Spectator detection for the measurement of proton neutron interactions at ANKE

A telescope of three silicon detectors has been installed close to the internal target position of the ANKE spectrometer, which is situated inside the ultra-high vacuum of the COSY-Juelich light-ion storage ring. The detection and identification of slow protons and deuterons emerging from a deuterium cluster-jet target thus becomes feasible. A good measurement of the energy and angle of such a spectator proton (p_sp) allows one to identify a reaction as having taken place on the neutron in the target and then to determine the kinematical variables of the ion-neutron system on an event-by-event basis over a range of c.m. energies. The system has been successfully tested under laboratory conditions. By measuring the spectator proton in the p d to p_sp d pi^0 reaction in coincidence with a fast deuteron in the ANKE Forward Detector, values of the p n to d pi^0 total cross-section have been deduced. Further applications of the telescope include the determination of the luminosity and beam polarisation which are required for several experiments.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

MRI study of the cuprizone-induced mouse model of multiple sclerosis: demyelination is not found after co-treatment with polyprenols (long-chain isoprenoid alcohols)

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disorder with poorly understood pathogenic mechanisms and a lack of effective therapies. Therefore, the search for new MS treatments remains very important. This study was performed on a commonly used cuprizone animal model of multiple sclerosis. It evaluated the effect of a plant-derived substance called Ropren® (containing approximately 95% polyprenols or long-chain isoprenoid alcohols) on cuprizone- induced demyelination. The study was performed on 27 eight-week old male CD-1 mice. To induce demyelination mice were fed 0.5% cuprizone in the standard diet for 10 weeks. Ropren® was administered in one daily intraperitoneal injection (12mg/kg), beginning on the 6th week of the experiment. On the 11th week, the corpus callosum in the brain was evaluated in all animals using magnetic resonance imaging with an 11.7 T animal scanner using T2- weighted sequence. Cuprizone treatment successfully induced the model of demyelination with a significant decrease in the size of the corpus callosum compared with the control group (p<0.01). Mice treated with both cuprizone and Ropren® did not exhibit demyelination in the corpus callosum (p<0.01). This shows the positive effect of polyprenols on cuprizone-induced demyelination in mice

Pentaquarks in the Jaffe-Wilczek approximation

The masses of $uudd\bar s$, $uudd\bar d$ and $uuss\bar d$ pentaquarks are evaluated in a framework of both the Effective Hamiltonian approach to QCD and spinless Salpeter using the Jaffe--Wilczek diquark approximation and the string interaction for the diquark--diquark--antiquark system. The pentaquark masses are found to be in the region above 2 GeV. That indicates that the Goldstone boson exchange effects may play an important role in the light pentaquarks. The same calculations yield the mass of $[ud]^2\bar c$ pentaquark $\sim$ 3250 MeV and $[ud]^2\bar b$ pentaquark $\sim$ 6509 MeV.Comment: 14 pages, 2 tables, LaTeX2e. References correcte

Kaon pair production in proton-nucleus collisions at 2.83 GeV kinetic energy

The production of non-phi K+K- pairs by protons of 2.83 GeV kinetic energy on C, Cu, Ag, and Au targets has been investigated using the COSY-ANKE magnetic spectrometer. The K- momentum dependence of the differential cross section has been measured at small angles over the 0.2--0.9 GeV/c range. The comparison of the data with detailed model calculations indicates an attractive K- -nucleus potential of about -60 MeV at normal nuclear matter density at a mean momentum of 0.5 GeV/c. However, this approach has difficulty in reproducing the smallness of the observed cross sections at low K- momenta.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Coherent pion production in proton-deuteron collisions

Values of the proton analysing power in the $pd\to{}^{3}\textrm{He}\,\pi^0/^{3}\textrm{H}\,\pi^+$ reactions at 350-360~MeV per nucleon were obtained by using a polarised proton beam incident on a deuterium cluster-jet target and with a polarised deuteron beam incident on a target cell filled with polarised hydrogen. These results have a much larger angular coverage than existing data. First measurements are also presented of the deuteron vector analysing power and the deuteron-proton spin correlations. Data were also obtained on the deuteron-proton spin correlation and proton analysing power at small angles at 600~MeV per nucleon, though the angular coverage at this energy was much more restricted even when using a deuteron beam. By combining the extrapolated values of the spin correlations to the forward or backward directions with published measurements of the deuteron tensor analysing powers, the relative phases between the two non-vanishing amplitudes were evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

The energy dependence of the pp->K+ n Sigma+ reaction close to threshold

The production of the Sigma+ hyperon through the pp->K+nSigma+ reaction has been investigated at four energies close to threshold, 1.826, 1.920, 1.958, and 2.020 GeV. At low energies, correlated K+pi+ pairs can only originate from Sigma+ production so that their measurement allows the total cross section for the reaction to be determined. The results obtained are completely consistent with the values extracted from the study of the K+-proton correlation spectra obtained in the same experiment. These spectra, as well as the inclusive K+ momentum distributions, also provide conservative upper limits on the Sigma+ production rates. The measurements show a Sigma+ production cross section that varies roughly like phase space and, in particular, none of the three experimental approaches used supports the anomalously high near-threshold pp->K+ nSigma+ total cross section previously reported [T. Rozek et al., Phys. Lett. B 643, 251 (2006)].Comment: Submitted to PR

First measurements of spin correlations in the np -> d pi^0 reaction

The transverse spin correlations Axx and Ayy in the np-> d pi^0 reaction have been measured for the first time in quasi-free kinematics at the COSY-ANKE facility using a polarised deuteron beam incident on a polarised hydrogen cell target. The results obtained for neutron energies close to 353 MeV and 600 MeV are in good agreement with the partial wave analysis of data on the isospin-related pp-> d pi^+ reaction, though the present results cover also the small-angle region, which was largely absent from these data