On parton distributions in a photon gas

In some cases it may be useful to know parton distributions in a photon gas. This may be relevant, e.g., for the analysis of interactions of high energy cosmic ray particles with the cosmic microwave background radiation. The latter can be considered as a gas of photons with an almost perfect blackbody spectrum. An approach to finding such parton distributions is described. The survival probability of ultra-high energy neutrinos traveling through this radiation is calculated.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, EPJ style files. Some changes in the text. Two new sections discussing ultra-high energy neutrino damping in the cosmic microwave background radiation are include

Parton distributions in the virtual photon target up to NNLO in QCD

Parton distributions in the virtual photon target are investigated in perturbative QCD up to the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO). In the case $\Lambda^2 \ll P^2 \ll Q^2$, where $-Q^2$ ($-P^2$) is the mass squared of the probe (target) photon, parton distributions can be predicted completely up to the NNLO, but they are factorisation-scheme-dependent. We analyse parton distributions in two different factorisation schemes, namely $\bar{\rm MS}$ and ${\rm DIS}_{\gamma}$ schemes, and discuss their scheme dependence. We show that the factorisation-scheme dependence is characterised by the large-$x$ behaviours of quark distributions. Gluon distribution is predicted to be very small in absolute value except in the small-$x$ region.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, version to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Parton content of the real photon: astrophysical implications

We possess convincing experimental evidence for the fact that the real photon has non-trivial parton structure. On the other hand, interactions of the cosmic microwave background photons with high energy particles propagating through the Universe play an important role in astrophysics. In this context, to invoke the parton content could be convenient for calculations of the probabilities of different processes involving these photons. As an example, the cross section of inclusive resonant $W^+$ boson production in the reaction $\nu \gamma\to W^+X$ is calculated by using the parton language. Neutrino--photon deep inelastic scattering is considered.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. The spin states of the initial particles in the reaction $\nu\gamma\to W^+X$ are correctly treated. As a result, the corresponding cross section becomes two times greater than the one from the previous version. Some changes in the tex

Low- and high-mass components of the photon distribution functions

The structure of the general solution of the inhomogeneous evolution equations allows the separation of a photon structure function into perturbative (``anomalous") and non-perturbative contributions. The former part is fully calculable, and can be identified with the high-mass contributions to the dispersion integral in the photon mass. Properly normalized ``state" distributions can be defined, where the \gamma\to\qqbar splitting probability is factored out. These state distributions are shown to be useful in the description of the hadronic event properties, and necessary for a proper eikonalization of jet cross sections. Convenient parametrizations are provided both for the state and for the full anomalous parton distributions. The non-perturbative parts of the parton distribution functions of the photon are identified with the low-mass contributions to the dispersion integral. Their normalizations, as well as the value of the scale $Q_0$ at which the perturbative parts vanish, are fixed by approximating the low-mass contributions by a discrete, finite sum of vector mesons. The shapes of these hadronic distributions are fitted to the available data on $F_2^\gamma(x,Q^2)$. Parametrizations are provided for $Q_0=0.6\,$GeV and $Q_0=2\,$GeV, both in the DIS and the $\overline{\mathrm{MS}}$ factorization schemes. The full parametrizations are extended towards virtual photons. Finally, the often-used ``FKP-plus-TPC/$2\gamma$" solution for $F_2^\gamma(x,Q^2)$ is commented upon.Comment: 33 pages, Latex, 6 Z-compressed and uuencoded figure

Search for jet extinction in the inclusive jet-pT spectrum from proton-proton collisions at s=8 TeV

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published articles title, journal citation, and DOI.The first search at the LHC for the extinction of QCD jet production is presented, using data collected with the CMS detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.7  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV. The extinction model studied in this analysis is motivated by the search for signatures of strong gravity at the TeV scale (terascale gravity) and assumes the existence of string couplings in the strong-coupling limit. In this limit, the string model predicts the suppression of all high-transverse-momentum standard model processes, including jet production, beyond a certain energy scale. To test this prediction, the measured transverse-momentum spectrum is compared to the theoretical prediction of the standard model. No significant deficit of events is found at high transverse momentum. A 95% confidence level lower limit of 3.3 TeV is set on the extinction mass scale

Search for Gravitational Waves Associated with Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by Fermi and Swift during the LIGO-Virgo Run O3b

We search for gravitational-wave signals associated with gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi and Swift satellites during the second half of the third observing run of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo (2019 November 1 15:00 UTC-2020 March 27 17:00 UTC). We conduct two independent searches: A generic gravitational-wave transients search to analyze 86 GRBs and an analysis to target binary mergers with at least one neutron star as short GRB progenitors for 17 events. We find no significant evidence for gravitational-wave signals associated with any of these GRBs. A weighted binomial test of the combined results finds no evidence for subthreshold gravitational-wave signals associated with this GRB ensemble either. We use several source types and signal morphologies during the searches, resulting in lower bounds on the estimated distance to each GRB. Finally, we constrain the population of low-luminosity short GRBs using results from the first to the third observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo. The resulting population is in accordance with the local binary neutron star merger rate. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society

Narrowband Searches for Continuous and Long-duration Transient Gravitational Waves from Known Pulsars in the LIGO-Virgo Third Observing Run

Isolated neutron stars that are asymmetric with respect to their spin axis are possible sources of detectable continuous gravitational waves. This paper presents a fully coherent search for such signals from eighteen pulsars in data from LIGO and Virgo's third observing run (O3). For known pulsars, efficient and sensitive matched-filter searches can be carried out if one assumes the gravitational radiation is phase-locked to the electromagnetic emission. In the search presented here, we relax this assumption and allow both the frequency and the time derivative of the frequency of the gravitational waves to vary in a small range around those inferred from electromagnetic observations. We find no evidence for continuous gravitational waves, and set upper limits on the strain amplitude for each target. These limits are more constraining for seven of the targets than the spin-down limit defined by ascribing all rotational energy loss to gravitational radiation. In an additional search, we look in O3 data for long-duration (hours-months) transient gravitational waves in the aftermath of pulsar glitches for six targets with a total of nine glitches. We report two marginal outliers from this search, but find no clear evidence for such emission either. The resulting duration-dependent strain upper limits do not surpass indirect energy constraints for any of these targets. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society