ПРОБЛЕМЫ И ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ МОДЕРНИЗАЦИИ СИСТЕМЫ ЭКСПОРТА АРКТИЧЕСКОГО ПРИРОДНОГО ГАЗА НА ЕВРОПЕЙСКИЙ РЫНОК

A research purpose is the analysis of the European natural gas market environment and the modernization opportunities of the delivery system from Russia in connection with the current geo-economic changes. The main methods are the factorial approaches and the content analysis, which allows allocate and structure this sector’s driving forces.Export of the Russian natural gas on the European market still remains the dominating activity, in terms of the total amounts of deliveries, though over the last ten years its specific weight has been considerably reduced. The situation has sharply become aggravated both in connection with the "Ukrainian" crisis, and that of the European Union policy, which is taking the active measures for the gas supply system diversification. As a result of the conducted research it is proved that the Russian gas transportation system in the Arctic regions requires the strategic upgrade which shall go in two main directions.The first direction is the forming of the new pipeline schemes replacing the unreliable transit routes. The second direction is a rather innovative development of exploration and transportation of the liquefied natural gas which amount exceeds thirty percent in world export and in Russian has not yet reached ten percent.Scientific novelty of the received results consists in system approval of the opportunities of adaptation of Russian export deliveries to the market demand changes. The proposals of increase of the liquefied natural gas exploration in the Arctic regions and formation of the basic centers (special zones) have also a practical importance.Целью исследования является анализ конъюнктуры европейского рынка природного газа и возможности модернизации системы российских поставок в связи с происходящими геоэкономическими изменениями.Основными методами при этом выступают факторный подход и контент-анализ, позволяющие выделить и структурировать движущие силы этого сектора. Экспорт российского природного газа на европейский рынок все еще остается доминирующим в общих объемах поставок, хотя за последние десять лет его удельный вес значительно сократился. Cитуация резко обострилась как в связи с «украинским» кризисом, так и вследствие политики Европейского Союза, принимающего активные меры по диверсификации системы газоснабжения.В результате проведенного исследования обосновано, что российская система транспортировки газа, добываемого в основном в арктических регионах, требует стратегической модернизации, которая должна идти по двум основным направлениям. Первое – формирование новых трубопроводных схем, заменяющих ненадежные транзитные маршруты. Второе – сравнительно инновационное развитие выпуска и транспортировки сжиженного природного газа, которое в мировом экспорте превышает тридцать процентов, а у нас не достигло и десяти. Научная новизна полученных результатов состоит в системном обосновании возможностей адаптации экспортных поставок российского природного к изменению рыночного спроса. Предложения по увеличению выпуска сжиженного природного газа в арктических регионах с формированием опорных центров (особых зон) имеют также практическую значимость

Measurement of the production cross-section of positive pions in the collision of 8.9 GeV/c protons on beryllium

The double-differential production cross-section of positive pions, $d^2\sigma^{\pi^{+}}/dpd\Omega$, measured in the HARP experiment is presented. The incident particles are 8.9 GeV/c protons directed onto a beryllium target with a nominal thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The measured cross-section has a direct impact on the prediction of neutrino fluxes for the MiniBooNE and SciBooNE experiments at Fermilab. After cuts, 13 million protons on target produced about 96,000 reconstructed secondary tracks which were used in this analysis. Cross-section results are presented in the kinematic range 0.75 GeV/c < $p_{\pi}$ < 6.5 GeV/c and 30 mrad < $\theta_{\pi}$ < 210 mrad in the laboratory frame.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figures. Version accepted for publication by Eur. Phys. J.

Comparison of large-angle production of charged pions with incident protons on cylindrical long and short targets

The HARP collaboration has presented measurements of the double-differential pi+/pi- production cross-section in the range of momentum 100 MeV/c <= p 800 MeV/c and angle 0.35 rad <= theta <= 2.15 rad with proton beams hitting thin nuclear targets. In many applications the extrapolation to long targets is necessary. In this paper the analysis of data taken with long (one interaction length) solid cylindrical targets made of carbon, tantalum and lead is presented. The data were taken with the large acceptance HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The secondary pions were produced by beams of protons with momenta 5 GeV/c, 8 GeV/c and 12 GeV/c. The tracking and identification of the produced particles were performed using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed inside a solenoidal magnet. Incident protons were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. Results are obtained for the double-differential yields per target nucleon d2 sigma / dp dtheta. The measurements are compared with predictions of the MARS and GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 43 pages, 20 figure

Absolute Momentum Calibration of the HARP TPC

In the HARP experiment the large-angle spectrometer is using a cylindrical TPC as main tracking and particle identification detector. The momentum scale of reconstructed tracks in the TPC is the most important systematic error for the majority of kinematic bins used for the HARP measurements of the double-differential production cross-section of charged pions in proton interactions on nuclear targets at large angle. The HARP TPC operated with a number of hardware shortfalls and operational mistakes. Thus it was important to control and characterize its momentum calibration. While it was not possible to enter a direct particle beam into the sensitive volume of the TPC to calibrate the detector, a set of physical processes and detector properties were exploited to achieve a precise calibration of the apparatus. In the following we recall the main issues concerning the momentum measurement in the HARP TPC, and describe the cross-checks made to validate the momentum scale. As a conclusion, this analysis demonstrates that the measurement of momentum is correct within the published precision of 3%.Comment: To be published by JINS

Large-angle production of charged pions by 3 GeV/c - 12 GeV/c protons on carbon, copper and tin targets

A measurement of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in proton--carbon, proton--copper and proton--tin collisions in the range of pion momentum 100 \MeVc \leq p < 800 \MeVc and angle 0.35 \rad \le \theta <2.15 \rad is presented. The data were taken with the HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 \GeVc to 12 \GeVc hitting a target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was done using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed in a solenoidal magnet. An elaborate system of detectors in the beam line ensured the identification of the incident particles. Results are shown for the double-differential cross-sections at four incident proton beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc and 12 \GeVc)

Forward production of charged pions with incident π±\pi^{\pm} on nuclear targets measured at the CERN PS

Measurements of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in the range of momentum 0.5 \GeVc \leq p \le 8.0 \GeVc and angle 0.025 \rad \leq \theta \le 0.25 \rad in interactions of charged pions on beryllium, carbon, aluminium, copper, tin, tantalum and lead are presented. These data represent the first experimental campaign to systematically measure forward pion hadroproduction. The data were taken with the large acceptance HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. Incident particles, impinging on a 5% nuclear interaction length target, were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was performed using the forward spectrometer of the HARP detector. Results are obtained for the double-differential cross-sections ${{\mathrm{d}^2 \sigma}}/{{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}\Omega}}$ mainly at four incident pion beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc and 12 \GeVc). The measurements are compared with the GEANT4 and MARS Monte Carlo simulationComment: to be published on Nuclear Physics

Large-angle production of charged pions by 3 GeV/c - 12.9 GeV/c protons on beryllium, aluminium and lead targets

Measurements of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in the range of momentum 100 \MeVc \leq p < 800 \MeVc and angle 0.35 \rad \leq \theta < 2.15 \rad in proton--beryllium, proton--aluminium and proton--lead collisions are presented. The data were taken with the HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 \GeVc to 12.9 \GeVc hitting a target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was performed using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed inside a solenoidal magnet. Incident particles were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. Results are obtained for the double-differential cross-sections at six incident proton beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc, 8.9 \GeVc (Be only), 12 \GeVc and 12.9 \GeVc (Al only)) and compared to previously available data

Measurement of the production of charged pions by protons on a tantalum target

A measurement of the double-differential cross-section for the production of charged pions in proton--tantalum collisions emitted at large angles from the incoming beam direction is presented. The data were taken in 2002 with the HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 \GeVc to 12 \GeVc hitting a tantalum target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The angular and momentum range covered by the experiment (100 \MeVc \le p < 800 \MeVc and 0.35 \rad \le \theta <2.15 \rad) is of particular importance for the design of a neutrino factory. The produced particles were detected using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed in a solenoidal magnet. Track recognition, momentum determination and particle identification were all performed based on the measurements made with the TPC. An elaborate system of detectors in the beam line ensured the identification of the incident particles. Results are shown for the double-differential cross-sections ${{\mathrm{d}^2 \sigma}} / {{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}\theta}}$ at four incident proton beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc and 12 \GeVc). In addition, the pion yields within the acceptance of typical neutrino factory designs are shown as a function of beam momentum. The measurement of these yields within a single experiment eliminates most systematic errors in the comparison between rates at different beam momenta and between positive and negative pion production.Comment: 49 pages, 31 figures. Version accepted for publication on Eur. Phys. J.

Associated Charm Production in Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions

In this paper a search for associated charm production both in neutral and charged current $\nu$-nucleus interactions is presented. The improvement of automatic scanning systems in the {CHORUS} experiment allows an efficient search to be performed in emulsion for short-lived particles. Hence a search for rare processes, like the associated charm production, becomes possible through the observation of the double charm-decay topology with a very low background. About 130,000 $\nu$ interactions located in the emulsion target have been analysed. Three events with two charm decays have been observed in the neutral-current sample with an estimated background of 0.18$\pm$0.05. The relative rate of the associated charm cross-section in deep inelastic $\nu$ interactions, $\sigma(c\bar{c}\nu)/\sigma_\mathrm{NC}^\mathrm{DIS}= (3.62^{+2.95}_{-2.42}({stat})\pm 0.54({syst}))\times 10^{-3}$ has been measured. One event with two charm decays has been observed in charged-current $\nu_\mu$ interactions with an estimated background of 0.18$\pm$0.06 and the upper limit on associated charm production in charged-current interactions at 90% C.L. has been found to be $\sigma (c\bar{c} \mu^-)/\sigma_\mathrm{CC} < 9.69 \times 10^{-4}$.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

The time response of glass resistive plate chambers to heavily ionizing particles

The HARP system of resistive plate chambers (RPCs) was designed to perform particle identification by the measurement of the difference in the time-of-flight of different particles. In previous papers an apparent discrepancy was shown between the response of the RPCs to minimum ionizing pions and heavily ionizing protons. Using the kinematics of elastic scattering off a hydrogen target a controlled beam of low momentum recoil protons was directed onto the RPC chambers. With this method the trajectory and momentum, and hence the time-of-flight of the protons can be precisely predicted without need for a measurement of momentum of the protons. It is demonstrated that the measurement of the time-of-arrival of particles by the thin gas-gap glass RPC system of the HARP experiment depends on the primary ionization deposited by the particle in the detector