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This search for magnetic monopoles (MMs) and high electric charge objects (HECOs) with spins 0, $1/2$, and 1, uses for the first time the full MoEDAL detector, exposed to $6.46{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV. The results are interpreted in terms of Drell-Yan and photon-fusion pair production. Mass limits on direct production of MMs of up to 10 Dirac magnetic charges and HECOs with electric charge in the range $10e$to $400e$, were achieved. The charge limits placed on MM and HECO production are currently the strongest in the world. MoEDAL is the only LHC experiment capable of being directly calibrated for highly ionizing particles using heavy ions and with a detector system dedicated to definitively measuring magnetic charge. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

ABSTRACT Microbe-mediated transformations of arsenic (As) often require As to be taken up into cells prior to enzymatic reaction. Despite the importance of these microbial reactions for As speciation and toxicity, understanding of how As bioavailability and uptake are regulated by aspects of extracellular water chemistry, notably dissolved organic matter (DOM), remains limited. Whole-cell biosensors utilizing fluorescent proteins are increasingly used for high-throughput quantification of the bioavailable fraction of As in water. Here, we present a mathematical framework for interpreting the time series of biosensor fluorescence as a measure of As uptake kinetics, which we used to evaluate the effects of different forms of DOM on uptake of trivalent arsenite. We found that thiol-containing organic compounds significantly inhibited uptake of arsenite into cells, possibly through the formation of aqueous complexes between arsenite and thiol ligands. While there was no evidence for competitive interactions between arsenite and low-molecular-weight neutral molecules (urea, glycine, and glyceraldehyde) for uptake through the aquaglyceroporin channel GlpF, which mediates transport of arsenite across cell membranes, there was evidence that labile DOM fractions may inhibit arsenite uptake through a catabolite repression-like mechanism. The observation of significant inhibition of arsenite uptake at DOM/As ratios commonly encountered in wetland pore waters suggests that DOM may be an important control on the microbial uptake of arsenite in the environment, with aspects of DOM quality playing an important role in the extent of inhibition. IMPORTANCE The speciation and toxicity of arsenic in environments like rice paddy soils and groundwater aquifers are controlled by microbe-mediated reactions. These reactions often require As to be taken up into cells prior to enzymatic reaction, but there is limited understanding of how microbial arsenic uptake is affected by variations in water chemistry. In this study, we explored the effect of dissolved organic matter (DOM) quantity and quality on microbial As uptake, with a focus on the role of thiol functional groups that are well known to form aqueous complexes with arsenic. We developed a quantitative framework for interpreting fluorescence time series from whole-cell biosensors and used this technique to evaluate effects of DOM on the rates of microbial arsenic uptake. We show that thiol-containing compounds significantly decrease rates of As uptake into microbial cells at environmentally relevant DOM/As ratios, revealing the importance of DOM quality in regulating arsenic uptake, and subsequent biotransformation, in the environment. 

We report on a search for magnetic monopoles (MMs) produced in ultraperipheral Pb-Pb collisions during Run 1 of the LHC. The beam pipe surrounding the interaction region of the CMS experiment was exposed to $184.07\mathrm{\mu }{\mathrm{b}}^{-1}$of Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV center-of-mass energy per collision in December 2011, before being removed in 2013. It was scanned by the MoEDAL experiment using a SQUID magnetometer to search for trapped MMs. No MM signal was observed. The two distinctive features of this search are the use of a trapping volume very close to the collision point and ultrahigh magnetic fields generated during the heavy-ion run that could produce MMs via the Schwinger effect. These two advantages allowed setting the first reliable, world-leading mass limits on MMs with high magnetic charge. In particular, the established limits are the strongest available in the range between 2 and 45 Dirac units, excluding MMs with masses of up to 80 GeV at a 95% confidence level. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

Holography can offer unique solutions to the specific problems faced by automotive optical systems. Frequently, when possibilities have been exhausted using refractive and refractive designs, diffraction can come to the rescue by opening a new dimension to explore. Holographic optical elements (HOEs), for example, are thin film optics that can advantageously replace lenses, prisms, or mirrors. Head up display (HUD) and LIDAR for autonomous vehicles are two of the systems where our group have used HOEs to provide original answers to the limitations of classical optic. With HUD, HOEs address the problems of the limited field of view, and small eye box usually found in projection systems. Our approach is to recycle the light multiple times inside a waveguide so the combiner can be as large as the entire windshield. In this system, a hologram is used to inject a small image at one end of a waveguide, and another hologram is used to extract the image several times, providing an expanded eye box. In the case of LIDAR systems, non-mechanical beam scanning based on diffractive spatial light modulator (SLM), are only able to achieve an angular range of few degrees. We used multiplexed volume holograms (VH) to amplify the initial diffraction angle from the SLM to achieve up to 4π steradian coverage in a compact form factor. 

Abstract A search for highly electrically charged objects (HECOs) and magnetic monopoles is presented using 2.2 $$\hbox {fb}{^{-1}}$$ fb - 1 of $$p-p$$ p - p collision data taken at a centre of mass energy (E $$_{CM}$$ CM ) of 8 TeV by the MoEDAL detector during LHC’s Run-1. The data were collected using MoEDAL’s prototype Nuclear Track Detectord array and the Trapping Detector array. The results are interpreted in terms of Drell–Yan pair production of stable HECO and monopole pairs with three spin hypotheses (0, 1/2 and 1). The search provides constraints on the direct production of magnetic monopoles carrying one to four Dirac magnetic charges and with mass limits ranging from 590 GeV/c $$^{2}$$ 2 to 1 TeV/c $$^{2}$$ 2 . Additionally, mass limits are placed on HECOs with charge in the range 10 e to 180 e , where e is the charge of an electron, for masses between 30 GeV/c $$^{2}$$ 2 and 1 TeV/c $$^{2}$$ 2 .