Is General Relativity a simplified theory?

IARD 8th Biennial Conference on Classical and Quantum Relativistic Dynamics of Particles and Fields - Galileo Galilei Inst Theoret Phys (GGI), Florence, ITALY - MAY 29-JUN 01, 2012. Edited by:Horowitz, LP

The intergalactic and circumgalactic medium surrounding star-forming galaxies at redshifts 2 < z < 3

We present measurements of the spatial distribution, kinematics, and physical properties of gas in the circumgalactic medium (CGM) of 2.0<z<2.8 UV color-selected galaxies as well as within the 2<z<3 intergalactic medium (IGM). These measurements are derived from Voigt profile decomposition of the full Lyα and Lyβ forest in 15 high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio QSO spectra resulting in a catalog of ∼6000 HI absorbers.

Chapter 2 of this thesis focuses on HI surrounding high-z star-forming galaxies drawn from the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey (KBSS). The KBSS is a unique spectroscopic survey of the distant universe designed to explore the details of the connection between galaxies and intergalactic baryons within the same survey volumes. The KBSS combines high-quality background QSO spectroscopy with large densely-sampled galaxy redshift surveys to probe the CGM at scales of ∼50 kpc to a few Mpc. Based on these data, Chapter 2 presents the first quantitative measurements of the distribution, column density, kinematics, and absorber line widths of neutral hydrogen surrounding high-z star-forming galaxies.

Chapter 3 focuses on the thermal properties of the diffuse IGM. This analysis relies on measurements of the ∼6000 absorber line widths to constrain the thermal and turbulent velocities of absorbing "clouds." A positive correlation between the column density of HI and the minimum line width is recovered and implies a temperature-density relation within the low-density IGM for which higher-density regions are hotter, as is predicted by simple theoretical arguments.

Chapter 4 presents new measurements of the opacity of the IGM and CGM to hydrogen-ionizing photons. The chapter begins with a revised measurement of the HI column density distribution based on this new absorption line catalog that, due to the inclusion of high-order Lyman lines, provides the first statistically robust measurement of the frequency of absorbers with HI column densities 14 ≲ log(N_HI/cm^-2) ≲ 17.2. Also presented are the first measurements of the column density distribution of HI within the CGM (50 <d < 300 pkpc) of high-z galaxies. These distributions are used to calculate the total opacity of the IGM and IGM+CGM and to revise previous measurements of the mean free path of hydrogen-ionizing photons within the IGM. This chapter also considers the effect of the surrounding CGM on the transmission of ionizing photons out of the sites of active star-formation and into the IGM.

This thesis concludes with a brief discussion of work in progress focused on understanding the distribution of metals within the CGM of KBSS galaxies. Appendix B discusses my contributions to the MOSFIRE instrumentation project.

Flavor SU(3) predictions for charmed baryon and B-meson decays

The predictions of the SU(3) flavor symmetry of the strong interactions for the weak decay of charmed baryons and B-mesons are detailed. It is hoped that comparison between these predictions and experiment will shed some light on the underlying dynamics involved in these weak decays. Although only a few decay modes of the charmed baryons and B-mesons have been studied experimentally it is hoped that the next generation of B-factories and even Z-decays at LEP will provide enough events to test these predictions.

THEORETICAL STUDY ON pp -> pn pi(+) REACTION AT MEDIUM ENERGIES

The pp -> pn pi(+) reaction is a channel with the largest total cross section for pp collision in COSY/CSR energy region. In this work, we investigate individual contributions from various N* and Delta* resonances with mass up to about 2 GeV for the pp -> pn pi(+) reaction. We extend a resonance model, which can reproduce the observed total cross section quite well, to give theoretical predictions of various differential cross sections for the present reaction at T-p = 2.88 GeV. It could serve as a reference for identifying new physics in the future experiments at HIRFL-CSR.

Proposal for studying N* resonances with the (p)over-barp -> (p)over-barn pi(+) reaction

A theoretical study of the (p) over barp -> (p) over barn pi(+) reaction for antiproton beam energy from 1 to 4 GeV is made by including contributions from various known N* and Delta* resonances. It is found that for the beam energy around 1.5 GeV, the contribution of the Roper resonance N-(1440)* produced by the t-channel sigma exchange dominates over all other contributions. Since such a reaction can be studied in the forthcoming PANDA experiment at the GSI Facility of Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), the reaction will be realistically the cleanest place for studying the properties of the Roper resonance and the best place for looking for other "missing" N* resonances with large coupling to N sigma.

Baryon magnetic moment and beta decay ratio in colored quark cluster model

Baryon magnetic moments of p, n, Sigma(+), Sigma(-), Xi(0), Xi(-) and the beta decay ratios (G(A)/G(V)) of n -> p, Sigma(-) -> n and Xi(0) -> Sigma(+) are calculated in a colored quark cluster model. With SU(3) breaking, the model gives a good fit to the experimental values of those baryon magnetic moments and the beta decay ratios. Our results show that the orbital motion has a significant contribution to the spin and magnetic moments of those baryons and the strange component. in nucleon is small.

Isospin-symmetry breaking effects on the strange electric and magnetic form factors of the nucleon

We examine the electric and magnetic strange form factors of the nucleon in the pseudoscalar-vector SU(3) Skyrme model, with special emphasis on the effects of isospin symmetry breaking (ISB). It is found that ISB has a nontrivial effect on the strange vector form factors of the nucleon and its contribution to the nucleon strangeness is significantly larger than one might naively expect. Our calculations and discussions may be of some significance for the experimental extraction of the authentic strangeness.

eta photoproduction on the proton in a chiral constituent quark approach via a one-gluon-exchange model

A formalism based on a chiral quark model (chi QM) approach complemented with a one-gluon-exchange model, to take into account the breakdown of the SU(6)circle times O(3) symmetry, is presented. The configuration mixing of wave functions for nucleon and resonances are derived. With few adjustable parameters, differential cross-section and polarized-beam asymmetry for the gamma p -> eta p process are calculated and successfully compared with the data in the center-of-mass energy range from threshold to 2 GeV. The known resonances S-11(1535), S-11(1650), P-13(1720), D-13(1520), and F-15(1680), as well as two new S-11 and D-15 resonances, are found to be dominant in the reaction mechanism. Moreover, connections among the scattering amplitudes of the chi QM approach and the helicity amplitudes, as well as decay widths of resonances, are established. Possible contributions from the so-called missing resonances are investigated and found to be negligible.

Effective masses of pentaquark Theta(+) in nuclear matter

The properties of baryons in nuclear matter are analysed in the relativistic mean-field theory(RMF). It is found that the scalar field sigma meson affects the properties of baryon at high density. A density dependent scalar coupling g(sigma)(N) is determined according to the idea of quark-meson coupling model and extended to RMF. It is shown that g(sigma)(N), affects the property of nuclear matter weakly at low density, but strongly at high density. The relation between the scalar density rho(S) and the nuclear density rho and the effective mass of the pentaquark circle minus(+) are studied with the density dependent coupling constant. The density dependent scalar coupling obviously affects the effective masses of baryons in nuclear matter, especially at high density.

Constrain intergalactic medium from the SZ effect map

In this paper, we try to detect the SZ effect in the 2MASS DWT clusters and less bound objects in order to constrain the warm-hot intergalactic medium distribution on large scales by cross-correlation analysis. The results of both observed WMAP and mock SZ effect map indicate that the hot gas distributes from inside as well as outside of the high density regions of galaxy clusters, which is consistent with the results of both observation and hydro simulation. Therefore, the DWT measurement of the cross-correlation would be a powerful tool to probe the missing of baryons in the universe.

Observed charmed hadron Lambda(c)(2940)(+) and the D* N interaction

In this work, we systematically study the interaction of D* and nucleon, which is stimulated by the observation of Lambda(c)(2940)(+) close to the threshold of D* p. Our numerical result obtained by the dynamical investigation indicates the existence of the D* N systems with J(P) = 1/2(+/-), 3/2(+/-), which not only provides valuable information to understand the underlying structure of Lambda(c)(2940)(+) but also improves our knowledge of the interaction of D* and nucleon. Additionally, the bottom partners of the D* N systems are predicted, which might be as one of the tasks in LHCb experiment.

