168 research outputs found
Helicity Parton Distributions at a Future Electron-Ion Collider: A Quantitative Appraisal
We present a quantitative assessment of the impact a future electron-ion
collider will have on determinations of helicity quark and gluon densities and
their contributions to the proton spin. Our results are obtained by performing
a series of global QCD analyses at next-to-leading order accuracy based on
realistic sets of pseudo-data for the inclusive and semi-inclusive
deep-inelastic scattering of longitudinally polarized electrons and protons at
different, conceivable center-of-mass system energies.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure
Nanoscale buckling deformation in layered copolymer materials
In layered materials, a common mode of deformation involves buckling of the
layers under tensile deformation in the direction perpendicular to the layers.
The instability mechanism, which operates in elastic materials from geological
to nanometer scales, involves the elastic contrast between different layers. In
a regular stacking of "hard" and "soft" layers, the tensile stress is first
accommodated by a large deformation of the soft layers. The inhibited Poisson
contraction results in a compressive stress in the direction transverse to the
tensile deformation axis. The hard layers sustain this transverse compression
until buckling takes place and results in an undulated structure. Using
molecular simulations, we demonstrate this scenario for a material made of
triblock copolymers. The buckling deformation is observed to take place at the
nanoscale, at a wavelength that depends on strain rate. In contrast to what is
commonly assumed, the wavelength of the undulation is not determined by defects
in the microstructure. Rather, it results from kinetic effects, with a
competition between the rate of strain and the growth rate of the instability.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/12/23/1111367109.abstrac
v-SNARE transmembrane domains function as catalysts for vesicle fusion.
Vesicle fusion is mediated by an assembly of SNARE proteins between opposing membranes, but it is unknown whether transmembrane domains (TMDs) of SNARE proteins serve mechanistic functions that go beyond passive anchoring of the force-generating SNAREpin to the fusing membranes. Here, we show that conformational flexibility of synaptobrevin-2 TMD is essential for efficient Ca(2+)-triggered exocytosis and actively promotes membrane fusion as well as fusion pore expansion. Specifically, the introduction of helix-stabilizing leucine residues within the TMD region spanning the vesicle's outer leaflet strongly impairs exocytosis and decelerates fusion pore dilation. In contrast, increasing the number of helix-destabilizing, ß-branched valine or isoleucine residues within the TMD restores normal secretion but accelerates fusion pore expansion beyond the rate found for the wildtype protein. These observations provide evidence that the synaptobrevin-2 TMD catalyzes the fusion process by its structural flexibility, actively setting the pace of fusion pore expansion
New pixelized Micromegas detector with low discharge rate for the COMPASS experiment
New Micromegas (Micro-mesh gaseous detectors) are being developed in view of
the future physics projects planned by the COMPASS collaboration at CERN.
Several major upgrades compared to present detectors are being studied:
detectors standing five times higher luminosity with hadron beams, detection of
beam particles (flux up to a few hundred of kHz/mm^{2}, 10 times larger than
for the present Micromegas detectors) with pixelized read-out in the central
part, light and integrated electronics, and improved robustness. Two solutions
of reduction of discharge impact have been studied, with Micromegas detectors
using resistive layers and using an additional GEM foil. Performance of such
detectors has also been measured. A large size prototypes with nominal active
area and pixelized read-out has been produced and installed at COMPASS in 2010.
