Rock fragments in soil can contain significant amounts of organic carbon. We investigated the nature and dynamics of organic matter in rock fragments in the upper horizons of a forest soil derived from sandstone and compared them with the fine earth fraction (<2mm). The organic C content and its distribution among humic, humin and non-humic fractions, as well as the isotopic signatures (Δ14C and δ13C) of organic carbon and of CO2 produced during incubation of samples, all show that altered rock fragments contain a dynamic component of the carbon cycle. Rock fragments, especially the highly altered ones, contributed 4.5% to the total organic C content in the soil. The bulk organic matter in both fine earth and highly altered rock fragments in the A1 horizon contained significant amounts of recent C (bomb 14C), indicating that most of this C is cycled quickly in both fractions. In the A horizons, the mean residence times of humic substances from highly altered rock fragments were shorter than those of the humic substances isolated in the fine earth. Values of Δ14C of the CO2 produced during basal respiration confirmed the heterogeneity, complexity and dynamic nature of the organic matter of these rock fragments. The weak 14C signatures of humic substances from the slightly altered rock fragments confirmed the importance of weathering in establishing and improving the interactions between rock fragments and surrounding soil. The progressive enrichment in 13C from components with high-14C (more recent) to low-14C (older) indicated that biological activity occurred in both the fine and the coarse fractions. Hence the microflora utilizes energy sources contained in all the soil compartments, and rock fragments are chemically and biologically active in soil, where they form a continuum with the fine earth.

To examine the effects of vineyard soil management on soil C and N content and quality, we studied harrowed and grass-covered vineyards on a soil developed on plio-pleistocene, marine sediments. A soil naturally covered by grasses adjacent to the vineyards served as control. To reach this goal, we assessed (1) the distribution of C and N and their 13C and 15N signatures in different soil organic matter pools, (2) the amount of C and N as live and dead vine fine roots and their 13C, 15N and 14C signatures, and (3) the stocks of C and N forms accumulated at two soil-depth intervals (0-50 and 50-100cm).Independent of the soil management, the vines increased the total organic C and total N content in the deeper soil horizons because of root turnover and rhizodeposition processes. In the upper horizons, a greater organic matter accumulation was fostered by the presence of the grass cover and the absence of tillage. The grass cover favoured the organic C storage mainly in the form of particulate and highly stabilised organic matter (humic acids and humin), and reduced the soil N content by plant uptake, whereas the harrowing produced a greater abundance of fulvic acids, which were mainly ascribed to oxidative processes enhanced by the soil tillage. In both vineyard soils, decaying vine roots represented an important source of organic C and N, especially in the deepest horizons. Indeed, isotope analyses revealed a more intense degradation of the dead vine roots in the deeper soil portion, where they likely constituted the main substrate for soil microorganisms. In the deepest horizons of the grass-covered vineyard, the greater mean residence time of the decaying vine roots and the lower root production were attributed to the easily available energetic substrates supplied by grass root turnover and rhizodeposition, which were preferentially used by microorganisms. This fact fostered a larger C accumulation in the grass-covered than in the harrowed vineyard. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

We have compared the decay rates of KL and KS toΠ+ Π- Π0Π0 final states using a subset of the data from the KTeV experiment (E832) at Fermilab. We find that the direct-CP-violation parameter Re (μ’/μ) is equal to [28.0±3.0(stat)±2.8(syst)]×10-4. This result definitively establishes the existence of CP violation in a decay process. © 1999 The American Physical Society.

An angular analysis of the decay J/ψ→μ⁺μ^- is performed to measure the polarization of prompt J/ψ mesons produced in pp collisions at [Formula: see text]. The dataset corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 0.37 fb^-1 collected with the LHCb detector. The measurement is presented as a function of transverse momentum, p_T, and rapidity, y, of the J/ψ meson, in the kinematic region 2<p_T<15 GeV/c and 2.0<y<4.5.

The B0s and B0 mixing frequencies, Δms and Δmd, are measured using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre of mass energy of 7 TeV during 2011. Around 1.8 × 106 candidate events are selected of the type B0(s) → D−(s)μ+ (+ anything), where about half are from peaking and combinatorial backgrounds. To determine the B decay times, a correction is required for the momentum carried by missing particles, which is performed using a simulation-based statistical method. Associated production of muons or mesons allows us to tag the initialstate flavour and so to resolve oscillations due to mixing. We obtain Δms = (17.93 ± 0.22 (stat) ± 0.15 (syst)) ps−1, Δmd = (0.503 ± 0.011 (stat) ± 0.013(syst)) ps−1. The hypothesis of no oscillations is rejected by the equivalent of 5.8 standard deviations for B0s and 13.0 standard deviations for B0. This is the first observation of B0s mixing to be made using only semileptonic decays.

The relative rates of B-meson decays into J/ψ and ψ(2S) mesons are measured for the three decay modes in pp collisions recorded with the LHCb detector. The ratios of branching fractions ([Formula: see text]) are measured to be [Formula: see text] where the third uncertainty is from the ratio of the ψ(2S) and J/ψ branching fractions to μ⁺μ^-.

The energy flow created in pp collisions at [Formula: see text] is studied within the pseudorapidity range 1.9<η<4.9 with data collected by the LHCb experiment. The measurements are performed for inclusive minimum-bias interactions, hard scattering processes and events with an enhanced or suppressed diffractive contribution. The results are compared to predictions given by Pythia-based and cosmic-ray event generators, which provide different models of soft hadronic interactions.

The production of J/ψ mesons in proton-proton collisions at √S = 7 TeV is studied with the LHCb detector at the LHC. The differential cross-section for prompt J/ψ production is measured as a function of the J/ψ transverse momentum pT and rapidity y in the fiducial region pT ∈ [0; 14] GeV/c and y ∈ [2.0; 4.5]. The differential cross-section and fraction of J/ψ from b-hadron decays are also measured in the same pT and y ranges. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.2 pb^&-1. The measured cross-sections integrated over the fiducial region are 10.52 ± 0.04 ± 1.40^+1.64 &-2.20 μb for prompt J/ψ production and 1.14 ± 0.01 ± 0.16 μb for J/ψ from b-hadron decays, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The prompt J/ψ production cross-section is obtained assuming no J/ψ polarisation and the third error indicates the acceptance uncertainty due to this assumption.

The B s0→J/ψK S0 branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41fb -1 of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2β measurement from B 0→J/ψK S0. The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be B(B S0→J/ψK S0)=(1.83±0.28)×10 -5. This is the most precise measurement to date. © 2012 CERN.