223 research outputs found
Measurement of Longitudinal Spin Transfer to Lambda Hyperons in Deep-Inelastic Lepton Scattering
Spin transfer in deep-inelastic Lambda electroproduction has been studied
with the HERMES detector using the 27.6 GeV polarized positron beam in the HERA
storage ring. For an average fractional energy transfer = 0.45, the
longitudinal spin transfer from the virtual photon to the Lambda has been
extracted. The spin transfer along the Lambda momentum direction is found to be
0.11 +/- 0.17 (stat) +/- 0.03 (sys); similar values are found for other
possible choices for the longitudinal spin direction of the Lambda. This result
is the most precise value obtained to date from deep-inelastic scattering with
charged lepton beams, and is sensitive to polarized up quark fragmentation to
hyperon states. The experimental result is found to be in general agreement
with various models of the Lambda spin content, and is consistent with the
assumption of helicity conservation in the fragmentation process.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures; new version has an expanded discussion and small
format change
Measurement of Angular Distributions and R= sigma_L/sigma_T in Diffractive Electroproduction of rho^0 Mesons
Production and decay angular distributions were extracted from measurements
of exclusive electroproduction of the rho^0(770) meson over a range in the
virtual photon negative four-momentum squared 0.5< Q^2 <4 GeV^2 and the
photon-nucleon invariant mass range 3.8< W <6.5 GeV. The experiment was
performed with the HERMES spectrometer, using a longitudinally polarized
positron beam and a ^3He gas target internal to the HERA e^{+-} storage ring.
The event sample combines rho^0 mesons produced incoherently off individual
nucleons and coherently off the nucleus as a whole. The distributions in one
production angle and two angles describing the rho^0 -> pi+ pi- decay yielded
measurements of eight elements of the spin-density matrix, including one that
had not been measured before. The results are consistent with the dominance of
helicity-conserving amplitudes and natural parity exchange. The improved
precision achieved at 47 GeV,
reveals evidence for an energy dependence in the ratio R of the longitudinal to
transverse cross sections at constant Q^2.Comment: 15 pages, 15 embedded figures, LaTeX for SVJour(epj) document class
Revision: Fig. 15 corrected, recent data added to Figs. 10,12,14,15; minor
changes to tex
Beam-Induced Nuclear Depolarisation in a Gaseous Polarised Hydrogen Target
Spin-polarised atomic hydrogen is used as a gaseous polarised proton target
in high energy and nuclear physics experiments operating with internal beams in
storage rings. When such beams are intense and bunched, this type of target can
be depolarised by a resonant interaction with the transient magnetic field
generated by the beam bunches. This effect has been studied with the HERA
positron beam in the HERMES experiment at DESY. Resonances have been observed
and a simple analytic model has been used to explain their shape and position.
Operating conditions for the experiment have been found where there is no
significant target depolarisation due to this effect.Comment: REVTEX, 6 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of the Spin Asymmetry in the Photoproduction of Pairs of High-pT Hadrons at HERMES
We present a measurement of the longitudinal spin asymmetry A_|| in
photoproduction of pairs of hadrons with high transverse momentum p_T. Data
were accumulated by the HERMES experiment using a 27.5 GeV polarized positron
beam and a polarized hydrogen target internal to the HERA storage ring. For
h+h- pairs with p_T^h_1 > 1.5 GeV/c and p_T^h_2 > 1.0 GeV/c, the measured
asymmetry is A_|| = -0.28 +/- 0.12 (stat.) +/- 0.02 (syst.). This negative
value is in contrast to the positive asymmetries typically measured in deep
inelastic scattering from protons, and is interpreted to arise from a positive
gluon polarization.Comment: 5 pages (latex), 4 figures (eps
The Flavor Asymmetry of the Light Quark Sea from Semi-inclusive Deep-inelastic Scattering
The flavor asymmetry of the light quark sea of the nucleon is determined in
the kinematic range 0.02<x<0.3 and 1 GeV^2<Q^2<10 GeV^2, for the first time
from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The quantity
(dbar(x)-ubar(x))/(u(x)-d(x)) is derived from a relationship between the yields
of positive and negative pions from unpolarized hydrogen and deuterium targets.
