45 research outputs found
Effective interaction between helical bio-molecules
The effective interaction between two parallel strands of helical
bio-molecules, such as deoxyribose nucleic acids (DNA), is calculated using
computer simulations of the "primitive" model of electrolytes. In particular we
study a simple model for B-DNA incorporating explicitly its charge pattern as a
double-helix structure. The effective force and the effective torque exerted
onto the molecules depend on the central distance and on the relative
orientation. The contributions of nonlinear screening by monovalent counterions
to these forces and torques are analyzed and calculated for different salt
concentrations. As a result, we find that the sign of the force depends
sensitively on the relative orientation. For intermolecular distances smaller
than it can be both attractive and repulsive. Furthermore we report a
nonmonotonic behaviour of the effective force for increasing salt
concentration. Both features cannot be described within linear screening
theories. For large distances, on the other hand, the results agree with linear
screening theories provided the charge of the bio-molecules is suitably
renormalized.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures included in text, 100 bibliog
Complete measurement of three-body photodisintegration of 3He for photon energies between 0.35 and 1.55 GeV
The three-body photodisintegration of 3He has been measured with the CLAS
detector at Jefferson Lab, using tagged photons of energies between 0.35 GeV
and 1.55 GeV. The large acceptance of the spectrometer allowed us for the first
time to cover a wide momentum and angular range for the two outgoing protons.
Three kinematic regions dominated by either two- or three-body contributions
have been distinguished and analyzed. The measured cross sections have been
compared with results of a theoretical model, which, in certain kinematic
ranges, have been found to be in reasonable agreement with the data.Comment: 22 pages, 25 eps figures, 2 tables, submitted to PRC. Modifications:
removed 2 figures, improvements on others, a few minor modifications to the
tex
A Kinematically Complete Measurement of the Proton Structure Function F2 in the Resonance Region and Evaluation of Its Moments
We measured the inclusive electron-proton cross section in the nucleon
resonance region (W < 2.5 GeV) at momentum transfers Q**2 below 4.5 (GeV/c)**2
with the CLAS detector. The large acceptance of CLAS allowed for the first time
the measurement of the cross section in a large, contiguous two-dimensional
range of Q**2 and x, making it possible to perform an integration of the data
at fixed Q**2 over the whole significant x-interval. From these data we
extracted the structure function F2 and, by including other world data, we
studied the Q**2 evolution of its moments, Mn(Q**2), in order to estimate
higher twist contributions. The small statistical and systematic uncertainties
of the CLAS data allow a precise extraction of the higher twists and demand
significant improvements in theoretical predictions for a meaningful comparison
with new experimental results.Comment: revtex4 18 pp., 12 figure
eta-prime photoproduction on the proton for photon energies from 1.527 to 2.227 GeV
Differential cross sections for the reaction gamma p -> eta-prime p have been
measured with the CLAS spectrometer and a tagged photon beam with energies from
1.527 to 2.227 GeV. The results reported here possess much greater accuracy
than previous measurements. Analyses of these data indicate for the first time
the coupling of the etaprime N channel to both the S_11(1535) and P_11(1710)
resonances, known to couple strongly to the eta N channel in photoproduction on
the proton, and the importance of j=3/2 resonances in the process.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Measurement of the Deuteron Structure Function F2 in the Resonance Region and Evaluation of Its Moments
Inclusive electron scattering off the deuteron has been measured to extract
the deuteron structure function F2 with the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer
(CLAS) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The measurement
covers the entire resonance region from the quasi-elastic peak up to the
invariant mass of the final-state hadronic system W~2.7 GeV with four-momentum
transfers Q2 from 0.4 to 6 (GeV/c)^2. These data are complementary to previous
measurements of the proton structure function F2 and cover a similar
two-dimensional region of Q2 and Bjorken variable x. Determination of the
deuteron F2 over a large x interval including the quasi-elastic peak as a
function of Q2, together with the other world data, permit a direct evaluation
of the structure function moments for the first time. By fitting the Q2
evolution of these moments with an OPE-based twist expansion we have obtained a
separation of the leading twist and higher twist terms. The observed Q2
behaviour of the higher twist contribution suggests a partial cancellation of
different higher twists entering into the expansion with opposite signs. This
cancellation, found also in the proton moments, is a manifestation of the
"duality" phenomenon in the F2 structure function
Adsorption of mono- and multivalent cat- and anions on DNA molecules
Adsorption of monovalent and multivalent cat- and anions on a deoxyribose
nucleic acid (DNA) molecule from a salt solution is investigated by computer
simulation. The ions are modelled as charged hard spheres, the DNA molecule as
a point charge pattern following the double-helical phosphate strands. The
geometrical shape of the DNA molecules is modelled on different levels ranging
from a simple cylindrical shape to structured models which include the major
and minor grooves between the phosphate strands. The densities of the ions
adsorbed on the phosphate strands, in the major and in the minor grooves are
calculated. First, we find that the adsorption pattern on the DNA surface
depends strongly on its geometrical shape: counterions adsorb preferentially
along the phosphate strands for a cylindrical model shape, but in the minor
groove for a geometrically structured model. Second, we find that an addition
of monovalent salt ions results in an increase of the charge density in the
minor groove while the total charge density of ions adsorbed in the major
groove stays unchanged. The adsorbed ion densities are highly structured along
the minor groove while they are almost smeared along the major groove.
