Constraining the Sea Quark Distributions Through W±^\pm Cross Section Ratio Measurements at STAR

Over the past several years, parton distribution functions (PDFs) have become more precise. However there are still kinematic regions where more data are needed to help constrain global PDF extractions, such as the sea quark distributions $\bar{d}$/$\bar{u}$ near the valence region (Bjorken-x $\approx$ 0.1 - 0.3).~Current measurements appear to suggest different high-x behaviors of these distributions, leading to large uncertainties in global fits. The charged W cross section ratio (W$^+$/W$^-$) is sensitive to the unpolarized $u,\;d,\;\bar{u},$ and $\bar{d}$ quark distributions at large $Q^2$ set by the $W$ mass and could help shed light on this discrepancy. The STAR experiment at RHIC is well equipped to measure the leptonic decays of W bosons, in the mid-rapidity range $\left(|\eta| \leq 1 \right)$, produced in proton+proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 500/510 GeV. At these kinematics STAR is sensitive to quark distributions near Bjorken-x of 0.16. STAR can also measure the W cross section ratio in a more forward bin ranging from 1.1 $< \eta <$ 2.0, which extends the sea quark sensitivity to higher x. RHIC runs from 2011 through 2013 have collected about 350 pb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, and a 2017 run is expected to provide an additional 400 pb$^{-1}$. Presented here are preliminary results for the 2011-2012 charged W cross section ratios ($\sim$100pb$^{-1}$) and an update on the 2013 charged W cross section analysis ($\sim$250 pb$^{-1}$).Comment: Submitted to DIS 2017 Proceeding

Research and Development of Commercially Manufactured Large GEM Foils

The recently completed Forward GEM Tracker (FGT) of the STAR experiment at RHIC took advantage of commercially produced GEM foils based on double-mask chemical etching techniques. With future experiments proposing detectors that utilize very large-area GEM foils, there is a need for commercially available GEM foils. Double-mask etching techniques pose a clear limitation in the maximum size. In contrast, single-mask techniques developed at CERN would allow one to overcome those limitations. We report on results obtained using 10 $\times$ 10 cm$^2$ and 40$\times$40 cm$^2$ GEM foils produced by Tech-Etch Inc. of Plymouth, MA, USA using single-mask techniques and thus the beginning for large GEM foil production on a commercial basis. A quality assurance procedure has been established through electrical and optical analyses via leakage current measurements and an automated high-resolution CCD scanner. The Tech-Etch foils show excellent electrical properties with leakage currents typically measured below 1 nA. The geometrical properties of the Tech-Etch single-mask foils were found to be consistent with one another, and were in line with geometrical specifications from previously measured double-mask foils. The single-mask foils displayed good inner and outer hole diameter uniformities over the entire active area.Comment: Presented at the 2014 IEEE conference in Seattle, W

Precision Measurement of the Neutron Twist-3 Matrix Element d^n_2: Probing Color Forces

Double-spin asymmetries and absolute cross sections were measured at large Bjorken x  (0.25≤x≤0.90), in both the deep-inelastic and resonance regions, by scattering longitudinally polarized electrons at beam energies of 4.7 and 5.9 GeV from a transversely and longitudinally polarized ^3He target. In this dedicated experiment, the spin structure function g^3He_2 was determined with precision at large x, and the neutron twist-3 matrix element dn2 was measured at ⟨Q2⟩ of 3.21 and 4.32  GeV^2/c^2, with an absolute precision of about 10^(−5). Our results are found to be in agreement with lattice QCD calculations and resolve the disagreement found with previous data at ⟨Q^2⟩=5  GeV^2/c^2. Combining d^n_2 and a newly extracted twist-4 matrix element f^n_2, the average neutron color electric and magnetic forces were extracted and found to be of opposite sign and about 30  MeV/fm in magnitude

Análisis de linajes maternos y paternos de bovinos criollo del Centro de Ecología Aaplicada Simón I. Patiño - Bolivia

Se determinaron los linajes maternos y paternos de 33 bovinos Criollo (27 hembras y 6 machos) del Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño (Ceasip) mediante marcadores genéticos del ADN genómico, mitocondrial y del cromosoma Y. El ADN genómico se extrajo utilizando el kit Wizard ® Genomic Purification. Los linajes maternos se determinaron mediante secuenciación del ADN mitocondrial (región control D-loop) y los linajes paternos se determinaron analizando siete marcadores genéticos del cromosoma Y, dos SNP (Polimorfismo de Nucleótido Simple) y cinco microsatélites (Secuencias Repetidas en Tándem). La diversidad genética se estimó tipificando 18 microsatélites. Se analizaron los datos con MStools, GenePop y Arlequin. La secuenciación de D-loop mitocondrial permitió detectar seis linajes maternos, que incluían cuatro haplotipos mitocondriales de origen europeo y dos africanos. A través del análisis de los marcadores del cromosoma Y se determinaron tres linajes paternos, dos taurinos y uno cebuino. En el hato del Ceasip, la diversidad alélica (na) fue de 6.11, mientras que la heterocigosidad esperada (He) fue de 0.70 y la observada (Ho) fue de 0.68. Los valores de diversidad genética observada en los bovinos del Ceasip son similares a los estimados para la mayoría de los biotipos del Criollo boliviano (na Yacumeño= 6.82; na Saavedreño= 5.95), siendo los valores promedios para el ganado Criollo boliviano analizados anteriormente de na= 6.39, He= 0.72 y Ho= 0.65. Los análisis de Componentes Principales y de distancia genética mostraron que sería factible intercambiar material genético entre las poblaciones Criollo bolivianas sin pérdida significativa de su diversidad genética.Fil: Pereira, J. A. C.. Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno; BoliviaFil: Giovambattista, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico CONICET- La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria "Ing. Fernando Noel Dulout". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Peña, S.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; BoliviaFil: Liron, Juan Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria ; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Loza, A. J.. Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno; BoliviaFil: Posik, Diego Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico La Plata. Instituto de Genética Veterinaria ; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias; ArgentinaFil: Baudoin, M.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; BoliviaFil: Bomblat, C.. Centro de Ecología Aplicada Simón I. Patiño; Bolivi

The European Union in the World — A Community of Values

These are momentous times in Europe. The Euro has been successfully introduced, the enlargement negotiations are approaching their climax, and the European Convention (“Convention”) is moving towards the drafting of a constitution for a new, continent-wide political entity. At the same time, unrest is manifest, particularly in two areas. On the one hand, many of our citizens, and not just the political elites, are dissatisfied with Europe\u27s performance on the world stage and are concerned about the maintenance of peace and security within the Union. In these areas they would like to see a strengthened, more effective entity-- “more Europe.” On the other hand, their disenchantment with the long reach of European Union (“EU” or “Union”) regulation in the first pillar area of economic policy is growing. The feeling of loss of local control over their destiny and a vague feeling of potential loss of identity within an ever more centralized polity is palpable. Here, they want “less Europe.” In the outside world, change is also the order of the day. The ice-sheet of bipolarity, which overlaid and hid the complexity of international relations during the Cold War, is breaking up at an ever-increasing speed and revealing a world in which two paradigms are competing to become the underlying ordering principles for the new century. The traditional paradigm of interacting Nation States, each pursuing its own separate interests, with alliances allowing the small to compete with the large, is alive and well, and its proponents like Machiavelli or Churchill continue to be in vogue in the literature of international relations and the rhetoric of world leaders. At the same time, there is a school of thought which points to the growing economic and ecological interdependence of our societies and the necessity for new forms of global governance to complement national action. It is also becoming abundantly clear that the concept of a “Nation State” is often a fiction, positing as it does an identity between the citizens of a State and the members of a culturally homogenous society. For both reasons, the concept of the Nation State as the principal actor on the world stage, is called into question. The experience of the Union with the sharing of State sovereignty is clearly related to the second paradigm and also to the EU\u27s firm support for the development of the United Nations (“U.N.”) as well as other elements of multilateral governance. It would hardly be wise to suggest that any foreign policy, and certainly not that of the EU, should be based only on this paradigm. Given the recurrent threats to security, which seem to be part of the human condition expressed by some as the “inevitability of war”--the defense of territorial integrity; action against threats of aggression; and resistance to crimes against humanity such as genocide--the ability to conduct a security policy based much more on the old paradigm of interacting interests will continue to be required. That the EU needs to develop such a capability will be taken here as a given. Such a crisis-management capability will be essential to the Union, but will be distinguished here from the more long-term elements of foreign policy, which can be thought of as being designed to reduce the need for crisis management in the context of a security policy to a minimum. The crisis-management area of policy will not be treated further here. The thesis of this Essay is that the same set of political concepts can serve as a guide to the future internal development of the EU and as the basis of such a long-term foreign policy. Furthermore, it suggests that neither should be seen in terms of the balancing of interests but rather, as the expression of a small list of fundamental values. The list is as follows: (1) the rule of law as the basis for relations between members of society; (2) the interaction between the democratic process and entrenched human rights in political decision-making; (3) the operation of competition within a market economy as the source of increasing prosperity; (4) the anchoring of the principle of solidarity among all members of society alongside that of the liberty of the individual; (5) the adoption of the principle of sustainability of all economic development; and (6) the preservation of separate identities and the maintenance of cultural diversity within society. These values can be seen as the answer to the question posed both, by citizens of the Union and by our fellow citizens of the world: “What does the EU stand for?” In exploring these values we should, however, remember that in the real world there will be occasions on which Realpolitik will intrude and the interest-based paradigm will prevail