Recent results from NA61/SHINE on spectra and correlations in p+p and Be+Be interactions at the CERN SPS

The problem of pinning down the critical point of strongly interacting matter still puzzles the community. One of the answers suspected to emerge in the near future will surely come from NA61/SHINE - a fixed-target experiment aiming to discover the critical point as well as to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. This goal will be pursued by obtaining precise data on hadron production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions in a wide range of system size and collision energy. This contribution presents new results on inclusive spectra of identified hadrons and on fluctuations in inelastic p+p and Be+Be interactions at the SPS energies. These are compared with the world data, in particular with the corresponding measurements of NA49 for central Pb+Pb collisions as well as with some model predictions.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, Proceedings (ICPAQGP-2015 - 7th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma

Multiplicity fluctuations of identified hadrons in p+p interactions at SPS energies

Study of energy and system size fluctuations of identified hadrons is one of the key goals of NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS. Results may allow to discover the critical point (CP) of strongly interacting matter as well as to uncover properties of the onset of deconfinement (OD). But fluctuations exhibit numerous other sources starting from most basic ones like volume effects and conservation laws. NA49 seems to observe fluctuations related to CP in collisions of medium size nuclei at top SPS energy. However, this result will remain inconclusive until systematic data on energy and system size dependence will be available. Moreover, fluctuations in p+p as well as in Pb+Pb interactions should be better understood. In this contribution results on multiplicity fluctuations of identified hadrons in p+p interactions at the CERN SPS energies will be presented. The NA61 data will be compared with the corresponding results from central Pb+Pb collisions of NA49 in the common acceptance region of both experiments. Moreover, predictions of models (EPOS, UrQMD and HSD) for both reactions will be tested.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the Strangeness in Quark Matter Conference (SQM 2013), 22nd - 27th July 2013, accepted by the Open Access Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS), in the IOP conference serie

Towards an explanation of the space star anomaly

One of the most intriguing discrepancies observed in the proton-deuteron breakup reaction is known as the Space Star Anomaly. The effect was found to peak at the energies ranging from 7.5 to 13 MeV/nucleon, but due to scarcity of data at higher energies, it has not been explained yet. Recently, a new analysis has been started in order to fill the gaps in our understanding of the problem. As the first step, the differential cross sections were calculated on the basis of the CD-Bonn potential, including explicit Δ excitation (coupled-channel potential) as well as the Coulomb force, in order to identify the effects that may contribute to the cross sections. The calculations were done for d(160 MeV)+p, p(108 MeV)+d and p(135 MeV)+d breakup reactions

Lambda production in p+p interactions at SPS energies

NA61/SHINE stanowi eksperyment zoptymalizowany pod kątem badań diagramu fazowego silnie oddziałującej materii, w szczególności przejścia fazowego z fazy gazu hadronowego w fazę plazmy kwarkowo-gluonowej (QGP), której główną cech¡ jest brak uwięzienia kwarków. Jedną z kluczowych sygnatur uwolnienia kwarków jest wzmocnienie dziwności, którą zawiera m.in. cząstka Λ. Bezpośrednia jej obserwacja, jako cząstki nienaładowanej elektrycznie, nie jest łatwa, jednakże jej ślad może być zrekonstruowany na podstawie analizy naładowanych produktów rozpadu. Głównym celem tej pracy jest obliczenie całkowitej i różniczkowych krotności cząstki Λ dla reakcji p(158 GeV/c)+p. W tym celu przygotowano i przetestowano procedurę służącą ekstrakcji cząstek Λ spośród danych zebranych przez NA61/SHINE w oddziaływaniach p+p w zakresie pędów akceleratora SPS. Powyższa procedura została zastosowana przy obliczeniach spektrów d2n dydpT , d2n dydmT , d2n dxF dpT oraz rozkładów dn dy , dn dxF , a także zależności średniej masy transwersalnej hmTi oraz odwrotnego parametru nachylenia T od pośpieszności y, oraz średniej krotności Λ ekstrapolowanej do 4π

Recent results from NA61/SHINE on spectra and correlations in p+p and Be+Be interactions at the CERN SPS

The problem of pinning down the critical point of strongly interacting matter still puzzles the community. One of the answers suspected to emerge in the near future will surely come from NA61/SHINE - a fixed-target experiment aiming to discover the critical point as well as to study the properties of the onset of deconfinement. This goal will be pursued by obtaining precise data on hadron production in proton-proton, proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus interactions in a wide range of system size and collision energy. This contribution presents new results on inclusive spectra of identified hadrons and on fluctuations in inelastic p+p and Be+Be interactions at the SPS energies. These are compared with the world data, in particular with the corresponding measurements of NA49 for central Pb+Pb collisions as well as with some model predictions

Penetration Depth of a Soil Moisture Profile Probe Working in Time-Domain Transmission Mode

Soil moisture is one of the most important soil parameters. Knowledge of volumetric water content (VWC) of the root zone as well as the VWC dynamics in the soil profile is especially important for agriculture. Monitoring VWC at several depths in the soil profile can be performed using several soil moisture sensors placed at various depths. However, the use of a profile probe is more convenient, because the installation of a single probe is less disturbing to the soil, as well as less laborious and more cost-effective. The objective of the paper is to present the design and performance of a novel profile probe working in the time-domain transmission mode (P-TDT probe) with emphasis put on the penetration depth and sensitivity zone. The performance of the probe was assessed with the use of finite element method (FEM) simulations in the frequency domain, transient simulations in the time domain and laboratory experiments with the use of a vector network analyzer (VNA) working in the 10 MHz–10 GHz frequency range. It was concluded that the effective soil volume measured by the profile probe of a given geometry is equivalent to a soil thickness of about 20 mm around the tested probe. The internal part of the probe body had a negligible effect on the measurement results, as it does not change with soil moisture. Moreover, the transmitted signal amplitude was related to the soil electrical conductivity

Few-nucleon system dynamics studied via deuteron-deuteron collisions at 160 MeV

Pozostali autory: I. Ciepał, K. Bodek, N. Kalantar-Nayestanaki, G. Khatri, St. Kistryn, A. Kozela, J. Kubo´s, P. Kulessa, A. Magiera, J. Messchendorp, I. Mazumdar, W. Parol, R. Ramazani-Sharifabadi, D. Rozpedzik, I. Skwira-Chalot, B. Włoch, A. Wrońska, J. ZejmaFour nucleon scattering at intermediate energies provides unique opportunities to study effects of the two key ingredients of the nuclear dynamics, the nucleon-nucleon P-wave (NNP-wave) and the three-nucleon force (3NF). This is possible only with systematic and precise data, in conjunction with exact theoretical calculations. Using the BINA detector at KVI Groningen, the Netherlands, a rich set of differential cross section of the 2H(d, dp)n breakup reaction at 160 MeV deuteron beam energy has been measured. Besides the three-body breakup, also cross sections of the 2H(d, 3He)n proton transfer reaction have been obtained. The data are compared to the recent calculations for the threecluster breakup