164 research outputs found
Investigating the TeV Morphology of MGRO J1908+06 with VERITAS
We report on deep observations of the extended TeV gamma-ray source MGRO
J1908+06 made with the VERITAS very high energy (VHE) gamma-ray observatory.
Previously, the TeV emission has been attributed to the pulsar wind nebula
(PWN) of the Fermi-LAT pulsar PSR J1907+0602. We detect MGRO J1908+06 at a
significance level of 14 standard deviations (14 sigma) and measure a photon
index of 2.20 +/- 0.10_stat +/- 0.20_sys. The TeV emission is extended,
covering the region near PSR J1907+0602 and also extending towards SNR
G40.5--0.5. When fitted with a 2-dimensional Gaussian, the intrinsic extension
has a standard deviation of sigma_src = 0.44 +/- 0.02 degrees. In contrast to
other TeV PWNe of similar age in which the TeV spectrum softens with distance
from the pulsar, the TeV spectrum measured near the pulsar location is
consistent with that measured at a position near the rim of G40.5--0.5, 0.33
degrees away.Comment: To appear in ApJ, 8 page
Deep Broadband Observations of the Distant Gamma-ray Blazar PKS 1424+240
We present deep VERITAS observations of the blazar PKS 1424+240, along with
contemporaneous Fermi Large Area Telescope, Swift X-ray Telescope and Swift UV
Optical Telescope data between 2009 February 19 and 2013 June 8. This blazar
resides at a redshift of , displaying a significantly attenuated
gamma-ray flux above 100 GeV due to photon absorption via pair-production with
the extragalactic background light. We present more than 100 hours of VERITAS
observations from three years, a multiwavelength light curve and the
contemporaneous spectral energy distributions. The source shows a higher flux
of (2.1) ph ms above 120 GeV in 2009 and
2011 as compared to the flux measured in 2013, corresponding to
(1.02) ph ms above 120 GeV. The measured
differential very high energy (VHE; GeV) spectral indices are
3.80.3, 4.30.6 and 4.50.2 in 2009, 2011 and 2013,
respectively. No significant spectral change across the observation epochs is
detected. We find no evidence for variability at gamma-ray opacities of greater
than , where it is postulated that any variability would be small and
occur on longer than year timescales if hadronic cosmic-ray interactions with
extragalactic photon fields provide a secondary VHE photon flux. The data
cannot rule out such variability due to low statistics.Comment: ApJL accepted March 17, 201
Measurement of the Longitudinal Spin Transfer to Lambda and Anti-Lambda Hyperons in Polarised Muon DIS
The longitudinal polarisation transfer from muons to lambda and anti-lambda
hyperons, D_LL, has been studied in deep inelastic scattering off an
unpolarised isoscalar target at the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The spin
transfers to lambda and anti-lambda produced in the current fragmentation
region exhibit different behaviours as a function of x and xF . The measured x
and xF dependences of D^lambda_LL are compatible with zero, while
D^anti-lambda_LL tends to increase with xF, reaching values of 0.4 - 0.5. The
resulting average values are D^lambda_LL = -0.012 +- 0.047 +- 0.024 and
D^anti-lambda_LL = 0.249 +- 0.056 +- 0.049. These results are discussed in the
frame of recent model calculations.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+
The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive
dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190
GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been
performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared
4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances
a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data
show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with
spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The
resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase
differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a
resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2
is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged;
version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange
The Polarised Valence Quark Distribution from semi-inclusive DIS
The semi-inclusive difference asymmetry A^{h^{+}-h^{-}} for hadrons of
opposite charge has been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data
were collected in the years 2002-2004 using a 160 GeV polarised muon beam
scattered off a large polarised ^6LiD target and cover the range 0.006 < x <
0.7 and 1 < Q^2 < 100 (GeV/c)^2. In leading order QCD (LO) the asymmetry
A_d^{h^{+}-h^{-}} measures the valence quark polarisation and provides an
evaluation of the first moment of Delta u_v + Delta d_v which is found to be
equal to 0.40 +- 0.07 (stat.) +- 0.05 (syst.) over the measured range of x at
Q^2 = 10 (GeV/c)^2. When combined with the first moment of g_1^d previously
measured on the same data, this result favours a non-symmetric polarisation of
light quarks Delta u-bar = - Delta d-bar at a confidence level of two standard
deviations, in contrast to the often assumed symmetric scenario Delta u-bar =
Delta d-bar = Delta s-bar = Delta s.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, COMPASS, revised: details added, author list
update
First Measurement of Chiral Dynamics in \pi^- \gamma -> \pi^- \pi^- \pi^+
The COMPASS collaboration at CERN has investigated the \pi^- \gamma -> \pi^-
\pi^- \pi^+ reaction at center-of-momentum energy below five pion masses,
sqrt(s) < 5 m(\pi), embedded in the Primakoff reaction of 190 GeV pions
impinging on a lead target. Exchange of quasi-real photons is selected by
isolating the sharp Coulomb peak observed at smallest momentum transfers, t' <
0.001 (GeV/c)^2. Using partial-wave analysis techniques, the scattering
intensity of Coulomb production described in terms of chiral dynamics and its
dependence on the 3\pi-invariant mass m(3\pi) = sqrt(s) were extracted. The
absolute cross section was determined in seven bins of with an
overall precision of 20%. At leading order, the result is found to be in good
agreement with the prediction of chiral perturbation theory over the whole
energy range investigated.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
The Spin-dependent Structure Function of the Proton g_1^p and a Test of the Bjorken Sum Rule
The inclusive double-spin asymmetry, A_1^p, has been measured at COMPASS in
deepinelastic polarised muon scattering off a large polarised NH3 target. The
data, collected in the year 2007, cover the range Q2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2, 0.004 < x <
0.7 and improve the statistical precision of g_1^p(x) by a factor of two in the
region x < 0.02. The new proton asymmetries are combined with those previously
published for the deuteron to extract the non-singlet spin-dependent structure
function g_1^NS(x,Q2). The isovector quark density, Delta_q_3(x,Q2), is
evaluated from a NLO QCD fit of g_1^NS. The first moment of Delta_q3 is in good
agreement with the value predicted by the Bjorken sum rule and corresponds to a
ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants g_A/g_V =
1.28+-0.07(stat)+-0.10(syst).Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Azimuthal asymmetries of charged hadrons produced by high-energy muons scattered off longitudinally polarised deuterons
Azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive production of positive (h^+) and
negative hadrons (h^-) have been measured by scattering 160 GeV muons off
longitudinally polarised deuterons at CERN. The asymmetries were decomposed in
several terms according to their expected modulation in the azimuthal angle phi
of the outgoing hadron. Each term receives contributions from one or several
spin and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution and fragmentation
functions. The amplitudes of all phi-modulation terms of the hadron asymmetries
integrated over the kinematic variables are found to be consistent with zero
within statistical errors, while the constant terms are nonzero and equal for
h^+ and h^- within the statistical errors. The dependencies of the
phi-modulated terms versus the Bjorken momentum fraction x, the hadron
fractional momentum z, and the hadron transverse momentum p_h^T were studied.
The x dependence of the constant terms for both positive and negative hadrons
is in agreement with the longitudinal double-spin hadron asymmetries, measured
in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The x dependence of the sin
phi-modulation term is less pronounced than that in the corresponding HERMES
data. All other dependencies of the phi-modulation amplitudes are consistent
with zero within the statistical errors.Comment: 12 pages, 11 Figures; revision 1 signs in Eq 5 corrected, polishe
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