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At least 613 records · Page 34

Production of omega mesons in p plus p, d plus Au, Cu plus Cu, and Au plus Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 Gev

The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured {omega} meson production via leptonic and hadronic decay channels in p + p, d + Au, Cu + Cu, and Au + Au collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV. The invariant transverse momentum spectra measured in different decay modes give consistent results. Measurements in the hadronic decay channel in Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions show that {omega} production has a suppression pattern at high transverse momentum, similar to that of {pi}{sup 0} and {eta} in central collisions, but no suppression is observed in peripheral collisions. The nuclear modification factors, R{sub AA}, are consistent in Cu + Cu and Au + Au collisions at similar numbers of participant nucleons.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Approaching the CDF Top Quark Mass Legacy Measurement in the Lepton+Jets channel with the Matrix Element Method

The discovery of the bottom quark in 1977 at the Tevatron Collider triggered the search for its partner in the third fermion isospin doublet, the top quark, which was discovered 18 years later in 1995 by the CDF and D=0 experiments during the Tevatron Run I. By 1990, intensive efforts by many groups at several accelerators had lifted to over 90 GeV=c2 the lower mass limit, such that since then the Tevatron became the only accelerator with high-enough energy to possibly discover this amazingly massive quark. After its discovery, the determination of top quark properties has been one of the main goals of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, and more recently also of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Since the mass value plays an important role in a large number of theoretical calculations on fundamental processes, improving the accuracy of its measurement has been at any time a goal of utmost importance. The present thesis describes in detail the contributions given by the candidate to the massive preparation work needed to make the new analysis possible, during her 8 months long stay at Fermilab.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Large amplitude dust-acoustic double layers in non-thermal plasmas with positive and negative dust

The existence of large amplitude double layers in a plasma composed of cold negative dust, adiabatic positive dust, non-thermal ions and Boltzmann electrons is investigated using the Sagdeev pseudopotential technique. Both positive potential and negative potential double layers are found to be supported by the model. The variation of the maximum amplitudes of the double layers and corresponding Mach numbers are examined as a function of various plasma parameters. In particular, we investigate to what extent ion non-thermal effects are required for positive potential double layers to occur.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Discovery and Characterization of a Higgs boson using four-lepton events from the CMS

A new particle decaying to a pair of vector bosons was discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. In the wake of this discovery a rush of measurements was made to characterize this particle. The fourlepton final state has been instrumental in both the discovery and characterization of this new particle. With only about 20 events seen in the resonance peak at 125 GeV the CMS experiment has been able to make considerable progress in characterizing the Higgs-like boson using the wealth of information in this final state in concert with other decay modes. In addition to the search for this new boson we present three recent results in the study of the Higgs-like boson properties: studies of the production mode, total width, and spin-parity quantum numbers.

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The Imaging and Coherence Beamline I13 at Diamond

The coherence and imaging beamline I13 is dedicated to hard x-ray imaging on the micro- and nano-lengthscale, performing microscopy either in direct or reciprocal space. For both, lens-based and lensless imaging, two independent stations will be operated in a separate building at a distance of 250 m from the source. The imaging branch will perform in-line phase contrast imaging and tomography over a large field of view in the 6- to 35-keV energy range. In addition, it will be possible to switch to full-field microscopy with 50-nm spatial resolution. Other microscopies will be developed according to the scientific needs. Resolution beyond the limitations given by the detector and x-ray optics will be achieved with techniques working in the far field. Coherent x-ray diffraction (CXRD) and other coherent diffraction imaging techniques such as ptychography will also be implemented on the same 'coherence' branch. The beamline hosts a number of innovative features such as the so-called 'mini-beta' layout for electron optics in the storage ring or new concepts for beamline instrumentation. The stations will be operational in 2011.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Muon Acceleration-RLA and FFAG

