Muon pair production in very high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions

Characteristics of muon pair production in very high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions are discussed. Particular attention is given to comparing the rate of muon pairs produced from thermalized quark-gluon matter to that of pairs produced via the usual Drell-Yan mechanism. The thermal rate is at least of the same order of magnitude as the direct Drell-Yan rate and will certainly dominate whenx _F for the pair approaches 1. Beyondx _F =1 the thermal rate is also substantial. This region is particularly easily accessible in fixed target experiments.     

Improving the computational efficiency in a global formulation (GLIDE) for interactive multiobjective optimization

In this paper, we present a new general formulation for multiobjective optimization that can accommodate several interactive methods of different types (regarding various types of preference information required from the decision maker). This formulation provides a comfortable implementation framework for a general interactive system and allows the decision maker to conveniently apply several interactive methods in one solution process. In other words, the decision maker can at each iteration of the solution process choose how to give preference information to direct the interactive solution process, and the formulation enables changing the type of preferences, that is, the method used, whenever desired. The first general formulation, GLIDE, included eight interactive methods utilizing four types of preferences. Here we present an improved version where we pay special attention to the computational efficiency (especially significant for large and complex problems), by eliminating some constraints and parameters of the original formulation. To be more specific, we propose two new formulations, depending on whether the multiobjective optimization problem to be considered is differentiable or not. Some computational tests are reported showing improvements in all cases. The generality of the new improved formulations is supported by the fact that they can accommodate six interactive methods more, that is, a total of fourteen interactive methods, just by adjusting parameter values.     

Globally convergent limited memory bundle method for large-scale nonsmooth optimization

Many practical optimization problems involve nonsmooth (that is, not necessarily differentiable) functions of thousands of variables. In the paper [Haarala, Miettinen, Mäkelä, Optimization Methods and Software, 19, (2004), pp. 673–692] we have described an efficient method for large-scale nonsmooth optimization. In this paper, we introduce a new variant of this method and prove its global convergence for locally Lipschitz continuous objective functions, which are not necessarily differentiable or convex. In addition, we give some encouraging results from numerical experiments.     

Comparative evaluation of some interactive reference point-based methods for multi-objective optimisation

Many real-world optimisation applications include several conflicting objectives of possibly nondifferentiable character. However, the lack of computationally efficient, interactive methods for nondifferentiable multi-objective optimisation problems is apparent. To satisfy this demand, a method called NIMBUS has been developed. Two versions of the basic method are presented and compared both theoretically and computationally. In order to give variety to the comparison, a related approach, called reference direction method is included. Theoretically, the methods differ in handling the information requested from the user. Numerical experiments indicate differences in computational efficiency and controllability of the solution processes.     

Experimental information on the pion gluon distribution function

An experiment performed at Fermilab used double-arm calorimeter triggers to study di-jet production by 400 GeV protons and 200 GeVπ ^? mesons incident on liquid hydrogen. The observed ratio of positive to negative leading particles in the jets was compared forpp andπp production using a tree level parton scattering model. The results are moderately sensitive to the form of the pion gluon distribution function and yieldx g(x)?(1?x)^{2.75±0.40±0.75}.     

Finite Element Approximation of Vector-Valued Hemivariational Problems

In this paper we develop a finite element approximationfor vector-valuedhemivariational inequalities.This class of hemivariational problems wasintroducedin [12],[13]. We study two differentproblems: unconstrained oneand constrained one witha nonempty, closed, convex constraint set K.We shall show firstly that the discrete problemsare solvable by usingconsequences of Kakutanifixed point theorem and secondly that the solutionsof the discrete problemsare close on subsequences to the continuous ones.     

Is p production peripheral or central?

Experimental consequences of pheripheral production of $\text{N}\text{N}$ pairs are described and contrasted with an orthogonal set of predictions which follow if $\text{N}\text{N}$ production occurs in central collisions. It is shown that current ISR experiments can easily distinguish between the two viewpoints, for example by measuring the average multiplicity associated with $\text{p}$ production.     

Verbal ordinal classification with multicriteria decision aiding

Professionals in neuropsychology usually perform diagnoses of patients’ behaviour in a verbal rather than in a numerical form. This fact generates interest in decision support systems that process verbal data. It also motivates us to develop methods for the classification of such data. In this paper, we describe ways of aiding classification of a discrete set of objects, evaluated on set of criteria that may have verbal estimations, into ordered decision classes. In some situations, there is no explicit additional information available, while in others it is possible to order the criteria lexicographically. We consider both of these cases. The proposed Dichotomic Classification (DC) method is based on the principles of Verbal Decision Analysis (VDA). Verbal Decision Analysis methods are especially helpful when verbal data, in criteria values, are to be handled. When compared to the previously developed Verbal Decision Analysis classification methods, Dichotomic Classification method performs better on the same data sets and is able to cope with larger sizes of the object sets to be classified. We present an interactive classification procedure, estimate the effectiveness and computational complexity of the new method and compare it to one of the previously developed Verbal Decision Analysis methods. The developed and studied methods are implemented in the framework of a decision support system, and the results of testing on artificial sets of data are reported.