Decays of $b$ hadrons into final states containing a $D^0$ meson and a muon are used to measure the $b\bar{b}$ production cross-section in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV at the LHC. In the pseudorapidity interval $2 < \eta < 6$ and integrated over all transverse momenta we find that the average cross-section to produce $b$-flavoured or $\bar{b}$-flavoured hadrons is ($75.3 \pm 5.4 \pm 13.0$) microbarns.
The charged particle production in proton-proton collisions is studied with the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of ${\sqrt{s} =7}$TeV in different intervals of pseudorapidity $\eta$. The charged particles are reconstructed close to the interaction region in the vertex detector, which provides high reconstruction efficiency in the $\eta$ ranges $-2.5<\eta<-2.0$ and $2.0<\eta<4.5$. The data were taken with a minimum bias trigger, only requiring one or more reconstructed tracks in the vertex detector. By selecting an event sample with at least one track with a transverse momentum greater than 1 GeV/c a hard QCD subsample is investigated. Several event generators are compared with the data; none are able to describe fully the multiplicity distributions or the charged particle density distribution as a function of $\eta$. In general, the models underestimate the charged particle production.
The process e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma has been studied at a center-of-mass energy near the Y(4S) resonance using a 89.3 fb-1 data sample collected with the BaBar detector at the PEP-II collider. From the measured 3pi mass spectrum we have obtained the products of branching fractions for the omega and phi mesons, B(omega --> e+e-)B(omega --> 3pi)=(6.70 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.27)10-5 and B(phi --> e+e-)B(phi --> 3pi)=(4.30 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.21)10-5, and evaluated the e+e- --> pi+ pi- pi0 cross section for the e+e- center-of-mass energy range 1.05 to 3.00 GeV. About 900 e+e- --> J/psi gamma --> pi+ pi- pi0 gamma events have been selected and the branching fraction B(J/psi --> pi+ pi- pi0)=(2.18 +/- 0.19)% has been measured.
The $e^+e^- \to \omega \pi^0 \to \pi^0 \pi^0 \gamma$ process was investigated in the SND experiment at the VEPP-2M collider. A narrow energy interval near the $\phi$-meson was scanned. The observed cross-section reveals, at the level of three standard deviation, the interference effect caused by $\phi \to \pi^0\pi^0\gamma$ decay. The cross-section parameters, as well as the real and imaginary parts of the $\phi$-meson related amplitude, were measured.
Results of the study of the e+e-->pi0 gamma process with SND detector at VEPP-2M collider in the c.m.s. energy range sqrt(s)=0.60-0.97 GeV are presented. Using 36513 selected events corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 3.4 pb^-1 the e+e-->pi0 gamma cross section was measured. The energy dependence of the cross section was analyzed in the framework of the vector meson dominance model. The data are well described by a sum of phi,omega,rho0->pi0 gamma decay contributions with measured decay probabilities: Br(omega->pi0 gamma)=(9.34+-0.15+-0.31)% and Br(rho0->pi0 gamma)=(5.15+-1.16+-0.73)*10^-4 . The rho-omega relative interference phase is phi(rho,omega}=(-10.2+-6.5+-2.5) degree.
The e+e- -> pi0 pi0 gamma process was studied in the SND experiment at VEPP-2M e+e- collider in the energy region 0.60-0.97 GeV. From the analysis of the energy dependence of measured cross section the branching ratios B(omega -> pi0 pi0 gamma)= (6.6 +1.4-0.8(stat) +-0.6(syst))x10^-5 and B(rho -> pi0 pi0 gamma)=(4.1 +1.0-0.9(stat) +-0.3(syst))x10^-5 were obtained.
The cross section of the process $e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ was measured in the Spherical Neutral Detector experiment at the VEPP-2M collider in the energy region $\sqrt[]{s} = 980 \div 1380$ MeV. The measured cross section, together with the $e^+e^-\to \pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ and $\omega\pi^+\pi^-$ cross sections obtained in other experiments, was analyzed in the framework of the generalized vector meson dominance model. It was found that the experimental data can be described by a sum of $\omega$, $\phi$ mesons and two $\omega^\prime$ and $\omega^{\prime\prime}$ resonances contributions, with masses $m_{\omega^\prime}\sim 1490$,$m_{\omega^{\prime\prime}}\sim 1790$ MeV and widths $\Gamma_{\omega^\prime}\sim 1210$, $\Gamma_{\omega^{\prime\prime}}\sim 560$ MeV. The analysis of the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass spectra in the energy region $\sqrt[]{s}$ from 1100 to 1380 MeV has shown that for their descriptionone should take into account the $e^+e^-\to\omega\pi^0\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ mechanism also. The phase between the amplitudes corresponding to the $e^+e^-\to\omega\pi$ and $e^+e^-\to\rho\pi$ intermediate states was measured for the first time. The value of the phase is close to zero and depends on energy.
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has performed systematic measurements of phi meson production in the K+K- decay channel at midrapidity in p+p, d+Au, Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(S_NN)=200 GeV. Results are presented on the phi invariant yield and the nuclear modification factor R_AA for Au+Au and Cu+Cu, and R_dA for d+Au collisions, studied as a function of transverse momentum (1<p_T<7 GeV/c) and centrality. In central and mid-central Au+Au collisions, the R_AA of phi exhibits a suppression relative to expectations from binary scaled p+p results. The amount of suppression is smaller than that of the neutral pion and the eta meson in the intermediate p_T range (2--5 GeV/c); whereas at higher p_T the phi, pi^0, and eta show similar suppression. The baryon (protons and anti-protons) excess observed in central Au+Au collisions at intermediate p_T is not observed for the phi meson despite the similar mass of the proton and the phi. This suggests that the excess is linked to the number of constituent quarks rather than the hadron mass. The difference gradually disappears with decreasing centrality and for peripheral collisions the R_AA values for both particles are consistent with binary scaling. Cu+Cu collisions show the same yield and suppression as Au+Au collisions for the same number of N_part. The R_dA of phi shows no evidence for cold nuclear effects within uncertainties.
High-energy nuclear collisions create an energy density similar to that of the universe microseconds after the Big Bang, and in both cases, matter and antimatter are formed with comparable abundance. However, the relatively short-lived expansion in nuclear collisions allows antimatter to decouple quickly from matter, and avoid annihilation. Thus, a high energy accelerator of heavy nuclei is an efficient means of producing and studying antimatter. The antimatter helium-4 nucleus ($^4\bar{He}$), also known as the anti-{\alpha} ($\bar{\alpha}$), consists of two antiprotons and two antineutrons (baryon number B=-4). It has not been observed previously, although the {\alpha} particle was identified a century ago by Rutherford and is present in cosmic radiation at the 10% level. Antimatter nuclei with B < -1 have been observed only as rare products of interactions at particle accelerators, where the rate of antinucleus production in high-energy collisions decreases by about 1000 with each additional antinucleon. We present the observation of the antimatter helium-4 nucleus, the heaviest observed antinucleus. In total 18 $^4\bar{He}$ counts were detected at the STAR experiment at RHIC in 10$^9$ recorded Au+Au collisions at center-of-mass energies of 200 GeV and 62 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair. The yield is consistent with expectations from thermodynamic and coalescent nucleosynthesis models, which has implications beyond nuclear physics.
In the experiment with the SND detector at VEPP-2M e^+e^- collider the process $e^+e^-\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ was studied in the energy range 2E_0 from 1.04 to 1.38 GeV. A broad peak was observed with the visible mass $M_{vis}=1220\pm 20$ MeV and cross section in the maximum $\sigma_0\simeq 4$ nb. The peak can be interpreted as a $\omega$-like resonance $\omega (1200)$.