Plastisol Foaming Process. Decomposition of the Foaming Agent, Polymer Behavior in the Corresponding Temperature Range and Resulting Foam Properties

The decomposition of azodicarbonamide, used as foaming agent in PVC - plasticizer (1/1) plastisols was studied by DSC. Nineteen different plasticizers, all belonging to the ester family, two being polymeric (polyadipates), were compared. The temperature of maximum decomposition rate (in anisothermal regime at 5 K min-1 scanning rate), ranges between 434 and 452 K. The heat of decomposition ranges between 8.7 and 12.5 J g -1. Some trends of variation of these parameters appear significant and are discussed in terms of solvent (matrix) and viscosity effects on the decomposition reactions. The shear modulus at 1 Hz frequency was determined at the temperature of maximum rate of foaming agent decomposition, and differs significantly from a sample to another. The foam density was determined at ambient temperature and the volume fraction of bubbles was used as criterion to judge the efficiency of the foaming process. The results reveal the existence of an optimal shear modulus of the order of 2 kPa that corresponds roughly to plasticizer molar masses of the order of 450 ± 50 g mol-1. Heavier plasticizers, especially polymeric ones are too difficult to deform. Lighter plasticizers such as diethyl phthalate (DEP) deform too easily and presumably facilitate bubble collapse

Mean-field transport theory for the two-flavour NJL model

By making decomposition of the Wigner function simultaneously in both the spinor and the isospin spaces we derive a set of kinetic equations for the quark distribution functions and the spin densities. A detailed analysis of the consequences imposed by the chiral invariance on the form of the transport equations is presented.Comment: Revtex, 25 pages, no figure

High E(T) inclusive jet cross-sections in photoproduction at HERA

Inclusive jet differential cross sections for the reaction e+ p --> e+ + jet + X with quasi-real photons have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA. These cross sections are given for the photon-proton centre-of-mass energy interval 134 < W < 277 GeV and jet pseudorapidity in the range -1 < eta(jet) < 2 in the laboratory frame. The results are presented for three cone radii in the eta-phi plane, R=1.0, 0.7 and 0.5. Measurements of dsigma/deta(jet) above various jet-transverse-energy thresholds up to 25 GeV and in three ranges of W are presented and compared to next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD calculations. For jets defined with R=1.0 differences between data and NLO calculations are seen at high eta(jet) and low E_T(jet). The measured cross sections for jets defined with R=0.7 are well described by the calculations in the entire measured range of eta(jet) and E_T(jet). The inclusive jet cross section for E_T(jet) > 21 GeV is consistent with an approximately linear variation with the cone radius R in the range between 0.5 and 1.0, and with NLO calculations.Comment: 31 pages including 8 figure

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 134-277 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 η - φ plane with a cone radius of one unit. Measured jet shapes both in inclusive jet and dijet production with transverse energies EjetT &gt; 14 GeV are presented. The jet shape broadens as the jet pseudorapidity (ηjet) increases and narrows as EjetT 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 ηjet and low EjetT. The observed broadening of the jet shape as ηjet increases is consistent with the predicted increase in the fraction of final state gluon jets

Study of photon dissociation in diffractive photoproduction at HERA

Diffractive dissociation of quasi-real photons at a photon-proton centre of mass energy of W ≈ 200 GeV is studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The process under consideration is γp → XN, where X is the diffractively dissociated photon system of mass MX and N is either a proton or a nucleonic system with mass MN &lt; 2 GeV. The cross section for this process in the interval 3 &lt; MX &lt; 24 GeV relative to the total photoproduction cross section was measured to be σDpartial/σtot = 6.2 ± 0.2(stat) ± 1.4(syst)%. After extrapolating this result to the mass interval of mφ2 &lt; MX2 &lt; 0.05W2 and correcting it for proton dissociation, the fraction of the total cross section attributed to single diffractive photon dissociation, γp → Xp, is found to be σSD/σtot = 13.3 ± 0.5(stat) ± 3.6(syst)%. The mass spectrum of the dissociated photon system in the interval 8 &lt; MX &lt; 24 GeV can be described by the triple pomeron (IP IP IP) diagram with an effective pomeron intercept of αIP(0) = 1.12 ± 0.04(stat) ± 0.08(syst). The cross section for photon dissociation in the range 3 &lt; MX &lt; 8 GeV is significantly higher than that expected from the triple pomeron amplitude describing the region 8 &lt; MX &lt; 24 GeV. Assuming that this discrepancy is due to a pomeron-pomeron-reggeon (IP IP IR) term, its contribution to the diffractive cross section in the interval 3 &lt; MX &lt; 24 GeV is estimated to be fIP IP IR = 26 ± 3(stat) ± 12(syst)%. © Springer-Verlag 1997

Study of charged-current ep interactions at Q(2)&gt;200 GeV2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA

Deep inelastic charged-current reactions have been studied in e+p and e-p collisions at a center of mass energy of about 300GeV in the kinematic region Q2&gt;200GeV2 and x&gt;0.006 using the ZEUS detector at HERA. The integrated cross sections for Q2&gt;200GeV2 are found to be {Mathematical expression} and {Mathematical expression}. Differential cross sections have been measured as functions of the variables x, y and Q2. From the measured differential cross sections dσ/dQ2, the W boson mass is determined to be {Mathematical expression}. Measured jet rates and transverse energy profiles agree with model predictions. A search for charged-current interactions with a large rapidity gap yielded one candidate event, corresponding to a cross section of {Mathematical expression} © 1996 Springer-Verlag

Observation of isolated high-ET photons in photoproduction at HERA: ZEUS collaboration

Events containing an isolated prompt photon with high transverse energy, together with a balancing jet, have been observed for the first time in photoproduction at HERA. The data were taken with the ZEUS detector, in a γp centre of mass energy range 120-250 GeV. The fraction of the incoming photon energy participating in the production of the prompt photon and the jet, xγ, shows a strong peak near unity, consistent with LO QCD Monte Carlo predictions. In the transverse energy and pseudorapidity range 5 ≤ EγT &lt; 10 GeV, -0.7 ≤ ηγ &lt; 0.8, EjetT ≥ 5 GeV, and -1.5 ≤ ηjet ≤ 1.8, with xOBSγ &gt; 0.8, the measured cross section is 15.3 ± 3.8 ± 1.8 pb, in good agreement with a recent NLO calculation. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V

Measurement of elastic phi photoproduction at HERA

The production of phi mesons in the reaction e(+)p --> e(+)phi p (phi --> K+K-) at a median Q(2) of 10(-4) GeV2 has been studied with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The differential phi photoproduction cross section d sigma/dt has an exponential shape and has been determined in the kinematic range 0.1 phi p) = 0.96+/-0.19(-0.18)(+0.21) mu b has been obtained by extrapolating to t = 0. When compared to lower energy data, the results show a weak energy dependence of both sigma(gamma-->phi p) and the slope of the t distribution. The phi decay angular distributions are consistent with s-channel helicity conservation. From lower energies to HERA energies, the features of phi photoproduction are compatible with those of a soft diffractive process