Searching for neutrino oscillations with OPERA

The OPERA experiment will search for neutrino oscillations using a muon neutrino beam and a hybrid emulsion-scintillator detector. Basic principles, current status and expected performance of the experiment are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, to be published in "Proceedings of XII Lomonosov conference on Elementary Particle Physics

Measurement of the Charge Form Factor of the Neutron GnEG^{E}_{n} from d⃗(e⃗,e′n)p{\vec{d}(\vec{e},e'n)p} at Q2=0.5Q^{2}=0.5 and 1.0(GeV/c)21.0 (GeV/c)^{2}

We determined the electric form factor of the neutron $G_E^n$ via the reaction ${\vec{d}(\vec{e},e'n)p}$ using a longitudinally polarized electron beam and a frozen, polarized $^{15}ND_3$ target at Jefferson Lab. The knocked out neutrons were detected in a segmented plastic scintillator in coincidence with the quasi-elastically scattered electrons which were tracked in Hall C's High Momentum Spectrometer. To extract $G_E^n$, we compared the experimental beam--target asymmetry with theoretical calculations based on different $G_E^n$ models. We report the preliminary results of the fall 2001 run at $Q^{2}=0.5$ and $1.0 (GeV/c)^{2}$.Comment: submitted to Spin-2002 proceeding

Woodlands and steppes: Pleistocene vegetation in Yakutia's most continental part recorded in the Batagay permafrost sequence

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Based on fossil organism remains including plant macrofossils, charcoal, pollen, and invertebrates preserved in syngenetic deposits of the Batagay permafrost sequence in the Siberian Yana Highlands, we reconstructed the environmental history during marine isotope stages (MIS) 6 to 2. Two fossil assemblages, exceptionally rich in plant remains, allowed for a detailed description of the palaeo-vegetation during two climate extremes of the Late Pleistocene, the onset of the last glacial maximum (LGM) and the last interglacial. In addition, altogether 41 assemblages were used to outline the vegetation history since the penultimate cold stage of MIS 6. Accordingly, meadow steppes analogue to modern communities of the phytosociological order Festucetalia lenensis formed the primary vegetation during the Saalian and Weichselian cold stages. Cold-resistant tundra-steppe communities (Carici rupestris-Kobresietea bellardii) as they occur above the treeline today were, in contrast to more northern locations, mostly lacking. During the last interglacial, open coniferous woodland similar to modern larch taiga was the primary vegetation at the site. Abundant charcoal indicates wildfire events during the last interglacial. Zoogenic disturbances of the local vegetation were indicated by the presence of ruderal plants, especially by abundant Urtica dioica, suggesting that the area was an interglacial refugium for large herbivores. Meadow steppes, which formed the primary vegetation during cold stages and provided potentially suitable pastures for herbivores, were a significant constituent of the plant cover in the Yana Highlands also under the full warm stage conditions of the last interglacial. Consequently, meadow steppes occurred in the Yana Highlands during the entire investigated timespan from MIS 6 to MIS 2 documenting a remarkable environmental stability. Thus, the proportion of meadow steppe vegetation merely shifted in response to the respectively prevailing climatic conditions. Their persistence indicates low precipitation and a relatively warm growing season throughout and beyond the late Pleistocene. The studied fossil record also proves that modern steppe occurrences in the Yana Highlands did not establish as late as in the Holocene but instead are relicts of a formerly continuous steppe belt extending from Central Siberia to Northeast Yakutia during the Pleistocene. The persistence of plants and invertebrates characteristic of meadow steppe vegetation in interior Yakutia throughout the late Quaternary indicates climatic continuity and documents the suitability of this region as a refugium also for other organisms of the Pleistocene mammoth steppe including the iconic large herbivores

Electron/pion separation with an Emulsion Cloud Chamber by using a Neural Network

We have studied the performance of a new algorithm for electron/pion separation in an Emulsion Cloud Chamber (ECC) made of lead and nuclear emulsion films. The software for separation consists of two parts: a shower reconstruction algorithm and a Neural Network that assigns to each reconstructed shower the probability to be an electron or a pion. The performance has been studied for the ECC of the OPERA experiment [1]. The $e/\pi$ separation algorithm has been optimized by using a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the ECC and tested on real data taken at CERN (pion beams) and at DESY (electron beams). The algorithm allows to achieve a 90% electron identification efficiency with a pion misidentification smaller than 1% for energies higher than 2 GeV

Precision Measurement of the Neutron Spin Asymmetries and Spin-dependent Structure Functions in the Valence Quark Region

We report on measurements of the neutron spin asymmetries $A_{1,2}^n$ and polarized structure functions $g_{1,2}^n$ at three kinematics in the deep inelastic region, with $x=0.33$, 0.47 and 0.60 and $Q^2=2.7$, 3.5 and 4.8 (GeV/c)$^2$, respectively. These measurements were performed using a 5.7 GeV longitudinally-polarized electron beam and a polarized $^3$He target. The results for $A_1^n$ and $g_1^n$ at $x=0.33$ are consistent with previous world data and, at the two higher $x$ points, have improved the precision of the world data by about an order of magnitude. The new $A_1^n$ data show a zero crossing around $x=0.47$ and the value at $x=0.60$ is significantly positive. These results agree with a next-to-leading order QCD analysis of previous world data. The trend of data at high $x$ agrees with constituent quark model predictions but disagrees with that from leading-order perturbative QCD (pQCD) assuming hadron helicity conservation. Results for $A_2^n$ and $g_2^n$ have a precision comparable to the best world data in this kinematic region. Combined with previous world data, the moment $d_2^n$ was evaluated and the new result has improved the precision of this quantity by about a factor of two. When combined with the world proton data, polarized quark distribution functions were extracted from the new $g_1^n/F_1^n$ values based on the quark parton model. While results for $\Delta u/u$ agree well with predictions from various models, results for $\Delta d/d$ disagree with the leading-order pQCD prediction when hadron helicity conservation is imposed.Comment: A typing error in A_\parallel(3He) at x=0.47 in Table VII of Phys. Rev. C has been noticed and correcte

Probing Quark-Gluon Interactions with Transverse Polarized Scattering

We have extracted QCD matrix elements from our data on double polarized inelastic scattering of electrons on nuclei. We find the higher twist matrix element \tilde{d_2}, which arises strictly from quark- gluon interactions, to be unambiguously non zero. The data also reveal an isospin dependence of higher twist effects if we assume that the Burkhardt-Cottingham Sum rule is valid. The fundamental Bjorken sum rule obtained from the a0 matrix element is satisfied at our low momentum transfer.Comment: formerly "Nachtmann Moments of the Proton and Deuteron Spin Structure Functions

Proton Spin Structure in the Resonance Region

We have examined the spin structure of the proton in the region of the nucleon resonances (1.085 GeV < W < 1.910 GeV) at an average four momentum transfer of Q^2 = 1.3 GeV^2. Using the Jefferson Lab polarized electron beam, a spectrometer, and a polarized solid target, we measured the asymmetries A_parallel and A_perp to high precision, and extracted the asymmetries A_1 and A_2, and the spin structure functions g_1 and g_2. We found a notably non-zero A_perp, significant contributions from higher-twist effects, and only weak support for polarized quark--hadron duality.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX4, similar to PRL submission, plots colorized and appenix added, v3: minor edit, matches PR

Precision Measurement of the Neutron Spin Asymmetry A1nA_1^n and Spin-Flavor Decomposition in the Valence Quark Region

We have measured the neutron spin asymmetry $A_1^n$ with high precision at three kinematics in the deep inelastic region at $x=0.33$, 0.47 and 0.60, and $Q^2=2.7$, 3.5 and 4.8 (GeV/c)$^2$, respectively. Our results unambiguously show, for the first time, that $A_1^n$ crosses zero around $x=0.47$ and becomes significantly positive at $x=0.60$. Combined with the world proton data, polarized quark distributions were extracted. Our results, in general, agree with relativistic constituent quark models and with perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) analyses based on the earlier data. However they deviate from pQCD predictions based on hadron helicity conservation.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, this is the final version appeared in Phys. Rev. Let

Proton G_E/G_M from beam-target asymmetry

The ratio of the proton's electric to magnetic form factor, G_E/G_M, can be extracted in elastic electron-proton scattering by measuring either cross sections, beam-target asymmetry or recoil polarization. Separate determinations of G_E/G_M by cross sections and recoil polarization observables disagree for Q^2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2. Measurement by a third technique might uncover an unknown systematic error in either of the previous measurements. The beam-target asymmetry has been measured for elastic electron-proton scattering at Q^2 = 1.51 (GeV/c)^2 for target spin orientation aligned perpendicular to the beam momentum direction. This is the largest Q^2 at which G_E/G_M has been determined by a beam-target asymmetry experiment. The result, \muG_E/G_M = 0.884 +/- 0.027 +/- 0.029, is compared to previous world data.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, Updated to be version published in Physical Review