Data on multiplicity, correlations, and inclusive spectra of KS0 mesons and Λ0(Λ¯0) hyperons produced with xF≤0 in inelastic pNe20 and pN interactions at 300 GeV are presented and compared. The inclusive cross sections for pNe20 (pN) with xF≤0 are 61.1±2.8 mb (3.34±0.64 mb) for KS0, 40.8±2.5 mb (1.89±0.29 mb) for Λ0, and 3.9±0.5 mb (0.31±0.08 mb) for Λ¯0. The multiplicity ratio for pNe20 and pN interactions is 1.58±0.16 for KS0, 1.95±0.23 for Λ0, and 1.12±0.43 for Λ¯0. We have observed the Σ0(1193) hyperon and measured the average multiplicity (nΣ0=0.049±0.027) for xF≤0. We have also observed the strange resonances K*(892), K*(1415), and Σ*(1385) with xF≤0 and measured the fraction of V0 coming from each resonance. Λ0 polarization for xF≤0 is measured and shows a decrease as p⊥ increases [pΛ(pNe20)≈−0.25 at p⊥=1.5 GeV/c], in agreement with other experiments which measure polarization in the region xF≫0. Since (43±7)% of the Λ0 are produced in Σ0→Λ0γ decays, the Λ0 polarization is significantly greater than the measured values. Experimental results are compared to predictions of the Lund model and the dual parton model of soft hadron-nucleus and hadron-nucleon interactions.
The first measurements of elliptic flow of $\pi^\pm$, ${\rm K}^\pm$, p+$\overline{\rm p}$, ${\rm K_{S}^0}$, $\Lambda$+$\overline{\Lambda}$, $\phi$, $\Xi^-$+$\Xi^+$, and $\Omega^-$+$\Omega^+$ using multiparticle cumulants in Pb$-$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV are presented. Results obtained with two- ($v_2\{2\}$) and four-particle cumulants ($v_2\{4\}$) are shown as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, for various collision centrality intervals. Combining the data for both $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$ also allows us to report the first measurements of the mean elliptic flow, elliptic flow fluctuations, and relative elliptic flow fluctuations for various hadron species. These observables probe the event-by-event eccentricity fluctuations in the initial state and the contributions from the dynamic evolution of the expanding quark-gluon plasma. The characteristic features observed in previous $p_{\rm T}$-differential anisotropic flow measurements for identified hadrons with two-particle correlations, namely the mass ordering at low $p_{\rm T}$ and the approximate scaling with the number of constituent quarks at intermediate $p_{\rm T}$, are similarly present in the four-particle correlations and the combinations of $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$. In addition, a particle species dependence of flow fluctuations is observed that could indicate a significant contribution from final state hadronic interactions. The comparison between experimental measurements and CoLBT model calculations, which combine the various physics processes of hydrodynamics, quark coalescence, and jet fragmentation, illustrates their importance over a wide $p_{\rm T}$ range.
The rate of neutrino- and antineutrino-induced prompt same-sign dimuon production in steel was measured using a sample of μ−μ− events and 25 μ+μ+ events withPμ>9 GeV/c, produced in 1.5 millionvμ and 0.3 million\(\overline {v_\mu}\) induced charged-current events with energies between 30 GeV and 600 GeV. The data were obtained with the Chicago-Columbia-Fermilab-Rochester (CCFR) neutrino detector in the Fermilab Tevatron Quadrupole Triplet Neutrino Beam during experiments E 744 and E 770. After background subtraction, the prompt rate of same-sign dimuon production is (0.53±0.24)×10−4 pervμ charged-current event and (0.52±0.33)×10−4 per\(\overline {v_\mu}\) charged-current event. The kinematic distributions of the same-sign dimuon events after background subtraction are consistent with those of the non-prompt background due to meson decays in the hadron shower of a charged-current event. Calculations ofc\(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung, based on improved measurements of the charm mass parameter and nucleon structure functions by the CCFR collaboration, yield a prompt rate of (0.09±0.39)×10−4 pervμ charged-current event. In this case,c\(\bar c\) gluon bremsstrahlung is probably not an observable source of prompt same-sign dimuons.
Two-particle pseudorapidity correlations are measured in $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 2.76 TeV Pb+Pb, $\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV $p$+Pb, and $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV $pp$ collisions at the LHC, with total integrated luminosities of approximately 7 $\mu\mathrm{b}^{-1}$, 28 $\mathrm{nb}^{-1}$, and 65 $\mathrm{nb}^{-1}$, respectively. The correlation function $C_{\rm N}(\eta_1,\eta_2)$ is measured as a function of event multiplicity using charged particles in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<2.4$. The correlation function contains a significant short-range component, which is estimated and subtracted. After removal of the short-range component, the shape of the correlation function is described approximately by $1+\langle{a_1^2}\rangle \eta_1\eta_2$ in all collision systems over the full multiplicity range. The values of $\sqrt{\langle{a_1^2}\rangle}$ are consistent between the opposite-charge pairs and same-charge pairs, and for the three collision systems at similar multiplicity. The values of $\sqrt{\langle{a_1^2}\rangle}$ and the magnitude of the short-range component both follow a power-law dependence on the event multiplicity. The $\eta$ distribution of the short-range component, after symmetrizing the proton and lead directions in $p$+Pb collisions, is found to be smaller than that in $pp$ collisions with comparable multiplicity.
