressing TF had a distinct gene signature with up-regulated innate immune markers and evidence of robust production of multiple proinflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor–α (TNF-α), and IL-6, ex vivo and in vitro upon lipopolysaccharide stimulation. We validated our findings in a nonhuman primate model, showing that TF-expressing inflammatory monocytes were associated with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)–related coagulopathy in the progressive [pigtail macaques (PTMs)] but not in the nonpathogenic (African green monkeys) SIV infection model. Last, Ixolaris, an anticoagulant that inhibits the TF pathway, was tested and potently blocked functional TF activity in vitro in HIV and SIV infection without affecting monocyte responses to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Strikingly, in vivo treatment of SIV-infected PTMs with Ixolaris was associated with significant decreases in D-dimer and immune activation. These data suggest that TF-expressing monocytes are at the epicenter of inflammation and coagulation in chronic HIV and SIV infection and may represent a potential therapeutic target.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