Working group report: Neutrino and astroparticle physics

This is the report of neutrino and astroparticle physics working group at WHEPP-7. Discussions and work on CP violation in long baseline neutrino experiments, ultra high energy neutrinos, supernova neutrinos and water Cerenkov detectors are discussed.     

Multiplex mass spectrometry imaging for latent fingerprints

We have previously developed in‐parallel data acquisition of orbitrap mass spectrometry (MS) and ion trap MS and/or MS/MS scans for matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization MS imaging (MSI) to obtain rich chemical information in less data acquisition time. In the present study, we demonstrate a novel application of this multiplex MSI methodology for latent fingerprints. In a single imaging experiment, we could obtain chemical images of various endogenous and exogenous compounds, along with simultaneous MS/MS images of a few selected compounds. This work confirms the usefulness of multiplex MSI to explore chemical markers when the sample specimen is very limited. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Astroparticle physics: Working group report

The astroparticle physics working group witnessed intense discussion and activity covering a broad range of topics ranging from supergravity and baryogenesis to compact stars and the large scale structure of the Universe. A summary of some of the subject areas in which collaborations were initiated during WHEPP-5 is presented below.     

Molecular modelling studies of substrate binding to the lipase from Rhizomucor miehei

Lipase enzymes have found increasingly widespread use, especially in biotransformation reactions in organic synthesis. Due to their efficiency and high enantioselectivity, they can be employed in a variety of reactions to carry out asymmetric hydrolyses, esterifications and transesterifications. However, the reasons for their stereospecificity have not been fully correlated with the enzyme structure. Employing molecular modelling techniques and existing experimental data, a transesterification reaction using Rhizomucor miehei lipase was studied. The results indicate that the major controlling factor for this reaction is hydrophobic in nature, providing support for previous literature hypotheses. In addition, computational experiments suggest that the origin of enantioselectivity is the formation of essential hydrogen bonds in and around the catalytic triad of active site residues. Only one enantiomer of the substrate is able to form these hydrogen bonds during the formation of the first tetrahedral transition state.     

Why PeV scale left–right symmetry is a good thing

We report the results of in-situ characterization of ⁸⁷Rb atom cloud in a quadrupole Ioffe configuration (QUIC) magnetic trap after a radio-frequency (RF) evaporative cooling of the trapped atom cloud. The in-situ absorption images of the atom cloud have shown clear bimodal optical density (OD) profiles which indicate the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) phase transition in the trapped gas. Also, we report here, for the first time, the measured variation in the sizes of the condensate and thermal clouds with the final frequency selected in the frequency scan of the RF-field for evaporative cooling. These results on frequency-dependent sizes of the clouds are consistent with the theoretical understanding of the BEC phenomenon in the trap.     

Discussion on a possible neutrino detector located in India

We have identified some important and worthwhile physics opportunities with a possible neutrino detector located in India. Particular emphasis is placed on the geographical advantage with a stress on the complimentary aspects with respect to other neutrino detectors already in operation.     

Effect of large light-heavy neutrino mixing and natural type-II seesaw dominance to lepton flavor violation and neutrinoless double beta decay

The European Physical Journal C - We present the EpIC Monte Carlo event generator for exclusive processes based on generalised parton distributions. EpIC utilises the PARTONS framework, which...