Various acceleration schemes for muons are presented. The overall goal of the acceleration systems: large acceptance acceleration to 25 GeV and 'beam shaping' can be accomplished by various fixed field accelerators at different stages. They involve three superconducting linacs: a single pass linear Pre-accelerator followed by a pair of multi-pass Recirculating Linear Accelerators (RLA) and finally a non-scaling FFAG ring. The present baseline acceleration scenario has been optimized to take maximum advantage of appropriate acceleration scheme at a given stage. The solenoid based Pre-accelerator offers very large acceptance and facilitates correction of energy gain across the bunch and significant longitudinal compression trough induced synchrotron motion. However, far off-crest acceleration reduces the effective acceleration gradient and adds complexity through the requirement of individual RF phase control for each cavity. The RLAs offer very efficient usage of high gradient superconducting RF and ability to adjust path-length after each linac pass through individual return arcs with uniformly periodic FODO optics suitable for chromatic compensation of emittace dilution with sextupoles. However, they require spreaders/recombiners switchyards at both linac ends and significant total length of the arcs. The non-scaling Fixed Field Alternating Gradient (FFAG) ring combines compactness with very large chromatic acceptance (twice the injection energy) and it allows for large number of passes through the RF (at least eight, possibly as high as 15).

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Nuclear transparency and effective kaon-nucleon cross section from the A(e,e{sup '}K{sup +}) reaction

We have determined the transparency of the nuclear medium to kaons from A(e,e{sup '}K{sup +}) measurements on {sup 12}C, {sup 63}Cu, and {sup 197}Au targets. The measurements were performed at the Jefferson Laboratory and span a range in four-momentum-transfer squared Q{sup 2}=1.1-3.0 GeV{sup 2}. The nuclear transparency was defined as the ratio of measured kaon electroproduction cross sections with respect to deuterium ({sigma}{sup A}/{sigma}{sup D}). We further extracted the atomic number (A) dependence of the transparency as parametrized by T=(A/2){sup {alpha}-1} and, within a simple model assumption, the in-medium effective kaon-nucleon cross sections. The effective cross sections extracted from the electroproduction data were found to be smaller than the free cross sections determined from kaon-nucleon scattering experiments, and the parameter {alpha} was found to be significantly larger than those obtained from kaon-nucleus scattering. We have included similar comparisons between pion- and proton-nucleon effective cross sections as determined from electron-scattering experiments and pion-nucleus and proton-nucleus scattering data.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Testing the Technicolor Interpretation of CDF's Dijet Excess at the LHC

Under the assumption that the dijet excess seen by the CDF Collaboration near 150 Gev in Wjj production is due to the lightest technipion of the low-scale technicolor process $\rho_T \rightarrow W \pi_T$, we study its observability in LHC detectors with 1--20 inverse femtobarns of data. We describe interesting new kinematic tests that can provide independent confirmation of this LSTC hypothesis. We find that cuts similar to those employed by CDF, and recently by ATLAS, cannot confirm the dijet signal. We propose cuts tailored to the LSTC hypothesis and its backgrounds at the LHC that may reveal $\rho_T \rightarrow \ell\nu jj$. Observation of the isospin-related channel $\rho^{pm}_T \rightarrow Z \pi^{pm}_T \rightarrow \ell^+ \ell^- jj$ and of $\rho^{pm}_T \rightarrow WZ$ in the three lepton plus neutrino and dilepton plus dijet modes will be important confirmations of the LSTC interpretation of the CDF signal. The $Z\pi_T$ channel is experimentally cleaner than $W\pi_T$ and its rate is known from $W\pi_T$ by phase space. It can be discovered or excluded with the collider data expected in 2012. The $WZ \rightarrow 3\ell\nu$ channel is cleanest of all and its rate is determined from $W\pi_T$ and the LSTC parameter $\sin\chi$. This channel and $WZ \rightarrow \ell^+\ell^- jj$ are discussed as a function of $\sin\chi$. JA 24 pages arXiv eprint number arXiv:1201.4396 FERMILAB-PUB-12-015-T LAPTH-003-12

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Higgs mass and unified gauge coupling in the NMSSM with vector matter

Here, we consider the NMSSM extended to include one vector-like family of quarks and leptons. If (some of) these vector-like matter particles, as the Higgs doublets, have Yukawa couplings to the singlet S that exceed unity at about the same scale Λ ≲ 10 3 TeV, this gives the order 40% enhancement of the tree level Higgs boson mass required in the MSSM to reach 125 GeV. It is conceivable that the Yukawa couplings to the singlet S, although naively blowing up close to Λ, will not spoil gauge coupling unification. In such a case the unified coupling α X could be interestingly led to a value not far from unity, thus providing a possible explanation for the number of generations. Also, the characteristic signal is an enhanced resonant production of neutral spin zero particles at LHC, that could even explain the putative diphoton resonance hinted by the recent LHC data at 750 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

