3,013 research outputs found
Study of the electromagnetic transition form-factors in \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0 decays with NA60
The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass muon pairs in 158A
GeV In-In collisions. The mass and pT spectra associated with peripheral
collisions can quantitatively be described by the known neutral meson decays.
The high data quality has allowed to remeasure the electromagnetic transition
form factors of the Dalitz decays \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega ->
\mu^+\mu^-\pi^0. Using the usual pole approximation F =
(1-M_{\mu\mu}^{2}/\Lambda^{2})^{-1} for the form factors, we find \Lambda^{-2}
(in GeV^{-2}) to be 1.95+-0.17(stat.)+-0.05(syst.) for the \eta and
2.24+-0.06(stat.)+-0.02(syst.) for the \omega. While the values agree with
previous results from the Lepton-G experiment, the errors are greatly improved,
confirming now on the level of 10\sigma the strong enhancement of the \omega
form factor beyond the expectation from vector meson dominance. An improved
value of the branching ratio BR(\omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0) =
[1.73+-0.25(stat.)+-0.14(syst.)]*10^{-4} has been obtained as a byproduct.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Lett.
NA60 results on thermal dimuons
The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has measured muon pairs with
unprecedented precision in 158A GeV In-In collisions. A strong excess of pairs
above the known sources is observed in the whole mass region 0.2<M<2.6 GeV. The
mass spectrum for M<1 GeV is consistent with a dominant contribution from
pi+pi- -> rho -> mu+mu- annihilation. The associated rho spectral function
shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. For M>1 GeV, the
excess is found to be prompt, not due to enhanced charm production, with
pronounced differences to Drell-Yan pairs. The slope parameter Teff associated
with the transverse momentum spectra rises with mass up to the rho, followed by
a sudden decline above. The rise for M<1 GeV is consistent with radial flow of
a hadronic emission source. The seeming absence of significant flow for M>1 GeV
and its relation to parton-hadron duality is discussed in detail, suggesting a
dominantly partonic emission source in this region. A comparison of the data to
the present status of theoretical modeling is also contained. The accumulated
empirical evidence, including also a Planck-like shape of the mass spectra at
low pT and the lack of polarization, is consistent with a global interpretation
of the excess dimuons as thermal radiation. We conclude with first results on
omega in-medium effects.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Study of dimuon production in Indium-Indium collisions with the NA60 experiment
The NA60 experiment at the CERN-SPS is devoted to the study of dimuon
production in heavy-ion and proton-nucleus collisions. We present preliminary
results from the analysis of Indium-Indium collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon.
The topics covered are low mass vector meson production, J/psi production and
suppression, and the feasibility of the open charm measurement from the dimuon
continuum in the mass range below the J/psi peak.Comment: Contribution at XXXXth Rencontres de Moriond, "QCD and High Energy
Hadronic Interactions
The metabolic pattern of idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder reflects early-stage Parkinson's disease
Rationale: Idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is considered a prodromal stage of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other Lewy-body disorders. Spatial covariance analysis of [18F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (18F-FDG-PET) data has disclosed a specific brain pattern of altered glucose metabolism in PD. In this study, we identify the metabolic pattern underlying iRBD and compare it to the known PD pattern. To understand the relevance of the iRBD pattern to disease progression, we study the expression of the iRBD pattern in de novo PD patients.Methods:The iRBD-related pattern was identified in18F-FDG-PET scans of 21 patients with polysomnographically-confirmed iRBD and 19 controls using spatial covariance analysis. Expression of the iRBD-related pattern was subsequently computed in18F-FDG-PET scans of 44 controls and 38 de novo, treatment-naĂŻve PD patients. Of these 38 PD patients, 24 had probable RBD according to the Mayo Sleep Questionnaire. Neuropsychological evaluation showed mild cognitive impairment in 20 PD patients (PD-MCI), of whom sixteen also had concomitant RBD and roughly half (11/20) had bilateral motor symptoms.Results:The iRBD-related pattern was characterized by relative hypermetabolism in cerebellum, brainstem, thalamus, sensorimotor cortex, and hippocampus, and by relative hypometabolism in middle cingulate, temporal, occipital and parietal cortices. This topography partially overlapped with the PD-related pattern (PDRP). The iRBD-related pattern was significantly expressed in PD patients compared to controls (P<0.0001). iRBD-related pattern expression was not significantly different between PD patients with and without probable RBD, or between PD patients with unilateral or bilateral parkinsonism. iRBD-related pattern expression was higher in PD-MCI patients, compared to PD patients with preserved cognition (P= 0.001). Subject scores on the iRBD-related pattern were highly correlated to subject scores on the PDRP (r=0.94, P<0.0001).Conclusion:In conclusion, our results show that the iRBDRP is an early manifestation of the PDRP. Expression of both PDRP and iRBDRP was higher in patients with a more severe form of PD (PD-MCI), which indicates that expression of the two patterns increases with disease severity
First results from the NA60 experiment at CERN
Since 1986, several heavy ion experiments have studied some signatures of the
formation of the quark-gluon plasma and a few exciting results have been found.
