First Measurement of Antikaon Phase-Space Distributions in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at Subthreshold Beam Energies

Differential production cross sections of K$^-$ and K$^+$ mesons have been measured as function of the polar emission angle in Ni+Ni collisions at a beam energy of 1.93 AGeV. In near-central collisions, the spectral shapes and the widths of the rapidity distributions of K$^-$ and K$^+$ mesons are in agreement with the assumption of isotropic emission. In non-central collisions, the K$^-$ and K$^+$ rapidity distributions are broader than expected for a single thermal source. In this case, the polar angle distributions are strongly forward-backward peaked and the nonisotropic contribution to the total yield is about one third both for K$^+$ and K$^-$ mesons. The K$^-$/K$^+$ ratio is found to be about 0.03 independent of the centrality of the reaction. This value is significantly larger than predicted by microscopic transport calculations if in-medium modifications of K mesons are neglected.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physics Letters

Medium Effects in Kaon and Antikaon Production in Nuclear Collisions at Subthreshold Beam Energies

Production cross sections of K$^+$ and K$^-$ mesons have been measured in C+C collisions at beam energies per nucleon below and near the nucleon-nucleon threshold. At a given beam energy, the spectral slopes of the K$^-$ mesons are significantly steeper than the ones of the K$^+$ mesons. The excitation functions for K$^+$ and K$^-$ mesons nearly coincide when correcting for the threshold energy. In contrast, the K$^+$ yield exceeds the K$^-$ yield by a factor of about 100 in proton-proton collisions at beam energies near the respective nucleon-nucleon thresholds.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Systematics of pion emission in heavy ion collisions in the 1A GeV regime

Using the large acceptance apparatus FOPI, we study pion emission in the reactions (energies in GeV/nucleon are given in parentheses): 40Ca+40Ca (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.5, 1.93), 96Ru+96Ru (0.4, 1.0, 1.5), 96Zr+96Zr (0.4, 1.0, 1.5), 197Au+197Au (0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5). The observables include longitudinal and transverse rapidity distributions and stopping, polar anisotropies, pion multiplicities, transverse momentum spectra, ratios for positively and negatively charged pions of average transverse momenta and of yields, directed flow, elliptic flow. The data are compared to earlier data where possible and to transport model simulations.Comment: 56 pages,42 figures; to be published in Nuclear Physics

Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR

Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100 (sqrt(s_NN) = 2.7 - 4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (mu_B > 500 MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation-of-state at high density as it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including activities before the start of data taking in 2022, in the context of the worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Published in European Physical Journal

The application of FT-IR method for determination of peroxide and acid value of rapeseed oils

W pracy podjęto próbę zastosowania szybkiej metody FT-IR do określania liczby kwasowej i nadtlenkowej olejów rzepakowych. Materiałem do badań było 12 olejów (4 oleje świeże, 4 oleje posmażalnicze, 4 oleje przeterminowane). Oznaczenia liczby kwasowej i nadtlenkowej wykonano tradycyjnymi metodami miareczkowymi. Widma w podczerwieni rejestrowano w zakresie spektralnym 4000 - 400 cm-1. Na podstawie danych spektralnych z 8 wybranych zakresów stworzono modele PLS opisujące powiązania pomiędzy danymi spektralnymi a liczbami kwasową i nadtlenkową badanych olejów. Utworzone modele charakteryzowały się wysokim współczynnikiem determinacji (r2=0,98) oraz niskimi wartościami RMSEP i RMSEC.In this study the application of FT-IR method for analyzing peroxide and acid value in rapeseed oils has been investigated. 12 rapeseed oils (4 fresh, 4 used frying oils and 4 expired oils) have been analyzed by standard titration methods. Infrared spectra were registered in spectral range 4000 - 400 cm-1, spectral data collected from 8 selected spectral bands were used in creating PLS models. The results of statistical analysis (r2=0.98 low values of RMSEP I RMSEC) showed that peroxide and acid values can be determined by infrared spectroscopy combined with chemometric methods