175 research outputs found
High-contrast dark resonance on the D2 - line of 87Rb in a vapor cell with different directions of the pump - probe waves
We propose a novel method enabling to create a high-contrast dark resonance
in the 87Rb vapor D2-line. The method is based on an optical pumping of atoms
into the working states by a two-frequency, linearly-polarized laser radiation
propagating perpendicularly to the probe field. This new scheme is compared to
the traditional scheme involving the circularly-polarized probe beam only, and
significant improvement of the dark resonance parameters is found. Qualitative
considerations are confirmed by numerical calculations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Sub-Doppler cooling of three-level A Atoms in space-shifted standing light waves
We present an investigation of an alternative mechanism for sub-Doppler cooling of atoms, based on coherent population transfer in three-level LAMBDA systems. The mechanism considered is that of a LAMBDA atom interacting with two standing light waves with a mutual spatial phase shift phi not-equal 0. The spatial dependence of the level populations of the LAMBDA atom for different values of phi is presented. For phi not-equal 0, this clearly demonstrates coherent population transfer in an atom with transverse motion along the space-shifted nodes and antinodes of the two standing waves. We show that this allows translational temperatures well below the Doppler limit T(D) = hgammaBAR/k(B) to be achieved
PEN: a low energy test of lepton universality
Allowed charged meson decays are characterized by simple dynamics, few
available decay channels, mainly into leptons, and extremely well controlled
radiative and loop corrections. In that sense, pion decays represent a
veritable triumph of the standard model (SM) of elementary particles and
interactions. This relative theoretical simplicity makes charged pion decays a
sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries and the universality of
weak fermion couplings, as well as for studying pion structure and chiral
dynamics. Even after considerable recent improvements, experimental precision
is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for pion decays. We
review the current state of experimental study of the pion electronic decay
, or , where the
indicates inclusion and explicit treatment of radiative decay events. We
briefly review the limits on non-SM processes arising from the present level of
experimental precision in decays. Focusing on the PEN
experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland, we examine the
prospects for further improvement in the near term.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; paper presented at the XIII International
Conference on Heavy Quarks and Leptons, 22-27 May 2016, Blacksburg, Virginia,
US
PEN experiment: a precise measurement of the pi+ -> e+ nu decay branching fraction
A new measurement of , the decay
branching ratio, is currently under way at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The
present experimental result on constitutes the most accurate test
of lepton universality available. The accuracy, however, still lags behind the
theoretical precision by over an order of magnitude. Because of the large
helicity suppression of the decay, its branching ratio is
susceptible to significant contributions from new physics, making this decay a
particularly suitable subject of study.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, talk given at the Tenth Conference on the
Intersections of Particle and Nuclear Physics (CIPANP 2009), La Jolla/San
Diego, CA, 26-31 May 2009; to appear in Proceedings to be published by the
American Institute of Physic
Spin physics with antiprotons
New possibilities arising from the availability at GSI of antiproton beams,
possibly polarised, are discussed. The investigation of the nucleon structure
can be boosted by accessing in Drell-Yan processes experimental asymmetries
related to cross-sections in which the parton distribution functions (PDF) only
appear, without any contribution from fragmentation functions; such processes
are not affected by the chiral suppression of the transversity function
. Spin asymmetries in hyperon production and Single Spin Asymmetries
are discussed as well, together with further items like electric and magnetic
nucleonic form factors and open charm production. Counting rates estimations
are provided for each physical case. The sketch of a possible experimental
apparatus is proposed.Comment: Presented for the proceedings of ASI "Spin and Symmetry", Prague,
July 5-10, 2004, to be published in Czech. J. Phys. 55 (2005
First Measurement of the Transverse Spin Asymmetries of the Deuteron in Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering
First measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries of charged hadrons
produced in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on a transversely polarized
6-LiD target are presented. The data were taken in 2002 with the COMPASS
spectrometer using the muon beam of the CERN SPS at 160 GeV/c. The Collins
asymmetry turns out to be compatible with zero, as does the measured Sivers
asymmetry within the present statistical errors.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
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