Role of five-quark components in radiative and strong decays of the Lambda(1405) resonance

Within an extended chiral constituent quark model, the three- and five-quark structure of the S-01 resonance Lambda(1405) is investigated. Helicity amplitudes for electromagnetic decays [Lambda(1405)->Lambda(1116)gamma, Sigma(1194)gamma] and transition amplitudes for strong decays [Lambda(1405)->Sigma(1194)pi, K- p] are derived, as well as the relevant decay widths. The experimental value for the strong decay width, Gamma(Lambda(1405)->(Sigma pi)degrees) = 50 +/- 2MeV, is well reproduced with about 50% of a five-quark admixture in the Lambda(1405). Important effects owing to the configuration mixing among Lambda P-2(1)A, Lambda P-2(8)M, and Lambda P-4(8)M are found. In addition, transitions between the three- and the five-quark components in the baryons turn out to be significant in both radiative and strong decays of the Lambda(1405) resonance.

Center of mass energy and system-size dependence of photon production at forward rapidity at RHIC

We present the multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions of photons produced in Au + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at root(NN)-N-s = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The photons are measured in the region -3.7 < eta < -2.3 using the photon Multiplicity detector in the STAR experiment at RHIC. The number of photons produced per average number of participating nucleon pairs increases with the beam energy and is independent of (lie collision centrality. For collisions with similar average numbers of participating nucleons the photon multiplicities are observed to be similar for An + Au and Cu + Cu collisions at a given beam energy. The ratios of the number of charged particles to photons in the measured pseudorapidity range are found to be 1.4 +/- 0.1 and 1.2 +/- 0.1 for root(NN)-N-s = 62.4 and 200 GeV, respectively. The energy dependence of this ratio could reflect varying contributions from baryons to charged particles, while mesons are the dominant contributors to photon production in the given kinematic region. The photon pseudorapidity distributions normalized by average number of participating nucleon pairs, when plotted as a function of eta-Y-beam, are found to follow a longitudinal scaling independent of centrality and colliding ion species at both beam energies. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

CHARMED BARYON IN A STRING MODEL

Charmed baryon spectroscopy has been studied under a string model. In this model, charmed baryons are composed of a diquark and a charm quark which are connected by a constant tension. In this diquark picture, the quantum numbers J(P) of confirmed baryons have been well assigned. Energies of the first and second orbital excitations have been predicted and compared with the experimental data. Meanwhile, diquark masses have been extracted in the background of charm quark which satisfy a splitting relation based on spin-spin interaction.

Measurement of ratios of fragmentation fractions for bottom hadrons in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV

This paper describes the first measurement of b-quark fragmentation fractions into bottom hadrons in Run II of the Tevatron Collider at Fermilab. The result is based on a 360pb-1 sample of data collected with the CDF II detector in pp̄ collisions at s=1.96TeV. Semileptonic decays of B̄0, B-, and B̄s0 mesons, as well as Λb0 baryons, are reconstructed. For an effective bottom hadron pT threshold of 7GeV/c, the fragmentation fractions are measured to be fu/fd=1.054±0.018(stat)-0.045+0.025(sys)±0. 058(B), fs/(fu+fd)=0.160±0.005(stat)-0.010+0.011(sys)-0.034+0.057(B), and fΛb/(fu+fd)=0.281±0.012(stat)-0.056+0.058(sys)-0.087+0.128(B), where the uncertainty B is due to uncertainties on measured branching ratios. The value of fs/(fu+fd) agrees within one standard deviation with previous CDF measurements and the world average of this quantity, which is dominated by LEP measurements. However, the ratio fΛb/(fu+fd) is approximately twice the value previously measured at LEP. The approximately 2σ discrepancy is examined in terms of kinematic differences between the two production environments. © 2008 The American Physical Society.