Sigma+ hyperon production was measured at the COSY-11 spectrometer via the p p --> n K+ Sigma+ reaction at excess energies of Q = 13 MeV and Q = 60 MeV. These measurements continue systematic hyperon production studies via the p p --> p K+ Lambda/Sigma0 reactions where a strong decrease of the cross section ratio close-to-threshold was observed. In order to verify models developed for the description of the Lambda and Sigma0 production we have performed the measurement on the Sigma+ hyperon and found unexpectedly that the total cross section is by more than one order of magnitude larger than predicted by all anticipated models. After the reconstruction of the kaon and neutron four momenta, the Sigma+ is identified via the missing mass technique. Details of the method and the measurement will be given and discussed in view of theoretical models.

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Azimuthal angle (Delta phi) correlations are presented for a broad range of transverse momentum (0.4 < pT < 10 GeV/c) and centrality (0-92%) selections for charged hadrons from di-jets in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. With increasing pT, the away-side Delta phi distribution evolves from a broad and relatively flat shape to a concave shape, then to a convex shape. Comparisons to p+p data suggest that the away-side distribution can be divided into a partially suppressed head region centered at Delta phi ~ \pi, and an enhanced shoulder region centered at Delta phi ~ \pi \pm 1:1. The pT spectrum for the associated hadrons in the head region softens toward central collisions. The spectral slope for the shoulder region is independent of centrality and trigger pT . The properties of the near-side distributions are also modified relative to those in p + p collisions, reflected by the broadening of the jet shape in Delta phi and Delta eta, and an enhancement of the per-trigger yield. However, these modifications seem to be limited to pT < 4 GeV/c, above which both the dihadron pair shape and per-trigger yield become similar to p + p collisions. These observations suggest that both the away- and near-side distributions contain a jet fragmentation component which dominates for pT \ge 5GeV and a medium-induced component which is important for pT \le 4 GeV/c. We also quantify the role of jets at intermediate and low pT through the yield of jet-induced pairs in comparison to binary scaled p + p pair yield. The yield of jet-induced pairs is suppressed at high pair proxy energy (sum of the pT magnitudes of the two hadrons) and is enhanced at low pair proxy energy. The former is consistent with jet quenching/ the latter is consistent with the enhancement of soft hadron pairs due to transport of lost energy to lower pT.

The differential and total cross sections for kaon pair production in the pp->ppK+K- reaction have been measured at three beam energies of 2.65, 2.70, and 2.83 GeV using the ANKE magnetic spectrometer at the COSY-Juelich accelerator. These near-threshold data are separated into pairs arising from the decay of the phi-meson and the remainder. For the non-phi selection, the ratio of the differential cross sections in terms of the K-p and K+p invariant masses is strongly peaked towards low masses. This effect can be described quantitatively by using a simple ansatz for the K-p final state interaction, where it is seen that the data are sensitive to the magnitude of an effective K-p scattering length. When allowance is made for a small number of phi events where the K- rescatters from the proton, the phi region is equally well described at all three energies. A very similar phenomenon is discovered in the ratio of the cross sections as functions of the K-pp and K+pp invariant masses and the identical final state interaction model is also very successful here. The world data on the energy dependence of the non-phi total cross section is also reproduced, except possibly for the results closest to threshold.

The NA44 Collaboration has measured yields and differential distributions of K+, K-, pi+, pi- in transverse kinetic energy and rapidity, around the center-of-mass rapidity in 158 A GeV/c Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. A considerable enhancement of K+ production per pi is observed, as compared to p+p collisions at this energy. To illustrate the importance of secondary hadron rescattering as an enhancement mechanism, we compare strangeness production at the SPS and AGS with predictions of the transport model RQMD.

Double differential K+cross sections have been measured in p+C collisions at 1.2, 1.5 and 2.5 GeV beam energy and in p+Pb collisions at 1.2 and 1.5 GeV. The K+ spectrum taken at 2.5 GeV can be reproduced quantitatively by a model calculation which takes into account first chance proton-nucleon collisions and internal momentum with energy distribution of nucleons according to the spectral function. At 1.2 and 1.5 GeV beam energy the K+ data excess significantly the model predictions for first chance collisions. When taking secondary processes into account the results of the calculations are in much better agreement with the data.

The system created in non-central relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions possesses large orbital angular momentum. Due to spin-orbit coupling, particles produced in such a system could become globally polarized along the direction of the system angular momentum. We present the results of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperon global polarization measurements in Au+Au collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=62.4 GeV and 200 GeV performed with the STAR detector at RHIC. The observed global polarization of Lambda and anti-Lambda hyperons in the STAR acceptance is consistent with zero within the precision of the measurements. The obtained upper limit, |P_{Lambda,anti-Lambda}| <= 0.02, is compared to the theoretical values discussed recently in the literature.

