Allozyme variation in two populations of the Mopane worm, Imbrasia belina (Saturniidae), and the effect of developmental stage and staggered generations

Imbrasia belina is utilised as a food item by certain ethnic groups of southern Africa, but little is known of the genetic structure of this resource. The aims of this study were to determine whether the limited flight ability of moths has an effect on gene flow between two geographically distant I. belina populations, whether there are gene expression differences between moths, worms and pupae and whether staggered generations have different genotypic expressions. Gene products of 19 protein-coding loci from moths collected at two locations, one of which included two staggered generations, were analysed by horizontal starch gel electrophoresis. High levels of polymorphism (42% and 47%) and heterozygosity (0.182 to 0.210) were present in all groups. There were developmental constraints on the expression of the phosphoglucomutase enzyme coding locus, and only allozyme and not isozyme differences between individuals from the various developmental stages were found at other loci. Although the groups displayed a large amount of variation, little differentiation and a large amount of gene flow were observed between them. Results indicate that the genetic diversity of I. belina populations is relatively high. The February-hatching Messina group is recommended for commercial utilisation due to the large amount of genetic variation in this population. (South African Journal of Animal Science, 2001, 31(1): 15-24

Thermal Equilibration and Expansion in Nucleus-Nucleus Collision at the AGS

The rather complete data set of hadron yields from central Si + A collisions at the Brookhaven AGS is used to test whether the system at freeze-out is in thermal and hadro-chemical equilibrium. Rapidity and transverse momentum distributions are discussed with regards to the information they provide on hydrodynamic flow.Comment: 11 pages + 2 uuencoded figure

Thermal and Hadrochemical Equilibration in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at the SPS

The currently available set of hadron abundances at the SPS for central S+Au(W,Pb) collisions is compared to predictions from a scenario assuming local thermal and hadrochemical equilibrium. The data are consistent with a freeze-out temperature T = 160-170 MeV. Spectra are consistent with this temperature range and a moderate transverse expansion. The freeze-out points at the AGS and SPS are found to be close to the phase boundary between a hadron gas and an ideal quark-gluon phase.Comment: 14 pages + 3 figures. Paper replaced with version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Low-mass e+e- pair production in 158 A GeV Pb-Au collisions at the CERN SPS, its dependence on multiplicity and transverse momentum

We report a measurement of low-mass electron pairs observed in 158 GeV/nucleon Pb-Au collisions. The pair yield integrated over the range of invariant masses 0.2 < m < 2.0 GeV is enhanced by a factor of 3.5 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.9 (syst) over the expectation from neutral meson decays. As observed previously in S-Au collisions, the enhancement is most pronounced in the invariant-mass region 300-700 MeV. For Pb-Au we find evidence for a strong increase of the enhancement with centrality. In addition, we show that the enhancement covers a wide range in transverse momentum, but is largest at the lowest observed pt.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Lett.

The Compensation Approach for Three or More Dimensional Random Walks

In this paper we investigate for which random walks with three or more dimensions the compensation approach can be used to determine the equilibrium distribution. As we will see, the compensation approach is not appropriate for the symmetric shortest queue system with three queues, but for the 2 x 3 buffered switch it is. By using this compensation approach, we show that for the 2 x 3 buffered switch the equilibrium distribution can be expressed as a linear combination of six series of binary trees of product-form (geometric) distributions

Modification of the rho meson detected by low-mass electron-positron pairs in central Pb-Au collisions at 158 A GeV/c

We present a measurement of $e^+e^-$ pair production in central Pb-Au collisions at 158$A$ GeV/$c$. As reported earlier, a significant excess of the $e^+e^-$ pair yield over the expectation from hadron decays is observed. The improved mass resolution of the present data set, recorded with the upgraded CERES experiment at the CERN-SPS, allows for a comparison of the data with different theoretical approaches. The data clearly favor a substantial in-medium broadening of the $\rho$ spectral function over a density-dependent shift of the $\rho$ pole mass. The in-medium broadening model implies that baryon induced interactions are the key mechanism to in-medium modifications of the $\rho$-meson in the hot fireball at SPS energy.Comment: Revised versio

Recent results from Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon obtained with the CERES spectrometer

During the 1996 lead run time, CERES has accumulated 42 million events, corresponding to a factor of 5 more statistics than in 1995 and 2.5 million events of a special photon-run. We report on the results of the low-mass e$^+$e$^-$-pair analysis. Since the most critical item is the poor signal-to-background ratio we also discuss the understanding of this background, in absolute terms, with the help of a detailed Monte Carlo simulation. We show preliminary results of the photon analysis and summarize the results of the hadron analysis preliminarily reported on already at QM'97Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Proceedings of the XIV Int. Conf. on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions,Quark Matter 99, Torino, Italy, May 10 - 15, 199

Event-by-event fluctuations at SPS

Results on event-by-event fluctuations of the mean transverse momentum and net charge in Pb-Au collisions, measured by the CERES Collaboration at CERN-SPS, are presented. We discuss the centrality and beam energy dependence and compare our data to cascade calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings to INPC2004 Goteborg, Swede

New Results on Pb-Au Collisions at 40 AGeV from the CERES/NA45 Experiment

In 1999 the CERES/NA45 ran at the CERN SPS with a beam energy of 40 GeV/nucleon. The data set comprises about 8.7 millions Pb-Au events with a trigger selection corresponding to approximately the most central 30% of the geometrical cross section. Results on low-mass electron pair analysis are presented. The upgrade of the experimental setup with the radial drift TPC has allowed to enhance hadron physics capabilities of the experiment. New results on hadron spectra (including Lambda) and flow are presented.Comment: Talk at the International Nuclear Physics Conference INPC2001, Berkeley, CA, July 29th - August 3rd 200

Transition Radiation Spectra of Electrons from 1 to 10 GeV/c in Regular and Irregular Radiators

We present measurements of the spectral distribution of transition radiation generated by electrons of momentum 1 to 10 GeV/c in different radiator types. We investigate periodic foil radiators and irregular foam and fiber materials. The transition radiation photons are detected by prototypes of the drift chambers to be used in the Transition Radiation Detector (TRD) of the ALICE experiment at CERN, which are filled with a Xe, CO2 (15 %) mixture. The measurements are compared to simulations in order to enhance the quantitative understanding of transition radiation production, in particular the momentum dependence of the transition radiation yield.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res.