A precision measurement of pp elastic scattering cross-sections at intermediate energies

We have measured differential cross-sections for elastic scattering with internal fiber targets in the recirculating beam of the proton synchrotron COSY. Measurements were made continuously during acceleration for projectile kinetic energies between 0.23 and 2.59 GeV in the angular range . Details of the apparatus and the data analysis are given and the resulting excitation functions and angular distributions presented. The precision of each data point is typically better than 4%, and a relative normalization uncertainty of only 2.5% within an excitation function has been reached. The impact on phase shift analysis as well as upper bounds on possible resonant contributions in lower partial waves are discussed.Received: 24 March 2004, Published online: 19 October 2004PACS: 25.40.Cm Elastic proton scattering - 13.75.Cs Nucleon-nucleon interactions (including antinucleons, deuterons, etc.) - 13.85.Dz Elastic scattering - 21.30.-x Nuclear forces     

Tests of the standard model and constraints on new physics from measurements of fermion-pair production at 189-209 GeV at LEP

Cross-sections and angular distributions for hadronic and lepton-pair final states in e ⁺ e^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies between 189 GeV and 209 GeV, measured with the OPAL detector at LEP, are presented and compared with the predictions of the Standard Model. The measurements are used to determine the electromagnetic coupling constant at LEP 2 energies. In addition, the results are used together with OPAL measurements at 91-183 GeV within the S-matrix formalism to determine the -Z interference term and to make an almost model-independent measurement of the Z mass. Limits on extensions to the Standard Model described by effective four-fermion contact interactions or the addition of a heavy Z boson are also presented.Received: 28 August 2003, Published online: 18 February 2004     

Search for a narrow charmed baryonic state decaying to $D^{\ast \pm} p^\mp$in ep collisions at HERA

A resonance search has been made in the invariant-mass spectrum with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of . The decay channels and (and the corresponding antiparticle decays) were used to identify mesons. No resonance structure was observed in the mass spectrum from more than 60 000 reconstructed mesons. The results are not compatible with a report of the H1 Collaboration of a charmed pentaquark, .Received: 14 September 2004, Revised: 29 September 2004, Published online: 9 November 2004     

JET: Preparing the future in fusion

JET (Joint European Torus) is the largest tokamak in the world and the only fusion facility able to operate with Tritium, the fusion fuel, and Beryllium, the ITER first wall material. JET also features the most complete remote handling equipment for invessel maintenance. As a multinational research center, JET provides logistic experience in preparing for operation of the global facility, tokamak ITER.Experiments on JET are focused on ITER-relevant studies, in particular on detailing the operational scenarios (EL My H-modes and advanced regimes), on enhancing the heating systems, on developing diagnostics for burning plasmas etc. Pioneering real-time control techniques have been implemented that maximize performance and minimize internal disturbances of JET plasmas. In helium plasmas, ion cyclotron heating (ICRH) created fast α-particles, mimicking their populations in future burning plasmas. The recent successful Trace Tritium campaign provided important new data on fuel transport. Current enhancements on JET include a new ITER-like ELM-resilient high power ICRH antenna (7 MW) and over twenty new diagnostics that will further extend the JET scientific capabilities and push the facility even closer to the ITER parameters.A special mention is given to the involvement of the fusion experts from Association EURATOM-IPP.CR, who have been actively participating in the collective use of JET facility for more than three years.     

Evidence for high-m secondary islands induced by large low-m islands in a tokamak plasma

Small-scale structures with high poloidal mode numbers (m=10-20) have been observed in the TEXTOR tokamak plasma with pulsed radar reflectometry and an electron cyclotron emission diagnostic, in conjunction with large 2/1 and 1/1 islands. The small islands have a peaked density profile, similar to that of the simultaneously observed large-scale 2/1 islands. This together with the observation that high-frequency density and temperature fluctuations are very pronounced near the X points of the large islands hints to a strongly perturbed magnetic topology around the X points.     

