Direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD

The ALICE collaboration Acharya, S. ; Acharya, S. ; Adamova, D. ; et al.
Nature 605 (2022) 440-446, 2022.
Inspire Record 1867966 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.130725

In particle collider experiments, elementary particle interactions with large momentum transfer produce quarks and gluons (known as partons) whose evolution is governed by the strong force, as described by the theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). These partons subsequently emit further partons in a process that can be described as a parton shower which culminates in the formation of detectable hadrons. Studying the pattern of the parton shower is one of the key experimental tools for testing QCD. This pattern is expected to depend on the mass of the initiating parton, through a phenomenon known as the dead-cone effect, which predicts a suppression of the gluon spectrum emitted by a heavy quark of mass $m_{\rm{Q}}$ and energy $E$, within a cone of angular size $m_{\rm{Q}}$/$E$ around the emitter. Previously, a direct observation of the dead-cone effect in QCD had not been possible, owing to the challenge of reconstructing the cascading quarks and gluons from the experimentally accessible hadrons. We report the direct observation of the QCD dead cone by using new iterative declustering techniques to reconstruct the parton shower of charm quarks. This result confirms a fundamental feature of QCD. Furthermore, the measurement of a dead-cone angle constitutes a direct experimental observation of the non-zero mass of the charm quark, which is a fundamental constant in the standard model of particle physics.

1 data table

The $R(\theta)$ variable for charm/inclusive emissions in three bins of $E_{Rad}$: 5-10, 10-20 and 20-35 GeV.


Study of the process $e^+e^-\to\eta\gamma$ in the center-of-mass energy range 1.07--2.00 GeV

Achasov, M.N. ; Aulchenko, V.M. ; Barnyakov, A.Yu. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.D 90 (2014) 032002, 2014.
Inspire Record 1275333 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.62279

The $e^+e^-\to\eta\gamma$ cross section has been measured in the center-of-mass energy range 1.07--2.00 GeV using the decay mode $\eta\to 3\pi^0$, $\pi^0\to \gamma\gamma$. The analysis is based on 36 pb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the SND detector at the VEPP-2000 $e^+e^-$ collider. The measured cross section of about 35 pb at 1.5 GeV is explained by decays of the $\rho(1450)$ and $\phi(1680)$ resonances.

2 data tables

The energy interval and E+ E- --> ETA GAMMA Born cross section(SIG). The first error in the cross section is statistical, the second systematic. For the last two energy intervals, the upper limits at the 90 PCT confidence level are listed for the cross section.

The fitted values of the cross sections at the resonance peaks.