A Method to Polarize Stored Antiprotons to a High Degree

Polarized antiprotons can be produced in a storage ring by spin--dependent interaction in a purely electron--polarized hydrogen gas target. The polarizing process is based on spin transfer from the polarized electrons of the target atoms to the orbiting antiprotons. After spin filtering for about two beam lifetimes at energies $T\approx 40-170$ MeV using a dedicated large acceptance ring, the antiproton beam polarization would reach $P=0.2-0.4$. Polarized antiprotons would open new and unique research opportunities for spin--physics experiments in $\bar{p}p$ interactions

Adsorbing vs. nonadsorbing tracers for assessing pesticide transport in arable soils

The suitability of two different tracers to mimic the behavior of pesticides in agricultural soils and to evidence the potential for preferential flow was evaluated in outdoor lysimeter experiments. The herbicide atrazine [6‐chloro‐N‐ethyl‐N′‐(1‐methylethyl)‐1,3,5‐triazine‐2,4‐diamine] was used as a model compound. Two tracers were used: a nonadsorbing tracer (bromide) and a weakly adsorbing dye tracer (uranine). Two soils that are expected to show a different extent of macropore preferential flow were used: a well‐drained sandy‐loamy Cambisol (gravel soil) and a poorly drained loamy Cambisol (moraine soil). Conditions for preferential flow were promoted by applying heavy simulated rainfall shortly after pesticide application. In some of the experiments, preferential flow was also artificially simulated by injecting the solutes through a narrow tube below the root zone. With depth injection, preferential leaching of atrazine occurred shortly after application in both soil types, whereas with surface application, it occurred only in the moraine soil. Thereafter, atrazine transport was mainly through the porous soil matrix, although contributions of preferential flow were also observed. For all the application approaches and soil types, after 900 d, <3% of the applied amount of atrazine was recovered in the drainage water. Only uranine realistically illustrated the early atrazine breakthrough by transport through preferential flow. Uranine broke through during the first intense irrigation at the same time as atrazine. Bromide, however, appeared earlier than atrazine in some cases. The use of dye tracers as pesticide surrogates might assist in making sustainable decisions with respect to pesticide application timing relative to rainfall or soil potential for preferential flow

Measurement of Spin Correlation Parameters ANN_{NN}, ASS_{SS}, and A_SL{SL} at 2.1 GeV in Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering

At the Cooler Synchrotron COSY/J\"ulich spin correlation parameters in elastic proton-proton (pp) scattering have been measured with a 2.11 GeV polarized proton beam and a polarized hydrogen atomic beam target. We report results for A$_{NN}$, A$_{SS}$, and A_${SL}$ for c.m. scattering angles between 30$^o$ and 90$^o$. Our data on A$_{SS}$ -- the first measurement of this observable above 800 MeV -- clearly disagrees with predictions of available of pp scattering phase shift solutions while A$_{NN}$ and A_${SL}$ are reproduced reasonably well. We show that in the direct reconstruction of the scattering amplitudes from the body of available pp elastic scattering data at 2.1 GeV the number of possible solutions is considerably reduced.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Measuring the Polarization of a Rapidly Precessing Deuteron Beam

This paper describes a time-marking system that enables a measurement of the in-plane (horizontal) polarization of a 0.97-GeV/c deuteron beam circulating in the Cooler Synchrotron (COSY) at the Forschungszentrum J\"ulich. The clock time of each polarimeter event is used to unfold the 120-kHz spin precession and assign events to bins according to the direction of the horizontal polarization. After accumulation for one or more seconds, the down-up scattering asymmetry can be calculated for each direction and matched to a sinusoidal function whose magnitude is proportional to the horizontal polarization. This requires prior knowledge of the spin tune or polarization precession rate. An initial estimate is refined by re-sorting the events as the spin tune is adjusted across a narrow range and searching for the maximum polarization magnitude. The result is biased toward polarization values that are too large, in part because of statistical fluctuations but also because sinusoidal fits to even random data will produce sizeable magnitudes when the phase is left free to vary. An analysis procedure is described that matches the time dependence of the horizontal polarization to templates based on emittance-driven polarization loss while correcting for the positive bias. This information will be used to study ways to extend the horizontal polarization lifetime by correcting spin tune spread using ring sextupole fields and thereby to support the feasibility of searching for an intrinsic electric dipole moment using polarized beams in a storage ring. This paper is a combined effort of the Storage Ring EDM Collaboration and the JEDI Collaboration.Comment: 28 pages, 15 figures, prepared for Physical Review ST - Accelerators and Beam

A Precision Measurement of pp Elastic Scattering Cross Sections at Intermediate Energies

We have measured differential cross sections for \pp elastic scattering with internal fiber targets in the recirculating beam of the proton synchrotron COSY. Measurements were made continuously during acceleration for projectile kinetic energies between 0.23 and 2.59 GeV in the angular range $30 \leq \theta_{c.m.} \leq 90$ deg. Details of the apparatus and the data analysis are given and the resulting excitation functions and angular distributions presented. The precision of each data point is typically better than 4%, and a relative normalization uncertainty of only 2.5% within an excitation function has been reached. The impact on phase shift analysis as well as upper bounds on possible resonant contributions in lower partial waves are discussed.Comment: 23 pages 29 figure

Measurement of the invariant mass distributions for the pp -> ppeta' reaction at excess energy of Q = 16.4 MeV

The proton-proton and proton-eta' invariant mass distributions have been determined for the pp -> ppeta' reaction at an excess energy of Q = 16.4 MeV. The measurement was carried out using the COSY-11 detector setup and the proton beam of the cooler synchrotron COSY. The shapes of the determined invariant mass distributions are similar to those of the pp -> ppeta reaction and reveal an enhancement for large relative proton-proton momenta. This result, together with the fact that the proton-eta interaction is much stronger that the proton-eta' interaction, excludes the hypothesis that the observed enhancement is caused by the interaction between the proton and the meson

The neutron-proton charge-exchange amplitudes measured in the dp -> ppn reaction

The unpolarised differential cross section and the two deuteron tensor analysing powers A_{xx} and A_{yy} of the pol{d}p -> (pp)n charge-exchange reaction have been measured with the ANKE spectrometer at the COSY storage ring. Using deuteron beams with energies 1.2, 1.6, 1.8, and 2.27 GeV, data were obtained for small momentum transfers to a (pp) system with low excitation energy. The results at the three lower energies are consistent with impulse approximation predictions based upon the current knowledge of the neutron-proton amplitudes. However, at 2.27GeV, where these amplitudes are far more uncertain, agreement requires a reduction in the overall double-spin-flip contribution, with an especially significant effect in the longitudinal direction. These conclusions are supported by measurements of the deuteron-proton spin-correlation parameters C_{x,x} and C_{y,y} that were carried out in the pol{d}pol{p} -> (pp)n reaction at 1.2 and 2.27GeV. The values obtained for the proton analysing power also suggest the need for a radical re-evaluation of the neutron-proton elastic scattering amplitudes at the higher energy. It is therefore clear that such measurements can provide a valuable addition to the neutron-proton database in the charge-exchange region.Comment: 13 pages with 13 figure

Determination of Deuteron Beam Polarizations at COSY

The vector and tensor polarizations of a deuteron beam have been measured using elastic deuteron-carbon scattering at 75.6 MeV and deuteron-proton scattering at 270 MeV. After acceleration to 1170 MeV inside the COSY ring, the polarizations of the deuterons were checked by studying a variety of nuclear reactions using a cluster target at the ANKE magnet spectrometer placed at an internal target position of the storage ring. All these measurements were consistent with the absence of depolarization during acceleration and provide a number of secondary standards that can be used in subsequent experiments at the facility.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Toward polarized antiprotons: Machine development for spin-filtering experiments

The paper describes the commissioning of the experimental equipment and the machine studies required for the first spin-filtering experiment with protons at a beam kinetic energy of $49.3\,$MeV in COSY. The implementation of a low-$\beta$ insertion made it possible to achieve beam lifetimes of $\tau_{\rm{b}}=8000\,$s in the presence of a dense polarized hydrogen storage-cell target of areal density $d_{\rm t}=(5.5\pm 0.2)\times 10^{13}\,\mathrm{atoms/cm^{2}}$. The developed techniques can be directly applied to antiproton machines and allow for the determination of the spin-dependent $\bar{p}p$ cross sections via spin filtering