Isomers and oblate rotation in Pt isotopes: Delineating the limit for collectivity at high spins

Rotation-aligned isomeric states and associated oblate collective sequences are established in even Pt isotopes. Reduced E 2 transition probabilities for the deexcitation of the 12 + isomers indicate an abrupt and unexpected quenching of oblate collectivity around neutron number N=120 . Structure and shape evolution at high spin in the heaviest stable isotopes is found to be markedly different from observations in the lighter ones

Distribution amplitudes of light-quark mesons from lattice QCD

We exploit a method introduced recently to determine parton distribution amplitudes (PDAs) from minimal information in order to obtain light-quark pseudoscalar and vector meson PDAs from the limited number of moments produced by numerical simulations of lattice-regularised QCD. Within errors, the PDAs of pseudoscalar and vector mesons constituted from the same valence quarks are identical; they are concave functions, whose dilation expresses the strength of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking; and <math altimg="si1.gif" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mtext>SU</mtext><mo stretchy="false">(</mo><mn>3</mn><mo stretchy="false">)</mo></math> -flavour symmetry is broken nonperturbatively at the level of 10%. Notably, the appearance of precision in the lattice moments is misleading. The moments also exhibit material dependence on lattice volume, especially for the pion. Improvements need therefore be made before an accurate, unified picture of the light-front structure of light-quark pseudoscalar and vector mesons is revealed

Higgs boson production in association with a jet using jettiness subtraction

We use the recently proposed jettiness-subtraction scheme to provide the complete calculation of Higgs boson production in association with a jet in hadronic collisions through next-to-next-to-leading order in perturbative QCD. This method exploits the observation that the N -jettiness event-shape variable completely describes the singularity structure of QCD when final-state colored particles are present. Our results are in agreement with a recent computation of the gg and qg partonic initial states based on sector-improved residue subtraction. We present phenomenological results for both fiducial cross sections and distributions at the LHC

High precision predictions for exclusive V H production at the LHC

We present a resummation-improved prediction for pp → V H + 0 jets at the Large Hadron Collider. We focus on highly-boosted final states in the presence of jet veto to suppress the $t\overline{t}$ background. In this case, conventional fixed-order calculations are plagued by the existence of large Sudakov logarithms $\alpha_s^n{\log^m}\left( {{{{p_T^{\mathrm{veto}}}} \left/ {Q} \right.}} \right)$ for Q ~ m V + m H which lead to unreliable predictions as well as large theoretical uncertainties, and thus limit the accuracy when comparing experimental measurements to the Standard Model. In this work, we show that the resummation of Sudakov logarithms beyond the next-to-next-to-leading-log accuracy, combined with the next-to-next-to-leading order calculation, reduces the scale uncertainty and stabilizes the perturbative expansion in the region where the vector bosons carry large transverse momentum. Our result improves the precision with which Higgs properties can be determined from LHC measurements using boosted Higgs techniques

Core excitations across the neutron shell gap in 207 Tl

The single closed-neutron-shell, one proton–hole nucleus 207 Tl was populated in deep-inelastic collisions of a 208 Pb beam with a 208 Pb target. The yrast and near-yrast level scheme has been established up to high excitation energy, comprising an octupole phonon state and a large number of core excited states. Based on shell-model calculations, all observed single core excitations were established to arise from the breaking of the N=126 neutron core. While the shell-model calculations correctly predict the ordering of these states, their energies are compressed at high spins. It is concluded that this compression is an intrinsic feature of shell-model calculations using two-body matrix elements developed for the description of two-body states, and that multiple core excitations need to be considered in order to accurately calculate the energy spacings of the predominantly three-quasiparticle states

Understanding the nucleon as a Borromean bound-state

Analyses of the three valence-quark bound-state problem in relativistic quantum field theory predict that the nucleon may be understood primarily as a Borromean bound-state, in which binding arises mainly from two separate effects. One originates in non-Abelian facets of QCD that are expressed in the strong running coupling and generate confined but strongly-correlated colour-antitriplet diquark clusters in both the scalar–isoscalar and pseudovector–isotriplet channels. That attraction is magnified by quark exchange associated with diquark breakup and reformation. Diquark clustering is driven by the same mechanism which dynamically breaks chiral symmetry in the Standard Model. It has numerous observable consequences, the complete elucidation of which requires a framework that also simultaneously expresses the running of the coupling and masses in the strong interaction. Planned experiments are capable of validating this picture

Ward–Green–Takahashi identities and the axial-vector vertex

The colour-singlet axial-vector vertex plays a pivotal role in understanding dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and numerous hadronic weak interactions, yet scant model-independent information is available. We therefore use longitudinal and transverse Ward–Green–Takahashi (WGT) identities, together with kinematic constraints, in order to ameliorate this situation and expose novel features of the axial vertex: amongst them, Ward-like identities for elements in the transverse piece of the vertex, which complement and shed new light on identities determined previously for components in its longitudinal part. Such algebraic results are verified via solutions of the Bethe–Salpeter equation for the axial vertex obtained using two materially different kernels for the relevant Dyson–Schwinger equations. The solutions also provide insights that suggest a practical Ansatz for the axial-vector vertex

Determination of the top quark mass circa 2013: methods, subtleties, perspectives

We present an up-to-date overview of the problem of top quark mass determination. We assess the need for precision in the top mass extraction in the LHC era together with the main theoretical and experimental issues arising in precision top mass determination. We collect and document existing results on top mass determination at hadron colliders and map the prospects for future precision top mass determination at e+e- colliders. We present a collection of estimates for the ultimate precision of various methods for top quark mass extraction at the LHC

Basic features of the pion valence-quark distribution function

The impulse-approximation expression used hitherto to define the pion's valence-quark distribution function is flawed because it omits contributions from the gluons which bind quarks into the pion. A corrected leading-order expression produces the model-independent result that quarks dressed via the rainbow–ladder truncation, or any practical analogue, carry all the pion's light-front momentum at a characteristic hadronic scale. Corrections to the leading contribution may be divided into two classes, responsible for shifting dressed-quark momentum into glue and sea-quarks. Working with available empirical information, we use an algebraic model to express the principal impact of both classes of corrections. This enables a realistic comparison with experiment that allows us to highlight the basic features of the pion's measurable valence-quark distribution, qπ(x) ; namely, at a characteristic hadronic scale, qπ(x)∼(1−x)2 for x≳0.85 ; and the valence-quarks carry approximately two-thirds of the pion's light-front momentum

Oscillations above the barrier in the fusion of 28 Si + 28 Si

Fusion cross sections of 28 Si + 28 Si have been measured in a range above the barrier with a very small energy step ( ΔElab=0.5 MeV ). Regular oscillations have been observed, best evidenced in the first derivative of the energy-weighted excitation function. For the first time, quite different behaviors (the appearance of oscillations and the trend of sub-barrier cross sections) have been reproduced within the same theoretical frame, i.e., the coupled-channel model using the shallow M3Y + repulsion potential. The calculations suggest that channel couplings play an important role in the appearance of the oscillations, and that the simple relation between a peak in the derivative of the energy-weighted cross section and the height of a centrifugal barrier is lost, and so is the interpretation of the second derivative of the excitation function as a barrier distribution for this system, at energies above the Coulomb barrier