L. Labarga

Analysis of multijet final states in e+e− annihilation

Abstract Data accumulated by the TASSO detector across the whole range of energies spanned at PETRA, 12⩽ s ⩽46.8 GeV , have been analysed in terms of cluster algorithms. Using parameters optimised at 35 GeV CM energy, three perturbative QCD+fragmentation models were compared with the data. The O( α s 2 ) model gives too few 4,5- cluster events, implying that higher order QCD contributions are required to describe the data. The parton cascade model, incorporating many orders in perturbation theory, gives a better description of the rates of ⩾ 4 clusters, but shows a lack of hard gluon emission by giving too few 3-, and too many 2-cluster events. When hard gluon emission is taken into account, by the cascade model incorporating the O( α s ) matrix element, all cluster rates are reproduced well. All the models describe the trend of the evolution of the cluster rates between 〈 s 〉 = 14 and 43.8 GeV. We find that the rate of 3-jet events seen in the data decreases as s increases in a manner consistent with the Q 2 dependence of α s as predicted by QCD.

First proof of topological signature in high pressure xenon gas with electroluminescence amplification

A bstractThe NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of 136Xe in a high-pressure xenon gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. One of the main advantages of this technology is the possibility to reconstruct the topology of events with energies close to Qββ. This paper presents the first demonstration that the topology provides extra handles to reject background events using data obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype.Single electrons resulting from the interactions of 22Na 1275 keV gammas and electronpositron pairs produced by conversions of gammas from the 228Th decay chain were used to represent the background and the signal in a double beta decay. These data were used to develop algorithms for the reconstruction of tracks and the identification of the energy deposited at the end-points, providing an extra background rejection factor of 24.3 ± 1.4 (stat.)%, while maintaining an efficiency of 66.7 ± 1.% for signal events.

Present Status and Future Perspectives of the NEXT Experiment

NEXT is an experiment dedicated to neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon. The detector is a TPC, holding 100 kg of high-pressure xenon enriched in the 136Xe isotope. It is under construction in the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc in Spain, and it will begin operations in 2015. The NEXT detector concept provides an energy resolutionbetter than 1% FWHM and a topological signal that can be used to reduce the background. Furthermore, the NEXT technology can be extrapolated to a 1 ton-scale experiment.

Initial results of NEXT-DEMO, a large-scale prototype of the NEXT-100 experiment

This work was supported by the following agencies and institutions: the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain under grants CONSOLIDER-Ingenio 2010 CSD2008-0037 (CUP) and FPA2009-13697-C04-04; the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231; and the Portuguese FCT and FEDER through the program COMPETE, project PTDC/FIS/103860/2008. J. Renner (LBNL) acknowledges the support of a US DOE NNSA Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship under contract no. DE-FC52-08NA28752.

Particle correlation observed ine+e− annihilations into hadrons at c.m. Energies between 29 and 37 GeV

We have studied the correlations between charged particles produced ine+e− annihilations into hadrons at c.m. energies between 29 and 37 GeV. We have analysed the correlations between the charged multiplicities of the jets and the two particle rapidity and charge correlations. No evidence for correlations between the multiplicities of the two jets is found. Two particle short range rapidity and charge correlations are observed, indicating that particles cluster in rapidity and that their charges compensate locally. An extensive study of these correlation effects by QCD Monte Carlo calculations was performed. Evidence for charge correlations due to Bose-Einstein statistics is also observed.

Pion, kaon and proton cross sections ine+e− annihilation at 34 GeV and 44 GeV c.m. energy

AbstractThe inclusive production of π± andK± mesons and of protons and antiprotons ine+e− annihilations has been measured at 34 GeV and 44 GeV center of mass energy; in addition π± mesons have been measured at 44 GeV c.m. energy. Differential cross sections and particle yields are given. At 34 GeV average multiplicities are:

Sensitivity of NEXT-100 to neutrinoless double beta decay

\begin{gathered} \left\langle {n\left( {\pi ^ \pm } \right)} \right\rangle = 10.9 \pm 0.5,\left\langle {n\left( {K^ \pm } \right)} \right\rangle = 1.76 \pm 0.20, \hfill \\ \left\langle {n\left( {p + \bar p} \right)} \right\rangle = 0.67 \pm 0.06 \hfill \\ \end{gathered}

Radiopurity control in the NEXT-100 double beta decay experiment: procedures and initial measurements

and at 44 GeV: