Soft and hard QCD dynamics in hadroproduction of charmonium

Both hard and soft QCD dynamics are important in charmonium production, as presented here through a next-to-leading order QCD matrix element calculation combined with the colour evaporation model. Observed $x_F$ and $p_\perp$ distributions of $J/\psi$ in hadroproduction at fixed target and $p\bar{p}$ collider energies are reproduced. Quite similar results can also be obtained in a more phenomenologically useful Monte Carlo event generator where the perturbative production of \ccbar pairs is instead obtained through leading order matrix elements and the parton shower approximation of the higher order processes. The soft dynamics may alternatively be described by the soft colour interaction model, originally introduced in connection with rapidity gaps. We also discuss the relative rates of different charmonium states and introduce an improved model for mapping the continuous \ccbar mass spectrum on the physical charmonium resonances.Comment: 21 pages, 13 eps figure

Soft and hard QCD in charmonium production

Hard and soft QCD dynamics are both important in charmonium hadroproduction, as presented here through a next-to-leading order QCD matrix element calculation combined with the colour evaporation model. Observed $x_F$ and $p_\perp$ distributions of $J/\psi$ in hadroproduction are reproduced. Quite similar results can also be obtained with a Monte Carlo event generator where \ccbar pairs are instead produced through leading order matrix elements and the parton shower approximation of higher order processes. The soft dynamics may alternatively be described by the soft colour interaction model. We also discuss the relative rates of different charmonium states and introduce an improved model for mapping the continuous ccbar mass spectrum on the physical charmonium resonances.Comment: Presented at Pan American Advanced Studies Institute (PASI 2002), Campos do Jord\~ao, Brazil, January 7-18, 200

B Mixing

The neutral $B$ mesons, $B^0$ and $B_s$, can oscillate between their particle and antiparticle states owing to flavor-changing weak interactions. In recent years, techniques to detect these oscillations as a function of the meson's decay time have been developed. In this article the physics of flavor oscillations is reviewed and theoretical predictions are summarized. The many observations that demonstrate the time-dependence of B^0-\B0bar oscillations are presented along with a combined measurement of its frequency, $\delta m_d$. The attempts to measure the $B_s$ oscillation frequency, both directly and indirectly, are then summarized. Finally, values for the CKM elements $|V_{td}|$ and $|V_{ts}/V_{td}|$ are extracted

Dynamics of the peel front and the nature of acoustic emission during peeling of an adhesive tape

We investigate the peel front dynamics and acoustic emission of an adhesive tape within the context of a recent model by including an additional dissipative energy that mimics bursts of acoustic signals. We find that the nature of the peeling front can vary from smooth to stuck-peeled configuration depending on the values of dissipation coefficient, inertia of the roller, mass of the tape. Interestingly, we find that the distribution of AE bursts shows a power law statistics with two scaling regimes with increasing pull velocity as observed in experiments. In this regimes, the stuck-peeled configuration is similar to the `edge of peeling' reminiscent of a system driven to a critical state.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Aspects of the Unitarized Soft Multipomeron Approach in DIS and Diffraction

We study in detail the main features of the unitarized Regge model (CFKS), recently proposed to describe the small-$Q^2$ domain. It takes into account a two-component description with two types of unitarized contributions: one is the multiple pomeron exchange contribution, interacting with the large dipole configurations, and the other one consists of a unitarized dipole cross section, describing the interaction with the small size dipoles. We analyze the ratio between soft and hard pieces as a function of the virtuality, and also compare the resulting dipole cross section to that from the saturation model. Diffraction dissociation is also considered, showing the scaling violations in diffractive DIS and estimating the corresponding logarithmic slope.Comment: 14 pages, 5 postscript figures. Version to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

A migrating epithelial monolayer flows like a Maxwell viscoelastic liquid

We perform a bidimensional Stokes experiment in an active cellular material: an autonomously migrating monolayer of Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells flows around a circular obstacle within a long and narrow channel, involving an interplay between cell shape changes and neighbour rearrangements. Based on image analysis of tissue flow and coarse-grained cell anisotropy, we determine the tissue strain rate, cell deformation and rearrangement rate fields, which are spatially heterogeneous. We find that the cell deformation and rearrangement rate fields correlate strongly, which is compatible with a Maxwell viscoelastic liquid behaviour (and not with a Kelvin-Voigt viscoelastic solid behaviour). The value of the associated relaxation time is measured as $\tau = 70 \pm 15$~min, is observed to be independent of obstacle size and division rate, and is increased by inhibiting myosin activity. In this experiment, the monolayer behaves as a flowing material with a Weissenberg number close to one which shows that both elastic and viscous effects can have comparable contributions in the process of collective cell migration.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figure

Gluon propagator in diffractive scattering

In this work, we perform a comparison of the employ of distinct gluon propagators with the experimental data in diffractive processes, $pp$ elastic scattering and light meson photo-production. The gluon propagators are calculated through non-perturbative methods, being justified their use in this class of events, due to the smallness of the momentum transfer. Our results are not able to select the best choice for the modified gluon propagator among the analyzed ones, showing that the application of this procedure in this class of high energy processes, although giving a reasonable fit to the experimental data, should be taken with same caution.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A (uses ws-ijmpa.cls). Authors correcte

Criterion for purely elastic Taylor-Couette instability in the flows of shear-banding fluids

In the past twenty years, shear-banding flows have been probed by various techniques, such as rheometry, velocimetry and flow birefringence. In micellar solutions, many of the data collected exhibit unexplained spatio-temporal fluctuations. Recently, it has been suggested that those fluctuations originate from a purely elastic instability of the flow. In cylindrical Couette geometry, the instability is reminiscent of the Taylor-like instability observed in viscoelastic polymer solutions. In this letter, we describe how the criterion for purely elastic Taylor-Couette instability should be adapted to shear-banding flows. We derive three categories of shear-banding flows with curved streamlines, depending on their stability.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure