Structure studies of exotic nuclei using (<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>′) reactions

The structure of radioactive beams is investigated using the simplest possible probe: the proton used as a target in inverse kinematic reactions. From (p, p′) reactions, information on the neutron and proton transition densities is obtained through the comparison between the measured inelastic cross sections and the ones calculated using a microscopic potential and theoretical densities. (p, p′) inelastic scattering data to the first excited state for the halo nucleus ⁶He and for other nuclei ³⁴Ar and ^34,36S have been measured at GANIL using the MUST telescopes. This allows one to extract the global features of the transition densities, as shown for the halo nucleus ⁶He. We can also probe the evolution of the shell structure along isotopic chains in moving towards the neutron or proton drip lines. The example of the sulfur isotopic chain is discussed.     

Eight resonances and a half for the reaction <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>→<Emphasis Type="Italic">η</Emphasis> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>

On the basis of the dynamical model for meson photoproduction on nucleons, it is shown that only eight broad resonances (of width in excess of 120 MeV), of which two belong to the class of missing resonances, are required for reproducing experimental data from the threshold for the reaction γp → ηp to the photon energy of 3 GeV.     

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.     

Near-threshold <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis>-meson photoproduction on nuclei

On the basis of the first-collision model that relies on the nuclear spectral function and which includes incoherent processes involving charmonium production in proton–nucleon collisions, the photoproduction of J/ψ mesons on nuclei is considered at energies close to the threshold for their production on a nucleon. The absorption of final J/ψ mesons, their formation length, and the binding and Fermi motion of target nucleons are taken into account in this model along with the effect of the nuclear potential on these processes. The A dependences of the absolute and relative charmonium yields are calculated together with absolute and relative excitation functions under various assumptions on the magnitude of the cross section for J/ψN absorption, the J/ψ-meson formation length, and their inmedium modification. It is shown that, at energies above the threshold, these features are virtually independent of the formation length and the change in the J/ψ-meson mass in nuclear matter but are rather highly sensitive to the cross section for J/ψN interaction. The calculations performed in the present study can be used to determine the unknown cross section for J/ψ-meson absorption in nuclei from a comparison of their results with data expected from experiments in the Hall C of the CEBAF (USA) facility upgraded to the energy of 12 GeV. It is also shown that the absolute and relative excitation functions for J/ψ mesons in photon–nucleus reactions at subthreshold energies are sensitive to the change in the meson mass and, hence, carry information about the properties of charmonium in nuclear matter.     

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.     

ALICE-PHOS: acceptance and efficiency correction factors <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>−<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>→<Emphasis Type="Italic">π</Emphasis><Superscript>0</Superscript>+<Emphasis Type="Italic">X</Emphasis> at 10 TeV

In ultra-relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions (HIC), the properties of the quark gluon plasma (QGP) can be explored, in particular, via measurements of neutral pions. The π ⁰ is an important probe for both proton and heavy ion physics. In the former case, π ⁰ production provides an important mean of testing pQCD as well as useful data to constrain current and future theoretical models. In the latter case, π ⁰ measurements will serve as a baseline for exploring the nature of the HIC hard scattering. In the ALICE experiment, π ⁰ mesons are identified as they decay into two photons (π ⁰→γ γ) using the high-resolution photon spectrometer (PHOS). PHOS will measure π ⁰ transverse momentum over a wide range, from hundreds of MeV/c to several tens of GeV/c. An estimation of π ⁰ production cross-section in proton–proton collisions is calculated in a next-to-leading order (NLO) approximation and first presented. The π ⁰ geometrical acceptance and the identification efficiency along with the analysis on the invariant mass are the two important correction factors for obtaining a realistic π ⁰ spectrum discussed in this paper.     

Spin structure of the “Forward” nucleon charge-exchange reaction <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> → <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> + <Emphasis Type="Italic">n</Emphasis> and the deuteron charge-exchange breakup

The structure of the nucleon charge-exchange process n + p → p + n is investigated basing on the isotopic invariance of the nucleon-nucleon scattering. Using the operator of permutation of the spin projections of the neutron and proton, the connection between the spin matrices, describing the amplitude of the nucleon charge-exchange process at zero angle and the amplitude of the elastic scattering of the neutron on the proton in the “backward” direction, has been considered. Due to the optical theorem, the spin-independent part of the differential cross section of the process n + p → p + n at zero angle for unpolarized particles is expressed through the difference of total cross sections of unpolarized proton-proton and neutron-proton scattering. Meantime, the spin-dependent part of this cross section is proportional to the differential cross section of the deuteron charge-exchange breakup d + p → (pp) + n at zero angle at the deuteron momentum k _d = 2 k _n (k _n is the initial neutron momentum). Analysis shows that, assuming the real part of the spin-independent term of the “forward” amplitude of the process n + p → p + n to be smaller or of the same order as compared with the imaginary part, in the wide range of neutron laboratory momenta k _n > 700 MeV/c the main contribution into the differential cross section of the process n + p → p + n at zero angle is provided namely by the spin-dependent term.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis> suppression and <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis></Subscript> spectra in RHIC and LHC energy collisions

