Diffractive scattering at next-to-leading order in the dipole picture

We discuss recent developments towards next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy in the dipole picture. We review recent NLO results for exclusive vector meson production and diffractive structure functions, and discuss how it is becoming possible to describe both inclusive and exclusive DIS data simultaneously within the Color Glass Condensate framework at NLO accuracy. These developments will make it possible to probe the gluon saturation phenomena in detail especially when nuclear-DIS data from the EIC become available.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the XXIX Cracow Epiphany Conferenc

Spring production of Calanus finmarchicus at the Iceland-Scotland Ridge

Distribution and reproduction activity of the calanoid copepod Calanus finmarchicus were studied in the waters between Scotland and Iceland in April 1997 during the expected time of the animals' ascent to surface waters following diapause. Ascent was taking place on both sides of the Iceland-Scotland Ridge, apparently from two separate overwintering centers. The population on the Faroe Shelf (FS) most likely came from the overwintering population in the Faroe Shetland Channel (FSC). Per capita egg production was highest on the FS (> 30 eggs female -1d-1) and lowest in the Iceland Basin (10 eggs female -1d-1). The maximum clutch size recorded was on the FS (145 eggs). As the maximum clutch sizes that females produced were between 40% and 77% (area averages of the station maximum rates) of their size-specific reproduction potential, it is argued that egg production rates were generally food-limited. Chlorophyll a concentrations were, at all but one station, under 1 ugL-1. Chlorophyll-based ingestion could, theoretically, support the observed average egg production rates in the Iceland Basin and on the FS but only about 30% of the observed production at the stations in the East Icelandic Current (EIC). The carbon assimilated through ingestion of phytoplankton, Calanus own eggs andnauplii in the EIC was estimated to be too low to support the frequently observed production of clutches consisting of over 100 eggs. Cannibalism on eggs and nauplii was not likely to have constituted a significant component of dietary carbon intake. However, a combination of feeding and assimilation of reserved lipid remaining from overwintering could be sufficient to explain the observed per capita egg production rates. C. finmarchicus copepod stages 1-3 were only recorded in considerable numbers only on the FS. This suggests higher survival rates of eggs in the shelf waters

Diversity, choice and the quasi-market: An empirical analysis of secondary education policy in England

This paper investigates the extent to which exam performance at the end of compulsory education has been affected by three major education reforms: the introduction of a quasi-market following the Education Reform Act (1988); the specialist schools initiative introduced in 1994; and the Excellence in Cities programme introduced in 1999. We use data for all state-funded secondary schools in England over the period 1992-2006. The empirical analysis, which is based on the application of panel data methods, indicates that the government and its agencies have substantially overestimated the benefits flowing from these three major reforms. Only about one-third of the improvement in GCSE exam scores during 1992-2006 is directly attributable to the combined effect of the education reforms. The distributional consequences of the policy, however, are estimated to have been favourable, with the greatest gains being achieved by schools with the highest proportion of pupils from poor families. But there is evidence that resources have not been allocated efficiently.

A detailed QCD analysis of twist-3 effects in DVCS observables

In this paper I present a detailed QCD analysis of twist-3 effects in the Wandzura-Wilczek (WW) approximation in deeply virtual Compton scattering (DVCS) observables for various kinematical settings, representing the HERA, HERMES, CLAS and the planned EIC (electron-ion-collider) experiments. I find that the twist-3 effects in the WW approximation are almost always negligible at collider energies but can be large for low Q^2 and smaller x_bj in observables for the lower energy, fixed target experiments directly sensitive to the real part of DVCS amplitudes like the charge asymmetry (CA). Conclusions are then drawn about the reliability of extracting twist-2 generalized parton distributions (GPDs) from experimental data and a first, phenomenological, parameterization of the LO and NLO twist-2 GPD $H$, describing all the currently available DVCS data within the experimental errors is given.Comment: 18 pages, 21 figures, uses Revtex4, final version to be published in PRD, minor revisions due to referee suggestion