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Single photon production in pp collisions at 30 < √ s < 62 GeV has been measured with liquid-argon-lead calorimeters at the CERN ISR. This process remains approximately constant with increasing √ s . For fixed √ s , the single photon to π 0 ratio increases strongly with increase in p T . The γ π 0 ratio is about 0.2 for p T above 4.5 GeV/c.
We have searched for direct photons of low PT (≤1.0 GeV/c) at θc.m.=90° in pp collisions at √s =63 GeV. We used two independent methods: direct detection in NaI crystals and conversion to e+e− pairs. No signal is observed; the photon spectrum is well described by the decay of hadrons. The result is consistent with a direct low-PT photon signal reported at √s =12 GeV, but excludes a rapid growth of soft-photon production with √s .
We have measured direct photon production in pp collisions at the CERN intersecting storage rings for c.m. energies 31 < √ s < 63 GeV and transverse momenta up to 9GeV/ c , using segmented lead/liquid-argon calorimeters. The ratio of direct photon to π 0 production is significantly larger than zero, starting at p T ≈ 4 GeV/ c and increasing to values of about 0.4 at 9GeV/ c . No significant √s dependence is seen.
We have measured the production of direct photons, π 0 's, and η's in p p and pp collisions at √ s =53 GeV in the range 2≈ p T ≈6 GeV/ c for the central rapidity region | y | 0.4. No statistically significant difference between pp̄ and pp interactions is observed.
The production of direct photons has been measured relative to π 0 's in the rapidity range 2.00 < y < 2.75 in pp collisions at s = 63 GeV at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings. The γ/π 0 ratio increases from ⪅2% at p T = 1.5 GeV/ c to ∼8% at p T = 4.25 GeV/ c , similar to the value observed near 90°. The results indicate no strong enhancement of single-photon production due to quark bremsstrahlung in this kinematic region.
Direct photon production cross sections obtained in high statistics p ̄ p and pp collisions at s =24.3 GeV at the CERN SPS are used in a next-to-leading order QCD analysis. From the cross section difference σ( p ̄ p → γX)−σ(pp → γX) and quark distributions measured in deep inelastic scattering, a determination of the strong coupling constant, α s , is performed via a measurement of Λ (4) MS . This measurement yields a value Λ (4) MS = 210±22 ( stat. )±44 ( syst. ) +105 −36 ( theo. ) MeV. The corresponding value of α s expressed at M 2 Z is α s (M 2 Z )=0.1112 ±0.0016 ( stat. ) ±0.0033 ( syst. ) +0.0077 −0.0034 ( theo. ) .
Inclusive direct photon invariant cross sections have been measured in both p p and pp collisions at √ s = 24.3 GeV at the CERN SPS, permitting the first measurement of the difference of the p p and pp cross sections. The direct photon cross section in p p collisions has been found to be systematically larger than that in pp collisions, which indicates a significant contribution of the q q annihilation term as predicted by theoretical calculations.
Studying spin-momentum correlations in hadronic collisions offers a glimpse into a three-dimensional picture of proton structure. The transverse single-spin asymmetry for midrapidity isolated direct photons in $p^\uparrow+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV is measured with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Because direct photons in particular are produced from the hard scattering and do not interact via the strong force, this measurement is a clean probe of initial-state spin-momentum correlations inside the proton and is in particular sensitive to gluon interference effects within the proton. This is the first time direct photons have been used as a probe of spin-momentum correlations at RHIC. The uncertainties on the results are a fifty-fold improvement with respect to those of the one prior measurement for the same observable, from the Fermilab E704 experiment. These results constrain gluon spin-momentum correlations in transversely polarized protons.
The transverse single-spin asymmetry of isolated direct photons for $|\eta|<0.35$ in $p^\uparrow$$+$$p$ collisions with $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. This data appears in both Figure 2 and Table I. An additional scale uncertainty of 3.4% due to the polarization uncertainty is not included.
We present measurements of the cross section and double-helicity asymmetry $A_{LL}$ of direct-photon production in $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV. The measurements have been performed at midrapidity ($|\eta|<0.25$) with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. At relativistic energies, direct photons are dominantly produced from the initial quark-gluon hard scattering and do not interact via the strong force at leading order. Therefore, at $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV, where leading-order-effects dominate, these measurements provide clean and direct access to the gluon helicity in the polarized proton in the gluon-momentum-fraction range $0.02<x<0.08$, with direct sensitivity to the sign of the gluon contribution.
Double helicity asymmetry $A_{LL}$ $vs$ $p_{T}$ for isolated direct-photon production in polarized $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=510$ GeV at midrapidity. Not shown are $3.9 \times 10^{-4}$ shift uncertainty from relative luminosity and 6.6% scale uncertainty from polarization.