THE ROLE OF THE DIFFUSIVE PROTONS IN THE GAMMA-RAY EMISSION OF SUPERNOVA REMNANT RX J1713.7–3946—A TWO-ZONE MODEL

RX J1713.7−3946 is a prototype in the γ-ray-bright supernova remnants (SNRs) and is in continuing debates on its hadronic versus leptonic origin of the γ-ray emission. We explore the role played by the diffusive relativistic protons that escape from the SNR shock wave in the γ-ray emission, apart from the high-energy particles’ emission from the inside of the SNR. In the scenario that the SNR shock propagates in a clumpy molecular cavity, we consider that the γ-ray emission from the inside of the SNR may arise either from the inverse Compton scattering or from the interaction between the trapped energetic protons and the shocked clumps. The dominant origin between them depends on the electron-to-proton number ratio. The diffusive protons that escaped from the shock wave during the expansion history can provide an outer hadronic γ-ray component by bombarding the surrounding dense matter. The broadband spectrum can be well explained by this two-zone model, in which the γ-ray emission from the inside governs the TeV band, while the outer emission component substantially contributes to the GeV γ-rays. The two-zone model can also explain the TeV γ-ray radial brightness profile that significantly stretches beyond the nonthermal X-ray-emitting region. In the calculation, we present a simplified algorithm for Li and Chen's “accumulative diffusion” model for escaping protons and apply the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the physical parameters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Revised Predictions of Neutrino Fluxes from Pulsar Wind Nebulae

Several pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) have been detected in the TeV band in the last decade. TeV emission is typically interpreted in a purely leptonic scenario, but this often requires that the magnetic field in the nebula be much lower than the equipartition value, as well as the assumption of an enhanced density of target radiation at IR frequencies. In this work, we consider the possibility that, in addition to the relativistic electrons and positrons, relativistic hadrons are also present in these nebulae. Assuming that some of the emitted TeV photons are of hadronic origin, we compute the associated flux of ∼1--100 TeV neutrinos. We use IceCube non-detection to put constraints on the fraction of TeV photons that might be contributed by hadrons and estimate the number of neutrino events that can be expected from these sources in ANTARES and KM3Net.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Muon Decay Study at NSRL

A muon is an unstable subatomic particle, classified as a lepton according to the Standard Model. Muons are charged leptons with 1/2 spin. They were discovered by Neddermeyer and Anderson from hadronic cosmic ray showers. Figure 1 provides a visual representation of a cosmic ray shower in Earth’s atmosphere. At a height of 50 000 m in the atmosphere, a primary cosmic ray (mainly protons, helium, a heavy nucleus or a gamma ray) interacts with a gas molecule. The striking of a gas molecule creates a cosmic ray shower, where the energy of the primary particle is distributed among many secondary particles and gamma rays. With each interaction, the cosmic ray particles in the shower lose energy but distribute this energy among a higher number of particles. From the initial interaction, primarily heavy nuclei and pions are generated. Heavy nuclei will interact with gas molecules to produce protons, gamma rays, electrons and pions. The dominant decay mode of neutral pions is to two gamma rays, while charged pions decay to a muon and a neutrino (equation 1): $π^+ → µ^+$ + $\overline ν$ $_µ$; $π → µ$ $^-$ + $\overline v$ $_µ$.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Constraining RS Models by Future Flavor and Collider Measurements: A Snowmass Whitepaper

Randall-Sundrum models are models of quark flavor, because they explain the hierarchies in the quark masses and mixings in terms of order one localization parameters of extra dimensional wavefunctions. The same small numbers which generate the light quark masses suppress contributions to flavor violating tree level amplitudes. In this note we update universal constraints from electroweak precision parameters and demonstrate how future measurements of flavor violation in ultra rare decay channels of Kaons and B mesons will constrain the parameter space of this type of models. We show how collider signatures are correlated with these flavor measurements and compute projected limits for direct searches at the 14 TeV LHC run, a 14 TeV LHC luminosity upgrade, a 33 TeV LHC energy upgrade, and a potential 100 TeV machine. We further discuss the effects of a warped model of leptons in future measurements of lepton flavor violation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

