Spin-down of neutron stars by neutrino emission

We study the spin-down of a neutron star during its early stages due to the neutrino emission. The mechanism we consider is the subsequent collisions of the produced neutrinos with the outer shells of the star. We find that this mechanism can indeed slow down the star rotation but only in the first tens of seconds of the core formation, which is when the appropriate conditions of flux and collision rate are met. We find that this mechanism can extract less than 1 % of the star angular momentum, a result which is much less than previously estimated by other authors.Comment: 9 pages, 2 eps figures, RevTeX 4-1. The paper was significantly modified. Now it addresses only the issues of a neutron star spin-down. Version to be published in Phys. Rev.

A precise extraction of the induced polarization in the 4He(e,e'p)3H reaction

We measured with unprecedented precision the induced polarization Py in 4He(e,e'p)3H at Q^2 = 0.8 (GeV/c)^2 and 1.3 (GeV/c)^2. The induced polarization is indicative of reaction-mechanism effects beyond the impulse approximation. Our results are in agreement with a relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation calculation but are over-estimated by a calculation with strong charge-exchange effects. Our data are used to constrain the strength of the spin independent charge-exchange term in the latter calculation.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Letter

Quark-Hadron Duality in Neutron (3He) Spin Structure

We present experimental results of the first high-precision test of quark-hadron duality in the spin-structure function g_1 of the neutron and $^3$He using a polarized 3He target in the four-momentum-transfer-squared range from 0.7 to 4.0 (GeV/c)^2. Global duality is observed for the spin-structure function g_1 down to at least Q^2 = 1.8 (GeV/c)^2 in both targets. We have also formed the photon-nucleon asymmetry A_1 in the resonance region for 3He and found no strong Q^2-dependence above 2.2 (GeV/c)^2.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure

Precision Measurement of the Weak Mixing Angle in Moller Scattering

We report on a precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in fixed target electron-electron (Moller) scattering: A_PV = -131 +/- 14 (stat.) +/- 10 (syst.) parts per billion, leading to the determination of the weak mixing angle \sin^2\theta_W^eff = 0.2397 +/- 0.0010 (stat.) +/- 0.0008 (syst.), evaluated at Q^2 = 0.026 GeV^2. Combining this result with the measurements of \sin^2\theta_W^eff at the Z^0 pole, the running of the weak mixing angle is observed with over 6 sigma significance. The measurement sets constraints on new physics effects at the TeV scale.Comment: 4 pages, 2 postscript figues, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Cross Section Measurements of Charged Pion Photoproduction in Hydrogen and Deuterium from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV

The differential cross section for the gamma +n --> pi- + p and the gamma + p --> pi+ n processes were measured at Jefferson Lab. The photon energies ranged from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV, corresponding to center-of-mass energies from 1.7 to 3.4 GeV. The pion center-of-mass angles varied from 50 degree to 110 degree. The pi- and pi+ photoproduction data both exhibit a global scaling behavior at high energies and high transverse momenta, consistent with the constituent counting rule prediction and the existing pi+ data. The data suggest possible substructure of the scaling behavior, which might be oscillations around the scaling value. The data show an enhancement in the scaled cross section at center-of-mass energy near 2.2 GeV. The differential cross section ratios at high energies and high transverse momenta can be described by calculations based on one-hard-gluon-exchange diagrams.Comment: 18 pages, 19 figure

Scaling study of the pion electroproduction cross sections and the pion form factor

The $^{1}$H($e,e^\prime \pi^+$)n cross section was measured for a range of four-momentum transfer up to $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$ at values of the invariant mass, $W$, above the resonance region. The $Q^2$-dependence of the longitudinal component is consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction for hard exclusive processes. This suggests that perturbative QCD concepts are applicable at rather low values of $Q^2$. Pion form factor results, while consistent with the $Q^2$-scaling prediction, are inconsistent in magnitude with perturbative QCD calculations. The extraction of Generalized Parton Distributions from hard exclusive processes assumes the dominance of the longitudinal term. However, transverse contributions to the cross section are still significant at $Q^2$=3.91 GeV$^2$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Scaling of the F_2 structure function in nuclei and quark distributions at x>1

We present new data on electron scattering from a range of nuclei taken in Hall C at Jefferson Lab. For heavy nuclei, we observe a rapid falloff in the cross section for $x>1$, which is sensitive to short range contributions to the nuclear wave-function, and in deep inelastic scattering corresponds to probing extremely high momentum quarks. This result agrees with higher energy muon scattering measurements, but is in sharp contrast to neutrino scattering measurements which suggested a dramatic enhancement in the distribution of the `super-fast' quarks probed at x>1. The falloff at x>1 is noticeably stronger in ^2H and ^3He, but nearly identical for all heavier nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to physical revie

Study of the A(e,e'π+\pi^+) Reaction on 1^1H, 2^2H, 12^{12}C, 27^{27}Al, 63^{63}Cu and 197^{197}Au

Cross sections for the p($e,e'\pi^{+}$)n process on $^1$H, $^2$H, $^{12}$C, $^{27}$Al, $^{63}$Cu and $^{197}$Au targets were measured at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab) in order to extract the nuclear transparencies. Data were taken for four-momentum transfers ranging from $Q^2$=1.1 to 4.8 GeV$^2$ for a fixed center of mass energy of $W$=2.14 GeV. The ratio of $\sigma_L$ and $\sigma_T$ was extracted from the measured cross sections for $^1$H, $^2$H, $^{12}$C and $^{63}$Cu targets at $Q^2$ = 2.15 and 4.0 GeV$^2$ allowing for additional studies of the reaction mechanism. The experimental setup and the analysis of the data are described in detail including systematic studies needed to obtain the results. The results for the nuclear transparency and the differential cross sections as a function of the pion momentum at the different values of $Q^2$ are presented. Global features of the data are discussed and the data are compared with the results of model calculations for the p($e,e'\pi^{+}$)n reaction from nuclear targets.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures, submited to PR