The TOTEM experiment has measured the charged particle pseudorapidity density dN_{ch}/deta in pp collisions at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV for 5.3<|eta|<6.4 in events with at least one charged particle with transverse momentum above 40 MeV/c in this pseudorapidity range. This extends the analogous measurement performed by the other LHC experiments to the previously unexplored forward eta region. The measurement refers to more than 99% of non-diffractive processes and to single and double diffractive processes with diffractive masses above ~3.4 GeV/c^2, corresponding to about 95% of the total inelastic cross-section. The dN_{ch}/deta has been found to decrease with |eta|, from 3.84 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.37(syst) at |eta| = 5.375 to 2.38 pm 0.01(stat) pm 0.21(syst) at |eta| = 6.375. Several MC generators have been compared to data; none of them has been found to fully describe the measurement.

Measurements of the midrapidity transverse energy distribution, $d\Et/d\eta$, are presented for $p$$+$$p$, $d$$+$Au, and Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV and additionally for Au$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=62.4$ and 130 GeV. The $d\Et/d\eta$ distributions are first compared with the number of nucleon participants $N_{\rm part}$, number of binary collisions $N_{\rm coll}$, and number of constituent-quark participants $N_{qp}$ calculated from a Glauber model based on the nuclear geometry. For Au$+$Au, $\mean{d\Et/d\eta}/N_{\rm part}$ increases with $N_{\rm part}$, while $\mean{d\Et/d\eta}/N_{qp}$ is approximately constant for all three energies. This indicates that the two component ansatz, $dE_{T}/d\eta \propto (1-x) N_{\rm part}/2 + x N_{\rm coll}$, which has been used to represent $E_T$ distributions, is simply a proxy for $N_{qp}$, and that the $N_{\rm coll}$ term does not represent a hard-scattering component in $E_T$ distributions. The $dE_{T}/d\eta$ distributions of Au$+$Au and $d$$+$Au are then calculated from the measured $p$$+$$p$ $E_T$ distribution using two models that both reproduce the Au$+$Au data. However, while the number-of-constituent-quark-participant model agrees well with the $d$$+$Au data, the additive-quark model does not.

The reaction pp->{pp}_s\gamma, where {pp}_s is a proton pair with an excitation energy E_{pp}<3 MeV, has been observed with the ANKE spectrometer at COSY-Juelich for proton beam energies of T_p=0.353, 0.500, and 0.550 GeV. This is equivalent to photodisintegration of a free 1S_0 diproton for photon energies E\gamma ~ T_p/2. The differential cross sections measured for c.m. angles 0 deg.<\theta_{pp}<20 deg. exhibit a steep increase with angle that is compatible with E1 and E2 multipole contributions. The ratio of the measured cross sections to those of np->d\gamma is on the 10^{-3}-10^{-2} level. The increase of the pp->{pp}_s\gamma cross section with T_p might reflect the influence of the Delta(1232) excitation.

Differential cross sections have been measured for nucleon-isobar production and elastic scattering in p−p interactions from 6.2 to 29.7 GeVc in the laboratory angle range 8<θsc<265 mrad. N*' s at 1236, 1410, 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV were observed. Computer fits to the mass spectra under varying assumptions of resonance and background shapes show that conclusions on t and s dependence are only slightly affected despite typical variations in absolute normalization of ± 35%. Logarithmic t slopes in the small- |t| range are ∼15 (GeVc)−2 for the N*(1410), ∼5 (GeVc)−2 for the N*'s at 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV, and ∼9 (GeVc)−2 for elastic scattering. Also for the small- |t| data, cross sections for N*'s at 1410, 1500, 1690, and 2190 MeV and for elastic scattering vary only slightly with Pinc consistent with the dominance of Pomeranchuk exchange and with diffraction dissociation. A fit of N*(1690) total cross sections to the form σ∝P−n gives n=0.34±0.06, while for elastic scattering n=0.20±0.05. For the N*(1690) the effective Regge trajectory has the slope αeff′(0)=0.38±0.17. When compared with N* production in π−, K−, and p¯ beams these data also agree with approximate factorization of the Pomeranchuk trajectory. N*(1236) cross sections are consistent with other measurements at similar momenta. For −t>1 (GeVc)−2, elastic scattering cross sections decrease approximately as Pinc−2, and they and N*(1500)− and N*(1690)− production cross sections have t slopes consistent with 1.6 (GeVc)−2.

