157 research outputs found
Measurement of polarization-transfer to bound protons in carbon and its virtuality dependence
We measured the ratio of the transverse to longitudinal
components of polarization transferred from electrons to bound protons in
by the process at the
Mainz Microtron (MAMI). We observed consistent deviations from unity of this
ratio normalized to the free-proton ratio,
, for both -
and -shell knocked out protons, even though they are embedded in averaged
local densities that differ by about a factor of two. The dependence of the
double ratio on proton virtuality is similar to the one for knocked out protons
from and , suggesting a universal behavior.
It further implies no dependence on average local nuclear density
A Large-Scale FPGA-Based Trigger and Dead-Time Free DAQ System for the Kaos Spectrometer at MAMI
The Kaos spectrometer is maintained by the A1 collaboration at the Mainz
Microtron MAMI with a focus on the study of (e,e'K^+) coincidence reactions.
For its electron-arm two vertical planes of fiber arrays, each comprising
approximately 10 000 fibers, are operated close to zero degree scattering angle
and in close proximity to the electron beam. A nearly dead-time free DAQ system
to acquire timing and tracking information has been installed for this
spectrometer arm. The signals of 144 multi-anode photomultipliers are collected
by 96-channel front-end boards, digitized by double-threshold discriminators
and the signal time is picked up by state-of-the-art F1 time-to-digital
converter chips. In order to minimize background rates a sophisticated trigger
logic was implemented in newly developed Vuprom modules. The trigger performs
noise suppression, signal cluster finding, particle tracking, and coincidence
timing, and can be expanded for kinematical matching (e'K^+) coincidences. The
full system was designed to process more than 4 000 read-out channels and to
cope with the high electron flux in the spectrometer and the high count rate
requirement of the detectors. It was successfully in-beam tested at MAMI in
2009.Comment: Contributed to 17th IEEE Real Time Conference (RT10), Lisbon, 24-28
May 201
Search for Light Gauge Bosons of the Dark Sector at the Mainz Microtron
A new exclusion limit for the electromagnetic production of a light U(1)
gauge boson {\gamma}' decaying to e^+e^- was determined by the A1 Collaboration
at the Mainz Microtron. Such light gauge bosons appear in several extensions of
the standard model and are also discussed as candidates for the interaction of
dark matter with standard model matter. In electron scattering from a heavy
nucleus, the existing limits for a narrow state coupling to e^+e^- were reduced
by nearly an order of magnitude in the range of the lepton pair mass of 210
MeV/c^2 < m_e^+e^- < 300 MeV/c^2. This experiment demonstrates the potential of
high current and high resolution fixed target experiments for the search for
physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure
Particle tracking in kaon electroproduction with cathode-charge sampling in multi-wire proportional chambers
Wire chambers are routinely operated as tracking detectors in magnetic
spectrometers at high-intensity continuous electron beams. Especially in
experiments studying reactions with small cross-sections the reaction yield is
limited by the background rate in the chambers. One way to determine the track
of a charged particle through a multi-wire proportional chamber (MWPC) is the
measurement of the charge distribution induced on its cathodes. In practical
applications of this read-out method, the algorithm to relate the measured
charge distribution to the avalanche position is an important factor for the
achievable position resolution and for the track reconstruction efficiency. An
algorithm was developed for operating two large-sized MWPCs in a strong
background environment with multiple-particle tracks. Resulting efficiencies
were determined as a function of the electron beam current and on the signal
amplitudes. Because of the different energy-losses of pions, kaons, and protons
in the momentum range of the spectrometer the efficiencies depend also on the
particle species
The impact of ice crystal shapes, size distributions and spatial structures of cirrus clouds on solar radiative fluxes
The solar radiative properties of cirrus clouds depend on ice particle shape, size, and orientation, as well as on the spatial cloud structure. Radiation schemes in atmospheric circulation models rely on estimates of cloud optical thickness only. In the present work, a Monte Carlo radiative transfer code is applied to various cirrus cloud scenarios to obtain the radiative response of uncertainties in the above-mentioned microphysical and spatial cloud properties (except orientation). First, plane-parallel homogeneous (0D) clouds with different crystal shapes (hexagonal columns, irregular polycrystals) and 114 different size distributions have been considered. The resulting variabilities in the solar radiative fluxes are in the order of a few percent for the reflected and about 1% for the diffusely transmitted fluxes. Largest variabilities in the order of 10% to 30% are found for the solar broadband absorptance. However, these variabilities are smaller than the flux differences caused by the choice of ice particle geometries.
