AXTAR: Mission Design Concept

The Advanced X-ray Timing Array (AXTAR) is a mission concept for X-ray timing of compact objects that combines very large collecting area, broadband spectral coverage, high time resolution, highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to respond promptly to time-critical targets of opportunity. It is optimized for submillisecond timing of bright Galactic X-ray sources in order to study phenomena at the natural time scales of neutron star surfaces and black hole event horizons, thus probing the physics of ultradense matter, strongly curved spacetimes, and intense magnetic fields. AXTAR's main instrument, the Large Area Timing Array (LATA) is a collimated instrument with 2-50 keV coverage and over 3 square meters effective area. The LATA is made up of an array of supermodules that house 2-mm thick silicon pixel detectors. AXTAR will provide a significant improvement in effective area (a factor of 7 at 4 keV and a factor of 36 at 30 keV) over the RXTE PCA. AXTAR will also carry a sensitive Sky Monitor (SM) that acts as a trigger for pointed observations of X-ray transients in addition to providing high duty cycle monitoring of the X-ray sky. We review the science goals and technical concept for AXTAR and present results from a preliminary mission design study.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, to be published in Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, Proceedings of SPIE Volume 773

Improved Measurement of the Form Factors in the Decay Lambda_c^+ --> Lambda e^+ nu_e

Using the CLEO detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring, we have studied the distribution of kinematic variables in the decay Lambda_c^+ -> Lambda e^+ nu_e. By performing a four-dimensional maximum likelihood fit, we determine the form factor ratio, R = f_2/f_1 = -0.31 +/- 0.05(stat) +/- 0.04(syst), the pole mass, M_{pole} = (2.21 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.14(syst)) GeV/c^2, and the decay asymmetry parameter of the Lambda_c, alpha_{Lambda_c} = -0.86 +/- 0.03(stat) +/- 0.02(syst), for = 0.67 (GeV/c^2)^2. We compare the angular distributions of the Lambda_c^+ and Lambda_c^- and find no evidence for CP-violation: A_{Lambda_c} = (alpha_{Lambda_c^+} + alpha_{Lambda_c^-})/ (alpha_{Lambda_c^+} - alpha_{Lambda_c^-}) = 0.00 +/- 0.03(stat) +/- 0.01(syst) +/- 0.02, where the third error is from the uncertainty in the world average of the CP-violating parameter, A_{Lambda}, for Lambda -> p pi^-.Comment: 8 pages postscript,also available through http://www.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/2004/, submitted to PR

Anti-Search for the Glueball Candidate f_J(2220) in Two-Photon Interactions

Using 13.3 fb^{-1} of e^+e^- data recorded with the CLEO II and CLEO II.V detector configurations at CESR, we have searched for f_J(2220) decays to K^0_{S} K^0_{S} in untagged two-photon interactions. We report an upper limit on the product of the two-photon partial width and the branching fraction, Gamma_gamma gamma cdot B (f_J(2220) to K^0_{S} K^0_{S}) of less than 1.1 eV at the 95% C.L: systematic uncertainties are included. This dataset is four times larger than that used in the previous CLEO publication.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, Submitted to PRD (R

Branching Fractions of tau Leptons to Three Charged Hadrons

From electron-positron collision data collected with the CLEO detector operating at CESR near \sqrt{s}=10.6 GeV, improved measurements of the branching fractions for tau decays into three explicitly identified hadrons and a neutrino are presented as {\cal B}(\tau^-\to\pi^-\pi^+\pi^-\nu_\tau)=(9.13\pm0.05\pm0.46)%, {\cal B}(\tau^-\to K^-\pi^+\pi^-\nu_\tau)=(3.84\pm0.14\pm0.38)\times10^{-3}, {\cal B}(\tau^-\to K^-K^+\pi^-\nu_\tau)=(1.55\pm0.06\pm0.09)\times10^{-3}, and {\cal B}(\tau^-\to K^-K^+K^-\nu_\tau)<3.7\times10^{-5} at 90% C.L., where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Moments of the B Meson Inclusive Semileptonic Decay Rate using Neutrino Reconstruction

We present a measurement of the composition of B meson inclusive semileptonic decays using 9.4 fb^-1 of e^+e^- data taken with the CLEO detector at the Upsilon(4S) resonance. In addition to measuring the charged lepton kinematics, the neutrino four-vector is inferred using the hermiticity of the detector. We perform a maximum likelihood fit over the full three-dimensional differential decay distribution for the fractional contributions from the B -> X_c l nu processes with X_c = D, D*, D**, and nonresonant X_c, and the process B -> X_u l nu. From the fit results we extract the first and second moments of the M_X^2 and q^2 distributions with minimum lepton-energy requirements of 1.0 GeV and 1.5 GeV. We find = 0.456 +- 0.014 +- 0.045 +- 0.109 (GeV/c^2)^2 with a minimum lepton energy of 1.0 GeV and = 0.293 +- 0.012 +- 0.033 +- 0.048 (GeV/c^2)^2 with minimum lepton energy of 1.5 GeV. The uncertainties are from statistics, detector systematic effects, and model dependence, respectively. As a test of the HQET and OPE calculations, the results for the M^X_c moment as a function of the minimum lepton energy requirement are compared to the predictions.Comment: 26 pages postscript, als available through http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS/, Submitted to PRD (back-to-back with following preprint hep-ex/0403053

Observation of the Hadronic Transitions Chi_{b 1,2}(2P) -> omega Upsilon(1S)

The CLEO Collaboration has observed the first hadronic transition among bottomonium (b bbar) states other than the dipion transitions among vector states, Upsilon(nS) -> pi pi Upsilon(mS). In our study of Upsilon(3S) decays, we find a significant signal for Upsilon(3S) -> gamma omega Upsilon(1S) that is consistent with radiative decays Upsilon(3S) -> gamma chi_{b 1,2}(2P), followed by chi_{b 1,2} -> omega Upsilon(1S). The branching ratios we obtain are Br(chi_{b1} -> omega Upsilon(1S) = 1.63 (+0.35 -0.31) (+0.16 -0.15) % and Br(chi_{b2} -> omega Upsilon(1S) = 1.10 (+0.32 -0.28) (+0.11 - 0.10)%, in which the first error is statistical and the second is systematic.Comment: submitted to XXI Intern'l Symp on Lepton and Photon Interact'ns at High Energies, August 2003, Fermila