arXiv subjects

T. Xiao

Publications and source records attributed to T. Xiao.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Threshold $J/\psi$ Photoproduction as a Probe of Nuclear Gluon Structure

The nuclear EMC effect is the observation that quark distributions in bound nucleons experience significant modification at large $x$ relative to free nucleons. Despite decades of measurements verifying the presence of this effect in quarks across a wide range of nuclei, behavior of large-$x$ gluons in nuclei remains almost completely unknown. As the nuclear physics community seeks out new observables to try to elucidate the mechanisms behind the EMC effect, it becomes striking that we remain ignorant regarding the impact of nuclear effects on gluonic behavior. Recent photonuclear data using the Hall D photon beam have enabled the first measurement of $J/\psi$ photoproduction from nuclei near and below the energy threshold, with the results highlighted in Physical Review Letters as an Editors' Suggestion. These data have placed the first, and currently only, constraints on the behavior of large-$x$ gluons within bound nucleons. However, compared to the quantity of data which currently informs our knowledge of the quark-sector EMC effect, these data are extremely limited, and remain unable to conclusively observe or exclude large modification of gluon distributions. A high-luminosity photonuclear experiment will enable a precision measurement of incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction at and below the threshold region. This data will provide the first stringent constraints on nuclear modification of gluon structure or other exotic effects which could impact the production of $J/\psi$ from nuclei. We request 85 PAC days at Hall D using the GlueX detector with a 12 GeV electron beam energy and a coherent photon peak energy of $8$ GeV, split into 80 days using a $^4$He target and 5 calibration days using a $^2$H target.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2024

First Measurement of Near- and Sub-Threshold $J/\psi$ Photoproduction off Nuclei

We report on the first measurement of $J/\psi$ photoproduction from nuclei in the photon energy range of $7$ to $10.8$ GeV, extending above and below the photoproduction threshold in the free proton of $\sim8.2$ GeV. The experiment used a tagged photon beam incident on deuterium, helium, and carbon, and the GlueX detector at Jefferson Lab to measure the semi-inclusive $A(\gamma,e^+e^-p)$ reaction with a dilepton invariant mass $M(e^+e^-)\sim m_{J/\psi}=3.1$ GeV. The incoherent $J/\psi$ photoproduction cross sections in the measured nuclei are extracted as a function of the incident photon energy, momentum transfer, and proton reconstructed missing light-cone momentum fraction. Comparisons with theoretical predictions assuming a dipole form factor allow extracting a gluonic radius for bound protons of $\sqrt{\langle r^2\rangle}=0.85\pm0.14$ fm. The data also suggest an excess of the measured cross section for sub-threshold production and for interactions with high missing light-cone momentum fraction protons. The measured enhancement can be explained by modified gluon structure for high-virtuality bound-protons.

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arXiv2022

Dust grain size evolution in local galaxies: a comparison between observations and simulations

The evolution of the dust grain size distribution has been studied in recent years with great detail in cosmological hydrodynamical simulations taking into account all the channels under which dust evolves in the interstellar medium. We present a systematic analysis of the observed spectral energy distribution of a large sample of galaxies in the local universe in order to derive not only the total dust masses but also the relative mass fraction between small and large dust grains (DS/DL). Simulations reproduce fairly well the observations except for the high stellar mass regime where dust masses tend to be overestimated. We find that ~45% of galaxies exhibit DS/DL consistent with the expectations of simulations, while there is a sub-sample of massive galaxies presenting high DS/DL (log(DS/DL)~-0.5), and deviating from the prediction in simulations. For these galaxies, which also have high molecular gas mass fractions and metallicities, coagulation is not an important mechanism affecting the dust evolution. Including diffusion, transporting large grains from dense regions to a more diffuse medium where they can be easily shattered, would explain the observed high DS/DL values in these galaxies. With this study we reinforce the use of the small-to-large grain mass ratio to study the relative importance of the different mechanisms in the dust life cycle. Multi-phase hydrodynamical simulations with detailed feedback prescriptions and more realistic subgrid models for the dense phase could help to reproduce the evolution of the dust grain size distribution traced by observations.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2020

JINGLE -- IV. Dust, HI gas and metal scaling laws in the local Universe

Scaling laws of dust, HI gas and metal mass with stellar mass, specific star formation rate and metallicity are crucial to our understanding of the buildup of galaxies through their enrichment with metals and dust. In this work, we analyse how the dust and metal content varies with specific gas mass ($M_{\text{HI}}$/$M_{\star}$) across a diverse sample of 423 nearby galaxies. The observed trends are interpreted with a set of Dust and Element evolUtion modelS (DEUS) - incluidng stellar dust production, grain growth, and dust destruction - within a Bayesian framework to enable a rigorous search of the multi-dimensional parameter space. We find that these scaling laws for galaxies with $-1.0\lesssim \log M_{\text{HI}}$/$M_{\star}\lesssim0$ can be reproduced using closed-box models with high fractions (37-89$\%$) of supernova dust surviving a reverse shock, relatively low grain growth efficiencies ($ε$=30-40), and long dus lifetimes (1-2\,Gyr). The models have present-day dust masses with similar contributions from stellar sources (50-80\,$\%$) and grain growth (20-50\,$\%$). Over the entire lifetime of these galaxies, the contribution from stardust ($>$90\,$\%$) outweighs the fraction of dust grown in the interstellar medium ($<$10$\%$). Our results provide an alternative for the chemical evolution models that require extremely low supernova dust production efficiencies and short grain growth timescales to reproduce local scaling laws, and could help solving the conundrum on whether or not grains can grow efficiently in the interstellar medium.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2018