In a hydrodynamic model, we have studied J/ψ production in Au+Au/Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC energy, GeV. At the initial time, J/ψ’s are randomly distributed in the fluid. As the fluid evolves in time, the free streaming J/ψ’s are dissolved if the local fluid temperature exceeds a threshold temperature T _J/ψ . Sequential melting of charmonium states (χ _c , ψ ^′ and J/ψ), with melting temperatures , T _J/ψ ≈2T _c and feed-down fraction F≈0.3, explains the PHENIX data on the centrality dependence of J/ψ suppression in Au+Au collisions. J/ψ p _T spectra and the nuclear modification factor in Au+Au collisions are also well explained in the model. The model however overpredicts the centrality dependence of J/ψ suppression in Cu+Cu collisions by 20–30%. The J/ψ p _T spectra are underpredicted by 20–30%. The model predicts that in central Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energy,  GeV, J/ψ’s are suppressed by a factor of ∼10. The model predicted a J/ψ p _T distribution in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC is similar to that in Au+Au collisions at RHIC.     

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.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-shell ionization during the α-decay of superheavy nuclei

The probabilities of K-shell ionization in daughter atoms during the α-decay of extensively studied ₈₄Po isotopes and superheavy ₁₁₇ ²⁹⁴ Ts, ₁₁₃ ²⁸⁶ Nh, ₁₀₉ ²⁷⁸ Mt, ₁₀₅ ²⁷⁰ Db, ₁₀₂ ²⁵³ No, ₁₀₀ ²⁴⁹ Fm, and ₁₁₁ ²⁷² Rg nuclei are calculated. Monopole and dipole terms are considered. More accurate expressions for α-particle tunneling through the atomic Coulomb barrier are derived. The electron wave functions are calculated using the relativistic Dirac–Fock method. The results are essential for processing the spectra analyzed in combined α-, γ-, and conversion-electron spectroscopy.     

Astrophysical S-factor of some (<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">γ</Emphasis>) Reactions

We have studied the important astrophysical S-factor for 36 known p-nuclei with (p, γ) reactions at low energy in the mass region A\(\approx \) 74–196. This is done by folding the density-dependent M3Y (DDM3Y) interaction with spherical relativistic mean field (RMF) densities. The densities are obtained from different parameter sets such as G1, G2, NL1, NL2, NL3*, NL-SH, DD-ME1, DD-ME2 and DD-PC1. The independence of the S-factor on different densities is discussed and compared with experimental data and with NON-SMOKER calculations whenever available.     

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.     

Classification of the FRW universe with a cosmological constant and a perfect fluid of the equation of state <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> = <Emphasis Type="Italic">w</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">ρ</Emphasis>

We systematically study the evolution of the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) universe coupled with a cosmological constant Λ and a perfect fluid that has the equation of state p = w ρ, where p and ρ denote, respectively, the pressure and energy density of the fluid, and w is an arbitrary real constant. Depending on the specific values of w, Λ, and the curvature k of 3-dimensional space, we separate all of the solutions into various cases. In each case the main properties of the evolution are given in detail, including the periods of deceleration and/or acceleration, and the existence of big bang, big crunch, and big rip singularities. In some cases, errors in classification and interpretation appearing in standard textbooks have been corrected.     

Study of in-medium <Emphasis Type="Italic">ω</Emphasis>-meson properties in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ap</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">pA</Emphasis> collisions

The possibility to investigate the in-medium properties of the vector ω mesons at normal nuclear density is considered. The folding model and simulations with the RQMD generator have been used for studying of the ω-resonance production in Ap and pA reactions and its ω → π ⁰ γ → 3γ decay. We show that measurements in the inverse Ap kinematics is an effective way to get information about the ω-meson mass modification especially in not yet explored range of small meson momenta relative to the projectile nuclei where the strength of the effect is expected to be most strong. The traditional pA kinematics appears to be more preferable for the investigation of the in-medium ω-meson width. Using of compact electromagnetic calorimeter provides the possibility to collect large statistics and study the momentum dependencies of both the ω-meson mass and width at the density of normal nuclei.     

Inclusive <Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>/<Emphasis Type="Italic">ψ</Emphasis> photoproduction and polarization at HERA in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">T</Emphasis></Subscript>-factorization approach

We investigate the inclusive photoproduction of J/ψ mesons at HERA within the framework of the k _T -factorization QCD approach. Our study is based on the color singlet model supplemented with the relevant off-shell matrix elements and the CCFM and KMR unintegrated gluon densities in a proton and in a photon. Both the direct and resolved photon contributions are taken into account. Our predictions are compared with the recent experimental data taken by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations. Special attention is put on the J/ψ polarization parameters λ and ν, which are sensitive to the production dynamics.