The structure of the photon and its interactions

The OPAL experiment at LEP has performed a variety of measurements of photon-photon and electron-photon scattering at the electron-positron collider LEP to gain a deeper insight into the structure of the photon and its interactions. This review presents a summary of these results.Comment: 18 pages with 20 eps files. Invited talk given at the Workshop on Photon Interactions and the Photon Structure, Lund, Sweden, September 10-13, 1998 to be published in the proceeding

Vector-Meson Electroproduction from Generalized Vector Dominance

Including destructively interfering off-diagonal transitions of diffraction-dissociation type, we arrive at a formulation of GVD for exclusive vector-meson production in terms of a continuous spectral representation of dipole form. The transverse cross-section sigma_T for gamma* p -> V p behaves asymptotically as 1/Q^4, while R_V = sigma_L/sigma_T becomes asymptotically constant. Contributions violating s-channel helicity conservation stay at the 10-15% level established in low-energy photoproduction and diffractive hadron--hadron interactions. The data for phi- and rho-meson production for 0 \lsim Q^2 \lsim 20 GeV^2 from HERA are found to be in agreement with these predictions.Comment: 16 pages, latex, 3 figure

Triple GEM Detectors for the Forward Tracker in STAR

Future measurements of the flavor-separated spin structure of the proton via parity-violating W boson production at RHIC require an upgrade of the forward tracking system of the STAR detector. This upgrade will allow the reconstruction of the charge sign of electrons and positrons produced from decaying W bosons. A design based on six large area triple GEM disks using GEM foils produced by Tech-Etch Inc. has emerged as a cost-effective solution to provide the necessary tracking precision. We report first results from a beam test of three test detectors using Tech-Etch produced GEM foils and a laser etched two dimensional strip readout. The detectors show good operational stability, high efficiency and a spacial resolution of around 70 um or better, exceeding the requirements for the forward tracking upgrade. The influence of the angle of incidence of the particles on the spatial resolution of the detectors has also been studied in detail.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, presented at the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium in Honolulu, HI, USA, October 27 - November 3, 200

Recent STAR results in high-energy polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC

The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory is carrying out a spin physics program in high-energy polarized $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200-500\,$GeV to gain a deeper insight into the spin structure and dynamics of the proton. One of the main objectives of the spin physics program at RHIC is the extraction of the polarized gluon distribution function based on measurements of gluon initiated processes, such as hadron and jet production. The STAR detector is well suited for the reconstruction of various final states involving jets, $\pi^{0}$, $\pi^{\pm}$, e$^{\pm}$ and $\gamma$, which allows to measure several different processes. Recent results will be shown on the measurement of jet production and hadron production at $\sqrt{s}=200\,$GeV. The RHIC spin physics program has recently completed the first data taking period in 2009 of polarized $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=500\,$GeV. This opens a new era in the study of the spin-flavor structure of the proton based on the production of $W^{-(+)}$ bosons. Recent STAR results on the first measurement of $W$ boson production in polarized $\vec{p}+\vec{p}$ collisions will be shown.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Talk presented at the 26th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, January 2-9, 2010 to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS) The author may be contacted via: [email protected]

Low-x scaling in γ∗p\gamma^*p total cross sections

We show that the experimental data for the total virtual-photon proton cross section, \sigma_{\gamma^*p} (W^2, Q^2), for x_{bj} \lsim 0.1 lie on a universal curve, when plotted against \eta = (Q^2 + m^2_0)/ \Lambda^2(W^2), where \Lambda^2 (W^2) = C_1 (W^2+W^2_0)^{C_2} is determined by the parameters m^2_0, C_1, C_2 and W^2_0. The observed scaling law follows from the generalized-vector-dominance/color-dipole picture of low-x deep inelastic scattering.Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 4 figures, Title changed, final version published in Phys.Let

Small-x behavior of the structure function F_2 and its slope partial ln(F_2)/partial ln(1/x) for "frozen" and analytic strong-coupling constants

Using the leading-twist approximation of the Wilson operator product expansion with "frozen" and analytic versions of the strong-coupling constant, we show that the Bessel-inspired behavior of the structure function F_2 and its slope\break partial ln(F_2)/partial ln(1/x) at small values of x, obtained for a flat initial condition in the DGLAP evolution equations, leads to good agreement with experimental data of deep-inelastic scattering at DESY HERA.Comment: new curves added to Figs. 1 and 2, minor changes to the text, accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

The RHIC SPIN Program: Achievements and Future Opportunities

Time and again, spin has been a key element in the exploration of fundamental physics. Spin-dependent observables have often revealed deficits in the assumed theoretical framework and have led to novel developments and concepts. Spin is exploited in many parity-violating experiments searching for physics beyond the Standard Model or studying the nature of nucleon-nucleon forces. The RHIC spin program plays a special role in this grand scheme: it uses spin to study how a complex many-body system such as the proton arises from the dynamics of QCD. Many exciting results from RHIC spin have emerged to date, most of them from RHIC running after the 2007 Long Range Plan. In this document we present highlights from the RHIC program to date and lay out the roadmap for the significant advances that are possible with future RHIC running