In 2011 prototypes featuring an additional GEM foil, as well as an resistive
prototype, are installed at COMPASS and preliminary results from those
detectors presented very good performance. We present here the project and
report on its status, in particular the performance of large size prototypes
with an additional GEM foil.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, proceedings to the Micro-Pattern Gaseous
Detectors conference (MPGD2011), 29-31 August 2011, Kobe, Japa
Leading-order determination of the gluon polarisation from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering data
Using a novel analysis technique, the gluon polarisation in the nucleon is
re-evaluated using the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry measured in the cross
section of semi-inclusive single-hadron muoproduction with photon virtuality
. The data were obtained by the COMPASS experiment at
CERN using a 160 GeV/ polarised muon beam impinging on a polarised LiD
target. By analysing the full range in hadron transverse momentum ,
the different -dependences of the underlying processes are separated
using a neural-network approach. In the absence of pQCD calculations at
next-to-leading order in the selected kinematic domain, the gluon polarisation
is evaluated at leading order in pQCD at a hard scale of . It is determined in three intervals
of the nucleon momentum fraction carried by gluons, , covering the
range ~ and does not exhibit a significant
dependence on . The average over the three intervals, at
, suggests that the gluon polarisation
is positive in the measured range.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Measurement of the charged-pion polarisability
The COMPASS collaboration at CERN has investigated pion Compton scattering,
, at centre-of-mass energy below 3.5 pion
masses. The process is embedded in the reaction
, which is initiated by
190\,GeV pions impinging on a nickel target. The exchange of quasi-real photons
is selected by isolating the sharp Coulomb peak observed at smallest momentum
transfers, \,(GeV/). From a sample of 63\,000 events the
pion electric polarisability is determined to be $\alpha_\pi\ =\ (\,2.0\ \pm\
0.6_{\mbox{\scriptsize stat}}\ \pm\ 0.7_{\mbox{\scriptsize syst}}\,) \times
10^{-4}\,\mbox{fm}^3\alpha_\pi=-\beta_\pi$, which
relates the electric and magnetic dipole polarisabilities. It is the most
precise measurement of this fundamental low-energy parameter of strong
interaction, that has been addressed since long by various methods with
conflicting outcomes. While this result is in tension with previous dedicated
measurements, it is found in agreement with the expectation from chiral
perturbation theory. An additional measurement replacing pions by muons, for
which the cross-section behavior is unambigiously known, was performed for an
independent estimate of the systematic uncertainty.Comment: Published version: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Transverse-momentum-dependent Multiplicities of Charged Hadrons in Muon-Deuteron Deep Inelastic Scattering
A semi-inclusive measurement of charged hadron multiplicities in deep
inelastic muon scattering off an isoscalar target was performed using data
collected by the COMPASS Collaboration at CERN. The following kinematic domain
is covered by the data: photon virtuality (GeV/), invariant
mass of the hadronic system GeV/, Bjorken scaling variable in the
range , fraction of the virtual photon energy carried by the
hadron in the range , square of the hadron transverse momentum
with respect to the virtual photon direction in the range 0.02 (GeV/ (GeV/). The multiplicities are presented as a
function of in three-dimensional bins of , , and
compared to previous semi-inclusive measurements. We explore the
small- region, i.e. (GeV/), where
hadron transverse momenta are expected to arise from non-perturbative effects,
and also the domain of larger , where contributions from
higher-order perturbative QCD are expected to dominate. The multiplicities are
fitted using a single-exponential function at small to study
the dependence of the average transverse momentum on , and . The power-law behaviour of the
multiplicities at large is investigated using various
functional forms. The fits describe the data reasonably well over the full
measured range.Comment: 28 pages, 20 figure
Longitudinal double spin asymmetries in single hadron quasi-real photoproduction at high
We measured the longitudinal double spin asymmetries for single
hadron muo-production off protons and deuterons at photon virtuality <
1(GeV/) for transverse hadron momenta in the range 0.7
GeV/ to 4 GeV/ . They were determined using COMPASS data taken
with a polarised muon beam of 160 GeV/ or 200 GeV/ impinging on
polarised or targets. The experimental
asymmetries are compared to next-to-leading order pQCD calculations, and are
sensitive to the gluon polarisation inside the nucleon in the range
of the nucleon momentum fraction carried by gluons
Multiplicities of charged pions and unidentified charged hadrons from deep-inelastic scattering of muons off an isoscalar target
Multiplicities of charged pions and unidentified hadrons produced in
deep-inelastic scattering were measured in bins of the Bjorken scaling variable
, the relative virtual-photon energy and the relative hadron energy .
Data were obtained by the COMPASS Collaboration using a 160 GeV muon beam and
an isoscalar target (LiD). They cover the kinematic domain in the photon
virtuality > 1(GeV/c, , and . In addition, a leading-order pQCD analysis was performed using the
pion multiplicity results to extract quark fragmentation functions
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