AN EFFECT OF PERPENDICULAR DIFFUSION ON THE ANISOTROPY OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES FROM UNCONNECTED SOURCES

Recently, Tan and coworkers studied the 2001 September 24 solar energetic particle (SEP) event observed by the Wind spacecraft at 1 AU and found that there is a counter-streaming particle beam with a deep depression of flux at 90{sup 0} pitch angle during the beginning of the event. They suggested that it is a result of a reflecting boundary at some distance outside of 1 AU. While this scenario could be true under some specific configuration of an interplanetary magnetic field, in this paper we offer another possible explanation. We simulated the SEP event by solving the five-dimensional focused transport equation numerically for 40 keV electrons with perpendicular diffusion. We find that a counter-streaming particle beam with deep depression at 90{sup 0} pitch angle can form on Parker magnetic field lines that do not directly connect to the main particle source on the Sun in the beginning of an SEP event. It can happen when a significant number of observed particles come from adjacent field lines through parallel transport to large radial distance first, hopping across field lines through perpendicular diffusion, and then getting scattered back to 1 AU, where they combine with the particles directly coming from the Sun to form a counter-streaming beam.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

New parton distribution functions from a global analysis of quantum chromodynamics

Here, we present new parton distribution functions (PDFs) up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) from the CTEQ-TEA global analysis of quantum chromodynamics. These differ from previous CT PDFs in several respects, including the use of data from LHC experiments and the new D0 charged lepton rapidity asymmetry data, as well as the use of more flexible parametrization of PDFs that, in particular, allows a better fit to different combinations of quark flavors. Predictions for important LHC processes, especially Higgs boson production at 13 TeV, are presented. These CT14 PDFs include a central set and error sets in the Hessian representation. For completeness, we also present the CT14 PDFs determined at the leading order (LO) and the next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD. Besides these general-purpose PDF sets, we provide a series of (N)NLO sets with various α s values and additional sets in general-mass variable flavor number (GM-VFN) schemes, to deal with heavy partons, with up to 3, 4, and 6 active flavors.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Modern Muon Physics: Selected Issues

The muon was discovered almost hundred years ago, but still remains largely a mystery. For a long time, the only difference between a muon and an electron was the approximately 200 times greater mass of the muon. However, with the later discovery of the charm quantum number, the muon played a decisive role in the formulation of the Standard Model of elementary particles, determining together with muon neutrino and the strange s and the charm c quarks the second generation of particles of this model. The equality of the reaction constant of muon decay with the constant of the vector interaction of beta-decay played a decisive role in the formulation of the conservation of the vector current (CVC) of the weak interaction of elementary particles. Processes involving muons testified in favor of the partial conservation of the axial current of weak interaction (PCAC), that is, one pion exchange in the interaction of the lepton and hadron currents. It was the muon that gave a rise to hopes of creating an alternative energy source within the framework of Muon Catalyzed Fusion (μCF). The possible realization of this process in the future as the intensity of muon beams increases can revolutionired energy supply. Nuclear fission by muons and the study of heavy-nucleus mesoatoms introduced muon physics into several separate branches of physical research.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A New Track Trigger for Characterization of the Antiproton-Induced Background in the Mu2e Experiment

The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will enable the search for the neutrinoless muon to electron conversion in the field of an Al nucleus, a charged lepton flavor violating process. If observed, there would be a clear indication of physics beyond the Standard Model. Mu2e aims to reach a single event sensitivity of $3 /times 10^{-17}$, improving from the previous limit by 4 orders of magnitude. This improvement relies on the development of trigger selection systems, designed to discard data from background-induced events by placing kinematic, topological cuts on a particle’s reconstructed track. One of the largest sources of background Mu2e faces is proton-antiproton annihilation. These annihilations produce a 2 GeV shower of particles, among which there could be an electron that mimics the conversion electron signal, with an expected number of 0.010 ± 0.010. The large uncertainty on this number is dominated by the systematic uncertainty associated with the theoretical production model. To better characterize this background, we have developed an antiproton trigger selection by taking advantage of the track multiplicity and topology of these events. We discuss the steps taken in this development and the first performance study of this trigger, evaluating the signal efficiency and background rate. This trigger is essential to enable a data-driven analysis targeting the reduction of the systematic uncertainty of the antiproton-induced background in the Mu2e experiment.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