The measurement of $K^{*}(892)^0$ resonance production via its $K^{+}\pi^{-}$ decay mode in inelastic p+p collisions at beam momentum 158 GeV/$c$ ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV) is presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The $\textit{template}$ method was used to extract the $K^{*}(892)^0$ signal and double differential transverse momentum and rapidity spectra were obtained. The full phase-space mean multiplicity of $K^{*}(892)^0$ mesons was found to be $(78.44 \pm 0.38 \mathrm{(stat)} \pm 6.0 \mathrm{(sys)) \cdot 10^{-3}}$. The NA61/SHINE results are compared with the E$_{POS}$1.99 and Hadron Resonance Gas models as well as with world data from p+p and nucleus-nucleus collisions.
The differential cross sections for the elastic scattering of π+, π−, K+, K−, p, and p¯ on protons have been measured in the t interval -0.04 to -0.75 GeV2 at five momenta: 50, 70, 100, 140, and 175 GeV/c. The t distributions have been parametrized by the quadratic exponential form dσdt=Aexp(B|t|+C|t|2) and the energy dependence has been described in terms of a single-pole Regge model. The pp and K+p diffraction peaks are found to shrink with α′∼0.20 and ∼0.15 GeV−2, respectively. The p¯p diffraction peak is antishrinking while π±p and K−p are relatively energy-independent. Total elastic cross sections are calculated by integrating the differential cross sections. The rapid decline in σel observed at low energies has stopped and all six reactions approach relatively constant values of σel. The ratio of σelσtot approaches a constant value for all six reactions by 100 GeV, consistent with the predictions of the geometric-scaling hypothesis. This ratio is ∼0.18 for pp and p¯p, and ∼0.12-0.14 for π±p and K±p. A crossover is observed between K+p and K−p scattering at |t|∼0.19 GeV2, and between pp and p¯p at |t|∼0.11 GeV2. Inversion of the cross sections into impact-parameter space shows that protons are quite transparent to mesons even in head-on collisions. The probability for a meson to pass through a proton head-on without interaction inelastically is ∼20% while it is only ∼6% for an incident proton or antiproton. Finally, the results are compared with various quark-model predictions.
The ratio of π+p to pp elastic scattering is found to be smoothly varying over the range −t=0.03 to 0.4 GeV2. It is well fitted by a single exponential, indicating the forward behavior must be quite similar for the two reactions.
The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. We report searches for new physics appearing through few-keV-scale electron recoils, using the experiment's first exposure of 60 live days and a fiducial mass of 5.5t. The data are found to be consistent with a background-only hypothesis, and limits are set on models for new physics including solar axion electron coupling, solar neutrino magnetic moment and millicharge, and electron couplings to galactic axion-like particles and hidden photons. Similar limits are set on weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter producing signals through ionized atomic states from the Migdal effect.
A combination of measurements of the inclusive top-quark pair production cross-section performed by ATLAS and CMS in proton-proton collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the LHC is presented. The cross-sections are obtained using top-quark pair decays with an opposite-charge electron-muon pair in the final state and with data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 5 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and about 20 fb$^{-1}$ at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV for each experiment. The combined cross-sections are determined to be $178.5 \pm 4.7$ pb at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV and $243.3^{+6.0}_{-5.9}$ pb at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV with a correlation of 0.41, using a reference top-quark mass value of 172.5 GeV. The ratio of the combined cross-sections is determined to be $R_{8/7}= 1.363\pm 0.032$. The combined measured cross-sections and their ratio agree well with theory calculations using several parton distribution function (PDF) sets. The values of the top-quark pole mass (with the strong coupling fixed at 0.118) and the strong coupling (with the top-quark pole mass fixed at 172.5 GeV) are extracted from the combined results by fitting a next-to-next-to-leading-order plus next-to-next-to-leading-log QCD prediction to the measurements. Using a version of the NNPDF3.1 PDF set containing no top-quark measurements, the results obtained are $m_t^\text{pole} = 173.4^{+1.8}_{-2.0}$ GeV and $\alpha_\text{s}(m_Z)= 0.1170^{+ 0.0021}_{-0.0018}$.
We present high-statistics results on the reactions a+p→c+X where a and c can be any of π±, K±, p, or p¯. The data were taken at 100 and 175 GeV/c incident momenta using the Fermilab Single-Arm Spectrometer operated over the kinematic range 0.2<x<1.0 and pt<~1.0 GeV/c. Investigating the x dependence of the data, we find agreement with a quark-parton picture, namely the cross sections have a power-law behavior in 1−x independent of pbeam and pt.
An experiment using the Fermilab Single Arm Spectrometer (SAS) facility and an associated nonmagnetic vertex detector studied the reactions a+p→c+X, where a and c were π±, K±, p, or p¯. Extensive measurements were made at 100 and 175 GeV/c beam momenta with the outgoing hadrons detected in the SAS covering a kinematic range 0.12<x<1.0 and pT<1.25 GeV/c. Additional data covering a more restricted range in x were also gathered at 70 GeV/c incident momentum. In this high-statistics experiment, the identification of both the incoming and outgoing charged hadrons were made with a total of eight Čerenkov counters. New and extensive single-particle inclusive data for charged-particle production in low-pT hadronic fragmentation are presented. The average associated charged-particle multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions are also given.
Data are presented on the inclusive production of π±, K±, p, and p¯ for π+, K+, and protons incident on nuclear targets at 100 GeV. The results cover the kinematic range 30≤P≤88 GeV/c for Pt=0.3 and 0.5 GeV/c. The observed A dependence of the invariant cross sections exhibits remarkable simplicity, which does not naturally follow from current models of particle production. The results show that the hypothesis of limiting fragmentation can be extended to include collisions with nuclei.
Following the first science results of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment, a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating from the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA, we report the initial limits on a model-independent non-relativistic effective field theory describing the complete set of possible interactions of a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) with a nucleon. These results utilize the same 5.5 t fiducial mass and 60 live days of exposure collected for the LZ spin-independent and spin-dependent analyses while extending the upper limit of the energy region of interest by a factor of 7.5 to 270 keVnr. No significant excess in this high energy region is observed. Using a profile-likelihood ratio analysis, we report 90% confidence level exclusion limits on the coupling of each individual non-relativistic WIMP-nucleon operator for both elastic and inelastic interactions in the isoscalar and isovector bases.
The LUX-ZEPLIN experiment is a dark matter detector centered on a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber operating at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. This Letter reports results from LUX-ZEPLIN's first search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with an exposure of 60~live days using a fiducial mass of 5.5 t. A profile-likelihood ratio analysis shows the data to be consistent with a background-only hypothesis, setting new limits on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon, spin-dependent WIMP-neutron, and spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross sections for WIMP masses above 9 GeV/c$^2$. The most stringent limit is set for spin-independent scattering at 36 GeV/c$^2$, rejecting cross sections above 9.2$\times 10^{-48}$ cm$^2$ at the 90% confidence level.
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