N. Kuzmin

Observation of a narrow baryon resonance decaying to pK S 0 in proton-nucleus interactions at 70 GeV/c with the SVD-2 setup

AbstractData from the SVD-2 experiment that were obtained at the IHEP accelerator in 70-GeV/c proton-nucleus interactions are analyzed with the aim of searches for an exotic Θ+ baryon that decays through the pKS0 channel. The reaction pN → pKS0 + X characterized by a bounded multiplicity of charged secondaries is used for this analysis. A resonance of mass M = 1526 ± 3(stat.) ± 3(syst.) MeV/c2 and width Γ < 24 MeV/c2 is observed in the invariant-mass spectrum of the pKS0 system at a statistical significance of 5.6σ. The mass and the width of this resonance correspond to the recently found positive-strangeness Θ+ baryon, which was predicted to be an exotic baryon consisting of five quarks (pentaquark),

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. The total cross section for the production of a Θ+ baryon in pA interactions is estimated at a value within the range 30–120 μb for xF ≥ 0. An analysis of the A dependence of the cross section for Θ+-baryon production does not reveal a significant deviation from the A dependence for inelastic events (∼A0.7).

Pb Collisions

The production of neutral pions in 158AGeV Pb+Pb collisions has been studied in the WA98 experiment at the CERN SPS. Transverse momentum spectra are studied for the range 0.3 GeV/c<mT-m0<4.0 GeV/c. The results for central collisions are compared to various models. The centrality dependence of the neutral pion spectral shape and yield is investigated. An invariance of the spectral shape and a simple scaling of the yield with the number of participating nucleons is observed for centralities with greater than about 30 participating nucleons which is most naturally explained by assuming an equilibrated system.

Systematics of inclusive photon production in 158-A-GeV Pb induced reactions on Ni, Nb, and Pb targets

Abstract The multiplicity of inclusive photons has been measured on an event-by-event basis for 158· A GeV Pb induced reactions on Ni, Nb, and Pb targets. The systematics of the pseudorapidity densities at midrapidity ( ρ max ) and the width of the pseudorapidity distributions have been studied for varying centralities for these collisions. A power law fit to the photon yield as a function of the number of participating nucleons gives a value of 1.12±0.03 for the exponent. The mean transverse momentum, 〈 p T 〉, of photons determined from the ratio of the measured electromagnetic transverse energy and photon multiplicity, remains almost constant with increasing ρ max . Results are compared with model predictions.

Elliptic emission of K+ and π+ in 158 A·GeV Pb + Pb collisions

An event-by-event analysis of the azimuthal angular correlation with respect to the reaction plane has been carried out for K+ and pi(+) emission near mid-rapidity in 158 A . GeV Pb + Pb collisions. In semi-central collisions, K+ mesons are found to be preferentially emitted out of the reaction plane, while pi(+) mesons are emitted in the reaction plane. The results suggest that the kaon emission is influenced by in-medium potential effects in addition to collective flow effects

Spin alignment of K(892) mesons produced in neutron-carbon interactions

Abstract A new precise measurements of spin density matrix element ρ 00 of K ∗ (892) ± mesons produced inclusively in neutron-carbon interactions at ∼60 GeV have been carried out in the EXCHARM experiment at the Serpukhov accelerator. The values of ρ 00 obtained in the transversity frame are 0.393±0.011(stat)±0.018(sys) for K ∗ (892) + . An upper limit ρ 00 CL =90% has been obtained for K ∗ (892) − . Significant P T dependence of ρ 00 has been observed in K ∗ (892) + production. The investigation has been carried out at the Laboratory of Particle Physics, JINR.A new precise measurements of spin density matrix element

Measurement of neutral-meson masses in meson-nucleus interactions at a momentum of 7 GeV/c at the Hyperon-M setup

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