India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

We present some physics possibilities with an iron calorimeter detector (ICAL) and a status report on the feasibility study to construct such a detector at a future possible India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). This talk was given at the workshop on high energy physics phenomenology, WHEPP-8, in Jan. 2004, at IIT Bombay.     

Search for an LSP gluino at LEP with the DELPHI detector

In some supersymmetric models, the gluino () is predicted to be light and stable. In that case, it would hadronize to form R-hadrons. In these models, the missing energy signature of the lightest supersymmetric particle is no longer valid, even if R-parity is conserved. Therefore, such a gluino is not constrained by hadron collider results, which looked for the decay . Data collected by the DELPHI detector in 1994 at 91.2 GeV have been analysed to search for events. No deviation from Standard Model predictions is observed and a gluino mass between 2 and 18 GeV/c² is excluded at the 95% confidence level in these models. Then, R-hadrons produced in the squark decays were searched for in the data collected by DELPHI at the centre-of-mass energies of 189 to 208 GeV, corresponding to an overall integrated luminosity of 609 Pb^-1. The observed number of events is in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Limits at 95% confidence level are derived on the squark masses from the excluded regions in the plane () GeV/c², and GeV/c² for purely left squarks. GeV/c², and GeV/c² independent of the mixing angle. Received: 6 November 2002 / Published online: 15 January 2003     

Nuclear moments and charge radius changes in platinum isotopes

Isotope shift (IS) and hyperfine structure (HFS) measurements have been performed for^{185, 187, 189, 191, 195}Pt using the PILIS (Post ISOCELE Laser Isobar Separator) apparatus installed at the ISOCELE facility. Magnetic and quadrupole moments have been deduced from the HFS results. The charge radius changes determined for these odd nuclei from the IS results, added to the σ<r²> values of the even-A nuclei are compared to the results of lattice Hartree-Fock+BCS calculations for asymmetric solutions:¹⁸⁵Pt is confirmed to be prolate shaped whereas^{187, 189, 191}Pt are likely triaxial in their ground states.     

A study of π andK production in proton-uranium and oxygen-uranium interactions at 22 GeV/A using decay muons

The like-sign dimuons copiously recorded in the NA 38 experiment both inp-U and O?U reactions at 200 GeV/nucleon are interpreted as resulting from decays of π andK mesons in comparable proportions. The ++/?? ratio is large (?1.7) and ascribed to theK ⁺ being more copiously produced than theK ^?. Both the average transverse momentum and the ++/?? ratio are comparable forp-U and O?U reactions, and both increase only slightly with the transverse energyE _T .     

New results on searches for new physics beyond the standard model in the D0 experiment

The latest results obtained from searches for particles and phenomena beyond the Standard Model (new physics) in the D0 experiment at the Tevatron [Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), USA] on the basis of a statistical sample corresponding to an accumulated luminosity of 1 to 3 fb⁻¹ in 2008 are considered.     

Forward jet production in deep inelastic scattering at HERA

The production of forward jets has been measured in deep inelastic ep collisions at HERA. The results are presented in terms of single differential cross sections as a function of the Bjorken scaling variable (x_Bj) and as triple differential cross sections d³σ/dx_BjdQ² , where Q² is the four momentum transfer squared and is the squared transverse momentum of the forward jet. Also cross sections for events with a di-jet system in addition to the forward jet are measured as a function of the rapidity separation between the forward jet and the two additional jets. The measurements are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations and with the predictions of various QCD-based models.     

Emission Mössbauer spectroscopy study of fluence dependence of paramagnetic relaxation in Mn/Fe implanted ZnO

Emission Mössbauer Spectroscopy following the implantation of radioactive precursor isotope ⁵⁷Mn⁺ (T _1/2= 1.5 min) into ZnO single crystals at ISOLDE/CERN shows that a large fraction of ⁵⁷Fe atoms produced in the ⁵⁷Mn beta decay is created as paramagnetic Fe³⁺ with relatively long spin-lattice relaxation times. Here we report on ZnO pre-implanted with ⁵⁶Fe to fluences of 2×10¹³, 5×10 ¹³ and 8 × 10¹³ ions/cm² in order to investigate the dependence of the paramagnetic relaxation rate of Fe³⁺ on fluence. The spectra are dominated by magnetic features displaying paramagnetic relaxation effects. The extracted spin-lattice relaxation rates show a slight increase with increasing ion fluence at corresponding temperatures and the area fraction of Fe³⁺ at room temperature reaches a maximum contribution of 80(3)% in the studied fluence range.     

New states in heavy Cd isotopes and evidence for weakening of the N = 82 shell structure

A chemically selective laser ion source has been used in a β-decay study of heavy Ag isotopes into even-even Cd nuclides. Gamma-spectroscopic techniques in time-resolving event-by-event and multiscaling modes have permitted the identification of the first 2⁺ and 4⁺ levels in ¹²⁶Cd₇₈, ¹²⁸Cd₈₀, and tentatively the 2⁺ state in ¹³⁰Cd₈₂. From a comparison of these new states in ₄₈Cd with the E(2⁺) and E(4⁺)/E(2⁺) level systematics of ₄₆Pd and ₅₂Te isotopes and several recent model predictions, possible evidence for a weakening of the spherical N = 82 neutron-shell below double-magic ¹³²Sn is obtained. Received: 13 July 2000 / Accepted: 12 October 2000     

Experimental search for solar axions

A new technique has been used to search for solar axions using a single crystal germanium detector. It exploits the coherent conversion of axions into photons when their angle of incidence satisfies a Bragg condition with a crystalline plane. The analysis of approximately 1.94 kg.yr of data from the 1 kg DEMOS detector in Sierra Grande, Argentina, yields a new laboratory bound on axion-photon coupling of g_αγγ < 2.7 × 10⁻⁹GeV⁻¹, independent of axion mass up to 1 keV.