Exclusive production of $\rho^0$ mesons was studied at the COMPASS experiment by scattering 160 GeV/$c$ muons off transversely polarised protons. Five single-spin and three double-spin azimuthal asymmetries were measured as a function of $Q^2$, $x_{Bj}$, or $p_{T}^{2}$. The $\sin \phi_S$ asymmetry is found to be $-0.019 \pm 0.008(stat.) \pm 0.003(syst.)$. All other asymmetries are also found to be of small magnitude and consistent with zero within experimental uncertainties. Very recent calculations using a GPD-based model agree well with the present results. The data is interpreted as evidence for the existence of chiral-odd, transverse generalized parton distributions.
The cross section of the process e+e−→π+π−π0 has been measured in the c.m. energy range 984–1060 MeV with the CMD-2 detector at the VEPP-2M collider. The obtained value of Br(ϕ→e+e−)Br(ϕ→π+π−π0)=(4.51±0.16±0.11)×10−5 is in good agreement with the previous measurements and has the best accuracy. Analysis of the Dalitz plot was performed. The contributions of the dominant ϕ→ρπ mechanism as well as of a small direct ϕ→3π amplitude were determined.
Radiative decays of the $\phi$ meson have been studied using a data sample of about 19 million $\phi$ decays collected by the CMD-2 detector at VEPP-2M collider in Novosibirsk. From selected $e^+e^-\to\pi^{0}\pi^{0}\gamma$ and $e^+e^-\to\eta\pi^{0}\gamma$ events the following model independent results have been obtained: \par $Br(\phi\to\pi^{0}\pi^{0}\gamma) = (0.92\pm 0.08\pm0.06)\times10^{-4}$ for $M_{\pi^{0}\pi^{0}}>700$ MeV, \par $Br(\phi\to\eta\pi^{0}\gamma) = (0.90\pm 0.24\pm 0.10)\times10^{-4}$. It is shown that the intermediate mechanism $f_{0}(980)\gamma$ dominates in the $\phi\to\pi^{0}\pi^{0}\gamma$ decay and the corresponding branching ratio is \par $Br(\phi\to f_{0}(980)\gamma)=(2.90\pm 0.21\pm1.54)\times10^{-4}$. The systematic error is dominated by the possible model uncertainty. \par Using the same data sample the upper limit has been obtained for the P- and CP-violating decay of $\eta$ at 90% CL: \par $Br(\eta\to\pi^{0}\pi^{0}) < 4.3\times10^{-4}$ >.
Open heavy flavor hadrons provide unique probes of the medium produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Due to their increased mass relative to light-flavor hadrons, long lifetime, and early production in hard-scattering interactions, they provide access to the full evolution of the partonic medium formed in heavy-ion collisions. This paper reports two-dimensional (2D) angular correlations between neutral $D$-mesons and unidentified charged particles produced in minimum-bias Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 200 GeV. $D^0$ and $\bar{D}^0$ mesons are reconstructed via their weak decay to $K^{\mp} \pi^{\pm}$ using the Heavy Flavor Tracker (HFT) in the Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) experiment. Correlations on relative pseudorapidity and azimuth $(\Delta\eta,\Delta\phi)$ are presented for peripheral, mid-central and central collisions with $D^0$ transverse momentum from 2 to 10 GeV/$c$. Attention is focused on the 2D peaked correlation structure near the triggered $D^0$-meson, the {\em near-side} (NS) peak, which serves as a proxy for a charm-quark containing jet. The correlated NS yield of charged particles per $D^0$-meson and the 2D widths of the NS peak increase significantly from peripheral to central collisions. These results are compared with similar correlations using unidentified charged particles, consisting primarily of light-flavor hadrons, at similar trigger particle momenta. Similar per-trigger yields and widths of the NS correlation peak are observed. The present results provide additional evidence that $D^0$-mesons undergo significant interactions with the medium formed in heavy-ion collision and show, for the first time, significant centrality evolution of the NS 2D peak in the correlations of particles associated with a heavy-flavor hadron produced in these collisions.