Furthermore, for a fixed amount of added salt, the major groove cationic charge
is independent on the counterion valency. For increasing salt concentration the
major groove is neutralized while the total charge adsorbed in the minor groove
is constant. DNA overcharging is detected for multivalent salt. Simulations for
a larger ion radii, which mimic the effect of the ion hydration, indicate an
increased adsorbtion of cations in the major groove.Comment: 34 pages with 14 figure
Heavy quarkonium: progress, puzzles, and opportunities
A golden age for heavy quarkonium physics dawned a decade ago, initiated by
the confluence of exciting advances in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and an
explosion of related experimental activity. The early years of this period were
chronicled in the Quarkonium Working Group (QWG) CERN Yellow Report (YR) in
2004, which presented a comprehensive review of the status of the field at that
time and provided specific recommendations for further progress. However, the
broad spectrum of subsequent breakthroughs, surprises, and continuing puzzles
could only be partially anticipated. Since the release of the YR, the BESII
program concluded only to give birth to BESIII; the -factories and CLEO-c
flourished; quarkonium production and polarization measurements at HERA and the
Tevatron matured; and heavy-ion collisions at RHIC have opened a window on the
deconfinement regime. All these experiments leave legacies of quality,
precision, and unsolved mysteries for quarkonium physics, and therefore beg for
continuing investigations. The plethora of newly-found quarkonium-like states
unleashed a flood of theoretical investigations into new forms of matter such
as quark-gluon hybrids, mesonic molecules, and tetraquarks. Measurements of the
spectroscopy, decays, production, and in-medium behavior of c\bar{c}, b\bar{b},
and b\bar{c} bound states have been shown to validate some theoretical
approaches to QCD and highlight lack of quantitative success for others. The
intriguing details of quarkonium suppression in heavy-ion collisions that have
emerged from RHIC have elevated the importance of separating hot- and
cold-nuclear-matter effects in quark-gluon plasma studies. This review
systematically addresses all these matters and concludes by prioritizing
directions for ongoing and future efforts.Comment: 182 pages, 112 figures. Editors: N. Brambilla, S. Eidelman, B. K.
Heltsley, R. Vogt. Section Coordinators: G. T. Bodwin, E. Eichten, A. D.
Frawley, A. B. Meyer, R. E. Mitchell, V. Papadimitriou, P. Petreczky, A. A.
Petrov, P. Robbe, A. Vair
Exclusive meson electroproduction from hydrogen at CLAS
The longitudinal and transverse components of the cross section for the reaction were measured in Hall B at Jefferson
Laboratory using the CLAS detector. The data were taken with a 4.247 GeV
electron beam and were analyzed in a range of from 0.2 to 0.6 and of
from 1.5 to 3.0 GeV. The data are compared to a Regge model based on
effective hadronic degrees of freedom and to a calculation based on Generalized
Parton Distributions. It is found that the transverse part of the cross section
is well described by the former approach while the longitudinal part can be
reproduced by the latter.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Beam Spin Asymmetries in DVCS with CLAS at 4 .8 GeV
We report measurements of the beam spin asymmetry in Deeply Virtual Compton
Scattering (DVCS) at an electron beam energy of 4.8 GeV using the CLAS detector
at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The DVCS beam spin
asymmetry has been measured in a wide range of kinematics, 1(GeV/c)
(GeV/c), , and 0.1 (GeV/c)
(GeV/c), using the reaction \pEpX. The number of
H and H events are separated in
each bin by a fit to the line shape of the H
distribution. The validity of the method was studied in detail using
experimental and simulated data. It was shown, that with the achieved missing
mass squared resolution and the available statistics, the separation of DVCS-BH
and events can reliably be done with less than 5% uncertainty. The
- and -dependences of the moments of the asymmetry are
extracted and compared with theoretical calculations
Measurement of the - and -Dependence of the Asymmetry on the Nucleon
We report results for the virtual photon asymmetry on the nucleon from
new Jefferson Lab measurements. The experiment, which used the CEBAF Large
Acceptance Spectrometer and longitudinally polarized proton (NH) and
deuteron (ND) targets, collected data with a longitudinally
polarized electron beam at energies between 1.6 GeV and 5.7 GeV. In the present
paper, we concentrate on our results for and the related ratio
in the resonance and the deep inelastic regions for our lowest
and highest beam energies, covering a range in momentum transfer from
0.05 to 5.0 GeV and in final-state invariant mass up to about 3 GeV.
Our data show detailed structure in the resonance region, which leads to a
strong --dependence of for below 2 GeV. At higher , a
smooth approach to the scaling limit, established by earlier experiments, can
be seen, but is not strictly --independent. We add
significantly to the world data set at high , up to . Our data
exceed the SU(6)-symmetric quark model expectation for both the proton and the
deuteron while being consistent with a negative -quark polarization up to
our highest . This data setshould improve next-to-leading order (NLO) pQCD
fits of the parton polarization distributions.Comment: 7 pages LaTeX, 5 figure