The influence of cloud inhomogeneities on the radiative fluxes has been examined with the help of time series of Raman lidar extinction coefficient profiles as input for the radiative transfer calculations. Significant differences between results for inhomogeneous and plane-parallel clouds were found. These differences are in the same order of magnitude as those arising from using extremely different crystal shapes for the radiative transfer calculations. From this sensitivity study, the ranking of cirrus cloud properties according to their importance in solar broadband radiative transfer is optical thickness, ice crystal shape, ice particle size, and spatial structure
Solar radiative transfer simulations in Saharan dust plumes: particle shapes and 3-D effect
Radiative fields of three-dimensional inhomogeneous Saharan dust clouds have been calculated at solar wavelength (0.6 μm) by means of a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model. Scattering properties are taken from measurements in the SAMUM campaigns, from light scattering calculations for spheroids based on the MIESCHKA code, from Mie theory for spheres and from the geometric optics method assuming irregular shaped particles. Optical properties of different projected area equivalent shapes are compared. Large differences in optical properties are found especially in the phase functions.
Results of radiative transfer calculations based on the Monte Carlo method are shown exemplarily for one dust cloud simulated by the cloud resolving atmospheric circulation model LM-MUSCAT-DES. Shape-induced differences in the radiation fluxes are pronounced, for example, the domain averaged normalized radiance is about 30% lower in the case of a dust plume consisting of spheroids or irregular particles compared to spheres. The effect of net horizontal photon transport (3-D effect) on the reflected radiance fields is only notable at the largest gradients in optical thickness. For example, the reflectance at low sun position differs locally about 15% when horizontal photon transport is accounted for. ‘Sharp edges' due to 1-D calculations are smoothed out in the 3-D case
Observation of Lambda H-4 hyperhydrogen by decay-pion spectroscopy in electron scattering
At the Mainz Microtron MAMI, the first high-resolution pion spectroscopy from
decays of strange systems was performed by electron scattering off a Be-9
target in order to study the ground-state masses of Lambda-hypernuclei.
Positively charged kaons were detected by a short-orbit spectrometer with a
broad momentum acceptance at zero degree forward angles with respect to the
beam, efficiently tagging the production of strangeness in the target nucleus.
In coincidence, negatively charged decay-pions were detected by two independent
high-resolution spectrometers. About 10^3 pionic weak decays of hyperfragments
and hyperons were observed. The pion momentum distribution shows a
monochromatic peak at p_pi ~ 133 MeV/c, corresponding to the unique signature
for the two-body decay of hyperhydrogen Lambda H-4 -> He-4 + pi-, stopped
inside the target. Its binding energy was determined to be B_Lambda = 2.12 +-
0.01 (stat.) +- 0.09 (syst.) MeV with respect to the H-3 + Lambda mass
Search for light massive gauge bosons as an explanation of the anomaly at MAMI
A massive, but light abelian U(1) gauge boson is a well motivated possible
signature of physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In this
paper, the search for the signal of such a U(1) gauge boson in
electron-positron pair-production at the spectrometer setup of the A1
Collaboration at the Mainz Microtron (MAMI) is described. Exclusion limits in
the mass range of 40 MeV up to 300 MeV with a sensitivity in the mixing
parameter of down to are presented. A large
fraction of the parameter space has been excluded where the discrepancy of the
measured anomalous magnetic moment of the muon with theory might be explained
by an additional U(1) gauge boson.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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