The WA94 experiment uses the production of strange particles and antiparticles to investigate the properties of hot hadronic matter created in heavy-ion interactions. Λ, Λ , Ξ − and Ξ + particle yields and transverse mass spectra are presented for pS interactions. These results are compared with those from SS interactions. Our results are also compared with those from pW and SW interactions of the WA85 experiment.
The first observation of $Z$ boson production in proton-lead collisions at a centre-of-mass energy per proton-nucleon pair of $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5~\text{TeV}$ is presented. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of $1.6~\text{nb}^{-1}$ collected with the LHCb detector. The $Z$ candidates are reconstructed from pairs of oppositely charged muons with pseudorapidities between 2.0 and 4.5 and transverse momenta above $20~\text{GeV}/c$. The invariant dimuon mass is restricted to the range $60-120~\text{GeV}/c^2$. The $Z$ production cross-section is measured to be \begin{eqnarray*} \sigma_{Z\to\mu^+\mu^-}(\text{fwd})&=&13.5^{+5.4}_{-4.0}\text{(stat.)}\pm1.2\text{(syst.)}~\text{nb} \end{eqnarray*} in the direction of the proton beam and \begin{eqnarray*} \sigma_{Z\to\mu^+\mu^-}(\text{bwd}) & =&10.7^{+8.4}_{-5.1}\text{(stat.)}\pm1.0\text{(syst.)}~\text{nb} \end{eqnarray*} in the direction of the lead beam, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic.
psi' production is studied in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon incident momentum. Absolute cross-sections are measured and production rates are investigated as a function of the centrality of the collision. The results are compared with those obtained for lighter colliding systems and also for the J/psi meson produced under identical conditions.
The Upsilon production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV is measured using a data sample collected with the CMS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.1 +/- 0.3 inverse picobarns. Integrated over the rapidity range |y|<2, we find the product of the Upsilon(1S) production cross section and branching fraction to dimuons to be sigma(pp to Upsilon(1S) X) B(Upsilon(1S) to mu+ mu-) = 7.37 +/- 0.13^{+0.61}_{-0.42}\pm 0.81 nb, where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second is systematic, and the third is associated with the estimation of the integrated luminosity of the data sample. This cross section is obtained assuming unpolarized Upsilon(1S) production. If the Upsilon(1S) production polarization is fully transverse or fully longitudinal the cross section changes by about 20%. We also report the measurement of the Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S) differential cross sections as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity.
Data on φ -production obtained by the CERN NA49 experiment for central Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV/u are presented. Compared with pp interactions the φ -yield shows substantial strangeness enhancement: the φ /π ratio is found to increase by a factor of 2.6 ± 0.6, which is approximately the square of the K/π enhancement.
We present the final results from Experiment 864 of a search for charged and neutral strange quark matter produced in interactions of 11.5 GeV/c per nucleon Au beams with Pt or Pb targets. Searches were made for strange quark matter with A>4. Approximately 30 billion 10% most central collisions were sampled and no strangelet states with A<100 were observed. We find 90% confidence level upper limits of approximately 10^{-8} per central collision for both charged and neutral strangelets. These limits are for strangelets with proper lifetimes greater than 50 ns. Also limits for H^{0}-d and pineut production are given. The above limits are compared with the predictions of various models. The yields of light nuclei from coalescence are measured and a penalty factor for the addition of one nucleon to the coalescing nucleus is determined. This is useful in gauging the significance of our upper limits and also in planning future searches for strange quark matter.
The cross section for the production of Z gamma in proton-proton collisions at 8 TeV is measured based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.5 inverse femtobarns. Events with an oppositely-charged pair of muons or electrons together with an isolated photon are selected. The differential cross section as a function of the photon transverse momentum is measured inclusively and exclusively, where the exclusive selection applies a veto on central jets. The observed cross sections are compatible with the expectations of next-to-next-to-leading-order quantum chromodynamics. Limits on anomalous triple gauge couplings of Z Z gamma and Z gamma gamma are set that improve on previous experimental results obtained with the charged lepton decay modes of the Z boson.
The NA60 experiment studies muon pair production at the CERN SPS. In this letter we report on a precision measurement of J/psi in In-In collisions. We have studied the J/psi centrality distribution, and we have compared it with the one expected if absorption in cold nuclear matter were the only active suppression mechanism. For collisions involving more than ~80 participant nucleons, we find that an extra suppression is present. This result is in qualitative agreement with previous Pb-Pb measurements by the NA50 experiment, but no theoretical explanation is presently able to coherently describe both results.
Measurements are presented of the associated production of a W boson and a charm-quark jet (W + c) in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The analysis is conducted with a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns, collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. W boson candidates are identified by their decay into a charged lepton (muon or electron) and a neutrino. The W + c measurements are performed for charm-quark jets in the kinematic region $p_T^{jet} \gt$ 25 GeV, $|\eta^{jet}| \lt$ 2.5, for two different thresholds for the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W-boson decay, and in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta^{\ell}| \lt$ 2.1. Hadronic and inclusive semileptonic decays of charm hadrons are used to measure the following total cross sections: $\sigma(pp \to W + c + X) \times B(W \to \ell \nu)$ = 107.7 +/- 3.3 (stat.) +/- 6.9 (syst.) pb ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 25 GeV) and $\sigma(pp \to W + c + X) \times B(W \to \ell \nu)$ = 84.1 +/- 2.0 (stat.) +/- 4.9 (syst.) pb ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 35 GeV), and the cross section ratios $\sigma(pp \to W^+ + \bar{c} + X)/\sigma(pp \to W^- + c + X)$ = 0.954 +/- 0.025 (stat.) +/- 0.004 (syst.) ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 25 GeV) and $\sigma(pp \to W^+ + \bar{c} + X)\sigma(pp \to W^- + c + X)$ = 0.938 +/- 0.019 (stat.) +/- 0.006 (syst.) ($p_T^{\ell} \gt$ 35 GeV). Cross sections and cross section ratios are also measured differentially with respect to the absolute value of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay. These are the first measurements from the LHC directly sensitive to the strange quark and antiquark content of the proton. Results are compared with theoretical predictions and are consistent with the predictions based on global fits of parton distribution functions.
A search for a heavy charged gauge boson, W ′, using the decay channels W ′ → eν and W′ → τν → eνν ν is reported. The data used in the analysis were collected by the DØ experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron during the 1992-93 p p collider run from an integrated luminosity of 13.9 ± 0.8 pb −1 at s =1.8 TeV . Assuming that the neutrino from W ′ decay is stable and has a mass significantly less than m W ′ , an upper limit at the 95% confidence level is set on the cross section times branching ratio for p p → W′ → eν . A W ′ with the same couplings to quarks and leptons as the standard model W boson is excluded for m W ′ < 610 GeV/c 2 .