We report new STAR measurements of mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$, $\Omega^{-}$, $\bar{\Omega}^{+}$ particles in Cu+Cu collisions at \sNN{200}, and mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$ particles in Au+Au at \sNN{200}. We show that at a given number of participating nucleons, the production of strange hadrons is higher in Cu+Cu collisions than in Au+Au collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. We find that aspects of the enhancement factors for all particles can be described by a parameterization based on the fraction of participants that undergo multiple collisions.

Measurements are presented of single and double-differential dijet cross sections in diffractive photoproduction based on a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 47 pb^-1. The events are of the type ep -> eXY, where the hadronic system X contains at least two jets and is separated by a large rapidity gap from the system Y, which consists of a leading proton or low-mass proton excitation. The dijet cross sections are compared with QCD calculations at next-to-leading order and with a Monte Carlo model based on leading order matrix elements with parton showers. The measured cross sections are smaller than those obtained from the next-to-leading order calculations by a factor of about 0.6. This suppression factor has no significant dependence on the fraction x_gamma of the photon four-momentum entering the hard subprocess. Ratios of the diffractive to the inclusive dijet cross sections are measured for the first time and are compared with Monte Carlo models.

A measurement of continuum dimuon production in proton-copper collisions at 800-GeV incident energy is presented. The dimuons observed in this experiment cover the mass range from 6.5 to 18 GeV near y=0 in the proton-nucleon center-of-momentum frame. Scaling forms of the cross section for the continuum are compared with the results of other experiments in the context of the parton model and quantum chromodynamics. The present limitations of such scaling comparisons are discussed.

We have measured antiproton production cross sections as functions of centrality in collisions of 14.6 GeV/c per nucleon Si28 ions with targets of Al, Cu, and Pb. For all targets, the antiproton yields increase linearly with the number of projectile nucleons that have interacted, and show little target dependence. We discuss the implications of this result on the production and absorption of antiprotons within the nuclear medium.

We report a new measurement of the pseudorapidity (eta) and transverse-energy (Et) dependence of the inclusive jet production cross section in pbar b collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV using 95 pb**-1 of data collected with the DZero detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. The differential cross section d^2sigma/dEt deta is presented up to |eta| = 3, significantly extending previous measurements. The results are in good overall agreement with next-to-leading order predictions from QCD and indicate a preference for certain parton distribution functions.

Inclusive π − spectra have been measured for 14 N+C collisions at 41 A , 67 A , 80 A and 135 A MeV, the lowest energies measured for the charged pion. The cross sections fall exponentially with T π and the exponential slope factors at 90° in the nucleon-nucleon center of mass frame are determined. Energy distributions below a beam energy of 100 A MeV are less steep than expected from the monotonic decrease of the slope factor down to 100 A MeV. The production mechanism of energetic pions far below threshold is discussed for several models.

The inclusive production of D ∗± mesons in single tagged photon-photon collisions is investigated using the JADE detector at PETRA. D ∗± mesons are reconstructed through their decay into D 0 +π ± where the D 0 decays via D 0 →Kππ 0 . The event rate and topology are compared to the expectations of c quark production in the quark-parton model: γγ→c c .

We have studied the properties of hadron production in photon-photon scattering with tagged photons at the e + e − storage ring PETRA. A tail in the p T distribution of particles consistent with p T −4 has been observed. We show that this tail cannot be due to the hadronic part of the photon. Selected events with high p T particles are found to be consistent with a two-jet structure as expected from a point-like coupling of the photons to quarks. The lowest-order cross section predicted for γγ → q q , σ = 3 Σ e q 4 · σ γγ → μμ , is approached from above by the data at large transverse momenta.

The transverse energy cross-sectiondσ/dET has been measured in the pseudorapidity region 0.6<η<2.4 for hadron-lead collisions at 200 GeV/c incident hadron momentum. TheET distribution extends to 40 GeV, which is twice the kinematic limit forp-p collisions at the same incident beam momentum. The distribution ofET is found to shift towards low pseudorapidities with increasing total transverse energy.

We have measured charged-particle production in neutron-nucleus collisions at high energy. Data on positive and negative particles produced in nuclei [ranging in atomic number (A) from beryllium to lead] are presented for essentially the full forward hemisphere of the center-of-mass system. A rough pion-proton separation is achieved for the positive spectra. Fits of the form Aα to the cross sections are presented as functions of transverse momentum, longitudinal momentum, rapidity, and pseudorapidity. It is found that α changes from ∼0.85 to ∼0.60 for laboratory rapidities ranging from 4 to 8. Trends in the data differ markedly when examined in terms of pseudorapidity rather than rapidity. Qualitatively, the major features of our data can be understood in terms of current particle-production models.