A comprehensive study on the atmospheric neutrino flux in the energy region from sub-GeV up to several TeV using the Super-Kamiokande water Cherenkov detector is presented in this paper. The energy and azimuthal spectra of the atmospheric ${\nu}_e+{\bar{\nu}}_e$ and ${\nu}_{\mu}+{\bar{\nu}}_{\mu}$ fluxes are measured. The energy spectra are obtained using an iterative unfolding method by combining various event topologies with differing energy responses. The azimuthal spectra depending on energy and zenith angle, and their modulation by geomagnetic effects, are also studied. A predicted east-west asymmetry is observed in both the ${\nu}_e$ and ${\nu}_{\mu}$ samples at 8.0 {\sigma} and 6.0 {\sigma} significance, respectively, and an indication that the asymmetry dipole angle changes depending on the zenith angle was seen at the 2.2 {\sigma} level. The measured energy and azimuthal spectra are consistent with the current flux models within the estimated systematic uncertainties. A study of the long-term correlation between the atmospheric neutrino flux and the solar magnetic activity cycle is also performed, and a weak indication of a correlation was seen at the 1.1 {\sigma} level, using SK I-IV data spanning a 20 year period. For particularly strong solar activity periods known as Forbush decreases, no theoretical prediction is available, but a deviation below the typical neutrino event rate is seen at the 2.4 {\sigma} level.
A search for the 0 + → 2 + neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76 Ge into the first excited state of 76 Se has been carried out using a coincidence technique between Ge and NaI detectors. Since the expected number of counts is very small and mixed with a continuous background of natural radioactivity, special care has been taken to maintain the good energy resolution of the detectors. As a consequence, the experimental data display, after 6207 h statistical time, a coincidence signal of 19.3 ± 5.8 counts, between an energy deposition of 1484.0 ± 0.3 keV in the Ge detectors and 561 ± 10 keV in the NaI detectors. Both Ge and NaI energies are within the experimental errors, compatible with the expected values. No other unidentified coincidence signal has been found in the full Ge-NaI energy matrix, and no similar γγ cascade has been found within our background. Even if the low statistics does not completely rule out the possibility of a statistical fluctuation, this result should encourage further experiments with improved sensitivities.
In a joint effort the CERES/NA45 and TAPS collaborations have measured low-mass electron pairs in p–Be and p–Au collisions at 450 GeV/c at the CERN SPS. In the range covered up to ≈ 1.5 GeV/c2 the mass spectra from p–Be and p–Au collisions are well explained by electron pairs from decays of neutral mesons. For p–Au our result is new. For p–Be, the simultaneously measured electron pair inclusive pair spectrum in which instrumental uncertainties are highly reduced. We confirm the earlier finding of HELIOS-1 with significantly reduced systematic uncertainties of 23% in the mass range below 450 MeV/c2, and of 28% in the mass range above 750 MeV/c2 at 90% confidence limit. Any unconventional source of electron pairs is limited by these error margins as the percentage fraction of the hadronic contribution.
This letter describes the observation of the light-by-light scattering process, $\gamma\gamma\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$, in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The analysis is conducted using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.73 nb$^{-1}$, collected in November 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Light-by-light scattering candidates are selected in events with two photons produced exclusively, each with transverse energy $E_{\textrm{T}}^{\gamma} > 3$ GeV and pseudorapidity $|\eta_{\gamma}| < 2.37$, diphoton invariant mass above 6 GeV, and small diphoton transverse momentum and acoplanarity. After applying all selection criteria, 59 candidate events are observed for a background expectation of 12 $\pm$ 3 events. The observed excess of events over the expected background has a significance of 8.2 standard deviations. The measured fiducial cross section is 78 $\pm$ 13 (stat.) $\pm$ 7 (syst.) $\pm$ 3 (lumi.) nb.
Making use of 36 pb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV, the ATLAS Collaboration has performed a search for diphoton events with large missing transverse energy. Observing no excess of events above the Standard Model prediction, a 95% Confidence Level (CL) upper limit is set on the cross section for new physics of sigma < 0.38 - 0.65 pb in the context of a generalised model of gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking (GGM) with a bino-like lightest neutralino, and of sigma < 0.18 - 0.23 pb in the context of a specific model with one universal extra dimension (UED). A 95 % CL lower limit of 560 GeV, for bino masses above 50 GeV, is set on the GGM gluino mass, while a lower limit of 1/R > 961 GeV is set on the UED compactification radius R. These limits provide the most stringent tests of these models to date.
The differential cross section d σ d t′ for the charge-exchange process π + p → π 0 ( π + p) at 8, 16 and 23 GeV/ c is presented for several regions of the π + p effective mass. It is found that the dip at t ′ ≈ 0.6 (GeV/ c ) 2 which is observed in the Δ(1236) mass band becomes a less pronounced structure in the higher mass regions. However, while the slope of the d σ d t′ distributions in the near-forward direction decreases strongly with increasing π + p mass, there is no evidence that the observed structure moves to higher values of t ′ as the π + p mass increases. These results are consistent with a Regge-exchange picture where the position of the dip is determined by the exchanged trajectory, but are inconsistent with a simple geometrical picture.