AN INTRODUCTION TO ELEMENTARY PARTICLES : THE OPEN UNIVERSITY APPROACH

All science students at the Open University, whether their prime interests lie in biology, physics, chemistry or the earth sciences, must begin their studies by taking the first year Foundation Course in Science. In addition, many non-science students take the course (about 30 % of the enrolment). In common with the other Open University first year courses it has to be open to all potential students whether or not they have any previous qualifications : it has to be open to those with no previous scientific training as well as those who are already graduates of other universities. The course has therefore to serve a student population with a wide variety of interests and abilities

Search for short-lived particles in high-energy neutrino interactions identified using a hybrid emulsion--spark-chamber arrangement

Seventeen litres of nuclear photographic emulsion have been exposed to the wide-band neutrino beam at Fermilab. Tracks of secondaries from neutrino interactions in the emulsion were observed in a wide-gap spark chamber and a system of narrow-gap spark chambers and counters down beam. From measurements on the tracks in the wide-gap chamber the positions of vertices from which the secondaries diverged were predicted and 37 neutrino interactions in emulsion were located. Factors affecting the efficiency of location of events searched for (∼20% in this experiment) are assessed and conclusions drawn about means of optimizing the design of experiments employing emulsion hybrid techniques. In one of the interactions a secondary track gave rise to three tracks after a distance of 182 μm. Further measurements made on this event do not alter the previous conclusion of its most likely interpretation as the decay of a short-lived particle of lifetime ∼6×10-13 sec. © 1979 The American Physical Society.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Observation of a likely example of the decay of a charmed particle produced in a high energy neutrino interaction

In a study of neutrino interactions occurring in nuclear emulsion, an event has been found that is most readily interpreted as the decay of a charmed particle with lifetime a few times 10-13 s. © 1976.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

First direct observation of the decay of neutral charmed particles produced by neutrinos in emulsion

Three examples of the production in emulsion by neutrinos and subsequent decay of neutral short-lived particles are reported. The flight times are ≈ 10-13s, similar in order of magnitude to those previously determined for charged charmed particles in the same experiment. © 1979.0SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

On the lifetime of charged charmed particles first direct observation of a charmed baryon decay

Two new examples of production by neutrinos and subsequent decay of charged charmed hadrons are reported. Together with two similar events reported previously they show that the lifetime of charged charmed particles is in the neighbourhood of 5 × 10-13 s, as expected from current theoretical models. One of the new events is identified as a baryon λc+ of mass 2.295 ± 0.015 GeV/c2 which undergoes the decay process λc+ → pπ+K- with a proper decay time (7.3 ± 0.1) × 10-13 s. © 1979.0SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe