Dielectron Production in C+C Collisions at 1 GeV/u and the Solution to the DLS Puzzle

The production of e+e- pairs in C+C collisions at 1 GeV/u was investigated with the HADES experiment at GSI, Darmstadt. In the invariant-mass region $0.15\: GeV/c^{2} \leq M_{ee} \leq 0.5\: GeV/c^{2}$ the measured pair yield shows a strong excess above the contribution expected from hadron decays after freeze-out. The data are in good agreement with the results of the former DLS experiment for the same system and energy.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, conference proceedings: Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur (India), 4-10 February 2008, submitted to J. Phys. G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

The HADES Tracking System

The tracking system of the dielectron spectrometer HADES at GSI Darmstadt is formed out of 24 low-mass, trapezoidal multi-layer drift chambers providing in total about 30 square meter of active area. Low multiple scattering in the in total four planes of drift chambers before and after the magnetic field is ensured by using helium-based gas mixtures and aluminum cathode and field wires. First in-beam performance results are contrasted with expectations from simulations. Emphasis is placed on the energy loss information, exploring its relevance regarding track recognition.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, presented at the 10th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, Vienna, February 2004, to be published in NIM A (special issue

Inclusive pion and eta production in p+Nb collisions at 3.5 GeV beam energy

Data on inclusive pion and eta production measured with the dielectron spectrometer HADES in the reaction p+93Nb at a kinetic beam energy of 3.5 GeV are presented. Our results, obtained with the photon conversion method, supplement the rather sparse information on neutral meson production in proton-nucleus reactions existing for this bombarding energy regime. The reconstructed e+e-e+e- transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions are confronted with transport model calculations, which account fairly well for both pi0 and eta production.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Physical Review

A versatile method for simulating pp -> ppe+e- and dp -> pne+e-p_spec reactions

We have developed a versatile software package for the simulation of di-electron production in $pp$ and $dp$ collisions at SIS energies. Particular attention has been paid to incorporate different descriptions of the Dalitz decay $\Delta \to N e^+e^-$ via a common interface. In addition, suitable parameterizations for the virtual bremsstrahlung process $NN \to NN e^+e^-$ based on one-boson exchange models have been implemented. Such simulation tools with high flexibility of the framework are important for the interpretation of the di-electron data taken with the HADES spectrometer and the design of forthcoming experiments

Searching a Dark Photon with HADES

We present a search for the e+e- decay of a hypothetical dark photon, also names U vector boson, in inclusive dielectron spectra measured by HADES in the p (3.5 GeV) + p, Nb reactions, as well as the Ar (1.756 GeV/u) + KCl reaction. An upper limit on the kinetic mixing parameter squared epsilon^{2} at 90% CL has been obtained for the mass range M(U) = 0.02 - 0.55 GeV/c2 and is compared with the present world data set. For masses 0.03 - 0.1 GeV/c^2, the limit has been lowered with respect to previous results, allowing now to exclude a large part of the parameter region favoured by the muon g-2 anomaly. Furthermore, an improved upper limit on the branching ratio of 2.3 * 10^{-6} has been set on the helicity-suppressed direct decay of the eta meson, eta-> e+e-, at 90% CL

Lambda hyperon production and polarization in collisions of p(3.5 GeV) + Nb

Results on $\Lambda$ hyperon production are reported for collisions of p(3.5 GeV) + Nb, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18 at GSI Helmholtzzentrum for Heavy-Ion Research, Darmstadt. The transverse mass distributions in rapidity bins are well described by Boltzmann shapes with a maximum inverse slope parameter of about $90\,$MeV at a rapidity of $y=1.0$, i.e. slightly below the center-of-mass rapidity for nucleon-nucleon collisions, $y_{cm}=1.12$. The rapidity density decreases monotonically with increasing rapidity within a rapidity window ranging from 0.3 to 1.3. The $\Lambda$ phase-space distribution is compared with results of other experiments and with predictions of two transport approaches which are available publicly. None of the present versions of the employed models is able to fully reproduce the experimental distributions, i.e. in absolute yield and in shape. Presumably, this finding results from an insufficient modelling in the transport models of the elementary processes being relevant for $\Lambda$ production, rescattering and absorption. The present high-statistics data allow for a genuine two-dimensional investigation as a function of phase space of the self-analyzing $\Lambda$ polarization in the weak decay $\Lambda\rightarrow p \pi^-$. Finite negative values of the polarization in the order of $5-20\,\%$ are observed over the entire phase space studied. The absolute value of the polarization increases almost linearly with increasing transverse momentum for $p_t>300\,$MeV/c and increases with decreasing rapidity for $y < 0.8$.Comment: accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Subthreshold Xi- Production in Collisions of p(3.5 GeV)+Nb

Results on the production of the double-strange cascade hyperon $\mathrm{\Xi^-}$ are reported for collisions of p\,(3.5~GeV)\,+\,Nb, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18 at GSI Helmholtzzentrum for Heavy-Ion Research, Darmstadt. For the first time, subthreshold $\mathrm{\Xi^-}$ production is observed in proton-nucleus interactions. Assuming a $\mathrm{\Xi^-}$ phase-space distribution similar to that of $\mathrm{\Lambda}$ hyperons, the production probability amounts to $P_{\mathrm{\Xi^-}}=(2.0\,\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(stat)}\,\pm 0.3\,\mathrm{(norm)}\,\pm 0.6\,\mathrm{(syst)})\times10^{-4}$ resulting in a $\mathrm{\Xi^-/(\Lambda+\Sigma^0)}$ ratio of $P_{\mathrm{\Xi^-}}/\ P_{\mathrm{\Lambda+\Sigma^0}}=(1.2\pm 0.3\,\mathrm{(stat)}\pm0.4\,\mathrm{(syst)})\times10^{-2}$. Available model predictions are significantly lower than the estimated$\mathrm{\Xi^-}$ yield.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Medium effects in proton-induced K0K^{0} production at 3.5 GeV

We present the analysis of the inclusive $K^{0}$ production in p+p and p+Nb collisions measured with the HADES detector at a beam kinetic energy of 3.5 GeV. Data are compared to the GiBUU transport model. The data suggest the presence of a repulsive momentum-dependent kaon potential as predicted by the Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT). For the kaon at rest and at normal nuclear density, the ChPT potential amounts to $\approx 35$ MeV. A detailed tuning of the kaon production cross sections implemented in the model has been carried out to reproduce the experimental data measured in p+p collisions. The uncertainties in the parameters of the model were examined with respect to the sensitivity of the experimental results from p+Nb collisions to the in-medium kaon potential.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure