A new limit on the light speed isotropy from the GRAAL experiment at the ESRF

When the electrons stored in the ring of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, Grenoble) scatter on a laser beam (Compton scattering in flight) the lower energy of the scattered electron spectra, the Compton Edge (CE), is given by the two body photon-electron relativistic kinematics and depends on the velocity of light. A precision measurement of the position of this CE as a function of the daily variations of the direction of the electron beam in an absolute reference frame provides a one-way test of Relativistic Kinematics and the isotropy of the velocity of light. The results of GRAAL-ESRF measurements improve the previously existing one-way limits, thus showing the efficiency of this method and the interest of further studies in this direction.Comment: Proceed. MG12 meeting, Paris, July, 200

Limits on light-speed anisotropies from Compton scattering of high-energy electrons

The possibility of anisotropies in the speed of light relative to the limiting speed of electrons is considered. The absence of sidereal variations in the energy of Compton-edge photons at the ESRF's GRAAL facility constrains such anisotropies representing the first non-threshold collision-kinematics study of Lorentz violation. When interpreted within the minimal Standard-Model Extension, this result yields the two-sided limit of 1.6 x 10^{-14} at 95% confidence level on a combination of the parity-violating photon and electron coefficients kappa_{o+} and c. This new constraint provides an improvement over previous bounds by one order of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of eta photoproduction on the proton from threshold to 1500 MeV

Beam asymmetry and differential cross section for the reaction gamma+p->eta+p were measured from production threshold to 1500 MeV photon laboratory energy. The two dominant neutral decay modes of the eta meson, eta->2g and eta->3pi0, were analyzed. The full set of measurements is in good agreement with previously published results. Our data were compared with three models. They all fit satisfactorily the results but their respective resonance contributions are quite different. The possible photoexcitation of a narrow state N(1670) was investigated and no evidence was found.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables Submitted to EPJ

First Measurement of the Σ\Sigma Beam Asymmetry in η′\eta^{\prime} Photoproduction off the Proton near Threshold

The $\Sigma$ beam asymmetry in $\eta^{\prime}$ photoproduction off the proton was measured at the GrAAL polarised photon beam with incoming photon energies of 1.461 and 1.480 GeV. For both energies the asymmetry as a function of the meson production angle shows a clear structure, more pronounced at the lowest one, with a change of sign around 90$^o$. The observed behaviour is compatible with P-wave D-wave (or S-wave F-wave) interference, the closer to threshold the stronger. The results are compared to the existing state-of-the-art calculations that fail to account for the data.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication on Eur. Phys. J

Observation of a cusp-like structure in the γp → K+Σ0 cross section at forward angles and low momentum transfer

The gamma+p->K+ + Sigma0 differential cross section at extremely forward angles was measured at the BGOOD experiment. A three-quarter drop in strength over a narrow range in energy and a strong dependence on the polar angle of the in the centre-of-mass of the reaction is observed at a centre-of-mass energy of 1900 MeV. Residing close to multiple open and hidden strangeness thresholds, the structure appears consistent with meson-baryon threshold effects which may contribute to the reaction mechanism

The BGO Calorimeter of BGO-OD Experiment

The BGO Rugby Ball is a large solid angle electromagnetic calorimeter now installed in the ELSA Facility in Bonn. The BGO is operating in the BGO-OD experiment aiming to study meson photoproduction off proton and neutron induced by a Bremsstrahlung polarized gamma beam of energies from 0.2 to 3.2 GeV and an intensity of 5 x 10(7) photons per second. The scintillating material characteristics and the photomultiplier read-out make this detector particularly suited for the detection of medium energy photons and electrons with very good energy resolution. The detector has been equipped with a new electronics read-out system, consisting of 30 sampling ADC Wie-Ne-R modules which perform the off-line reconstruction of the signal start-time allowing for a good timing resolution. Performances in linearity, resolution and time response have been carefully tested at the Beam Test Facility of the INFN National Laboratories in Frascati by using a matrix of 7 BGO crystals coupled to photomultipliers and equipped with the Wie-Ne-R sampling ADCs

Strangeness Photoproduction at the BGO-OD Experiment

BGO-OD is a newly commissioned experiment to investigate the internal structure of the nucleon, using an energy tagged bremsstrahlung photon beam at the ELSA electron facility. The setup consists of a highly segmented BGO calorimeter surrounding the target, with a particle tracking magnetic spectrometer at forward angles. BGO-OD is ideal for investigating meson photoproduction. The extensive physics programme for open strangeness photoproduction is introduced, and preliminary analysis presented