Influence of the dynamic ergodic divertor on the density limit in TEXTOR

A significant influence of the dynamic ergodic divertor (DED) on the density limit in TEXTOR has been found. In Ohmic discharges, where without DED detachment normally arises at the density limit, a MARFE (multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge) develops when the DED is operated in a static regime. The threshold of the MARFE onset in the neutral beam heated plasmas is increased by applying 1 kHz ac DED at the high-field side. The theoretical predictions based on the parallel energy balance taking poloidal asymmetries into account agree well with the experimental observation.     

A measurement of semileptonic B decaysto narrow orbitally-excited charm mesons

The decay chain is identified in a sample of 3.9 million hadronic Z decays collected with the OPAL detector at LEP. The branching ratio BR is measured to be for the J ^P =1⁺ (D⁰ ₁) state. For decays into the J ^P =2⁺ (D₂ ^*0) state, an upper limit of 1.4 x 10^-3 is placed on the branching ratio at the 95% confidence level.Received: 20 December 2002, Revised: 15 April 2003, Published online: 12 September 2003     

Measurement of high-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript> charged current cross sections in <Emphasis Type="Italic">e</Emphasis><Superscript> + </Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> deep inelastic scattering at HERA

Cross sections for e ⁺ p charged current deep inelastic scattering at a centre-of-mass energy of have been determined with an integrated luminosity of collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The differential cross sections , and for are presented. In addition, has been measured in the kinematic range and . The predictions of the Standard Model agree well with the measured cross sections. The mass of the W boson propagator is determined to be from a fit to . The chiral structure of the Standard Model is also investigated in terms of the (1-y)² dependence of the double-differential cross section. The structure-function has been extracted by combining the measurements presented here with previous ZEUS results from e ^- p scattering, extending the measurement obtained in a neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment to a significantly higher Q ² region.Received: 17 July 2003, Published online: 12 November 2003 ^a supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) ^b supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), under contract numbers HZ1GUA 2, HZ1GUB 0, HZ1PDA 5, HZ1VFA 5 ^c supported by the MINERVA Gesellschaft für Forschung GmbH, the Israel Science Foundation, the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Benozyio Center for High Energy Physics ^d supported by the German-Israeli Foundation and the Israel Science Foundation ^e supported by the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) ^f supported by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and its grants for Scientific Research ^g supported by the Korean Ministry of Education and Korea Science and Engineering Foundation ^h supported by the Netherlands Foundation for Research on Matter (FOM) ⁱ supported by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research, grant no. 620/E-77/SPUB-M/DESY/P-03/DZ 247/2000-2002 ^j partially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) ^k supported by the Fund for Fundamental Research of Russian Ministry for Science and Education and by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) ^l supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science through funds provided by CICYT ^m supported by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, UK ⁿ supported by the US Department of Energy ^o supported by the US National Science Foundation ^p supported by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research, grant no. 112/E-356/SPUB-M/DESY/P-03/DZ 301/2000-2002, 2 P03B 13922 ^q supported by the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research, grant no. 115/E-343/SPUB-M/DESY/P-03/DZ 121/2001-2002, 2 P03B 07022     

Lattice QCD: The case of parton densities

The accuracy of structure functions computations on the lattice may become comparable to experimental determinations. We discuss the strategy followed by the Ze-Ro Collaboration that allows the reconstruction of the running of the leading-twist non-singlet operator in the continuum and fully non-perturbatively renormalized.Received: 1 November 2002, Published online: 15 July 2003PACS: 11.15.Ha Lattice gauge theory - 12.38.Gc Lattice QCD calculations     

Measurement of the $b\overline{b}$ production cross section in 920 GeV fixed-target proton-nucleus collisions

Using the HERA - B detector, the production cross section has been measured in 920 GeV proton collisions on carbon and titanium targets. The production was tagged via inclusive bottom quark decays into by exploiting the longitudinal separation of decay vertices from the primary proton-nucleus interaction. Both e ⁺ e ^- and channels have been reconstructed and the combined analysis yields the cross section . Received: 6 June 2002 / Revised version: 2 September 2002 / Published online: 8 November 2002