Transverse mass spectra of pions, kaons, and protons from the symmetric heavy-ion collisions 200 A GeV S+S and 158 A GeV Pb+Pb, measured in the NA44 focusing spectrometer at CERN, are presented. The mass dependence of the slope parameters provides evidence of collective transverse flow from expansion of the system in heavy-ion induced central collisions.

Diffractive photoproduction of dijets was measured with the ZEUS detector at the ep collider HERA using an integrated luminosity of 77.2 pb-1. The measurements were made in the kinematic range Q^2 < 1 GeV^2, 0.20 < y < 0.85 and x_pom < 0.025, where Q^2 is the photon virtuality, y is the inelasticity and x_pom is the fraction of the proton momentum taken by the diffractive exchange. The two jets with the highest transverse energy, E_T^jet, were required to satisfy E_T^jet > 7.5 and 6.5 GeV, respectively, and to lie in the pseudorapidity range -1.5 < eta^jet < 1.5. Differential cross sections were compared to perturbative QCD calculations using available parameterisations of diffractive parton distributions of the proton.

Double-tag events in two-photon collisions are studied using the L3 detector at LEP centre-of-mass energies from root(s)=189 GeV to 209 GeV. The cross sections of the e+e- -> e+e- hadrons and gamma*gamma* -> hadrons processes are measured as a function of the photon virtualities, Q1^2 and Q2^2, of the two-photon mass, W_gammagamma, and of the variable Y=ln(W_gammagamma^2/(Q1 Q2)), for an average photon virtuality &lt;Q2> = 16 GeV2. The results are in agreement with next-to-leading order calculations for the process gamma*gamma* -> q qbar in the interval 2 &lt;= Y &lt;= 5. An excess is observed in the interval 5 &lt; Y &lt;= 7, corresponding to W_gammagamma greater than 40 GeV . This may be interpreted as a sign of resolved photon QCD processes or the onset of BFKL phenomena.

The reaction e+e- -> e+e- gamma* gamma* -> e+e- hadrons for quasi-real photons is studied using data from root(s) = 183 GeV up to 202 GeV. Results on the total cross sections sigma(e+e- -> e+e- hadrons) and sigma(+e- gamma* gamma* -> e+e- hadrons) are given for the two-photon centre-of-mass energies 5 GeV &lt; Wgammagamma &lt; 185 GeV. The total cross section of two real photons is described by a Regge parametrisation. We observe a steeper rise with the two-photon centre-of-mass energy as compared to the hadron-hadron and the photon-proton cross sections. The data are also compared to the expectations of different theoretical models.

Besides the dedicated search for strangelets NA52 measures light (anti)particle and (anti)nuclei production over a wide range of rapidity. Compared to previous runs the statistics has been increased in the 1998 run by more than one order of magnitude for negatively charged objects at different spectrometer rigidities. At a rigidity of −20 GeV/ c we measured 10 6 p , 10 3 d and one 3 He without any centrality requirements. These preliminary results together with previous measurements near central rapidity are discussed in the framework of a thermodynamical and a coalescence model.

Detailed measurements of the production of charged π mesons in proton-proton collisions are reported. The observed results are compared with the "isobar" and "one-pion exchange" models and for single production are in agreement if only the "resonant" part of the π−p cross section is used and if the angular distribution cos16θ is introduced for the production of the N1* isobar. The effects of higher resonances are also considered.

The production of eta mesons has been measured in the proton-proton interaction close to the reaction threshold using the COSY-11 internal facility at the cooler synchrotron COSY. Total cross sections were determined for eight different excess energies in the range from 0.5 MeV to 5.4 MeV. The energy dependence of the total cross section is well described by the available phase-space volume weighted by FSI factors for the proton-proton and proton-eta pairs.

We have studied several features of the production of charged-hardon pairs by γγ collisions. We have measured the f0 partial width Γf0→γγ(Q2) for Q2 in the range 0<Q2<1.4 GeV2/c2, and obtained Γf0→γγ=2.52±0.13±0.38 keV at Q2≈0. The measured Q2 dependence is in agreement with the generalized vector-dominance model. The cross section for γγ→(π+π−+K+K−) in the mass region 1.6≤Mππ≤2.5 GeV/c2 has also been measured and the result compared with that expected from the QCD continuum.