We report a new high-precision measurement of the mid-rapidity inclusive jet longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, $A_{LL}$, in polarized $pp$ collisions at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. The STAR data place stringent constraints on polarized parton distribution functions extracted at next-to-leading order from global analyses of inclusive deep inelastic scattering (DIS), semi-inclusive DIS, and RHIC $pp$ data. The measured asymmetries provide evidence for positive gluon polarization in the Bjorken-$x$ region $x>0.05$.

Differential cross sections for the exclusive reaction p⃗p→ppη observed via the η→π+π−π0 decay channel have been measured at Tbeam=2.15GeV, 2.50GeV, and 2.85GeV (excess energies 324MeV, 412MeV, and 554MeV). The influence of the N(1535)S11 resonance is clearly seen in the invariant mass and momentum dependent differential cross sections. The extracted resonance parameters are compatible with existing data. No significant evidence for further resonance contributions has been found. In addition, angular distributions of the ppη final state have been measured. The polar angle distribution of the η shows an anisotropy with respect to the beam axis for the lowest beam energy, which vanishes for the higher energies. The sign of this anisotropy is negative and expected to be sensitive to the dominant production mechanism. In contrast, the proton polar angle in the pp rest frame tends to be more strongly aligned along the beam axis with increasing beam energy. The analyzing power Ay is compatible with zero for all beam energies.

Threshold measurements of the associated strangeness production reactions pp --> p K(+) Lambda and pp --> p K(+) Sigma(0) are presented. Although slight differences in the shapes of the excitation functions are observed, the most remarkable feature of the data is that at the same excess energy the total cross section for the Sigma(0) production appears to be about a factor of 28 smaller than the one for the Lambda particle. It is concluded that strong Sigma(0)-p final state interactions, and in particular the Sigma-N --> Lambda-p conversion reaction, are the likely cause of the depletion for the yield in the Sigma signal. This hypothesis is in line with other experimental evidence in the literature.

The eta-prime meson production in the reaction pp-->pp eta-prime has been studied at excess energies of Q = 26.5, 32.5 and 46.6 MeV using the internal beam facility COSY-11 at the cooler synchrotron COSY. The total cross sections as well as one angular distribution for the highest Q-value are presented. The excitation function of the near threshold data can be described by a pure s-wave phase space distribution with the inclusion of the proton-proton final state interaction and Coulomb effects. The obtained angular distribution of the eta-prime mesons is also consistent with pure s-wave production.

New results on the production of charged pions in p+p interactions are presented. The data come from a sample of 4.8 million inelastic events obtained with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS at 158 GeV/c beam momentum. Pions are identified by energy loss measurement in a large TPC tracking system which covers a major fraction of the production phase space. Inclusive invariant cross sections are given on a grid of nearly 300 bins per charge over intervals from 0 to 2 GeV/c in transverse momentum and from 0 to 0.85 in Feynman x. The results are compared to existing data in overlapping energy ranges.

Measurements of charged pion and kaon production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40, 80 and 158 AGeV are presented. These are compared with data at lower and higher energies as well as with results from p+p interactions. The mean pion multiplicity per wounded nucleon increases approximately linearly with s_NN^1/4 with a change of slope starting in the region 15-40 AGeV. The change from pion suppression with respect to p+p interactions, as observed at low collision energies, to pion enhancement at high energies occurs at about 40 AGeV. A non-monotonic energy dependence of the ratio of K^+ to pi^+ yields is observed, with a maximum close to 40 AGeV and an indication of a nearly constant value at higher energies.The measured dependences may be related to an increase of the entropy production and a decrease of the strangeness to entropy ratio in central Pb+Pb collisions in the low SPS energy range, which is consistent with the hypothesis that a transient state of deconfined matter is created above these energies. Other interpretations of the data are also discussed.