A novel whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) system based on plastic scintillators is developed by the J-PET Collaboration. It consists of plastic scintillator strips arranged axially in the ...form of a cylinder, allowing the cost-effective construction of the total-body PET system. In order to determine the properties of the scanner prototype and optimize its geometry, advanced computer simulations were performed using the GATE (Geant4 application for tomographic emission) software. The spatial resolution, sensitivity, scatter fraction and noise equivalent count rate were estimated according to the National Electrical Manufacturers Association norm, as a function of the length of the tomograph, the number of detection layers, the diameter of the tomographic chamber and for various types of applied readout. For the single-layer geometry with a diameter of 85 cm, a strip length of 100 cm, a cross-section of 4 mm × 20 mm and silicon photomultipliers with an additional layer of wavelength shifter as the readout, the spatial resolution (full width at half maximum) in the centre of the scanner is equal to 3 mm (radial, tangential) and 6 mm (axial). For the analogous double-layer geometry with the same readout, diameter and scintillator length, with a strip cross-section of 7 mm × 20 mm, a noise equivalent count rate peak of 300 kcps was reached at 40 kBq cc−1 activity concentration, the scatter fraction is estimated to be about 35% and the sensitivity at the centre amounts to 14.9 cps kBq−1. Sensitivity profiles were also determined.
The J-PET tomograph is constructed from plastic scintillator strips arranged axially in concentric cylindrical layers. It enables investigations of positronium decays by measurement of the time, ...position, polarization and energy deposited by photons in the scintillators, in contrast to studies conducted so far with crystal and semiconductor based detection systems where the key selection of events is based on the measurement of the photons’ energies. In this article we show that the J-PET tomograph system is capable of exclusive measurements of the decays of ortho-positronium atoms. We present the first positronium production results, its lifetime distribution measurements and discuss estimation of the influence of various background sources. The tomograph’s performance demonstrated here makes it suitable for precision studies of positronium decays including entanglement of the final state photons, positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy plus molecular imaging diagnostics.
Based on a sample of 300 million KS mesons produced in ϕ→KLKS decays recorded by the KLOE experiment at the DAΦNE e+e− collider we have measured the branching fraction for the decay KS→πμν. The KS ...mesons are identified by the interaction of KL mesons in the detector. The KS→πμν decays are selected by a boosted decision tree built with kinematic variables and by a time-of-flight measurement. Signal efficiencies are evaluated with data control samples of KL→πμν decays. A fit to the reconstructed muon mass distribution finds 7223±180 signal events. Normalising to the KS→π+π− decay events the result for the branching fraction is B(KS→πμν)=(4.56±0.11stat±0.17syst)×10−4. It is the first measurement of this decay mode and the result allows an independent determination of |Vus| and a test of the lepton-flavour universality.
Taking into account the anisotropy of phase space in multiparticle production, a self-affine analysis of factorial moments was carried out on the NA22 data for
π
+p and K
+p collisions at 250 GeV/
c. ...Within the transverse plane, the Hurst exponents measuring the anisotropy are consitent with unit value (i.e. no anisotropy). They are, however, only half that value when the longitudinal direction is compared to the transverse ones. Fractality, indeed, turns out to be self-affine rather than self-similar in multiparticle production. In three-dimensional phase space, power-law scaling is observed to be better realized in self-affine than in self-similar analysis.
Production of exclusive dijets in diffractive deep inelastic
e
±
p
scattering has been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 372 pb
-
1
. The measurement was ...performed for
γ
∗
–
p
centre-of-mass energies in the range
90
<
W
<
250
GeV
and for photon virtualities
Q
2
>
25
GeV
2
. Energy flows around the jet axis are presented. The cross section is presented as a function of
β
and
ϕ
, where
β
=
x
/
x
I
P
,
x
is the Bjorken variable and
x
I
P
is the proton fractional longitudinal momentum loss. The angle
ϕ
is defined by the
γ
∗
–dijet plane and the
γ
∗
–
e
±
plane in the rest frame of the diffractive final state. The
ϕ
cross section is measured in bins of
β
. The results are compared to predictions from models based on different assumptions about the nature of the diffractive exchange.
A
bstract
Isolated photons with high transverse energy have been studied in deep inelastic
ep
scattering with the ZEUS detector at HERA, using an integrated luminosity of 326 pb
−1
in the range of ...exchanged-photon virtuality 10-350 GeV
2
. Outgoing isolated photons with transverse energy 4 <
E
T
γ
< 15 GeV and pseudorapidity − 0.7 <
η
γ
< 0.9 were measured with accompanying jets having transverse energy and pseudorapidity 2.5 <
E
T
jet
< 35 GeV and −1
.
5
< η
jet
<
1
.
8, respectively. Differential cross sections are presented for the following variables: the fraction of the incoming photon energy and momentum that is transferred to the outgoing photon and the leading jet; the fraction of the incoming proton energy transferred to the photon and leading jet; the differences in azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity between the outgoing photon and the leading jet and between the outgoing photon and the scattered electron. Comparisons are made with theoretical predictions: a leading-logarithm Monte Carlo simulation, a next-to-leading-order QCD prediction, and a prediction using the
k
T
-factorisation approach.