Three Pol X family members have been linked to nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ) in mammals. Template-independent TdT promotes diversity during NHEJ-dependent repair of V(D)J recombination ...intermediates, but the roles of the template-dependent polymerases μ and λ in NHEJ remain unclear. We show here that pol μ and pol λ are similarly recruited by NHEJ factors to fill gaps when ends have partially complementary overhangs, suggesting equivalent roles promoting accuracy in NHEJ. However, only pol μ promotes accuracy during immunoglobulin kappa recombination. This distinctive in vivo role correlates with the TdT-like ability of pol μ, but not pol λ, to act when primer termini lack complementary bases in the template strand. However, unlike TdT, synthesis by pol μ in this context is primarily instructed by a template from another DNA molecule. This apparent gradient of template dependence is largely attributable to a small structural element that is present but different in all three polymerases.
The coherent photoproduction of
J
/
ψ
and
ψ
′
mesons was measured in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy
s
NN
=
5.02
TeV with the ALICE detector. Charmonia are detected in ...the central rapidity region for events where the hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. The
J
/
ψ
is reconstructed using the dilepton (
l
+
l
-
) and proton–antiproton decay channels, while for the
ψ
′
the dilepton and the
l
+
l
-
π
+
π
-
decay channels are studied. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 233
μ
b
-
1
. The results are compared with theoretical models for coherent
J
/
ψ
and
ψ
′
photoproduction. The coherent cross section is found to be in a good agreement with models incorporating moderate nuclear gluon shadowing of about 0.64 at a Bjorken-
x
of around
6
×
10
-
4
, such as the EPS09 parametrization, however none of the models is able to fully describe the rapidity dependence of the coherent
J
/
ψ
cross section including ALICE measurements at forward rapidity. The ratio of
ψ
′
to
J
/
ψ
coherent photoproduction cross sections was also measured and found to be consistent with the one for photoproduction off protons.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A
bstract
The inclusive J/
ψ
elliptic (
v
2
) and triangular (
v
3
) flow coefficients measured at forward rapidity (2
.
5
< y <
4) and the
v
2
measured at midrapidity (|
y
|
<
0
.
9) in Pb-Pb ...collisions at
s
NN
= 5
.
02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC are reported. The entire Pb-Pb data sample collected during Run 2 is employed, amounting to an integrated luminosity of 750
μ
b
−
1
at forward rapidity and 93
μ
b
−
1
at midrapidity. The results are obtained using the scalar product method and are reported as a function of transverse momentum
p
T
and collision centrality. At midrapidity, the J/
ψ v
2
is in agreement with the forward rapidity measurement. The centrality averaged results indicate a positive J/
ψ v
3
with a significance of more than 5
σ
at forward rapidity in the
p
T
range 2
< p
T
<
5 GeV/
c
. The forward rapidity
v
2
,
v
3
, and
v
3
/v
2
results at low and intermediate
p
T
(
p
T
≲ 8 GeV/
c
) exhibit a mass hierarchy when compared to pions and D mesons, while converging into a species-independent curve at higher
p
T
. At low and intermediate
p
T
, the results could be interpreted in terms of a later thermalization of charm quarks compared to light quarks, while at high
p
T
, path-length dependent effects seem to dominate. The J/
ψ v
2
measurements are further compared to a microscopic transport model calculation. Using a simplified extension of the quark scaling approach involving both light and charm quark flow components, it is shown that the D-meson
v
n
measurements can be described based on those for charged pions and J/
ψ
flow.
A
bstract
The
p
T
-differential production cross sections of prompt and non-prompt (produced in beauty-hadron decays) D mesons were measured by the ALICE experiment at midrapidity (
|
y
|
<
0
.
5) in ...proton-proton collisions at
s
= 5
.
02 TeV. The data sample used in the analysis corresponds to an integrated luminosity of (19
.
3
±
0
.
4) nb
−
1
. D mesons were reconstructed from their decays D
0
→
K
−
π
+
, D
+
→
K
−
π
+
π
+
, and
D
s
+
→
ϕ
π
+
→
K
−
K
+
π
+
and their charge conjugates. Compared to previous measurements in the same rapidity region, the cross sections of prompt D
+
and
D
s
+
mesons have an extended
p
T
coverage and total uncertainties reduced by a factor ranging from 1.05 to 1.6, depending on
p
T
, allowing for a more precise determination of their
p
T
-integrated cross sections. The results are well described by perturbative QCD calculations. The fragmentation fraction of heavy quarks to strange mesons divided by the one to non-strange mesons,
f
s
/
(
f
u
+
f
d
), is compatible for charm and beauty quarks and with previous measurements at different centre-of-mass energies and collision systems. The
b
b
¯
production cross section per rapidity unit at midrapidity, estimated from non-prompt D-meson measurements, is
d
σ
b
b
¯
/
d
y
y
<
0.5
=
34.5
±
2.4
stat
−
2.9
+
4.7
tot
.
syst
μb. It is compatible with previous measurements at the same centre-of-mass energy and with the cross section pre- dicted by perturbative QCD calculations.
