Flux profile scanners for scattered high-energy electrons

The paper describes the design and performance of flux integrating Cherenkov scanners with air-core reflecting light guides used in a high-energy, high-flux electron scattering experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The scanners were highly radiation resistant and provided a good signal to background ratio leading to very good spatial resolution of the scattered electron flux profile scans.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figure

Threshold Electrodisintegration of ^3He

Cross sections were measured for the near-threshold electrodisintegration of ^3He at momentum transfer values of q=2.4, 4.4, and 4.7 fm^{-1}. From these and prior measurements the transverse and longitudinal response functions R_T and R_L were deduced. Comparisons are made against previously published and new non-relativistic A=3 calculations using the best available NN potentials. In general, for q<2 fm^{-1} these calculations accurately predict the threshold electrodisintegration of ^3He. Agreement at increasing q demands consideration of two-body terms, but discrepancies still appear at the highest momentum transfers probed, perhaps due to the neglect of relativistic dynamics, or to the underestimation of high-momentum wave-function components.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, REVTEX4, submitted to Physical Review

Measurement of the Transverse-Longitudinal Cross Sections in the p (e,e'p)pi0 Reaction in the Delta Region

Accurate measurements of the p(e,e?p)pi0 reaction were performed at Q^2=0.127(GeV/c)^2 in the Delta resonance energy region. The experiments at the MIT-Bates Linear Accelerator used an 820 MeV polarized electron beam with the out of plane magnetic spectrometer system (OOPS). In this paper we report the first simultaneous determination of both the TL and TL? (``fifth" or polarized) cross sections at low Q^{2} where the pion cloud contribution dominates the quadrupole amplitudes (E2 and C2). The real and imaginary parts of the transverse-longitudinal cross section provide both a sensitive determination of the Coulomb quadrupole amplitude and a test of reaction calculations. Comparisons with model calculations are presented. The empirical MAID calculation gives the best overall agreement with this accurate data. The parameters of this model for the values of the resonant multipoles are |M_{1+}(I=3/2)|= (40.9 \pm 0.3)10^{-3}/m_pi, CMR= C2/M1= -6.5 \pm 0.3%, EMR=E2/M1=-2.2 \pm 0.9%, where the errors are due to the experimental uncertainties.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, minor corrections and addition

Observation of exclusive DVCS in polarized electron beam asymmetry measurements

We report the first results of the beam spin asymmetry measured in the reaction e + p -> e + p + gamma at a beam energy of 4.25 GeV. A large asymmetry with a sin(phi) modulation is observed, as predicted for the interference term of Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering and the Bethe-Heitler process. The amplitude of this modulation is alpha = 0.202 +/- 0.028. In leading-order and leading-twist pQCD, the alpha is directly proportional to the imaginary part of the DVCS amplitude.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

NKT cells coexpressing a GD2-specific chimeric antigen receptor and IL15 show enhanced in vivo persistence and antitumor activity against neuroblastoma

Purpose: Va24-invariant natural killer T cells (NKT) are attractive carriers for chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) due to their inherent antitumor properties and preferential localization to tumor sites. However, limited persistence of CAR-NKTs in tumor-bearing mice is associated with tumor recurrence. Here, we evaluated whether coexpression of the NKT homeostatic cytokine IL15 with a CAR enhances the in vivo persistence and therapeutic efficacy of CAR-NKTs. Experimental Design: Human primary NKTs were ex vivo expanded and transduced with CAR constructs containing an optimized GD2-specific single-chain variable fragment and either the CD28 or 4-1BB costimulatory endodomain, each with or without IL15 (GD2.CAR or GD2.CAR.15). Constructs that mediated robust CAR-NKT cell expansion were selected for further functional evaluation in vitro and in xenogeneic mouse models of neuroblastoma. Results: Coexpression of IL15 with either costimulatory domain increased CAR-NKT absolute numbers. However, constructs containing 4-1BB induced excessive activation-induced cell death and reduced numeric expansion of NKTs compared with respective CD28-based constructs. Further evaluation of CD28-based GD2.CAR and GD2. CAR.15 showed that coexpression of IL15 led to reduced expression levels of exhaustion markers in NKTs and increased multiround in vitro tumor cell killing. Following transfer into mice bearing neuroblastoma xenografts, GD2.CAR.15 NKTs demonstrated enhanced in vivo persistence, increased localization to tumor sites, and improved tumor control compared with GD2.CAR NKTs. Importantly, GD2.CAR.15 NKTs did not produce significant toxicity as determined by histopathologic analysis. Conclusions: Our results informed selection of the CD28-based GD2.CAR.15 construct for clinical testing and led to initiation of a first-in-human CAR-NKT cell clinical trial (NCT03294954)

Measurement of the Bs0→J/ψKS0B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0 branching fraction

The $B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ branching fraction is measured in a data sample corresponding to 0.41$fb^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity collected with the LHCb detector at the LHC. This channel is sensitive to the penguin contributions affecting the sin2$\beta$ measurement from $B^0\to J/\psi K_S^0$ The time-integrated branching fraction is measured to be $BF(B_s^0\to J/\psi K_S^0)=(1.83\pm0.28)\times10^{-5}$. This is the most precise measurement to date

Model-independent search for CP violation in D0→K−K+π−π+ and D0→π−π+π+π− decays

A search for CP violation in the phase-space structures of D0 and View the MathML source decays to the final states K−K+π−π+ and π−π+π+π− is presented. The search is carried out with a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1 collected in 2011 by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. For the K−K+π−π+ final state, the four-body phase space is divided into 32 bins, each bin with approximately 1800 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 9.1%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 6.5% observed. The phase space of the π−π+π+π− final state is partitioned into 128 bins, each bin with approximately 2500 decays. The p-value under the hypothesis of no CP violation is 41%, and in no bin is a CP asymmetry greater than 5.5% observed. All results are consistent with the hypothesis of no CP violation at the current sensitivity

Measurement of the CP-violating phase \phi s in Bs->J/\psi\pi+\pi- decays

Measurement of the mixing-induced CP-violating phase phi_s in Bs decays is of prime importance in probing new physics. Here 7421 +/- 105 signal events from the dominantly CP-odd final state J/\psi pi+ pi- are selected in 1/fb of pp collision data collected at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV with the LHCb detector. A time-dependent fit to the data yields a value of phi_s=-0.019^{+0.173+0.004}_{-0.174-0.003} rad, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. No evidence of direct CP violation is found.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures; minor revisions on May 23, 201

The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC

The physics emphases of the PHENIX collaboration and the design and current status of the PHENIX detector are discussed. The plan of the collaboration for making the most effective use of the available luminosity in the first years of RHIC operation is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Further details of the PHENIX physics program available at http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/phenix