Results are presented on two-jet and three-jet cross sections, measured in the UA1 experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) pp̄ Collider, at the highest available subprocess cms energies ( s ̂ >150 GeV ). Precise measurements of the two-jet angular distribution are consistent with previous results but show significant scale-breaking effects. The three-jet Dalitz plot and the three-jet angular distributions show evidence for final- and initial-state bremsstrahlung processes, in agreement with the leading-order QCD predictions. A comparison of the yield of wide-angle three-jet events with the yield of two-jet events at smaller scattering angles gives for the strong interaction coupling constant: α s ( K 3J K 2J )=0.16±0.02±0.03 at Q 2 ≈4000 GeV 2 , where the factor K 3J K 2J may plausibly be assumed to be close to unity.
The analysis of the data collected by the NA50 experiment in 1998, reported in this paper, extends and clarifies the pattern of the previously observed J/ ψ anomalous suppression. This new measurement, besides providing a deeper understanding of the previous observations, reveals a steady significative decrease in the J/ ψ production rate up to the most central Pb-Pb collisions. It clearly rules out the presently available conventional (hadronic) models of J/ ψ suppression, which unanimously predict a saturation of the J/ ψ rate for central Pb-Pb collisions. On the contrary and together with the sharp onset of the anomalous suppression previously reported, the new observation leads to a global production rate pattern which finds its natural explanation in the framework of the formation of a deconfined state of quarks and gluons.
We present a new measurement of the Z/gamma* transverse momentum distribution in the range 0 - 330GeV, in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV. The measurement uses 0.97 fb-1 of integrated luminosity recorded by the D0 experiment and is the first using the Z/gamma*->mu+mu- + X channel at this center-of-mass energy. This is also the first measurement of the Z/gamma* transverse momentum distribution that presents the result at the level of particles entering the detector, minimizing dependence on theoretical models. As any momentum of the Z/gamma* in the plane transverse to the incoming beams must be balanced by some recoiling system, primarily the result of QCD radiation in the initial state, this variable is an excellent probe of the underlying process. Tests of the predictions of QCD calculations and current event generators show they have varied success in describing the data. Using this measurement as an input to theoretical predictions will allow for a better description of hadron collider data and hence it will increase experimental sensitivity to rare signals.
Samples of inclusive photon+2 jet and photon+3 jet events collected by the D0 experiment with an integrated luminosity of about 1fb^-1 in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV are used to measure cross sections as a function of the angle in the plane transverse to the beam direction between the transverse momentum (pT) of the photon+leading jet system (jets are ordered in pT) and pT of the other jet for photon+2 jet, or pT sum of the two other jets for photon+3 jet events. The results are compared to different models of multiple parton interactions (MPI) in the PYTHIA and SHERPA Monte Carlo (MC) generators. The data indicate a contribution from events with double parton (DP) interactions and are well described by predictions provided by the PYTHIA MPI models with pT-ordered showers and by SHERPA with the default MPI model. The photon+2 jet data are also used to determine the fraction of events with DP interactions as a function of the azimuthal angle and as a function of the second jet pT.
We present the first measurement of the inclusive three-jet differential cross section as a function of the invariant mass of the three jets with the largest transverse momenta in an event in p anti-p collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. The measurement is made in different rapidity regions and for different jet transverse momentum requirements and is based on a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 0.7 fb^{-1} collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The results are used to test the three-jet matrix elements in perturbative QCD calculations at next-to-leading order in the strong coupling constant. The data allow discrimination between parametrizations of the parton distribution functions of the proton.
The production of transverse energy clusters in minimum bias proton-antiproton collisions at the CERN SPS Collider is studied with the UA1 detector over a new range of centre of mass energies (√ s = 0.2−0.9 TeV). This study is intended to investigate how low in transverse momentum perturbative QCD is able to describe the dynamics of hadron collisions. We observe that clusters with transverse energy in excess of a few GeV exhibit properties in agreement with QCD expectations for parton scattering, supporting their interpretation in terms of jet production. We find that the jet-event rate represents a sizeable fraction of the inelastic rate and is increasing with √ s over the measured energy range.