Strangeness on the nucleon

Observables from parity violation in elastic electron-nucleon scattering and neutral current quasi-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering are employed as tools to improve the current knowledge on the strangeness content in the nucleon.Comment: Proceedings of International Scientific Meeting on Nuclear Physics, 9-13th September 2012. La R\'abida, Huelva, Spai

Musical chairs: a comment on the credit crisis.

Uncertainty –that is, a rise in unknown and immeasurable risk rather than the measurable risk that the financial sector specializes in managing– is at the heart of the recent liquidity crisis. The financial instruments and derivative structures underpinning the recent growth in credit markets are complex. Because of the rapid proliferation of these instruments, market participants cannot refer to a historical record to measure how these financial structures will behave during a time of stress. These two factors, complexity and lack of history, are the preconditions for rampant uncertainty. We explain how a rise in uncertainty can cause a liquidity crisis and discuss central bank policies in this context.

Relativistic descriptions of quasielastic charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering: application to scaling and superscaling ideas

The analysis of the recent experimental data on charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections measured at MiniBooNE requires fully relativistic theoretical descriptions also accounting for the role of final state interactions. In this work we evaluate inclusive quasielastic differential neutrino cross sections within the framework of the relativistic impulse approximation. Results based on the relativistic mean field potential are compared with the ones corresponding to the relativistic Green function approach. An analysis of scaling and superscaling properties provided by both models is also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, version accepted for publication in Physical Review

General study of superscaling in quasielastic (e,e′)(e,e') and (ν,μ)(\nu,\mu) reactions using the relativistic impulse approximation

The phenomenon of superscaling for quasielastic lepton induced reactions at energies of a few GeV is investigated within the framework of the relativistic impulse approximation. A global analysis of quasielastic inclusive electron and charged-current neutrino scattering reactions on nuclei is presented. Scaling and superscaling properties are shown to emerge from both types of processes. The crucial role played by final state interactions is evaluated by using different approaches. The asymmetric shape presented by the experimental scaling function, with a long tail in the region of positive values of the scaling variable, is reproduced when the interaction in the final state between the knockout nucleon and the residual nucleus is described within the relativistic mean field approach. The impact of gauge ambiguities and off-shell effects in the scaling function is also analyzed.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. C. Section II has been shortene

Parity violation in quasielastic electron-nucleus scattering within the relativistic impulse approximation

We study parity violation in quasielastic (QE) electron-nucleus scattering using the relativistic impulse approximation. Different fully relativistic approaches have been considered to estimate the effects associated with the final-state interactions. We have computed the parity-violating quasielastic (PVQE) asymmetry and have analyzed its sensitivity to the different ingredients that enter in the description of the reaction mechanism: final-state interactions, nucleon off-shellness effects, current gauge ambiguities. Particular attention has been paid to the description of the weak neutral current form factors. The PVQE asymmetry is proven to be an excellent observable when the goal is to get precise information on the axial-vector sector of the weak neutral current. Specifically, from measurements of the asymmetry at backward scattering angles good knowledge of the radiative corrections entering in the isovector axial-vector sector can be gained. Finally, scaling properties shown by the interference $\gamma-Z$ nuclear responses are also analyzed.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure