Biennial Report 2005-2007 - Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics

3 High Energy Physics and MicroelectronicsThe High Energy Physics Division of Saha Institute has been involved in experimentaland theoretical aspects of Ultra-relativistic heavy ion research. On the experimentalfront of High Energy Physics, this division is the part of ALICE collaboration at LargeHadron Collider at CERN and is responsible for the fabrication, installation and validationof 2nd Tracking station of ALICE Muon Spectrometer. In addition, HEP divisionis also responsible for the first large scale mixed-signal ASIC production in India, where1,08,000 MANAS chips were produced. On the software front, this division is responsiblefor the on-line Hit Reconstruction algorithm needed for the Dimuon High LevelTrigger. These aspects constituted the Muon Arm Project of the Xth Plan.On the theoretical front, we have been working on two interrelated areas viz. the physicsof quark gluon plasma (QGP) and on the properties of hadrons in hot and dense nuclearmatter. In particular we have estimated the collisional energy loss by the jets in QGPand have calculated corresponding drag and diffusion coefficients to solve Fokker-Plankequation. Results are then applied to determine the transverse momentum spectrum ofpions to compare with the experimental data. In the hadronic sector, we have calculatedin-medium pion form factor involving matter induced ρ-ω mixing. Experimentally suchmodification can be seen in the dilepton spectrum measured in heavy ion collision.Nuclear structure studies are also persued in HEP Division at the Pelletron AcceleratorsCentres at Mumbai and Delhi using the INGA array.Continuing research and developmental work towards the project entitled MEDIP, Divisionalperformance in this time period has been targeted to the concluding part ofthe project. Along with this work involvement in the ALICE Project continued, somemembers actively participated in the area of MANAS production and testing and FPGAbased DHLT proposals.Microelectronics Division, since 2002 have been engaged in the R&D work under theproject entitled Novel Low Cost Imaging and Image Processing Techniques for MedicalDiagnosis (MEDIP).An in-depth survey of the modern trends in the development of medical imaging it wasdecided that initially ultrasound will be taken up as the workable modality. The reasonswere many-fold:i) It utilizes non-ionizing type of signalii) It is highly development-oriented, particularly it was found suitable for the level ofexpertise already existing in the Division.Infrastructural developmental work consisting of development of automated highresolution(25micron) 3-D measurements with requisite custom-made ultrasound trans-85