Evidence for formation of a narrow pKshort resonance with mass near 1533 MeV in neutrino interactions

A narrow baryon resonance is observed in invariant mass of the pKshort system formed in neutrino and antineutrino collisions with nuclei. The mass of the resonance is estimated as (1533+-5)MeV. The observed width is less than 20 MeV, and is compatible with being entirely due to experimental resolution. The statistical significance of the signal is near 6.7 standard deviations. As the position of the observed resonance does not match the mass of any known \Sigma^{*+} state, we believe that it arises from neutrino production of the \Theta^+ pentaquark baryon. The analysis is based on the data obtained in past neutrino experiments with big bubble chambers: WA21, WA25, WA59, E180 and E632.Comment: Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, B.Cheremyshkinskya 25, Moscow 117259, Russi

Search for the Θˉ−→\bar{\Theta}^- \to K−^- nˉ\bar{n} with PHENIX

The PHENIX experiment at RHIC should be sensitive to decays of the the anti--pentaquark $\bar{\Theta}^-$ via the K$^-$ $\bar{n}$ channel. Charged kaons can be identified using the standard tracking and time of flight up to a momentum of 1.5 GeV/c. Anti--neutron candidates are detected via their annihilation signal in the highly segmented electromagnetic calorimeter (EMCal). In order to assess the quality of the anti--neutron identification we reconstruct the $\bar{\Sigma} \to \bar{n}\pi$. As an additional crosscheck the invariant mass of K$^+$ $\bar{n}$ is reconstructed where no resonance in the pentaquark mass range is expected. At the present time no enhancement at the expected pentaquark mass is observed in dAu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV.Comment: 4 pages 5 figures contribution to the proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter, Oakland, January 11-17, 2004). To appear in the proceedings (Journal of Physics G

Detecting the (Quasi-)Two-Body Decays of τ\tau Leptons in Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

Novel detector schemes are proposed for the short-baseline neutrino experiments of next generation, aimed at exploring the large-$\Delta m^2$ domain of \omutau oscillations in the appearance mode. These schemes emphasize good spectrometry for charged particles and for electromagnetic showers and efficient reconstruction of \ypi_gg decays. The basic elements are a sequence of relatively thin emulsion targets, immersed in magnetic field and interspersed with electronic trackers, and a fine-grained electromagnetic calorimeter built of lead glass. These elements act as an integral whole in reconstructing the electromagnetic showers. This conceptual scheme shows good performance in identifying the $\tau$ (quasi-)two-body decays by their characteristic kinematics and in selecting the electronic decays of the $\tau$.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure

Observation of a narrow baryon resonance with positive strangeness formed in K+K^+Xe collisions

The charge-exchange reaction K^+ Xe --> K^0 p Xe' is investigated using the data of the DIANA experiment. The distribution of the pK^0 effective mass shows a prominent enhancement near 1538 MeV formed by \sim 80 events above the background, whose width is consistent with being entirely due to the experimental resolution. Under the selections based on a simulation of K^+Xe collisions, the statistical significance of the signal reaches 5.5\sigma. We interpret this observation as strong evidence for formation of a pentaquark baryon with positive strangeness, \Theta^+(uudd\bar{s}), in the charge-exchange reaction K^+ n --> K^0 p on a bound neutron. The mass of the \Theta^+ baryon is measured as m(\Theta^+) = 1538+-2 MeV. Using the ratio between the numbers of resonant and non-resonant charge-exchange events in the peak region, the intrinsic width of this baryon resonance is determined as \Gamma(\Theta^+) = 0.34+-0.10 MeV.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure

Further evidence for formation of a narrow baryon resonance with positive strangeness in K+ collisions with Xe nuclei

We have continued our investigation of the charge-exchange reaction K^+ Xe --> K^0 p Xe' in the bubble chamber DIANA. In agreement with our previous results based on part of the present statistics, formation of a narrow p K^0 resonance with mass of 1537+-2 MeV/c^2 is observed in the elementary transition K^+ n --> K^0 p on a neutron bound in the Xenon nucleus. Visible width of the peak is consistent with being entirely due to instrumental resolution and allows to place an upper limit on its intrinsic width: \Gamma < 9 MeV/c^2. A more precise estimate of the resonance intrinsic width, \Gamma = 0.36+-0.11 MeV/c^2, is obtained from the ratio between the numbers of resonant and non-resonant charge-exchange events. The signal is observed in a restricted interval of incident K^+ momentum, that is consistent with smearing of a narrow p K^0 resonance by Fermi motion of the target neutron. Statistical significance of the signal is some 7.3, 5.3, and 4.3 standard deviations for the estimators S/sqrt{B}, S/sqrt{S+B}, and S/sqrt{S+2B}, respectively. This observation confirms and reinforces our earlier results, and offers strong evidence for formation of a pentaquark baryon with positive strangeness in the charge-exchange reaction K^+ n --> K^0 p on a bound neutron.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, some chenges in text and references, more precise estimate of Theta(1540) to add, submitted to Phys.Atom.Nucl(Yad.Fiz.

A New Measurement of the π0\pi^0 Radiative Decay Width

High precision measurements of the differential cross sections for $\pi^0$ photoproduction at forward angles for two nuclei, $^{12}$C and $^{208}$Pb, have been performed for incident photon energies of 4.9 - 5.5 GeV to extract the ${\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma}$ decay width. The experiment was done at Jefferson Lab using the Hall B photon tagger and a high-resolution multichannel calorimeter. The ${\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma}$ decay width was extracted by fitting the measured cross sections using recently updated theoretical models for the process. The resulting value for the decay width is $\Gamma{(\pi^0 \to \gamma\gamma)} = 7.82 \pm 0.14 ~({\rm stat.}) \pm 0.17 ~({\rm syst.}) ~{\rm eV}$. With the 2.8% total uncertainty, this result is a factor of 2.5 more precise than the current PDG average of this fundamental quantity and it is consistent with current theoretical predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure