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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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169 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Measurement of the central exclusive production of charged particle pairs in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV with the STAR detector at RHIC

We report on the measurement of the Central Exclusive Production of charged particle pairs h+h- (h = π, K, p) with the STAR detector at RHIC in proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV. The charged particle pairs produced in the reaction pp → p' + h + h - + p' are reconstructed from the tracks in the central detector and identified using the specific energy loss and the time of flight method, while the forward-scattered protons are measured in the Roman Pot system. Exclusivity of the event is guaranteed by requiring the transverse momentum balance of all four final-state particles. Differential cross sections are measured as functions of observables related to the central hadronic final state and to the forward-scattered protons. They are measured in a fiducial region corresponding to the acceptance of the STAR detector and determined by the central particles’ transverse momenta and pseudorapidities as well as by the forward-scattered protons’ momenta. This fiducial region roughly corresponds to the square of the four-momentum transfers at the proton vertices in the range 0.04 GeV 2 < -t 1 , -t 2 < 0.2 GeV 2 , invariant masses of the charged particle pairs up to a few GeV and pseudorapidities of the centrally-produced hadrons in the range |η| < 0.7. The measured cross sections are compared to phenomenological predictions based on the Double Pomeron Exchange (DPE) model. Structures observed in the mass spectra of π + π - and K + K - pairs are consistent with the DPE model, while angular distributions of pions suggest a dominant spin-0 contribution to π + π - production. For π + π - production, the fiducial cross section is extrapolated to the Lorentz-invariant region, which allows decomposition of the invariant mass spectrum into continuum and resonant contributions. The extrapolated cross section is well described by the continuum production and at least three resonances, the f 0 (980), f 2 (1270) and f 0 (1500), with a possible small contribution from the f 0 (1370). Fits to the extrapolated differential cross section as a function of t 1 and t 2 enable extraction of the exponential slope parameters in several bins of the invariant mass of π + π - pairs. These parameters are sensitive to the size of the interaction region.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Structure of 30 Mg explored via in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy

In the island of inversion, ground states of neutron-rich sd-shell nuclei exhibit strong admixtures of intruder configurations from the fp shell. The nucleus 30 Mg, located at the boundary of the island of inversion, serves as a cornerstone to track the structural evolution as one approaches this region. Spin-parity assignments for excited states in 30 Mg, especially negative-parity levels, have yet to be established. In the present work, the nuclear structure of 30Mg was investigated by in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy mainly focusing on firm spin-parity determinations. High-intensity rare-isotope beams of 31 Mg, 32 Mg, 34 Si, and 35 P bombarded a Be target to induce nucleon removal reactions populating states in 30 Mg. Gamma rays were detected by the state-of-the-art gamma-ray tracking array GRETINA. For the direct one-neutron removal reaction, final-state exclusive cross sections and parallel momentum distributions were deduced. Multi-nucleon removal reactions from different projectiles were exploited to gain complementary information. With the aid of the parallel momentum distributions, an updated level scheme with revised spin-parity assignments was constructed. Spectroscopic factors associated with each state were also deduced. Results were confronted with large-scale shell-model calculations using two different effective interactions, showing excellent agreement with the present level scheme. Furthermore, a marked difference in the spectroscopic factors indicates that the full delineation of the transition into the island of inversion remains a challenge for theoretical models.

20 ≤ A ≤ 38↗
DOE OSTI2022

Probing triaxial deformation of atomic nuclei in high-energy heavy ion collisions

Most atomic nuclei are deformed with a quadrupole shape described by its overall strength β 2 and triaxiality γ. The deformation can be accessed in high-energy heavy ion collisions by measuring the collective flow response of the produced quark-gluon plasma to the eccentricity ε 2 and the density gradient d ⊥ in the initial state. Using an analytical estimate and a Glauber model, I show that the variances $\langleε^{2}_{2}\rangle$ or $\langle$(δd ⊥ /d ⊥ ) 2 $\rangle$ and skewnesses $\langleε^{2}_{2}δd_{⊥}/d_{⊥}\rangle$ or $\langle(δd_{⊥}/d_{⊥})^{3}\rangle$ have a simple analytical form of a'+b'β$^{2}_{2}$ and a'+[b'+c' cos(3γ)]β$^{3}_{2}$, respectively. From these, I constructed several normalized skewnesses to isolate the γ dependence from that of β 2 and show that the correlations between a normalized skewness and a variance can constrain simultaneously β 2 and γ. Assuming a linear relation with elliptic flow v 2 and mean-transverse momentum [p T ] of final-state particles, v 2 ∝ ε 2 and δ [p T ] / [p T ] ∝ δd ⊥ /d ⊥ , similar conclusions are also expected for the variances and skewnesses of v 2 and [p T ], i.e., a + bβ$^{2}_{2}$ for $\langle v^{2}_{2}\rangle$ and $\langle(δ[p_{T}] / [p_{T}])^{2}\rangle$ and a + [b + c cos (3γ)] β$^{3}_{2}$ for $\langle v^{2}_{2}δ [p_{T}] / [p_{T}]\rangle$ or $\langle(δ[p_{T}] / [p_{T}])^{3}\rangle$. My findings motivate a dedicated system scan of high-energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC and LHC to measure triaxiality of atomic nuclei: one first determines the coefficients b and c by collisions of isobaric near prolate nuclei, cos (3γ) ≈ 1, and near oblate nuclei, cos (3γ) ≈ –1 , with known β 2 values, followed by collisions of other species of interest with similar mass number. The (β 2 , γ) values for this species can be inferred directly from the measured variance and skewness observables from these collisions. Finally, the results demonstrate the unique opportunities offered by high-energy collisions as a tool to perform interdisciplinary nuclear physics studies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Probing the Short-Distance Structure of the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Energy Correlators

