arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T. Jones.
We have searched for Theta+(1.54) -> K0,p decays using data from the 1999 run of the HyperCP experiment at Fermilab. We see no evidence for a narrow peak in the K0,p mass distribution near 1.54 GeV/c among 106,000 K0,p candidates, and obtain an upper limit for the fraction of Theta+(1.54) to K0,p candidates of <0.3% at 90% confidence.
We discuss MAXIPOL, a bolometric balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the E-mode polarization anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) on angular scales of 10 arcmin to 2 degrees. MAXIPOL is the first CMB experiment to collect data with a polarimeter that utilizes a rotating half-wave plate and fixed wire-grid polarizer. We present the instrument design, elaborate on the polarimeter strategy and show the instrument performance during flight with some time domain data. Our primary data set was collected during a 26 hour turnaround flight that was launched from the National Scientific Ballooning Facility in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in May 2003. During this flight five regions of the sky were mapped. Data analysis is in progress.
Measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation are expected to significantly increase our understanding of the early universe. We present a design for a CMB polarimeter in which a cryogenically cooled half wave plate rotates by means of a high-temperature superconducting (HTS) bearing. The design is optimized for implementation in MAXIPOL, a balloon-borne CMB polarimeter. A prototype bearing, consisting of commercially available ring-shaped permanent magnet and an array of YBCO bulk HTS material, has been constructed. We measured the coefficient of friction as a function of several parameters including temperature between 15 and 80 K, rotation frequency between 0.3 and 3.5 Hz, levitation distance between 6 and 10 mm, and ambient pressure between 10^{-7} and 1 torr. The low rotational drag of the HTS bearing allows rotations for long periods of time with minimal input power and negligible wear and tear thus making this technology suitable for a future satellite mission.
Spin transfer observables for the strangeness-production reaction Antiproton-Proton -> Antilambda-Lambda have been measured by the PS185 collaboration using a transversely-polarized frozen-spin target with an antiproton beam momentum of 1.637 GeV/c at the Low Energy Antiproton Ring at CERN. This measurement investigates observables for which current models of the reaction near threshold make significantly differing predictions. Those models are in good agreement with existing measurements performed with unpolarized particles in the initial state. Theoretical attention has focused on the fact that these models produce conflicting predictions for the spin-transfer observables D_{nn} and K_{nn}, which are measurable only with polarized target or beam. Results presented here for D_{nn} and K_{nn} are found to be in disagreement with predictions from existing models. These results also underscore the importance of singlet-state production at backward angles, while current models predict complete or near-complete triplet-state dominance.
The PS185 experiment at LEAR/CERN has investigated strangeness production in antiproton-proton collisions with final states such as $\overlineΛ Λ$, $\overlineΣ^0 Λ+ c.c$, $\overline{Σ^+} Σ^+$, $\overline{Σ^-} Σ^-$ and $K_S K_S$. Results are presented from a study of about 32,000 {$K_S K_S X$} events obtained at several antiproton momenta in the regions of 1.45 and 1.7 GeV/c. The $\overline{p} p \to K_S K_S η$ cross sections extracted at these momenta constitute the first measurement of this reaction in flight and are broadly consistent with expectations of a phase-space extrapolation of branching ratios from annihilation at rest.