Higgs-Boson Production Induced by Bottom Quarks

Bottom quark-induced processes are responsible for a large fraction of the LHC discovery potential, in particular for supersymmetric Higgs bosons. Recently, the discrepancy between exclusive and inclusive Higgs boson production rates has been linked to the choice of an appropriate bottom factorization scale. We investigate the process kinematics at hadron colliders and show that it leads to a considerable decrease in the bottom factorization scale. This effect is the missing piece needed to understand the corresponding higher order results. Our results hold generally for charged and for neutral Higgs boson production at the LHC as well as at the Tevatron. The situation is different for single top quark production, where we find no sizeable suppression of the factorization scale. Turning the argument around, we can specify how large the collinear logarithms are, which can be resummed using the bottom parton picture.Comment: 18 page

Transverse spin effects in hadron-pair production from semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering

First measurements of azimuthal asymmetries in hadron-pair production in deep-inelastic scattering of muons on transversely polarised ^6LiD (deuteron) and NH_3 (proton) targets are presented. The data were taken in the years 2002-2004 and 2007 with the COMPASS spectrometer using a muon beam of 160 GeV/c at the CERN SPS. The asymmetries provide access to the transversity distribution functions, without involving the Collins effect as in single hadron production. The sizeable asymmetries measured on the NH_ target indicate non-vanishing u-quark transversity and two-hadron interference fragmentation functions. The small asymmetries measured on the ^6LiD target can be interpreted as indication for a cancellation of u- and d-quark transversities.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, updated to the published versio

The Spin-dependent Structure Function of the Proton g_1^p and a Test of the Bjorken Sum Rule

The inclusive double-spin asymmetry, A_1^p, has been measured at COMPASS in deepinelastic polarised muon scattering off a large polarised NH3 target. The data, collected in the year 2007, cover the range Q2 > 1 (GeV/c)^2, 0.004 < x < 0.7 and improve the statistical precision of g_1^p(x) by a factor of two in the region x < 0.02. The new proton asymmetries are combined with those previously published for the deuteron to extract the non-singlet spin-dependent structure function g_1^NS(x,Q2). The isovector quark density, Delta_q_3(x,Q2), is evaluated from a NLO QCD fit of g_1^NS. The first moment of Delta_q3 is in good agreement with the value predicted by the Bjorken sum rule and corresponds to a ratio of the axial and vector coupling constants g_A/g_V = 1.28+-0.07(stat)+-0.10(syst).Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Leading order determination of the gluon polarisation from DIS events with high-p_T hadron pairs

We present a determination of the gluon polarisation Delta g/g in the nucleon, based on the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry of DIS events with a pair of large transverse-momentum hadrons in the final state. The data were obtained by the COMPASS experiment at CERN using a 160 GeV/c polarised muon beam scattering off a polarised ^6LiD target. The gluon polarisation is evaluated by a Neural Network approach for three intervals of the gluon momentum fraction x_g covering the range 0.04 < x_g < 0.27. The values obtained at leading order in QCD do not show any significant dependence on x_g. Their average is Delta g/g = 0.125 +/- 0.060 (stat.) +/- 0.063 (syst.) at x_g=0.09 and a scale of mu^2 = 3 (GeV/c)^2.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures and 3 table

Measurement of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries on transversely polarised protons

The Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged hadrons produced in deeply inelastic scattering on transversely polarised protons have been extracted from the data collected in 2007 with the CERN SPS muon beam tuned at 160 GeV/c. At large values of the Bjorken x variable non-zero Collins asymmetries are observed both for positive and negative hadrons while the Sivers asymmetry for positive hadrons is slightly positive over almost all the measured x range. These results nicely support the present theoretical interpretation of these asymmetries, in terms of leading-twist quark distribution and fragmentation functions.Comment: 9 Pages, 5 figure

Exclusive rho^0 muoproduction on transversely polarised protons and deuterons

The transverse target spin azimuthal asymmetry A_UT in hard exclusive production of rho^0 mesons was measured at COMPASS by scattering 160 GeV/c muons off transversely polarised protons and deuterons. The measured asymmetry is sensitive to the nucleon helicity-flip generalised parton distributions E^q, which are related to the orbital angular momentum of quarks in the nucleon. The Q^2, x_B and p_t^2 dependence of A_UT is presented in a wide kinematic range. Results for deuterons are obtained for the first time. The measured asymmetry is small in the whole kinematic range for both protons and deuterons, which is consistent with the theoretical interpretation that contributions from GPDs E^u and E^d approximately cancel.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures and 4 tables, updated author lis

Quark helicity distributions from longitudinal spin asymmetries in muon-proton and muon-deuteron scattering

Double-spin asymmetries for production of charged pions and kaons in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic muon scattering have been measured by the COMPASS experiment at CERN. The data, obtained by scattering a 160 GeV muon beam off a longitudinally polarised NH_3 target, cover a range of the Bjorken variable x between 0.004 and 0.7. A leading order evaluation of the helicity distributions for the three lightest quarks and antiquark flavours derived from these asymmetries and from our previous deuteron data is presented. The resulting values of the sea quark distributions are small and do not show any sizable dependence on x in the range of the measurements. No significant difference is observed between the strange and antistrange helicity distributions, both compatible with zero. The integrated value of the flavour asymmetry of the helicity distribution of the light-quark sea, \Delta u-bar - \Delta d-bar, is found to be slightly positive, about 1.5 standard deviations away from zero.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Experimental investigation of transverse spin asymmetries in muon-p SIDIS processes: Collins asymmetries

The COMPASS Collaboration at CERN has measured the transverse spin azimuthal asymmetry of charged hadrons produced in semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering using a 160 GeV positive muon beam and a transversely polarised NH_3 target. The Collins asymmetry of the proton was extracted in the Bjorken x range 0.003<x<0.7. These new measurements confirm with higher accuracy previous measurements from the COMPASS and HERMES collaborations, which exhibit a definite effect in the valence quark region. The asymmetries for negative and positive hadrons are similar in magnitude and opposite in sign. They are compatible with model calculations in which the u-quark transversity is opposite in sign and somewhat larger than the d-quark transversity distribution function. The asymmetry is extracted as a function of Bjorken $x$, the relative hadron energy $z$ and the hadron transverse momentum p_T^h. The high statistics and quality of the data also allow for more detailed investigations of the dependence on the kinematic variables. These studies confirm the leading-twist nature of the Collins asymmetry.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Vector-borne and other pathogens of potential relevance disseminated by relocated cats

Large populations of unowned cats constitute an animal welfare, ecological, societal and public health issue worldwide. Their relocation and homing are currently carried out in many parts of the world with the intention of relieving suffering and social problems, while contributing to ethical and humane population control in these cat populations. An understanding of an individual cat’s lifestyle and disease status by veterinary team professionals and those working with cat charities can help to prevent severe cat stress and the spread of feline pathogens, especially vector-borne pathogens, which can be overlooked in cats. In this article, we discuss the issue of relocation and homing of unowned cats from a global perspective. We also review zoonotic and non-zoonotic infectious agents of cats and give a list of practical recommendations for veterinary team professionals dealing with homing cats. Finally, we present a consensus statement consolidated at the 15th Symposium of the Companion Vector-Borne Diseases (CVBD) World Forum in 2020, ultimately to help veterinary team professionals understand the problem and the role they have in helping to prevent and manage vector-borne and other pathogens in relocated cats