Charm Production in pˉA\bar pA-Collisions at the Charmonium Threshhold

We discuss the production of charmonium states in antiproton-nucleus collisions at the $\psi'$ threshold. It is explained that measurements in $\bar p A$ collisions will allow to get new information about the strengths of the inelastic $J/\psi N$ and $\psi'N$ interaction, on the production of $\Lambda_c$ and $\bar{D}$ in charmonium-nucleon interactions and for the first time about the nondiagonal transitions $\psi' N\to J/\psi N$. The inelastic $J/\psi$-nucleon cross section is extracted from the comparison of hadron-nucleus collisions with hadron-nucleon collisions. Predictions for the ratio of $J/\psi$ to $\psi'$ yields in antiproton-nucleus scatterings close to the threshold of $\psi'$ production for different nuclear targets are presented.Comment: Talk given at International Conference on Low Energy Antiproton Physics (LEAP'05), Bonn, Juelich, Germany, 16-22 May 200

Charm production in antiproton-nucleus collisions at the J/ψJ/\psi and the ψ′\psi' thresholds

We discuss the production of charmonium states in antiproton-nucleus collisions at the $\psi'$ threshold. It is explained that measurements in $\bar p A$ collisions will allow to get new information about the strengths of the inelastic $J/\psi N, \psi'N$ interaction, on the production of $\Lambda_c$ and $\bar{D}$ in charmonium-nucleon interactions and for the first time about nondiagonal transitions $\psi' N\to J/\psi N$. The inelastic $J/\psi$-nucleon cross section is extracted from the comparison of hadron-nucleus collisions with hadron-nucleon collisions. We extract the total $J/\psi$ nucleon cross section from photon-nucleon collisions by accounting for the color transparency phenomenon within the frame of the GVDM (Generalized Vector meson Dominance Model). We evaluate also within the GVDM the inelastic $\psi'$-nucleon cross section as well as the cross section for the nondiagonal transitions. Predictions for the ratio of $J/\psi$ to $\psi'$ yields in antiproton-nucleus scatterings close to the threshold of $\psi'$ production for different nuclear targets are presented.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, typos corrected, some discussion adde

Charmonium Suppression - Interplay of Hadronic and Partonic Degrees of Freedom

Last year the E866-group of the Fermilab measured the $x_F$ dependence of $J/\Psi$ and $\Psi'$ suppression in $pA$ collisions. We discuss two of the effects found in that experiment with regard to color coherence effects: the different suppression of the $J/\Psi$ and the $\Psi'$ at $x_F<0$ and the significant suppression of both at large $x_F$. The small $x_F$ regions is dominated by fully formed charmonium states and thus enables us to discuss the formation time and the cross section of the different charmonium states. In the large $x_F$ region the interaction of the charmonium states with nuclear matter has to be described by partonic degrees of freedom, because in that kinematic domain the formation time is much larger than the nuclear radii. The understanding of this region will be crucial for the interpretation of the data of the future heavy ion colliders RHIC and LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, 1 figure, Contribution to the Proceedings of the 15th Particles and Nuclei International Conference (PANIC 99), Uppsala, Sweden, June 10-16, 199

Critical Review Of Quark Gluon Plasma Signals

Compelling evidence for a new form of matter has been claimed to be formed in Pb+Pb collisions at SPS. We critically review two suggested signatures for this new state of matter: First the suppression of the J/$\Psi$, which should be strongly suppressed in the QGP by two different mechanisms, the color-screening and the QCD-photoeffect. Secondly the measured particle, in particular strange hadronic, ratios might signal the freeze-out from a quark-gluon phase.Comment: 7 pages 6 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of CRIS 2000, 3rd Catania Relativistic Ion Studies, Acicastello, Italy, May 22-26, 200

Charmonium suppression from purely geometrical effects

The extend to which geometrical effects contribute to the production and suppression of the $J/\psi$ and $q\bar{q}$ minijet pairs in general is investigated for high energy heavy ion collisions at SPS, RHIC and LHC energies. For the energy range under investigation, the geometrical effects referred to are shadowing and anti-shadowing, respectively. Due to those effects, the parton distributions in nuclei deviate from the naive extrapolation from the free nucleon result; $f_{A}\neq A f_{N}$. The strength of the shadowing/anti-shadowing effect increases with the mass number. The consequences of gluonic shadowing effects for the $x_F$ distribution of $J/\psi$'s at $\sqrt s =20$ GeV, $\sqrt s =200$ GeV and $\sqrt s =6$ TeV are calculated for some relevant combinations of nuclei, as well as the $p_T$ distribution of minijets at midrapidity for $N_f=4$ in the final state.Comment: corrected some typos, improved shadowing ratio

Translocation of structured polynucleotides through nanopores

We investigate theoretically the translocation of structured RNA/DNA molecules through narrow pores which allow single but not double strands to pass. The unzipping of basepaired regions within the molecules presents significant kinetic barriers for the translocation process. We show that this circumstance may be exploited to determine the full basepairing pattern of polynucleotides, including RNA pseudoknots. The crucial requirement is that the translocation dynamics (i.e., the length of the translocated molecular segment) needs to be recorded as a function of time with a spatial resolution of a few nucleotides. This could be achieved, for instance, by applying a mechanical driving force for translocation and recording force-extension curves (FEC's) with a device such as an atomic force microscope or optical tweezers. Our analysis suggests that with this added spatial resolution, nanopores could be transformed into a powerful experimental tool to study the folding of nucleic acids.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure