A GLOBAL QCD STUDY OF DIRECT PHOTON PRODUCTION

A global QCD analysis of the direct photon production process from both fixed target and collider experiments is presented. These data sets now completely cover the parton $x$ range from 0.01 to 0.6, thereby providing a stringent test of perturbative QCD and parton distributions. Previous detailed studies of direct photons emphasized fixed target data. We find most data sets have a steeper $p_t$ distribution than the QCD prediction. Neither global fits with new parton distributions nor improved photon fragmentation functions can resolve this problem since the deviation occurs at different $x$ values for experiments at different energies. A more likely explanation is the need for additional broadening of the $k_t$ of the initial state partons. The magnitude and the possible physical origin of this effect are investigated and discussed.Comment: 8 page Latex file using epsf.sty for figures. 6 eps figures submitted separately in uuencoded file

Light tracking through ice and water -- Scattering and absorption in heterogeneous media with Photonics

In the field of neutrino astronomy, large volumes of optically transparent matter like glacial ice, lake water, or deep ocean water are used as detector media. Elementary particle interactions are studied using in situ detectors recording time distributions and fluxes of the faint photon fields of Cherenkov radiation generated by ultra-relativistic charged particles, typically muons or electrons. The Photonics software package was developed to determine photon flux and time distributions throughout a volume containing a light source through Monte Carlo simulation. Photons are propagated and time distributions are recorded throughout a cellular grid constituting the simulation volume, and Mie scattering and absorption are realised using wavelength and position dependent parameterisations. The photon tracking results are stored in binary tables for transparent access through ANSI-C and C++ interfaces. For higher-level physics applications, like simulation or reconstruction of particle events, it is then possible to quickly acquire the light yield and time distributions for a pre-specified set of light source and detector properties and geometries without real-time photon propagation. In this paper the Photonics light propagation routines and methodology are presented and applied to the IceCube and Antares neutrino telescopes. The way in which inhomogeneities of the Antarctic glacial ice distort the signatures of elementary particle interactions, and how Photonics can be used to account for these effects, is described.Comment: 22 pages, 8 Postscript figures, uses elsart.cl

Supernova pointing with low- and high-energy neutrino detectors

A future galactic SN can be located several hours before the optical explosion through the MeV-neutrino burst, exploiting the directionality of $\nu$-$e$-scattering in a water Cherenkov detector such as Super-Kamiokande. We study the statistical efficiency of different methods for extracting the SN direction and identify a simple approach that is nearly optimal, yet independent of the exact SN neutrino spectra. We use this method to quantify the increase in the pointing accuracy by the addition of gadolinium to water, which tags neutrons from the inverse beta decay background. We also study the dependence of the pointing accuracy on neutrino mixing scenarios and initial spectra. We find that in the ``worst case'' scenario the pointing accuracy is $8^\circ$ at 95% C.L. in the absence of tagging, which improves to $3^\circ$ with a tagging efficiency of 95%. At a megaton detector, this accuracy can be as good as $0.6^\circ$. A TeV-neutrino burst is also expected to be emitted contemporaneously with the SN optical explosion, which may locate the SN to within a few tenths of a degree at a future km$^2$ high-energy neutrino telescope. If the SN is not seen in the electromagnetic spectrum, locating it in the sky through neutrinos is crucial for identifying the Earth matter effects on SN neutrino oscillations.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, Revtex4 format. The final version to be published in Phys. Rev. D. A few points in the original text are clarifie

Prompt muon contribution to the flux underwater

We present high energy spectra and zenith-angle distributions of the atmospheric muons computed for the depths of the locations of the underwater neutrino telescopes. We compare the calculations with the data obtained in the Baikal and the AMANDA muon experiments. The prompt muon contribution to the muon flux underwater due to recent perturbative QCD-based models of the charm production is expected to be observable at depths of the large underwater neutrino telescopes. This appears to be probable even at rather shallow depths (1-2 km), provided that the energy threshold for muon detection is raised above $\sim 100$ TeV.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX, 7 eps figures, final version to be published in Phys.Rev.D; a few changes made in the text and the figures, an approximation formula for muon spectra at the sea level, the muon zenith-angle distribution table data and references adde

Fluxes of atmospheric muons underwater depending on the small-x gluon density

The prompt muon contribution to the deep-sea atmospheric muon flux can serve as a tool for probing into the small-x feature of the gluon density inside of a nucleon, if the muon energy threshold could be lifted to 100 TeV. The prompt muon flux underwater is calculated taking into consideration predictions of recent charm production models in which the small-x behaviour of the gluon distribution is probed. We discuss the possibility of distinguishing the PQCD models of the charm production differing in the small-x exponent of the gluon distribution, in measurements of the muon flux at energies 10-100 TeV with neutrino telescopes.Comment: 9 pages, 4 eps figures, uses iopart.st

Examination of direct-photon and pion production in proton-nucleon collisions

We present a study of inclusive direct-photon and pion production in hadronic interactions, focusing on a comparison of the ratio of gamma/pi0 yields with expectations from next-to-leading order perturbative QCD (NLO pQCD). We also examine the impact of a phenomenological model involving k_T smearing (which approximates effects of additional soft-gluon emission) on absolute predictions for photon and pion production and their ratio.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Minor changes in wording and in figure

Mid-Rapidity Direct-Photon Production in p+p Collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

A measurement of direct photons in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV is presented. A photon excess above background from pi^0 --> gamma+gamma, eta --> gamma+gamma, and other decays is observed in the transverse momentum range 5.5 < p_T < 7 GeV/c. The result is compared to a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation. Within errors, good agreement is found between the QCD calculation and the measured result.Comment: 330 authors, 7 pages text, RevTeX, 2 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Physical Review D. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm