Quark Content Research Articles

Observation of two new Ξ(b)(-) baryon resonances.

Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the Ξ(b)(0)π(-) mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), recorded by the LHCb experiment. In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content bds are expected in this mass region: the spin-parity J(P)=(1/2)(+) and J(P)=(3/2)(+) states, denoted Ξ(b)('-) and Ξ(b)(*-). Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass differences and the width of the heavier state to be m(Ξ(b)('-))-m(Ξ(b)(0))-m(π(-))=3.653±0.018±0.006 MeV/c(2), m(Ξ(b)(*-))-m(Ξ(b)(0))-m(π(-))=23.96±0.12±0.06 MeV/c(2), Γ(Ξ(b)(*-))=1.65±0.31±0.10 MeV, where the first and second uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of Γ(Ξ(b)('-))<0.08 MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative production rates of these states are also reported.

Study of theZc+channel using lattice QCD

Recently experimentalists have discovered several charged charmonium-like hadrons $Z_c^+$ with unconventional quark content $\bar cc\bar d u$. We perform a search for $Z_c^+$ with mass below $4.2~$GeV in the channel $I^G(J^{PC})=1^+(1^{+-})$ using lattice QCD. The major challenge is presented by the two-meson states $J/\psi\, \pi$, $\psi_{2S}\pi$, $\psi_{1D}\pi$, $D\bar D^*$, $D^*\bar D^*$, $\eta_c\rho$ that are inevitably present in this channel. The spectrum of eigenstates is extracted using a number of meson-meson and diquark-antidiquark interpolating fields. For our pion mass of 266~MeV we find all the expected two-meson states but no additional candidate for $Z_c^+$ below $4.2~$GeV. Possible reasons for not seeing an additional eigenstate related to $Z_c^+$ are discussed. We also illustrate how a simulation incorporating interpolators with a structure resembling low-lying two-mesons states seems to render a $Z_c^+$ candidate, which is however not robust after further two-meson states around $4.2~$GeV are implemented.

Significance of gluon density at soft and hard processes at LHC

We study the role of the non-perturbative input to the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) gluon density in hard processes at the LHC. We derive the TMD gluon distribution from the fit of the inclusive hadron spectra measured at low transverse momenta in [Formula: see text] collisions at the LHC and demonstrate that the best description of these spectra for larger hadron transverse momenta can be achieved by matching the derived TMD gluon distribution with the exact solution of the Balitsky-Fadin-Kuraev-Lipatov (BFKL) equation obtained at small transverse momenta outside the saturation region. A special attention is put to the phenomenological applications of presented TMD parton densities to some LHC processes, which are sensitive to the quark and gluon content of a proton.

A Review of the Intrinsic Heavy Quark Content of the Nucleon

We present a review of the state of the art of our understanding of the intrinsic charm and bottom content of the nucleon. We discuss theoretical calculations, constraints from global analyses, and collider observables sensitive to the intrinsic heavy quark distributions. A particular emphasis is put on the potential of a high energy and high luminosity fixed target experiment using the LHC beams (AFTER@LHC) to search for intrinsic charm.

Neutrino mass generation with extra right-handed fields in a Dirac scenario via the type-I seesaw mechanism

An extension of the Standard Model (SM) is studied in which two right-handed (RH) neutrinos per generation are incorporated, but considering the hypothesis of the symmetry of lepton and quark contents in order to deprive the number of RH neutrinos of freedom, generate Dirac neutrinos and accommodate naturally tiny values for their masses. The high scale type-I seesaw regime is applied to the first, ordinary RH neutrino, whereas a low scale pseudo-Dirac scenario is used for the second, adulterant RH neutrino, implying that the first RH neutrino decouples at the high scale, while the second RH neutrino survives down to the low scale to pair off in a Dirac-like form with the corresponding left-handed (LH) neutrino. The small mass and couplings of this extra RH neutrino are explained by means of the statement of the symmetry of fermionic content, only regarded as a guideline to the natural choice of parameters since it is not a proper symmetry in the Lagrangian.

Bottom-strange mesons in hyperonic matter

The in-medium behavior of bottom-strange pseudoscalar mesons in hot, isospin asymmetric and dense hadronic environment is studied using a chiral effective model. The same was recently generalized to the heavy quark sector and employed to study the behavior of open-charm and open-bottom mesons. The heavy quark (anti-quark) is treated as frozen and all medium modifications of these bottom-strange mesons are due to their strange anti-quark (quark) content. We observe a pronounced dependence of their medium mass on baryonic density and strangeness content of the medium. Certain aspects of these in-medium interactions are similar to those observed for the strange-charmed mesons in a preceding investigation, such as the lifting of mass-degeneracy of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] mesons in hyperonic matter, while the same is respected in vacuum as well as in nuclear matter. In general, however, there is a remarkable distinction between the two species, even though the formalism predicts a completely analogous in-medium interaction Lagrangian density. We discuss in detail the reason for different in-medium behavior of these bottom-strange mesons as compared to charmed-strange mesons, despite the dynamics of the heavy quark being treated as frozen in both cases.

First measurements of timelike form factors of the hyperons, [formula omitted], [formula omitted], [formula omitted], [formula omitted], [formula omitted], and [formula omitted], and evidence of diquark correlations

Using 805 pb−1 of e+e− annihilation data taken with the CLEO-c detector at ψ(3770), s=3770 MeV, we report the first measurements of the electromagnetic form factors of the Λ0, Σ0, Σ+, Ξ0, Ξ−, and Ω− hyperons for the large timelike momentum transfer of |Q2|=14.2 GeV2. The form factors for the different hyperons are found to vary by nearly a factor two. It is found that |GM(Λ0)|=1.66(24)×|GM(Σ0)|. The Λ0 and Σ0 hyperons have the same uds quark content, but differ in their isospin, and therefore the spin of the ud quark pair. It is suggested that the spatial correlation implied by the singlet spin–isospin configuration in the Λ0 is an example of strong diquark correlations in the Λ0, as anticipated by Jaffe and Wilczek. Improved measurements of the branching fractions of ψ(2S)→pp¯ and hyperon–antihyperon pairs are also reported.

In-medium meson properties and screening correlators

We study spatial meson correlation functions consisting of strange quarks, strange and charm quarks and charm quarks in (2 + 1)-flavor QCD using the highly improved staggered quark action. We find that the in-medium modification of the meson correlators decreases with increasing charm quark content and decreasing size. In particular, we find strong in-medium modification of ϕ and Ds meson correlators around the chiral transition temperature Tc, while J/ψ and ηc correlators show strong in-medium modification only at temperatures of 1.4Tc.

Light-quark and gluon jet discrimination in [Formula: see text] collisions at [Formula: see text] with the ATLAS detector.

A likelihood-based discriminant for the identification of quark- and gluon-initiated jets is built and validated using 4.7 fb^{-1} of proton–proton collision data at sqrt{s}=7 mathrm { TeV} collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Data samples with enriched quark or gluon content are used in the construction and validation of templates of jet properties that are the input to the likelihood-based discriminant. The discriminating power of the jet tagger is established in both data and Monte Carlo samples within a systematic uncertainty of approx 10–20 %. In data, light-quark jets can be tagged with an efficiency of approx 50,% while achieving a gluon-jet mis-tag rate of approx 25,% in a p_{mathrm {T}} range between 40mathrm { GeV} and 360mathrm { GeV} for jets in the acceptance of the tracker. The rejection of gluon-jets found in the data is significantly below what is attainable using a Pythia 6 Monte Carlo simulation, where gluon-jet mis-tag rates of 10 % can be reached for a 50 % selection efficiency of light-quark jets using the same jet properties.

The quark contents of the nucleon and their implication for dark matter search

7 pages, 6 figures, talk given at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2013), July 29-August 3 2013, Mainz, Germany

Intrinsic charm parton distribution functions from CTEQ-TEA global analysis

We study the possibility of intrinsic (non-perturbative) charm in parton distribution functions (PDF) of the proton, within the context of the CT10 next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) global analysis. Three models for the intrinsic charm (IC) quark content are compared: (i) $\hat{c}(x) = 0$ (zero-IC model); (ii) $\hat{c}(x)$ is parametrized by a valence-like parton distribution (BHPS model); (iii) $\hat{c}(x)$ is parametrized by a sea-like parton distribution (SEA model). In these models, the intrinsic charm content, $\hat{c}(x)$, is included in the charm PDF at the matching scale $Q_c=m_c=1.3$ GeV. The best fits to data are constructed and compared. Correlations between the value of $m_c$ and the amount of IC are also considered.

Angular correlations of identified charged particles measured in pp collisions by ALICE at the LHC

We report on studies of untriggered two-particle angular correlations of identified particles (pions, kaons and protons) measured in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energy sqrt{s}=7 TeV recorded by ALICE at the LHC. These type of studies are sensitive to a wide range of correlations which arise from different physics mechanisms, each of them having a unique structure in DeltaEta-DeltaPhi space. The correlations of particles with different quark content and flavor are sensitive to various conservation laws. The study of these correlations is the main goal of this analysis. The results confirm that these laws strongly influence the shape of the correlation functions for different particle types and must be taken into account while analysing the data. Moreover, we verify their implementation using two Monte Carlo event generators and we found that the analyzed models do not reproduce the measured correlations for protons.

SHARE with CHARM

SHARE with CHARM program (SHAREv3) implements the statistical hadronization model description of particle production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Given a set of statistical parameters, SHAREv3 program evaluates yields and therefore also ratios, and furthermore, statistical particle abundance fluctuations. The physical bulk properties of the particle source is evaluated based on all hadrons produced, including the fitted yields. The bulk properties can be prescribed as a fit input complementing and/or replacing the statistical parameters. The modifications and improvements in the SHARE suite of programs are oriented towards recent and forthcoming LHC hadron production results including charm hadrons. This SHAREv3 release incorporates all features seen previously in SHAREv1.x and v2.x and, beyond, we include a complete treatment of charm hadrons and their decays, which further cascade and feed lighter hadron yields. This article is a complete and self-contained manual explaining and introducing both the conventional and the extended capabilities of SHARE with CHARM. We complement the particle list derived from the Particle Data Group tabulation composed of up, down, strange $u,d,s$ quarks (including resonances) with hadrons containing charm $c,\bar c$ quarks. We provide a table of the charm hadron decays including partial widths. The branching ratios of each charm hadron decays add to unity, which is achieved by including some charm hadron decay channels based on theoretical consideration in the absence of direct experimental information. A very successful interpretation of all available LHC results has been already obtained using this program.

Measurement of associated W + charm production in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s} $ = 7 TeV

Measurements are presented of the associated production of a W boson and a charm-quark jet (W + c) in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV. The analysis is conducted with a data sample corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns, collected by the CMS detector at the LHC. W boson candidates are identified by their decay into a charged lepton (muon or electron) and a neutrino. The W + c measurements are performed for charm-quark jets in the kinematic region pt[jet] > 25 GeV, abs(eta) < 2.5, for two different thresholds for the transverse momentum of the lepton from the W-boson decay, and in the pseudorapidity range abs(eta[ell]) < 2.1. Hadronic and inclusive semileptonic decays of charm hadrons are used to measure the following total cross sections: sigma(pp to W + c + X) times B(W to ell nu) = 107.7 +/- 3.3 (stat.) +/- 6.9 (syst.) pb (pt[ell] > 25 GeV) and sigma(pp to W + c + X) times B(W to ell nu) = 84.1 +/- 2.0 (stat.) +/- 4.9 (syst.) pb (pt[ell] > 35 GeV), and the cross section ratios sigma(pp to W+ + c + X)/sigma(pp to W- + c + X) = 0.954 +/- 0.025 (stat.) +/- 0.004 (syst.) (pt[ell] > 25 GeV) and sigma(pp to W+ + c bar + X)/sigma(pp to W- + c + X) = 0.938 +/- 0.019 (stat.) +/- 0.006 (syst.) (pt[ell] > 35 GeV). Cross sections and cross section ratios are also measured differentially with respect to the absolute value of the pseudorapidity of the lepton from the W-boson decay. These are the first measurements from the LHC directly sensitive to the strange quark and antiquark content of the proton. Results are compared with theoretical predictions and are consistent with the predictions based on global fits of parton distribution functions.

Diffractive dissociation of gluons into heavy quark–antiquark pairs in proton–proton collisions

We discuss diffractive dissociation of gluons into heavy quark pairs. The particular mechanism is similar to the diffractive dissociation of virtual photons into quarks, which drives diffractive deep inelastic production of charm in the low-mass diffraction, or large β-region. There, it can be understood, with some reservations, in terms of a valence heavy quark content of the Pomeron. The amplitude for the gp→QQ¯p is derived in the impact parameter and momentum space. The cross section for single diffractive pp→QQ¯pX is calculated as a convolution of the elementary cross section and gluon distribution in the proton. Integrated cross section and the differential distributions in e.g. transverse momentum and rapidity of the charm and bottom quark and antiquark, as well as the quark–antiquark invariant mass are calculated for the nominal LHC energy for different unintegrated gluon distributions from the literature. The ratio of the bottom-to-charm cross sections are shown and discussed as a function of several kinematical variables.

The Thomas–Fermi quark model: Non-relativistic aspects

The first numerical investigation of non-relativistic aspects of the Thomas–Fermi (TF) statistical multi-quark model is given. We begin with a review of the traditional TF model without an explicit spin interaction and find that the spin splittings are too small in this approach. An explicit spin interaction is then introduced which entails the definition of a generalized spin “flavor”. We investigate baryonic states in this approach which can be described with two inequivalent wave functions; such states can however apply to multiple degenerate flavors. We find that the model requires a spatial separation of quark flavors, even if completely degenerate. Although the TF model is designed to investigate the possibility of many-quark states, we find surprisingly that it may be used to fit the low energy spectrum of almost all ground state octet and decuplet baryons. The charge radii of such states are determined and compared with lattice calculations and other models. The low energy fit obtained allows us to extrapolate to the six-quark doubly strange H-dibaryon state, flavor symmetric strange states of higher quark content and possible six quark nucleon–nucleon resonances. The emphasis here is on the systematics revealed in this approach. We view our model as a versatile and convenient tool for quickly assessing the characteristics of new, possibly bound, particle states of higher quark number content.

Anisotropy in cosmic rays from internal transitions in neutron stars

We discuss the possibility that some recently measured anisotropic cosmic ray components in the TeV–PeV energy range may be an indication of the ejection of a peculiar type of matter. We present a model where a neutron star internal transition with nuclear deconfinement of the quark content takes place. This catastrophic event may cause a mass ejection process seeding the insterstelar medium with droplets of quark matter, so called nuclearites. Neutralization of these droplets in molecular clouds may drive the anisotropy since quasi-rectilinear trajectories are allowed. Complementary information from current experimental settings on earth or magnetic spectrometers on the ISS may shed light on this exotic form of matter.

Probing the Pomeron structure using dijets andγ+jetevents at the LHC

We consider hard diffractive events in proton-proton collisions at the LHC, in which both protons escape the collision intact. In such double Pomeron exchange processes, we propose to measure dijets and photon-jet final states, and we show that it has the potential to pin down the Pomeron quark and gluon contents, a crucial ingredient in the standard QCD description of hard diffraction. By comparing with predictions of the soft color interaction approach, we also show that more generally, the measurement of the photon-jet to dijet cross section ratio can put a stringent test on the QCD dynamics at play in diffractive processes in hadronic collisions.

Meson Spectra in p + p Collisions at LHC

The p + p (proton + proton) collisions are important to understand particle production mechanism in partonic collisions and are also used as baseline for heavy ion collisions. We present systematic study of meson spectra in p + p collisions at LHC energies (√s = 0.9, 2.76 and 7.0 TeV). We also studied the transverse mass (mT) spectra of pion and kaon for p + p collisions at all above mentioned energies. In an earlier study [1], it was shown that all the mesons produced in p + p and d + Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV follow mT scaling while in Au + Au collisions at same energy the mesons with strange and charm quark contents do not follow mT scaling which can be attributed to medium modifications. Here we fit all pion spectra with Hagedorn distribution and extract all the output parameters from the fitting. Then we fit kaon spectra using mT scaling with the help of those extracted fitting parameters along with a normalizing factor. We observed that mT scaling in case of kaon is valid in p + p collisions at LHC energies. The normalizing factor of kaon with respect to pion (K/п) is almost constant in all energies . This study is important for the observation of strangeness enhancement in heavy ion collisions, which is an important probe of quark gluon plasma (QGP). It is also used as a baseline for the study of medium modifications in heavy ion collisions. Kaon spectra provides a unique opportunity to identify new flavor and CP violating interactions beyond the Standard Model (SM).Keywords: LHC, Hagedorn Function, Meson Spectra.

Meson Spectra in p + p Collisions at LHC

The p + p (proton + proton) collisions are important to understand particle production mechanism in partonic collisions and are also used as baseline for heavy ion collisions. We present systematic study of meson spectra in p + p collisions at LHC energies (√s = 0.9, 2.76 and 7.0 TeV). We also studied the transverse mass (m T ) spectra of pion and kaon for p + p collisions at all above mentioned energies. In an earlier study [1], it was shown that all the mesons produced in p + p and d + Au collisions at √s NN = 200 GeV follow m T scaling while in Au + Au collisions at same energy the mesons with strange and charm quark contents do not follow m T scaling which can be attributed to medium modifications. Here we fit all pion spectra with Hagedorn distribution and extract all the output parameters from the fitting. Then we fit kaon spectra using m T scaling with the help of those extracted fitting parameters along with a normalizing factor. We observed that m T scaling in case of kaon is valid in p + p collisions at LHC energies. The normalizing factor of kaon with respect to pion (K/π) is almost constant in all energies . This study is important for the observation of strangeness enhancement in heavy ion collisions, which is an important probe of quark gluon plasma (QGP). It is also used as a baseline for the study of medium modifications in heavy ion collisions. Kaon spectra provides a unique opportunity to identify new flavor and CP violating interactions beyond the Standard Model (SM).