We report precision measurements of hypernuclei ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ lifetimes obtained from Au+Au collisions at \snn = 3.0 GeV and 7.2 GeV collected by the STAR experiment at RHIC, and the first measurement of ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ mid-rapidity yields in Au+Au collisions at \snn = 3.0 GeV. ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$, being the two simplest bound states composed of hyperons and nucleons, are cornerstones in the field of hypernuclear physics. Their lifetimes are measured to be $221\pm15(\rm stat.)\pm19(\rm syst.)$ ps for ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and $218\pm6(\rm stat.)\pm13(\rm syst.)$ ps for ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$. The $p_T$-integrated yields of ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ are presented in different centrality and rapidity intervals. It is observed that the shape of the rapidity distribution of ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ is different for 0--10% and 10--50% centrality collisions. Thermal model calculations, using the canonical ensemble for strangeness, describes the ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ yield well, while underestimating the ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ yield. Transport models, combining baryonic mean-field and coalescence (JAM) or utilizing dynamical cluster formation via baryonic interactions (PHQMD) for light nuclei and hypernuclei production, approximately describe the measured ${}^3_\Lambda \rm{H}$ and ${}^4_\Lambda \rm{H}$ yields. Our measurements provide means to precisely assess our understanding of the fundamental baryonic interactions with strange quarks, which can impact our understanding of more complicated systems involving hyperons, such as the interior of neutron stars or exotic hypernuclei.
The transversity distribution, which describes transversely polarized quarks in transversely polarized nucleons, is a fundamental component of the spin structure of the nucleon, and is only loosely constrained by global fits to existing semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering (SIDIS) data. In transversely polarized $p^\uparrow+p$ collisions it can be accessed using transverse polarization dependent fragmentation functions which give rise to azimuthal correlations between the polarization of the struck parton and the final state scalar mesons. This letter reports on spin dependent di-hadron correlations measured by the STAR experiment. The new dataset corresponds to 25 pb$^{-1}$ integrated luminosity of $p^\uparrow+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV, an increase of more than a factor of ten compared to our previous measurement at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. Non-zero asymmetries sensitive to transversity are observed at a $Q^2$ of several hundred GeV and are found to be consistent with the former measurement and a model calculation. %we observe consistent with the former measurement are observed.} We expect that these data will enable an extraction of transversity with comparable precision to current SIDIS datasets but at much higher momentum transfers where subleading effects are suppressed.
Using 11.6 pb^{-1} of data collected in the energy range 0.984--1.06 GeV by CMD-2 at VEPP-2M, the cross section of the reaction e+e- to pi+pi-pi+pi- has been studied. For the first time an interference pattern was observed in the energy dependence of the cross section near the phi meson. The branching ratio of the phi to pi+pi-pi+pi- decay double suppressed by the G-parity and OZI rule is measured Br(phi to pi+pi-pi+pi-) = (3.93 +- 1.74 +- 2.14) \cdot 10^{-6}. The upper limits have been placed for the decays phi to pi+pi-pi+pi-pi0 and phi to eta pi+pi- Br(phi to pi+pi-pi+pi-pi0) < 4.6 \cdot 10^{-6} 90% CL, Br(phi to eta pi+pi-) < 1.8 \cdot 10^{-5} 90% CL.
We report on a study of the transverse momentum dependence of nuclear modification factors $R_{dAu}$ for charged hadrons produced in deuteron + gold collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}=\unit[200]{GeV}$, as a function of collision centrality and of the pseudorapidity ($\eta = 0,1,2.2,3.2 $) of the produced hadrons. We find significant and systematic decrease of $R_{dAu}$ with increasing rapidity. The midrapidity enhancement and the forward rapidity suppression are more pronounced in central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. These results are relevant to the study of the possible onset of gluon saturation at RHIC energies.
Using 3.07 ${pb}^{-1}$ of data collected in the energy range 0.60-0.97 GeV by CMD-2, about 150 events of the process $\epm \to \pch$ have been selected. The energy dependence of the cross section agrees with the assumption of the $a_1(1260) \pi$ intermediate state which is dominant above 1 GeV. For the first time \fourpi events are observed at the $\rho$ meson energy. Under the assumption that all these events come from the $\rho$ meson decay, the value of the cross section at the $\rho$ meson peak corresponds to the following decay width: \Gamma(\rho^0 \to \fourpi) = (2.8 \pm 1.4 \pm 0.5) {keV} or to the branching ratio B(\rho^0 \to \fourpi) = (1.8 \pm 0.9 \pm 0.3) \cdot 10 ^{-5}.
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.
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