First observation of the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc)

We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc) in the charged decay mode Xi(+)(cc)-->Lambda(+)(c)K-pi(+) in data from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. We observe an excess of 15.9 events over an expected background of 6.1+/-0.5 events, a statistical significance of 6.3sigma. The observed mass of this state is 3519+/-1 MeV/c(2). The Gaussian mass width of this state is 3 MeV/c(2), consistent with resolution; its lifetime is less than 33 fs at 90% confidence.     

Rapid crack growth in a thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanical loading

A two-dimensional steady-sate analysis of semi-infinite brittlecrack growth at a constant subcritical rate in an unboundedfully-coupled thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanicalloading is made. The loading consists of normal and shear tractionsand heat fluxes applied as point sources (line loads in theout-of-plane direction). A related problem is solved exactly in an integral transformspace, and robust asymptotic forms used to reduce the originalproblem to a set of integral equations. The equations are partiallycoupled and exhibit operators of both Cauchy and Abel types,yet can be solved analytically. The temperature change field at a distance from the moving crackedge is then constructed, and its dominant term is found tobe controlled by the imposed heat fluxes. The role of this termis, indeed, enhanced if the heat fluxes serve to render thecrack as a net heat source/sink for the solid, as opposed tobeing a transmitter of heat across its plane. More generally,the influence of the thermoelastic coupling on this field, aswell as other functions, is found to increase with crack speed.     

Measurement of the spectrum of neutrons produced in <Emphasis Type="Italic">pd</Emphasis> collisions at an angle of <Emphasis Type="Italic">θ</Emphasis> = 0° at a proton-beam energy of 1 GeV

The energy spectrum of a neutron beam produced in a thin-wall liquid-deuterium target by a proton beam of energy 1 GeV was measured in a hydrogen bubble chamber by detecting events of the reaction np → ppπ ⁻.     

Tests of the CBM Rich readout and Daq prototype

The CBM RICH detector is an integral component of the future CBM experiment at FAIR, providing efficient electron identification and pion suppression necessary for the measurement of rare dileptonic probes in heavy ion collisions. An overview of the CBM RICH readout and DAQ system prototype is given, consisting of the PADIWA preamplifier-discriminator board, the TDC-HUB board TRBv3, and DAQ and analysis code in the CbmRoot framework. The laboratory setup built for studying the timing characteristics of the readout chain and the analysis results obtained using the laboratory measurements are presented. The fine time calibration and inter-channel delay correction techniques and their implementation and effect are discussed.     

Polarization in quasielastic (p,2p) scattering on a 4He nucleus at 1 GeV

The polarization of secondary protons from the (p, 2p) reaction induced by 1-GeV protons incident to a ⁴He nucleus was measured in a kinematically complete experiment. By using a two-arm magnetic spectrometer, two secondary protons from this reaction were recorded in coincidence at unequal scattering angles of Θ₁ = 18°?24.21° and Θ₂ = 53.22° over a broad range of the recoil-nucleus momentum K _B between 0 and 150 MeV/c. It was found that the measured polarization of either secondary proton is less than that observed in free elastic proton-proton scattering. The magnitude of this difference is determined by the mean binding energy of s-shell protons rather than by the effective nuclear density. The polarizations measured in inclusive quasielastic and elastic scattering of 1-GeV protons on ⁴He nuclei are presented for scattering angles in the range Θ₁ = 18° ? 24.21°.     

Synthetic magnetic opals

We present studies of novel nanocomposites of BiNi impregnated into the structure of opals as well as inverse opals. Atomic force microscopy and high resolution elemental analyses show a highly ordered structure and uniform distribution of the BiNi filler in the matrix. These BiNi-based nanocomposites are found to exhibit distinct ferromagnetic-like ordering with transition temperature of about 675 K. As far as we know there exists no report in literature on any BiNi compound which is magnetic.     

Polarized fusion

Since more than 50 years it has been discussed to increase the gain of nuclear fusion reactors with the use of polarized fuel. For example, the total cross sections of the fusion reactions d + t → ⁴He + n or ³He + d → ⁴He + p are increased by a factor of about 1.5 if the spins of both incoming particles are aligned. But before polarized fuel can be used for energy production in the different types of reactors, a number of questions must be answered. In this contribution we give an overview on our various activities in this field of research.     

Measurement of the polarization correlation parameter C nn in the pp elastic scattering with an unpolarized proton target and an unpolarized 1-GeV proton beam

The polarization correlation parameter C _nn in the elastic proton-proton scattering was for the first time measured with a high statistical accuracy at 1 GeV using an unpolarized proton beam incident on an unpolarized proton target. Both outgoing protons from the reaction were detected in coincidence by means of a two-arm focusing magnetic spectrometer installed at nonsymmetric angles corresponding to the center-of-mass scattering angle Θ_cm = 62.25°. The correlation parameter C _nn , as well as polarizations P ₁ and P ₂ of the secondary protons, were measured by means of multiwire proportional chamber polarimeters placed at the focal planes of each spectrometer arm. The obtained data are compared with the predictions of the phase-shift analysis. The connection with the experiment on C _nn and polarization measurements in the (p, 2p) reaction on ⁴He and other light nuclei in similar kinematics is discussed     

Precision measurements of the lambda(+)(c) and D0 lifetimes

We report new precision measurements of the lifetimes of the Lambda(+)(c) and D0 from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. Based upon 1630 Lambda(+)(c) and 10 210 D0 decays we observe lifetimes of tau[Lambda(+)(c)] = 198.1+/-7.0+/-5.6 fs and tau[D0] = 407.9+/-6.0+/-4.3 fs.     

Polarization effects in the quasielastic (p, 2p) reaction with the nuclear S-Shell Protons at 1 GeV

The polarization of the secondary protons in the (p, 2p) reaction with the S-shell protons of nuclei ⁴He, ⁶Li, ¹²C, ²⁸Si, ⁴⁰Ca was measured at 1 GeV unpolarized proton beam. The spin correlation parameters C _ij for the ⁴He and ¹²C targets also were for the first time obtained as well. The polarization measurements were performed by means of a two-arm magnetic spectrometer, each arm of which was equipped with the multiwire-proportional chamber polarimeter. This experiment was aimed to study a modification of the proton-proton scattering matrix in the nuclear medium.