736 research outputs found
The imaging properties of the Gas Pixel Detector as a focal plane polarimeter
X-rays are particularly suited to probe the physics of extreme objects.
However, despite the enormous improvements of X-ray Astronomy in imaging,
spectroscopy and timing, polarimetry remains largely unexplored. We propose the
photoelectric polarimeter Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) as an instrument candidate
to fill the gap of more than thirty years of lack of measurements. The GPD, in
the focus of a telescope, will increase the sensitivity of orders of magnitude.
Moreover, since it can measure the energy, the position, the arrival time and
the polarization angle of every single photon, allows to perform polarimetry of
subsets of data singled out from the spectrum, the light curve or the image of
source. The GPD has an intrinsic very fine imaging capability and in this work
we report on the calibration campaign carried out in 2012 at the PANTER X-ray
test facility of the Max-Planck-Institut f\"ur extraterrestrische Physik of
Garching (Germany) in which, for the first time, we coupled it to a JET-X
optics module with a focal length of 3.5 m and an angular resolution of 18
arcsec at 4.5 keV. This configuration was proposed in 2012 aboard the X-ray
Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE) in response to the ESA call for a small
mission. We derived the imaging and polarimetric performance for extended
sources like Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Supernova Remnants as case studies for the
XIPE configuration, discussing also possible improvements by coupling the
detector with advanced optics, having finer angular resolution and larger
effective area, to study with more details extended objects.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplemen
First Light Measurements of Capella with the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory
We present the first X-ray spectrum obtained by the Low Energy Transmission
Grating Spectrometer (LETGS) aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The spectrum
is of Capella and covers a wavelength range of 5-175 A (2.5-0.07 keV). The
measured wavelength resolution, which is in good agreement with ground
calibration, is 0.06 A (FWHM). Although in-flight
calibration of the LETGS is in progress, the high spectral resolution and
unique wavelength coverage of the LETGS are well demonstrated by the results
from Capella, a coronal source rich in spectral emission lines. While the
primary purpose of this letter is to demonstrate the spectroscopic potential of
the LETGS, we also briefly present some preliminary astrophysical results. We
discuss plasma parameters derived from line ratios in narrow spectral bands,
such as the electron density diagnostics of the He-like triplets of carbon,
nitrogen, and oxygen, as well as resonance scattering of the strong Fe XVII
line at 15.014 A.Comment: 4 pages (ApJ letter LaTeX), 2 PostScript figures, accepted for
publication in ApJ Letters, 200
Measurement of inclusive D*+- and associated dijet cross sections in photoproduction at HERA
Inclusive photoproduction of D*+- mesons has been measured for photon-proton
centre-of-mass energies in the range 130 < W < 280 GeV and a photon virtuality
Q^2 < 1 GeV^2. The data sample used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of
37 pb^-1. Total and differential cross sections as functions of the D*
transverse momentum and pseudorapidity are presented in restricted kinematical
regions and the data are compared with next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative
QCD calculations using the "massive charm" and "massless charm" schemes. The
measured cross sections are generally above the NLO calculations, in particular
in the forward (proton) direction. The large data sample also allows the study
of dijet production associated with charm. A significant resolved as well as a
direct photon component contribute to the cross section. Leading order QCD
Monte Carlo calculations indicate that the resolved contribution arises from a
significant charm component in the photon. A massive charm NLO parton level
calculation yields lower cross sections compared to the measured results in a
kinematic region where the resolved photon contribution is significant.Comment: 32 pages including 6 figure
Measurement of the diffractive structure function in deep inelastic scattering at HERA
This paper presents an analysis of the inclusive properties of diffractive
deep inelastic scattering events produced in interactions at HERA. The
events are characterised by a rapidity gap between the outgoing proton system
and the remaining hadronic system. Inclusive distributions are presented and
compared with Monte Carlo models for diffractive processes. The data are
consistent with models where the pomeron structure function has a hard and a
soft contribution. The diffractive structure function is measured as a function
of \xpom, the momentum fraction lost by the proton, of , the momentum
fraction of the struck quark with respect to \xpom, and of . The \xpom
dependence is consistent with the form \xpoma where
in all bins of and
. In the measured range, the diffractive structure function
approximately scales with at fixed . In an Ingelman-Schlein type
model, where commonly used pomeron flux factor normalisations are assumed, it
is found that the quarks within the pomeron do not saturate the momentum sum
rule.Comment: 36 pages, latex, 11 figures appended as uuencoded fil
Measurement of Jet Shapes in Photoproduction at HERA
The shape of jets produced in quasi-real photon-proton collisions at
centre-of-mass energies in the range GeV has been measured using the
hadronic energy flow. The measurement was done with the ZEUS detector at HERA.
