Properties of proton clusters in inelastic CC interactions accompanied by the production of Λ and <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis><Superscript>0</Superscript> particles at <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> = 4.2 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

Within a new relativistically invariant approach, the properties of proton clusters that are formed together with Λ and K⁰ particles in inelastic CC interactions at p=4.2 GeV/c per nucleon are investigated in the space of relative 4-velocities. The observed proton clusters are shown to be characterized by high values of the mean kinetic energy of the protons in the cluster rest frame: 〈T _p 〉=100±2 MeV.     

The analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript>-meson spectra in semicentral CC and CTa collisions at a momentum of 4.2 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon in terms of light-front variables

The inclusive spectra of pions produced in CC and CTa collisions at a momentum of 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon are analyzed in terms of light-front variables ξ and ζ. The phase space of the secondary pions is divided into two parts with very different angular and momentum distributions. In one of these parts, the thermal equilibrium assumption seems to be in good agreement with the data. Corresponding temperatures T are extracted, and their dependence on (A_PA_T)^1/2 is studied: T decreases linearly with increasing (A_PA_T)^1/2. The results are compared with the predictions of the quark-gluon string model (QGSM). The QGSM satisfactorily reproduces the experimental data.     

Elliptic flow of ν ands <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>0</Superscript> mesons in heavy-ion collisions at 2 <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> GeVmesons in heavy-ion collisions at 2 <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> GeV

Elliptic flow of ν and π ⁰ mesons emitted at midrapidity are studied in collisions of 1.9 A GeV ⁵⁸Ni+⁵⁸Ni and 2 A GeV ⁴⁰Ca+^natCa. The observed anisotropy corresponds to a negative elliptic flow signal for ν mesons, indicating a preferred emission perpendicular to the reaction plane. In contrast, only small azimuthal anisotropies are observed for π ⁰ mesons. This may indicate that ν mesons freeze out earlier from the central interaction region than pions.     

Process <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>*<Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis> → <Emphasis Type="Italic">σ</Emphasis> at large virtuality of <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>*

The process γ*γ → σ is investigated in the framework of the SU(2)×SU(2) chiral NJL model. The form factor of the process is derived for arbitrary virtuality of γ* in the Euclidean kinematic domain. The asymptotic behavior of this form factor resembles the asymptotic behavior of the γ*γ → π form factor.     

Measurement of the cross sections for <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript> production in <Emphasis Type="Italic">pp</Emphasis> collisions at energies below 1 GeV

The cross sections for the reaction pp → ppπ ⁺ π ^? are measured at several values of the incident-proton energy. The resulting values are compared with other results, including values obtained previously for a deuteriumtarget, as well as with the predictions of a theoreticalmodel. This comparison reveals that, at energies below 850 MeV, the use of the impulse approximation in extracting the cross sections for double pion production on a free nucleon from data obtained with deuteron targets is illegitimate.     

Contribution of final-state interaction to the branching ratio of <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis>→<Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>

To test the validity of perturbative QCD (pQCD) and investigate its range of application, one should look for a suitable process. B→J/ψ D is a promising candidate. The linear momentum of the products is relatively small, so that there may exist a region where exchanged gluons are soft and the perturbative treatment may fail, so that the non-perturbative effect would be significant. We attribute such non-perturbative QCD effects to the long-distance final-state interaction (FSI) which is estimated in this work. We find that the contribution from the FSI to the branching ratio is indeed sizable and may span the rather wide range of 10⁻⁶∼10⁻⁵ and cover a region where the pQCD prediction is of the same order. A more accurate measurement of its branching ratio may provide important information about the application region of pQCD and help to clarify the picture of inelastic rescattering (i.e. FSI), which is generally believed to play an important role in B decays.     

Fluctuations of charged-particle multiplicities over narrow rapidity intervals in <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>−</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis> collisions at 40 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>

Maximum fluctuations of charged-particle multiplicities over narrow rapidity intervals are investigated for high-P_⊥ processes in π^?A collisions (where A=H, D, C, Cu, Pb) at 40 GeV/c. The observed fluctuations are studied by the method of factorial moments. The results show that the factorial moments 〈F _i 〉 vary in proportion to a power of the rapidity gap δy. This suggests that there are dynamical fluctuations in the processes under study. The experimental data are compared with theoretical results obtained on the basis of the model of quark-gluon strings by using the FRITIOF-7.02 package.     

The cusp effect in <Emphasis Type="Italic">η</Emphasis>′→<Emphasis Type="Italic">η</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis> decays

Strong final-state interactions create a pronounced cusp in η′→η π ⁰ π ⁰ decays. We adapt and generalize the non-relativistic effective field theory framework developed for the extraction of π π scattering lengths from K→3π decays to this case. The cusp effect is predicted to have an effect of more than 8% on the decay spectrum below the π ⁺ π ⁻ threshold.     

Final state interactions in the decays <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis>→<Emphasis Type="Italic">VPP</Emphasis>

We investigate the interplay between crossed channel final state interactions and the constraints from two-particle unitarity for the reactions J/ψ→V π π and VK[`(K)]VK\bar{K} , where V is either ω or φ. Using a model where the parameters are largely constrained by other sources, we find that, although small, crossed channel final state interaction can influence the amplitudes considerably, in special areas of phase space. These results cast doubt on the inapplicability of unitarity constraints on production amplitudes as recently claimed in the literature.     

An overview of <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis> production in heavy ion collisions at PHENIX

This is an overview of the PHENIX J/ψ results in hot nuclear matter from heavy ion collisions. Current results for R _AA and v ₂ in Au+Au collisions, as well as R _AA from Cu+Cu collisions are included and discussed. A comparison is also done to cold nuclear matter effects using R _dAu results.     

On the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Λ</Emphasis>CDM Universe in <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis>) gravity

In the context of the so-called Gauss–Bonnet gravity, where the gravitational action includes function of the Gauss–Bonnet invariant, we study cosmological solutions, especially the well-known ΛCDM model. It is shown that the dark energy contribution and even the inflationary epoch can be explained in the frame of this kind of theories with no need of any other kind of component. Other cosmological solutions are constructed and the rich properties that this kind of theories provide are explored.     

Possible tetraquark states in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>+</Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">χ</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis>1</Subscript> invariant-mass distribution

In this article, we assume that there exist hidden charmed tetraquark states with spin–parity J ^P=1⁻, and we calculate their masses with the QCD sum rules. The numerical result indicates that the masses of the vector hidden charmed tetraquark states are about M _Z =(5.12±0.15) GeV or M _Z =(5.16±0.16) GeV, which are inconsistent with the experimental data on the π ⁺ χ _c1 invariant-mass distribution. The hidden charmed mesons Z ₁, Z ₂ or Z may be scalar hidden charmed tetraquark states, hadro-charmonium resonances or molecular states.     

Search for <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">s</Emphasis></Subscript> → <Emphasis Type="Italic">ϕ</Emphasis>µµ decay at the Large Hadron Collider

As B _s -mesons will be produced abundantly at the LHC, the observability of the flavour-changing-neutral-current decay mode B _s → ϕμ⁺μ⁻ has been studied in CMS at the LHC centre-of-mass energy of 10 TeV. With an integrated luminosity of 100 pb⁻¹, an upper limit of 6.7 × 10⁻⁶ on the branching ratio is expected to be obtained. The potential at 7 TeV with a luminosity of 1 fb⁻¹ is expected to be better.     

Production of π<Superscript>−</Superscript> mesons in CTa interactions at a momentum of 4.2 GeV/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> per nucleon

New experimental data on π⁻-meson production in interactions between carbon and tantalum nuclei at amomentumof 4.2 GeV/c per nucleon are presented. These results are compared with predictions based of themodel of quark-gluon strings (QGS) that is adapted to intermediate energies ($ \sqrt 4 $ \sqrt 4 ≤ 4 GeV). It is shown that the QGS model only qualitatively reproduces the behavior of experimental kinematical features of π⁻ mesons.     

Revised Spherically Symmetric Solutions of <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>+<Emphasis Type="Italic">ε</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis> Gravity

We study spherically symmetric static empty space solutions in R+ε/R model of f(R) gravity. We show that the Schwarzschild metric is an exact solution of the resulted field equations and consequently there are general solutions which are perturbed Schwarzschild metric and viable for solar system. Our results for large scale contains a logarithmic term with a coefficient producing a repulsive gravity force which is in agreement with the positive acceleration of the universe.     

Global analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis> suppression in cold nuclear matter

Interpreting the J/ψ suppression reported in nucleus–nucleus collisions at SPS and RHIC requires a quantitative understanding of cold nuclear-matter effects, such as the inelastic rescattering of J/ψ states in nuclei or the nuclear modification of parton densities. With respect to our former Glauber analysis, we include in the present work the new PHENIX d–Au measurements, and we analyze as well all existing data using the EPS08 nuclear parton densities recently released. The largest suppression reported in the new PHENIX analysis leads in turn to an increase of σ _J/ψN from 3.5±0.3 to 5.4±2.5 mb using the PDF of the proton. The stronger x-dependence of the G ^A /G ^p ratio in EPS08 as compared to e.g. EKS98 shifts the cross section towards larger values at fixed-target energies (x ₂∼0.1), while decreasing somehow the value extracted at RHIC (x ₂∼10⁻²).     

Charged <Emphasis Type="Italic">ρ</Emphasis>-meson production in neutrino-induced reactions at &lt;<Emphasis Type="Italic">E</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">ν</Emphasis></Subscript>&gt;≈ 10 GeV

The production of charged ρ mesons on nuclei and nucleons is investigated in charged current neutrino interactions at moderate energies (〈E _〉 ≈ 10 GeV), using the data obtained with SKAT bubble chamber. No strong nuclear effects are observed in ρ ⁺ and ρ ^? production. The fractions of charged and neutral pions originating from ρ decays are obtained and compared with higher-energy data. From analysis of the obtained and available data on ρ ⁺ and K*⁺(892) neutrino production, the strangeness suppression factor is extracted: λ _s = 0.18 ± 0.03. Estimation is obtained for cross section of coherent ρ ⁺ neutrino production on nuclei.