The first measurement of the production of pions, kaons, (anti-)protons and
ϕ
mesons at midrapidity in Xe–Xe collisions at
s
NN
=
5.44
TeV
is presented. Transverse momentum (
p
T
) spectra and
p
T
...-integrated yields are extracted in several centrality intervals bridging from p–Pb to mid-central Pb–Pb collisions in terms of final-state multiplicity. The study of Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions allows systems at similar charged-particle multiplicities but with different initial geometrical eccentricities to be investigated. A detailed comparison of the spectral shapes in the two systems reveals an opposite behaviour for radial and elliptic flow. In particular, this study shows that the radial flow does not depend on the colliding system when compared at similar charged-particle multiplicity. In terms of hadron chemistry, the previously observed smooth evolution of particle ratios with multiplicity from small to large collision systems is also found to hold in Xe–Xe. In addition, our results confirm that two remarkable features of particle production at LHC energies are also valid in the collision of medium-sized nuclei: the lower proton-to-pion ratio with respect to the thermal model expectations and the increase of the
ϕ
-to-pion ratio with increasing final-state multiplicity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A study of the charge conjugation and parity (CP) properties of the interaction between the Higgs boson and top quarks is presented. Higgs bosons are identified via the diphoton decay channel (H → ...γγ), and their production in association with a top quark pair (tt H) or single top quark (tH) is studied. The analysis uses 139 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded at a center-of-mass energy of √ s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Assuming a CP-even coupling, the tt H process is observed with a significance of 5.2 standard deviations. The measured cross section times H → γ γ branching ratio is 1.64+0.38−0.36 (stat)+0.17−0.14 (sys) fb, and the measured rate for tt H is 1.43+0.33−0.31 (stat)+0.21−0.15 (sys) times the Standard Model expectation. The t H production process is not observed and an upper limit on its rate of 12 times the Standard Model expectation is set. A C P -mixing angle greater (less) than 43 (−43) ° is excluded at 95% confidence level.
A
bstract
Understanding the production mechanism of light (anti)nuclei is one of the key challenges of nuclear physics and has important consequences for astrophysics, since it provides an input for ...indirect dark-matter searches in space. In this paper, the latest results about the production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions at
s
= 13 TeV are presented, focusing on the comparison with the predictions of coalescence and thermal models. For the first time, the coalescence parameters
B
2
for deuterons and
B
3
for helions are compared with parameter-free theoretical predictions that are directly constrained by the femtoscopic measurement of the source radius in the same event class. A fair description of the data with a Gaussian wave function is observed for both deuteron and helion, supporting the coalescence mechanism for the production of light (anti)nuclei in pp collisions. This method paves the way for future investigations of the internal structure of more complex nuclear clusters, including the hypertriton.
A
bstract
The transverse momentum (
p
T
) differential cross section of the charm-strange baryon
Ξ
c
0
is measured at midrapidity (|
y
|
<
0.5) via its semileptonic decay into e
+
Ξ
−
ν
e
in pp ...collisions at
s
= 5
.
02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The ratio of the
p
T
-differential
Ξ
c
0
-baryon and D
0
-meson production cross sections is also reported. The measurements are compared with simulations with different tunes of the PYTHIA 8 event generator, with predictions from a statistical hadronisation model (SHM) with a largely augmented set of charm-baryon states beyond the current lists of the Particle Data Group, and with models including hadronisation via quark coalescence. The
p
T
-integrated cross section of prompt
Ξ
c
0
-baryon production at midrapidity is also reported, which is used to calculate the baryon-to-meson ratio
Ξ
c
0
/
D
0
= 0
.
20 ± 0
.
04
stat
.
−
0.07
+
0.08
(syst
.
). These results provide an additional indication of a modification of the charm fragmentation from e
+
e
−
and e
−
p collisions to pp collisions.
The elliptic flow of electrons from beauty hadron decays at midrapidity (|y| < 0.8) is measured in Pb-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The azimuthal distribution ...of the particles produced in the collisions can be parametrized with a Fourier expansion, in which the second harmonic coefficient represents the elliptic flow, v2. The v2 coefficient of electrons from beauty hadron decays is measured for the first time in the transverse momentum (pT) range 1.3–6 GeV /c in the centrality class 30%–50%. The measurement of electrons from beauty-hadron decays exploits their larger mean proper decay length c τ ≈ 500 μm compared to that of charm hadrons and most of the other background sources. The v2 of electrons from beauty hadron decays at midrapidity is found to be positive with a significance of 3.75 σ. The results provide insights into the degree of thermalization of beauty quarks in the medium. A model assuming full thermalization of beauty quarks is strongly disfavored by the measurement at high pT, but is in agreement with the results at low pT. Transport models including substantial interactions of beauty quarks with an expanding strongly interacting medium describe the measurement within uncertainties.