70 research outputs found
Exclusive Photoproduction of \u3cem\u3eπ\u3c/em\u3e\u3csup\u3e0\u3c/sup\u3e Up to Large Values of Mandlestam Variables \u3cem\u3es\u3c/em\u3e, \u3cem\u3et\u3c/em\u3e, and \u3cem\u3eu\u3c/em\u3e with CLAS
Exclusive photoproduction cross sections have been measured for the process γp → pπ0[e+e−(γ)] with the Dalitz decay final state using tagged photon energies in the range of Eγ = 1.275–5.425 GeV. The complete angular distribution of the final state π0, for the entire photon energy range up to large values of t and u, has been measured for the first time. The data obtained show that the cross section dσ/dt, at mid to large angles, decreases with energy as s−6.89±0.26. This is in agreement with the perturbative QCD quark counting rule prediction of s−7. Paradoxically, the size of angular distribution of measured cross sections is greatly underestimated by the QCD-based generalized parton distribution mechanism at highest available invariant energy s = 11 GeV2. At the same time, the Regge-exchange-based models for π0 photoproduction are more consistent with experimental data
Incompatibilities Involving Yeast Mismatch Repair Genes: A Role for Genetic Modifiers and Implications for Disease Penetrance and Variation in Genomic Mutation Rates
Genetic background effects underlie the penetrance of most genetically determined phenotypes, including human diseases. To explore how such effects can modify a mutant phenotype in a genetically tractable system, we examined an incompatibility involving the MLH1 and PMS1 mismatch repair genes using a large population sample of geographically and ecologically diverse Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. The mismatch repair incompatibility segregates into naturally occurring yeast strains, with no strain bearing the deleterious combination. In assays measuring the mutator phenotype conferred by different combinations of MLH1 and PMS1 from these strains, we observed a mutator phenotype only in combinations predicted to be incompatible. Surprisingly, intragenic modifiers could be mapped that specifically altered the strength of the incompatibility over a 20-fold range. Together, these observations provide a powerful model in which to understand the basis of disease penetrance and how such genetic variation, created through mating, could result in new mutations that could be the raw material of adaptive evolution in yeast populations
Natural Selection Fails to Optimize Mutation Rates for Long-Term Adaptation on Rugged Fitness Landscapes
The rate of mutation is central to evolution. Mutations are required for adaptation, yet most mutations with phenotypic effects are deleterious. As a consequence, the mutation rate that maximizes adaptation will be some intermediate value. Here, we used digital organisms to investigate the ability of natural selection to adjust and optimize mutation rates. We assessed the optimal mutation rate by empirically determining what mutation rate produced the highest rate of adaptation. Then, we allowed mutation rates to evolve, and we evaluated the proximity to the optimum. Although we chose conditions favorable for mutation rate optimization, the evolved rates were invariably far below the optimum across a wide range of experimental parameter settings. We hypothesized that the reason that mutation rates evolved to be suboptimal was the ruggedness of fitness landscapes. To test this hypothesis, we created a simplified landscape without any fitness valleys and found that, in such conditions, populations evolved near-optimal mutation rates. In contrast, when fitness valleys were added to this simple landscape, the ability of evolving populations to find the optimal mutation rate was lost. We conclude that rugged fitness landscapes can prevent the evolution of mutation rates that are optimal for long-term adaptation. This finding has important implications for applied evolutionary research in both biological and computational realms
First measurement of Xi(-) polarization in photoproduction
Despite decades of studies of the photoproduction of hyperons, both their production mechanisms and their spectra of excited states are still largely unknown. While the parity-violating weak decay of hyperons offers a means of measuring their polarization, which could help discern their production mechanisms and identify their excitation spectra, no such study has been possible for doubly strange baryons in photoproduction, due to low production cross sections. However, by making use of the reaction γp→K+K+Ξ−, we have measured, for the first time, the induced polarization, P, and the transferred polarization from circularly polarized real photons, characterized by Cx and Cz, to recoiling Ξ−s. The data were obtained using the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) at Jefferson Lab for photon energies from just over threshold (2.4 GeV) to 5.45 GeV. These first-time measurements are compared, and are shown to broadly agree, with model predictions in which cascade photoproduction proceeds through the decay of intermediate hyperon resonances that are produced via relativistic meson exchange, offering a new step forward in the understanding of the production and polarization of doubly-strange baryons
Measurements of ep→e′π+π−p′ cross sections with CLAS at 1.40GeV <W < 2.0 GeV and 2.0 GeV2 <Q2 < 5.0 GeV2
This paper reports new exclusive cross sections for ep → ep
π+π−p' using the CLAS detector at Jefferson
Laboratory. These results are presented for the first time at photon virtualities 2.0 GeV2 < Q2 < 5.0 GeV2 in
the center-of-mass energy range 1.4 GeV <W< 2.0 GeV, which covers a large part of the nucleon resonance
region. Using a model developed for the phenomenological analysis of electroproduction data, we see strong
indications that the relative contributions from the resonant cross sections at W < 1.74 GeV increase with Q2.
These data considerably extend the kinematic reach of previous measurements. Exclusive ep → ep
π+π−p' cross
section measurements are of particular importance for the extraction of resonance electrocouplings in the mass
range above 1.6 GeV
Exclusive photoproduction of pi degrees up to large values of Mandelstam variables s, t, and u with CLAS
Exclusive photoproduction cross sections have been measured for the process
with the Dalitz decay final state
using tagged photon energies in the range of GeV.
The complete angular distribution of the final state , for the entire
photon energy range up to large values of and , has been measured for
the first time. The data obtained show that the cross section , at
mid to large angles, decreases with energy as . This is in
agreement with the perturbative QCD quark counting rule prediction of . Paradoxically, the size of angular distribution of measured cross sections
is greatly underestimated by the QCD based Generalized Parton Distribution
mechanism at highest available invariant energy GeV. At the same
time, the Regge exchange based models for photoproduction are more
consistent with experimental data.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
First measurement of the helicity asymmetry E in eta photoproduction on the proton
Results are presented for the first measurement of the double-polarization
helicity asymmetry E for the photoproduction reaction . Data were obtained using the FROzen Spin Target (FROST)
with the CLAS spectrometer in Hall B at Jefferson Lab, covering a range of
center-of-mass energy W from threshold to 2.15 GeV and a large range in
center-of-mass polar angle. As an initial application of these data, the
results have been incorporated into the J\"ulich model to examine the case for
the existence of a narrow resonance between 1.66 and 1.70 GeV. The
addition of these data to the world database results in marked changes in the
predictions for the E observable using that model. Further comparison with
several theoretical approaches indicates these data will significantly enhance
our understanding of nucleon resonances
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