Results on angular distributions of thermal dileptons in nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied dimuon production in 158 AGeV In-In collisions. The strong pair excess above the known sources found in the mass region $0.2<M<2.5$ GeV has been previously interpreted as thermal radiation. In this paper results on the associated angular distributions for $M<1$ GeV, as measured in the Collins-Soper reference frame, are presented. The structure function parameters $\lambda$, $\mu$, $\nu$ are consistent with zero and the projected polar and azimuth angle distributions are uniform. The absence of any polarization is consistent with the interpretation of the excess dimuons as thermal radiation from a randomized system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

J/psi production in p-A and A-A collisions at fixed target experiments

Charmonia suppression is one of the main signatures for the formation of a deconfined medium. However, also nuclear effects, not related to the production of a hot medium, can affect the J/psi yield. The determination, from the study of p-A collisions, of the J/psi behaviour in nuclear matter is, therefore, extremely important to correctly quantify the amount of charmonia suppression induced by the deconfined medium. In this paper the new NA60 results collected at 158 GeV incident energy, i.e. under the same kinematical conditions as the In-In (NA60) and Pb-Pb (NA50) data, are presented and compared with p-A measurements from other fixed target experiments. Results on A-A collisions are also reviewed taking into account the new available information on the influence of cold nuclear matter on the J/psi production yield. Finally, results on the J/psi polarization are shown for p-A and A-A collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Dileptons and Direct Photons at SPS

The study of dilepton and direct photon emission was one of the main topics of the experimental program at the SPS devoted to the search of signals for QGP formation. Three generations of experiments, Helios-3, NA38/NA50, CERES and NA60 measured e+e- or mu+mu- production in various colliding systems and at different energies. While lepton pair production in p-A collisions was found to be reasonably well described by the expected sources, all experiments observed in nuclear collisions an excess of the yield above the extrapolation from p-A. As a result of this joint experimental effort we have currently a large amount of information characterizing this excess: its mass spectrum over the full range from 0.2 GeV/c^2 up to the J/psi, its transverse momentum spectra including their mass dependence, its angular distributions, its dependence on collision centrality over the complete range etc. Putting together all this information leads to the conclusion that what we observe is the long-sought thermal radiation from the fireball.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Responsible Research and Innovation between \u201cnew governance\u201d and fundamental rights

This chapter frames RRI as an emerging governance approach in the EU regulatory context. We argue that reference to fundamental rights makes RRI a distinctive approach to responsibility compared to other existing paradigms and that human rights, in particular those laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, are not necessarily a constraint but can instead be a catalyst of innovation. Eventually we maintain that a governance framework based on the complementarity between legal norms and voluntary commitments might successfully combine the respect of fundamental rights with the openness and flexibility of the innovation process

The Muon Spectrometer of the ALICE experiment

The main goal of the Muon Spectrometer of the ALICE experiment is the measurement of heavy quarks in pp, pA and AA collisions at LHC energies, via the muonic channel. Physics motivations, the apparatus and its physics performances are presented in this talk.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Talk presented in Phase transitions in strongly interacting matter Prague, 23.8.-29.8. 2004 18th Nuclear Physics Division Conference of the EPS (NPDC18) Europhysics Conferenc

J/ψ\psi production in In-In and p-A collisions

The NA60 experiment studies dimuon production in In-In and p-A collisions at the CERN SPS. We report recent results on \jpsi production, measured through its muon pair decay. As a function of centrality, we show that in In-In the \jpsi yield is suppressed beyond expectations from nuclear absorption. We present also for the first time results on \jpsi production in p-A collisions at 158 GeV, the same energy of the nucleus-nucleus data. For both p-A and In-In we show preliminary results on \psip suppression. Finally, we have studied the kinematical distributions of the \jpsi produced in In-In collisions. We present results on transverse momentum and rapidity, as well as on the angular distribution of the \jpsi decay products.Comment: 8 pages, Quark Matter 2006 conference proceeding

Electromagnetic Transition Form Factors of Mesons

Using a counting scheme which treats pseudoscalar and vector mesons on equal footing, the decays of the narrow light vector mesons omega and phi into a dilepton and a pseudoscalar pi-meson or eta-meson, respectively, are calculated. Thereby, all required parameters could be determined by other reactions so that one has predictive power for the considered decays. The calculated partial decay widths are in very good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: Talk given at the 33rd International School of Nuclear Physics (From Quarks and Gluons to Hadrons and Nuclei) in Erice (Italy