The flavor asymmetry dbar-ubar is found to be non-zero and x dependent, showing
an excess of dbar over ubar quarks in the proton.Comment: 7 Pages, 2 figures, RevTeX format; slight revision in text, small
change in extraction of dbar-ubar and comparison with a high q2
parameterizatio
Exclusive Leptoproduction of rho^0 Mesons from Hydrogen at Intermediate Virtual Photon Energies
Measurements of the cross section for exclusive virtual-photoproduction of
rho^0 mesons from hydrogen are reported. The data were collected by the HERMES
experiment using 27.5 GeV positrons incident on a hydrogen gas target in the
HERA storage ring. The invariant mass W of the photon-nucleon system ranges
from 4.0 to 6.0 GeV, while the negative squared four-momentum Q^2 of the
virtual photon varies from 0.7 to 5.0 GeV^2. The present data together with
most of the previous data at W > 4 GeV are well described by a model that
infers the W-dependence of the cross section from the dependence on the Bjorken
scaling variable x of the unpolarized structure function for deep-inelastic
scattering. In addition, a model calculation based on Off-Forward Parton
Distributions gives a fairly good account of the longitudinal component of the
rho^0 production cross section for Q^2 > 2 GeV^2.Comment: 10 pages, 6 embedded figures, LaTeX for SVJour(epj) document class.
Revisions: curves added to Fig. 1, several clarifications added to tex
Extreme genetic fragility of the HIV-1 capsid
Genetic robustness, or fragility, is defined as the ability, or lack thereof, of a biological entity to maintain function in the face of mutations. Viruses that replicate via RNA intermediates exhibit high mutation rates, and robustness should be particularly advantageous to them. The capsid (CA) domain of the HIV-1 Gag protein is under strong pressure to conserve functional roles in viral assembly, maturation, uncoating, and nuclear import. However, CA is also under strong immunological pressure to diversify. Therefore, it would be particularly advantageous for CA to evolve genetic robustness. To measure the genetic robustness of HIV-1 CA, we generated a library of single amino acid substitution mutants, encompassing almost half the residues in CA. Strikingly, we found HIV-1 CA to be the most genetically fragile protein that has been analyzed using such an approach, with 70% of mutations yielding replication-defective viruses. Although CA participates in several steps in HIV-1 replication, analysis of conditionally (temperature sensitive) and constitutively non-viable mutants revealed that the biological basis for its genetic fragility was primarily the need to coordinate the accurate and efficient assembly of mature virions. All mutations that exist in naturally occurring HIV-1 subtype B populations at a frequency >3%, and were also present in the mutant library, had fitness levels that were >40% of WT. However, a substantial fraction of mutations with high fitness did not occur in natural populations, suggesting another form of selection pressure limiting variation in vivo. Additionally, known protective CTL epitopes occurred preferentially in domains of the HIV-1 CA that were even more genetically fragile than HIV-1 CA as a whole. The extreme genetic fragility of HIV-1 CA may be one reason why cell-mediated immune responses to Gag correlate with better prognosis in HIV-1 infection, and suggests that CA is a good target for therapy and vaccination strategies
Observation of a Single-Spin Azimuthal Asymmetry in Semi-Inclusive Pion Electro-Production
Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive pion production in deep-inelastic
scattering have been measured for the first time. A significant target-spin
asymmetry of the distribution in the azimuthal angle phi of the pion relative
to the lepton scattering plane was observed for pi+ electro-production on a
longitudinally polarized hydrogen target. The corresponding analyzing power in
the sin(phi) moment of the cross section is 0.022 +/- 0.005 +/- 0.003. This
result can be interpreted as the effect of terms in the cross section involving
chiral-odd spin distribution functions in combination with a time-reversal-odd
fragmentation function that is sensitive to the transverse polarization of the
fragmenting quark.Comment: 5 pages of RevTex, 3 ps figures, 2 table
Observation of a Coherence Length Effect in Exclusive Rho^0 Electroproduction
Exclusive incoherent electroproduction of the rho^0(770) meson from 1H, 2H,
3He, and 14N targets has been studied by the HERMES experiment at squared
four-momentum transfer Q**2>0.4 GeV**2 and positron energy loss nu from 9 to 20
GeV. The ratio of the 14N to 1H cross sections per nucleon, known as the
nuclear transparency, was found to decrease with increasing coherence length of
quark-antiquark fluctuations of the virtual photon. The data provide clear
evidence of the interaction of the quark- antiquark fluctuations with the
nuclear medium.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 3 figure
Determination of the Deep Inelastic Contribution to the Generalised Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn Integral for the Proton and Neutron
The virtual photon absorption cross section differences [sigma_1/2-sigma_3/2]
for the proton and neutron have been determined from measurements of polarised
cross section asymmetries in deep inelastic scattering of 27.5 GeV
longitudinally polarised positrons from polarised 1H and 3He internal gas
targets. The data were collected in the region above the nucleon resonances in
the kinematic range nu < 23.5 GeV and 0.8 GeV**2 < Q**2 < 12 GeV**2. For the
proton the contribution to the generalised Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn integral was
found to be substantial and must be included for an accurate determination of
the full integral. Furthermore the data are consistent with a QCD
next-to-leading order fit based on previous deep inelastic scattering data.
Therefore higher twist effects do not appear significant.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, revte
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