Energy-energy correlators (EECs) are promising observables to study the dynamics of jet evolution in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) through its imprint on angular scales in the energy flux of final-state particles. We carry out the first complete calculation of EECs using realistic simulations of high-energy heavy-ion collisions and dissect the different dynamics underlying the final distribution through analyses of jet propagation in a uniform medium. The EECs of γ -jets in heavy-ion collisions are found to be enhanced by the medium response from elastic scatterings instead of induced gluon radiation at large angles. In the meantime, EECs are suppressed at small angles due to energy loss and transverse momentum broadening of jet shower partons. These modifications are further shown to be sensitive to the angular scale of the in-medium interaction, as characterized by the Debye screening mass. Experimental verification and measurement of such modifications will shed light on this scale and the short-distance structure of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nuclear matter effects on jet production at electron-ion colliders

In these proceedings we report recent progress on understanding hadron and jet production in electron-nucleus collisions at the future Electron-Ion Collider [1,2]. These processes will play an essential role in the exploration of the partonic structure of nuclei and the study of parton shower evolution in strongly-interacting matter. We employ the framework of soft-collinear effective theory, generalized to include in-medium interactions, to present the first theoretical results for inclusive hadron and jet cross sections, as well as the jet charge modification in deep inelastic scattering on nuclei. We further demonstrate how to separate initial-state and final-state effects.

Li, Hai Tao↗
DOE OSTI2017

Polarization Observables T and F in the yp → pi p Reaction

The theory that describes the interaction of quarks is Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), but how quarks are bound inside a nucleon is not yet well understood. Pion photoproduction experiments reveal important information about the nucleon excited states and the dynamics of the quarks within it and thus provide a useful tool to study QCD. Detailed information about this reaction can be obtained in experiments that utilize polarized photon beams and polarized targets. Pion photoproduction in the γρ → π0ρ reaction has been measured in the FROST experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. In this experiment circularly polarized photons with electron-beam energies up to 3.082 GeV impinged on a transversely polarized frozen-spin target. Final-state protons were detected in the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer. Results of the polarization observables T and F have been extracted. The data generally agree with predictions of present partial wave analyses, but also show marked differences. The data will constrain further partial wave analyses and improve the extraction of proton resonance properties.

Jiang, Hao↗
DOE OSTI2026

Shower Reconstruction for Cross-Section Measurements with Photon(s) in the Final State at SBND

The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112-ton liquid argon time projection chamber operating in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program. Precise reconstruction of electromagnetic showers from photons and electrons is essential for searches for neutrino oscillations, cross-section measurements, and rare-process studies in liquid argon. In this poster, we present a unified set of SBND analyses enabled by the SPINE (Scalable Particle Imaging with Neural Embeddings) end-to-end machine-learning–based reconstruction framework, highlighting charged-current neutral pion (CC π⁰) production and neutral-current (NC) Δ radiative decay as complementary physics cases. Charged-current π⁰ interactions provide a high-statistics benchmark for validating photon reconstruction, constraining the electromagnetic energy scale, and modeling backgrounds to other cross-section measurements and BSM searches with one or more photons in the final state. We summarize progress toward the ongoing development of a CC π⁰ selection in SBND and, report on the current status of a search for NC resonant Δ production followed by radiative decay (Δ→Nγ) in SBND. This rare process, previously investigated in MicroBooNE, provides a stringent test of photon-only final-state reconstruction and is of interest in the context of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess. Together, these analyses demonstrate how modern machine-learning–based shower reconstruction enables a diverse and scalable physics program at SBND.

Chung, Seokju [Nevis Labs, Columbia U.]↗