However, some important questions are still unanswered and require new
measurements. The NA60 experiment, with a new detector concept that vastly
improves dimuon detection in proton-nucleus and heavy-ion collisions, studies
several of those open questions, including the production of open charm. This
paper presents the experiment and some first results from data collected in
2002.Comment: Paper presented at the XXXVIII Rencontres de Moriond, QCD and High
Energy Hadronic Interactions, Les Arcs, March 22-29, 2003. 4 pages, 6 figure
Meson Production in In-In Collisions and the Puzzle
The NA60 experiment measured dimuon production in In-In collisions at 158
AGeV. This paper presents a high statistics measurement of with
the specific objective to provide insight on the puzzle, i.e. the
difference in the inverse slopes and absolute yields measured by NA49 and
NA50 in the kaon and lepton channel, respectively. Transverse momentum
distributions were studied as a function of centrality. The slope parameter
shows a rapid increase with centrality, followed by a saturation. Variations of
with the fit range of the order of 15 MeV were observed, possibly as a
consequence of radial flow. The meson yield normalized to the number of
participants increases with centrality and is consistently higher than the
yield measured by the NA49 experiment at any centrality.Comment: 4 Pages, 2 Figures. Proceedings of the 20 International
Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus Nucleus Collision
Evidence for radial flow of thermal dileptons in high-energy nuclear collisions
The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass dimuon production in
158 AGeV In-In collisions. An excess of pairs above the known meson decays has
been reported before. We now present precision results on the associated
transverse momentum spectra. The slope parameter Teff extracted from the
spectra rises with dimuon mass up to the rho, followed by a sudden decline
above. While the initial rise is consistent with the expectations for radial
flow of a hadronic decay source, the decline signals a transition to an
emission source with much smaller flow. This may well represent the first
direct evidence for thermal radiation of partonic origin in nuclear collisions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
Latest results from NA60
The NA60 experiment has measured the production of muon pairs and of charged
particles in In+In collisions at a beam energy of 158 AGeV. For invariant
dimuon masses below the phi the space-time averaged rho spectral function was
isolated by a novel procedure. It shows a strong broadening but essentially no
shift in mass. The production of J/psi was measured as a function of the
collision centrality. As in previous experiments studying Pb+Pb collisions an
anomalous supression is observed, setting in at approximately 90 participant
nucleons. Using the charged particles the reaction plane was reconstructed. The
elliptic flow of charged particles increases with pt showing a saturation for
pt > 2GeV/c. For the first time azimuthal distributions for J/psi are shown.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, talk given at the conference "Strangeness in
Quark Matter 2006 (SQM2006)", March 2006, Los Angeles, USA, accepted for
publication in Journal of Physics
First Measurement of the rho Spectral Function in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions
We report on a precision measurement of low-mass muon pairs in 158 AGeV
indium-indium collisions at the CERN SPS. A significant excess of pairs is
observed above the yield expected from neutral meson decays. The unprecedented
sample size of 360 000 dimuons and the good mass resolution of about 2% allow
us to isolate the excess by subtraction of the decay sources. The shape of the
resulting mass spectrum is consistent with a dominant contribution from
pi+pi-->rho-->mu+mu- annihilation. The associated space-time averaged rho
spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass.
This may rule out theoretical models linking hadron masse
First results from NA60 on low mass muon pair production in In-In collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon
The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS studies dimuon production in
proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions. The combined information from a
novel vertex telescope made of radiation-tolerant silicon pixel detectors and
from the muon spectrometer previously used in NA50 allows for a precise
measurement of the muon vertex and a much improved dimuon mass resolution. We
report on first results from the data taken for Indium-Indium collisions at 158
AGeV/nucleon in 2003, concentrating on a subsample of about 370 000 muon pairs
in the mass range GeV/. The light vector mesons and
are completely resolved, with a mass resolution of about 23 MeV/
at the . The transverse momentum spectra of the are measured over
the continuous range GeV/c; the inverse slope parameter of
the spectra is found to increase with centrality, with an average value of
MeV.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. Plenary talk, SQM2004 conference, Cape Town,
South Africa 15-20 September, 2004. To be published in Journal of Physics G:
Nuclear and Particle Physic
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