The NA60 experiment has studied low-mass muon pair production in proton–nucleus collisions with a system of Be, Cu, In, W, Pb and U targets, using a 400 GeV proton beam at the CERN SPS. The ...transverse momentum spectra of the
ρ
/
ω
and
ϕ
mesons are measured in the full
p
T
range accessible, from
p
T
=
0
up to
2
GeV/c
. The nuclear dependence of the production cross sections of the
η
,
ω
and
ϕ
mesons has been found to be consistent with the power law
σ
pA
∝
A
α
, with the
α
parameter increasing as a function of
p
T
for all the particles, and an approximate hierarchy
α
η
≈
α
ϕ
>
α
ω
. The cross section ratios
σ
η
/
σ
ω
,
σ
ρ
/
σ
ω
and
σ
ϕ
/
σ
ω
have been studied as a function of the size A of the production target, and an increase of the
η
and
ϕ
yields relative to the
ω
is observed from p–Be to p–U collisions.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass dimuon production in 158A GeV In-In collisions. An excess of pairs above the known meson decays has been reported before. We now present ...precision results on the associated transverse momentum spectra. The slope parameter Teff extracted from the spectra rises with dimuon mass up to the rho, followed by a sudden decline above. While the initial rise is consistent with the expectations for radial flow of a hadronic decay source, the decline signals a transition to an emission source with much smaller flow. This may well represent the first direct evidence for thermal radiation of partonic origin in nuclear collisions.
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CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
The zero degree calorimeters for the ALICE experiment Puddu, G.; Arnaldi, R.; Chiavassa, E. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
10/2007, Volume:
581, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDC) for the ALICE experiment will measure the energy of the spectator nucleons in heavy ion collisions at the CERN LHC, providing a direct measure of the centrality of ...the collisions. ZDC are spaghetti calorimeters, which detect the Cherenkov light produced by the shower particles in silica optical fibers embedded in a dense absorber. The main characteristics of the ZP and ZN detectors are described in this article. The calorimeters were tested at the CERN SPS using pion and electron beams with momenta ranging from 50 to
200
GeV
/
c
. Test beam results such as the calorimeter response, the energy resolution, the signal uniformity and the localizing capability are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
ALICE at the CERN LHC will investigate the physics of strongly interacting matter at extreme energy densities where the formation of the Quark Gluon Plasma is expected. Its properties can be studied ...from observations like the production of mesons with charm and beauty quarks. These signals have to be studied as a function of energy density, which is determined by the centrality of collisions. One of the physics observables that is closely related with the centrality of the collision is the number of spectator nucleons that can be measured by the Zero Degree Calorimeters (ZDC). Having a direct geometric interpretation allows to extract the impact parameter with minimal model assumptions. This paper describes the readout system of the ZDC. The ZDC readout consists of a VME system with a ZDC Readout Card, a VME Processor, Discriminators, a ZDC Trigger Card, scalers, QDCs and TDCs. The system was successfully tested during the 2009 ALICE data taking and is currently operational at the LHC.
The electromagnetic form factors of the neutron in the time-like region have been measured for the first time, from the threshold up to
q
2 ⋟ 6
GeV
2
. The neutron magnetic form factor turns out to ...be larger than the proton one; the angular distribution suggests that for the neutron, at variance with the proton case, electric and magnetic form factors could be different. Further measurements are also reported, concerning the proton form factors and the
Σ
Σ
production, together with the multihadronic cross section and the
J/
Γ branching ratio into
n
n
.
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IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The EEE Project, conceived by its leader Antonino Zichichi, aims to detect Extreme Energy Events of cosmic rays with an array of muon telescopes distributed over the Italian territory. The Project ...involves Italian High Schools in order to introduce young people to Physics, also countervailing the recent crisis of university scientific classes inscriptions. The detectors for the EEE telescopes are Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) and have been constructed by teams of High School students who went in shift at the CERN laboratories. The mechanics and the electronics were developed by groups of researchers from CERN, the Italian Centro Fermi and INFN. The first group of schools of the EEE Project has inaugurated their telescopes recently. A status report of the Project and the preliminary results are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
7.
The Neutron Zero Degree Calorimeter for the ALICE experiment Arnaldi, R.; Chiavassa, E.; Cicalò, C. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
08/2006, Volume:
564, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
In this paper, we present the performance of the Neutron Zero Degree Calorimeter (ZN) for the ALICE experiment. The ZN is a quartz-fiber spaghetti calorimeter, which will measure the energy of the ...spectator neutrons in heavy ion collisions at the CERN LHC. Its principle of operation is based on the detection of the Cherenkov light produced by the charged particles of the shower in silica optical fibers, embedded in a W-alloy absorber. The detector was tested at CERN SPS using positive hadron and positron beams with momenta ranging from 50 to
150
GeV
/
c
. The response of the calorimeter, the energy resolution, the localizing capability, the signal uniformity and the transverse profile of the detectable hadronic shower are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
The zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs) for the ALICE experiment will measure the energy of the spectator nucleons in heavy ion collisions at the CERN LHC. The dipole magnets of the LHC beam optics will ...separate the ion beams from the spectator protons; the spectator protons and neutrons will be respectively detected by the proton (ZP) and the neutron (ZN) calorimeters. Since all the spectator nucleons have the same energy, the calorimeter response is proportional to their number, providing a direct information on the centrality of the collision. ZDCs are spaghetti calorimeters, which detect the Cherenkov light produced by the shower particles in silica optical fibers embedded in a dense absorber. The technical characteristics of ZP and ZN detectors are described. The calorimeters have been tested at the CERN SPS using pion and electron beams with momenta ranging from 50 to 200 GeV/c; the ZN detector behaviour has also been studied with an indium beam of 158 GeV/c per nucleon. The beam test results are presented: the calorimeters response, the energy resolution and the localizing capability. Also the signal uniformity and a comparison between the transverse profile of the hadronic and electromagnetic shower are discussed. Moreover the differences between the ZP detector responses to protons and pions of the same energy have been investigated, exploiting the proton contamination in the positive pion beams.