Positron Beams and Two-Photon Exchange: The Key to Precision Form Factors

The proton elastic form factor ratio can be measured either via Rosenbluth separation in an unpolarized beam and target experiment, or via the use of polarization degrees of freedom. However, data produced by these two approaches show a discrepancy, increasing with $Q^2$. The proposed explanation of this discrepancy---two-photon exchange---has been tested recently by three experiments. The results support the existence of a small two-photon exchange effect but cannot establish that theoretical treatment at the measured momentum transfers are valid. At larger momentum transfers, theory remains untested. This paper investigates the possibilities of measurements at DESY and Jefferson Lab to measure the effect at larger momentum transfers.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Conference proceedings from JPOS17 (https://www.jlab.org/conferences/JPos2017/

Two-Photon Exchange: Future experimental prospects

The proton elastic form factor ratio is accessible in unpolarized Rosenbluth-type experiments as well as experiments which make use of polarization degrees of freedom. The extracted values show a distinct discrepancy, growing with $Q^2$. Three recent experiments tested the proposed explanation, two-photon exchange, by measuring the positron-proton to electron-proton cross section ratio. In the results, a small two-photon exchange effect is visible, significantly different from theoretical calculation. Theory at larger momentum transfer remains untested. This paper discusses the possibilities for future measurements at larger momentum transfer.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on the Physics of Excited Nucleons (NSTAR 2017

The views of rich Europeans are more likely to be reflected by political parties than those of poorer citizens

How does income inequality affect political representation? Jan Rosset, Nathalie Giger and Julian Bernauer examine whether politicians represent the views of poorer and richer citizens equally. They find that in 43 out of the 49 elections included in their analysis, the preferences of low-income citizens are located further away from the policy positions of the closest political party than those with mid-range incomes. This suggests that income inequality may spill-over into political inequalities, although it is less clear whether this effect is likely to get better or worse as a result of the Eurozone crisis

The RMS Charge Radius of the Proton and Zemach Moments

On the basis of recent precise measurements of the electric form factor of the proton, the Zemach moments, needed as input parameters for the determination of the proton rms radius from the measurement of the Lamb shift in muonic hydrogen, are calculated. It turns out that the new moments give an uncertainty as large as the presently stated error of the recent Lamb shift measurement of Pohl et al.. De Rujula's idea of a large Zemach moment in order to reconcile the five standard deviation discrepancy between the muonic Lamb shift determination and the result of electronic experiments is shown to be in clear contradiction with experiment. Alternative explanations are touched upon.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, final version includes discussion of systematic and numerical error

A helical-shape scintillating fiber trigger and tracker system for the DarkLight experiment and beyond

The search for new physics beyond the Standard Model has interesting possibilities at low energies. For example, the recent 6.8$\sigma$ anomaly reported in the invariant mass of $e^+e^-$ pairs from $^8\text{Be}$ nuclear transitions and the discrepancy between predicted and measured values of muon g-2 give strong motivations for a protophobic fifth-force model. At low energies, the electromagnetic interaction is well understood and produces straightforward final states, making it an excellent probe of such models. However, to achieve the required precision, an experiment must address the substantially higher rate of electromagnetic backgrounds. In this paper, we present the results of simulation studies of a trigger system, motivated by the DarkLight experiment, using helical-shape scintillating fibers in a solenoidal magnetic field to veto electron-proton elastic scattering and the associated radiative processes. We also assess the performance of a tracking detector for lepton final states using scintillating fibers in the same setup

Successful aspiration thrombectomy in a patient with submassive, intermediate-risk pulmonary embolism following COVID-19 pneumonia

A 64-year-old female patient presented with severe dyspnea shortly after apparent recovery from COVID-19 disease. Chest computed tomography revealed central pulmonary embolism and ultrasonography showed a deep vein thrombosis of her right leg. The patient was tachycardiac with evidence of right ventricular strain on echocardiography. An interdisciplinary decision for interventional therapy was made. Angiographic aspiration thrombectomy resulted in a significant reduction of thrombus material and improved flow in the pulmonary arteries and immediate marked clinical improvement and subsequent normalization of functional echocardiographic parameters. This case adds to the emerging evidence for severe thromboembolic complications following COVID-19 and suggests aspiration thrombectomy can be considered in pulmonary embolism of intermediate risk

The electric and magnetic form factors of the proton

The paper describes a precise measurement of electron scattering off the proton at momentum transfers of $0.003 \lesssim Q^2 \lesssim 1$\ GeV$^2$. The average point-to-point error of the cross sections in this experiment is $\sim$ 0.37%. These data are used for a coherent new analysis together with all world data of unpolarized and polarized electron scattering from the very smallest to the highest momentum transfers so far measured. The extracted electric and magnetic form factors provide new insight into their exact shape, deviating from the classical dipole form, and of structure on top of this gross shape. The data reaching very low $Q^2$ values are used for a new determination of the electric and magnetic radii. An empirical determination of the Two-Photon-Exchange (TPE) correction is presented. The implications of this correction on the radii and the question of a directly visible signal of the pion cloud are addressed.Comment: 38 pages, 20 figures. Updated data files. PRC versio