Jets are identified using a cone algorithm in the plane with a
cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet
production with transverse energies GeV are presented. The jet
shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity () increases and narrows
as increases. In dijet photoproduction, the jet shapes have been
measured separately for samples dominated by resolved and by direct processes.
Leading-logarithm parton-shower Monte Carlo calculations of resolved and direct
processes describe well the measured jet shapes except for the inclusive
production of jets with high and low . The observed
broadening of the jet shape as increases is consistent with the
predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets.Comment: 29 pages including 9 figure
Measurement of neutral current e+/-p cross sections at high Bjorken x with the ZEUS detector
The neutral current e+/-p cross section has been measured up to values of
Bjorken x of approximately 1 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated
luminosity of 187 inv. pb of e-p and 142 inv. pb of e+p collisions at sqrt(s) =
318GeV. Differential cross sections in x and Q2, the exchanged boson
virtuality, are presented for Q2 geq 725GeV2. An improved reconstruction method
and greatly increased amount of data allows a finer binning in the high-x
region of the neutral current cross section and leads to a measurement with
much improved precision compared to a similar earlier analysis. The
measurements are compared to Standard Model expectations based on a variety of
recent parton distribution functions.Comment: 39 pages, 9 figure
Measurement of event shapes in deep inelastic scattering at HERA
Inclusive event-shape variables have been measured in the current region of
the Breit frame for neutral current deep inelastic ep scattering using an
integrated luminosity of 45.0 pb^-1 collected with the ZEUS detector at HERA.
The variables studied included thrust, jet broadening and invariant jet mass.
The kinematic range covered was 10 < Q^2 < 20,480 GeV^2 and 6.10^-4 < x < 0.6,
where Q^2 is the virtuality of the exchanged boson and x is the Bjorken
variable. The Q dependence of the shape variables has been used in conjunction
with NLO perturbative calculations and the Dokshitzer-Webber non-perturbative
corrections (`power corrections') to investigate the validity of this approach.Comment: 7+25 pages, 6 figure
High-E_T dijet photoproduction at HERA
The cross section for high-E_T dijet production in photoproduction has been
measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 81.8
pb-1. The events were required to have a virtuality of the incoming photon,
Q^2, of less than 1 GeV^2 and a photon-proton centre-of-mass energy in the
range 142 < W < 293 GeV. Events were selected if at least two jets satisfied
the transverse-energy requirements of E_T(jet1) > 20 GeV and E_T(jet2) > 15 GeV
and pseudorapidity requirements of -1 < eta(jet1,2) < 3, with at least one of
the jets satisfying -1 < eta(jet) < 2.5. The measurements show sensitivity to
the parton distributions in the photon and proton and effects beyond
next-to-leading order in QCD. Hence these data can be used to constrain further
the parton densities in the proton and photon.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figures, 20 tables, including minor revisions from
referees. Accepted by Phys. Rev.
Observation of hard scattering in photoproduction events with a large rapidity gap at HERA
Events with a large rapidity gap and total transverse energy greater than 5
GeV have been observed in quasi-real photoproduction at HERA with the ZEUS
detector. The distribution of these events as a function of the
centre of mass energy is consistent with diffractive scattering. For total
transverse energies above 12 GeV, the hadronic final states show predominantly
a two-jet structure with each jet having a transverse energy greater than 4
GeV. For the two-jet events, little energy flow is found outside the jets. This
observation is consistent with the hard scattering of a quasi-real photon with
a colourless object in the proton.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 4 figures appended as uuencoded fil
An NLO QCD analysis of inclusive cross-section and jet-production data from the ZEUS experiment
The ZEUS inclusive differential cross-section data from HERA, for charged and
neutral current processes taken with e+ and e- beams, together with
differential cross-section data on inclusive jet production in e+ p scattering
and dijet production in \gamma p scattering, have been used in a new NLO QCD
analysis to extract the parton distribution functions of the proton. The input
of jet data constrains the gluon and allows an accurate extraction of
\alpha_s(M_Z) at NLO;
\alpha_s(M_Z) = 0.1183 \pm 0.0028(exp.) \pm 0.0008(model)
An additional uncertainty from the choice of scales is estimated as \pm
0.005. This is the first extraction of \alpha_s(M_Z) from HERA data alone.Comment: 37 pages, 14 figures, to be submitted to EPJC. PDFs available at
http://durpdg.dur.ac.uk/hepdata in LHAPDFv
- …