Strangeness production time and the K+/pi+ horn

We construct a hadronic kinetic model which describes production of strange particles in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions in the energy domain of SPS. We test this model on description of the sharp peak in the excitation function of multiplicity ratio K+/pi+ and demonstrate that hadronic model reproduces these data rather well. The model thus must be tested on other types of data in order to verify the hypothesis that deconfinement sets in at lowest SPS energies.Comment: proceedings of Hot Quarks 0

Orbit Simulation for the Determination of Relativistic and Solar-System Parameters for the ASTROD Space Mission

ASTROD (Astrodynamical Space Test of Relativity using Optical Devices) mission concept is to conduct high-precision measurement of relativistic effects,solar-system parameters and gravitational waves. In this paper, we first extend the stochastic model to simulate the determination of the masses of three big asteroids (Ceres, Vesta and Pallas). With one range observation per day for each spacecraft from 25 days to 800 days of the mission and ten range observations per day for each spacecraft from 800 days to 1050 days of the mission (when the apparent positions of the two spacecraft are close to the Sun), the accuracies of determining these parameters are 4.6*10**(-7) for gamma, 4.0*10**(-7) for beta, 1.2*10**(-8) for J2, and 6.4*10**(-5) M_Ceres, 7.6*10**(-4) M_Pallas, 8.1*10**(-5) M_Vesta for the mass determination of Ceres, Pallas and Vesta respectively. We then include in the simulation and determination the rate of change of the gravitational constant (G-dot), and an anomalous constant acceleration (aa) directed towards the Sun (Pioneer Anomaly). At the end of 1050 days of simulation, the accuracies of determining these two parameters are 9.5*10**(-15)/yr for G-dot/G and 2.0*10**(-16) m/s2 for a_a. The mass loss rate of the inner solar system is at the level of 1*10**(-13) M_Sun/yr. The accurate determinat-ion of Ġ/G will mean a need to simultaneously determine the mass loss rate. In other words, the mission gives a way to monitor the mass loss rate of the Sun if Ġ/G can be determined independently.Comment: 6 pages; 4 figures; presented to 33rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Warsaw, 16-23 July, 2000; submitted to Advances in Space Researc

Schwinger-Keldysh Approach to Disordered and Interacting Electron Systems: Derivation of Finkelstein's Renormalization Group Equations

We develop a dynamical approach based on the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism to derive a field-theoretic description of disordered and interacting electron systems. We calculate within this formalism the perturbative RG equations for interacting electrons expanded around a diffusive Fermi liquid fixed point, as obtained originally by Finkelstein using replicas. The major simplifying feature of this approach, as compared to Finkelstein's is that instead of $N \to 0$ replicas, we only need to consider N=2 species. We compare the dynamical Schwinger-Keldysh approach and the replica methods, and we present a simple and pedagogical RG procedure to obtain Finkelstein's RG equations.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure

Dual Vortex Theory of Strongly Interacting Electrons: Non-Fermi Liquid to the (Hard) Core

As discovered in the quantum Hall effect, a very effective way for strongly-repulsive electrons to minimize their potential energy is to aquire non-zero relative angular momentum. We pursue this mechanism for interacting two-dimensional electrons in zero magnetic field, by employing a representation of the electrons as composite bosons interacting with a Chern-Simons gauge field. This enables us to construct a dual description in which the fundamental constituents are vortices in the auxiliary boson fields. The resulting formalism embraces a cornucopia of possible phases. Remarkably, superconductivity is a generic feature, while the Fermi liquid is not -- prompting us to conjecture that such a state may not be possible when the interactions are sufficiently strong. Many aspects of our earlier discussions of the nodal liquid and spin-charge separation find surprising incarnations in this new framework.Comment: Modified dicussion of the hard-core model, correcting several mistake

Measurements of 181Ta(n,2n)180Ta reaction cross-section at the neutron energy of 14.78 MeV

The cross-section of the 181Ta(n,2n)180Ta reaction has been measured with respect to the 197Au(n,2n)196Au monitor reaction at the incident neutron energy of 14.78± 0.20 MeV, using neutron activation analysis and off-line -ray spectrometric technique. The present measurement has been done at the energy where discrepant measured results are available in the EXFOR data library. The result has been compared with evaluated data libraries JEFF-3.3 and ENDF/B-VII.1. The present result has also been supported by theoretical predictions of nuclear model code TALYS1.8 and TALYS-1.9. The uncertainty and the correlations among the measured cross-section has been studied using co-variance analysis

Pion Freeze-Out Time in Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 A GeV/c Studied via pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ Ratios

The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment through the study of the pi-/pi+ and K-/K+ ratios measured as a function of transverse mass. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant transverse mass dependence, the pi-/pi+ ratio is enhanced at small transverse mass values with an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the pi-/pi+ ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints on the time of the pion freeze-out.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure

The energy dependence of ptp_t angular correlations inferred from mean-ptp_{t} fluctuation scale dependence in heavy ion collisions at the SPS and RHIC

We present the first study of the energy dependence of $p_t$ angular correlations inferred from event-wise mean transverse momentum fluctuations in heavy ion collisions. We compare our large-acceptance measurements at CM energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 19.6, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV to SPS measurements at 12.3 and 17.3 GeV. $p_t$ angular correlation structure suggests that the principal source of $p_t$ correlations and fluctuations is minijets (minimum-bias parton fragments). We observe a dramatic increase in correlations and fluctuations from SPS to RHIC energies, increasing linearly with $\ln \sqrt{s_{NN}}$ from the onset of observable jet-related fluctuations near 10 GeV.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV

We report the STAR measurement of Phi meson production in Au+Au and p+p collisions at sqrt (s)=200 GeV. Using the event mixing technique, the Phi spectra and yields are obtained at mid-rapidity for five centrality bins in Au+Au collisions and for non-singly-diffractive p+p collisions. It is found that the Phi transverse momentum distributions from Au+Au collisions are better fitted with a single-exponential while the p+p spectrum is better described by a double-exponential distribution. The measured nuclear modification factors indicate that Phi production in central Au+Au collisions is suppressed relative to peripheral collisions when scaled by the number of binary collisions. The systematics of versus centrality and the constant Phi/K- ratio versus beam species, centrality, and collision energy rule out kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for Phi production.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Azimuthal anisotropy at RHIC: the first and fourth harmonics

We report the first observations of the first harmonic (directed flow, v_1), and the fourth harmonic (v_4), in the azimuthal distribution of particles with respect to the reaction plane in Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Both measurements were done taking advantage of the large elliptic flow (v_2) generated at RHIC. From the correlation of v_2 with v_1 it is determined that v_2 is positive, or {\it in-plane}. The integrated v_4 is about a factor of 10 smaller than v_2. For the sixth (v_6) and eighth (v_8) harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.Comment: 6 pages with 3 figures, as accepted for Phys. Rev. Letters The data tables are at http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications/pubDetail.php?id=3

Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of $\pi^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, and $p(\bar{p})$ from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor ($R_{dAu}$) between protons $(p+\bar{p})$ and charged hadrons ($h$) in the transverse momentum range $1.2<{p_{T}}<3.0$ GeV/c is measured to be $1.19\pm0.05$(stat)$\pm0.03$(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little centrality dependence. The yield ratio of $(p+\bar{p})/h$ in minimum-bias d+Au collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions, indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/