Measurements of $Ω^-$ Branching Fractions

Using $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken at the CESR collider with the CLEO-c detector, measurements of two main $Ω^-$ branching fractions have been made using the reaction $ψ(2S)\toΩ^-\overlineΩ^+$, hyperon pair production at $\sqrt{s}=3.69$~GeV, the peak of the $ψ(2S)$ resonance. $Ω^-$ decay channels are identified through momentum distributions of charged particles, and systematics of the $Ω^-$ branching fractions have been studied. The result gives: $\mathcal{B}(Ω^- \to Λ^0 K^-) = (68.9\pm9.5\pm4.3)\%$, and $ \mathcal{B}(Ω^- \to Ξ^0 π^-) = (19.0\pm4.0\pm1.2)\%$.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Precision Measurement of the Hadronic Contribution to the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment

We report on a precision measurement of the cross section for the reaction $e^+e^-\toπ^+π^-$ in the mass range $0.30<M_{ππ}<1.00$ GeV with the initial state radiation (ISR) method, using 817 pb$^{-1}$ of data at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 3.77 GeV and 586 pb$^{-1}$ of data at $e^+e^-$ center-of-mass energies near 4.17 GeV, collected with the CLEO-c detector at the CESR $e^+e^-$ collider at Cornell University. The integrated cross sections in the range $0.30<M_{ππ}<1.00$ GeV for the process $e^+e^-\toπ^+π^-$ are determined with a statistical uncertainty of $0.7\%$ and a systematic uncertainty of $1.5\%$. The leading-order hadronic contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment calculated using these measured $e^+e^-\toπ^+π^-$ cross sections in the range $M_{ππ}=0.30$ to 1.00 GeV is calculated to be $(500.4\pm3.6 (\mathrm{stat})\pm 7.5(\mathrm{syst}))\times10^{-10}$.

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arXiv2017

Hyperon Form Factors & Diquark Correlations

Using $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken at the CESR collider with the CLEO-c detector, measurements of hyperon pair production cross sections and elastic and transition electromagnetic form factors have been made at the charmonium resonances: $ψ(2S)$, $\sqrt{s}=3.69$ GeV, $|Q^2|=13.6$ GeV$^2$, $\mathcal{L}=48$~pb$^{-1}$; $ψ(3770)$, $\sqrt{s}=3.77$ GeV, $|Q^2|=14.2$ GeV$^2$, $\mathcal{L}=805$~pb$^{-1}$; and $ψ(4170)$, $\sqrt{s}=4.17$ GeV, $|Q^2|=17.4$ GeV$^2$, $\mathcal{L}=586$~pb$^{-1}$. %High efficiency particle identification has resulted in good statistical precision in the results. Results with good statistical precision are obtained with high efficiency particle identification. Systematics of pair production cross sections, and form factors with respect to the number of strange quarks in the hyperons are studied, and evidence is presented for effects of diquark correlations in comparative results for $Λ^0$ and $Σ^0$, both of which have the same $uds$ quark content.

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arXiv2016

Studies of the decays D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-π^+ and D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+π^-

The first measurements of the coherence factor R_{K_S^0Kπ} and the average strong--phase difference δ^{K_S^0Kπ} in D^0 \to K_S^0 K^\mpπ^\pm decays are reported. These parameters can be used to improve the determination of the unitary triangle angle γ in B^- \rightarrow $\widetilde{D}K^-$ decays, where $\widetilde{D}$ is either a D^0 or a D^0-bar meson decaying to the same final state, and also in studies of charm mixing. The measurements of the coherence factor and strong-phase difference are made using quantum-correlated, fully-reconstructed D^0D^0-bar pairs produced in e^+e^- collisions at the ψ(3770) resonance. The measured values are R_{K_S^0Kπ} = 0.70 \pm 0.08 and δ^{K_S^0Kπ} = (0.1 \pm 15.7)$^\circ$ for an unrestricted kinematic region and R_{K*K} = 0.94 \pm 0.12 and δ^{K*K} = (-16.6 \pm 18.4)$^\circ$ for a region where the combined K_S^0 π^\pm invariant mass is within 100 MeV/c^2 of the K^{*}(892)^\pm mass. These results indicate a significant level of coherence in the decay. In addition, isobar models are presented for the two decays, which show the dominance of the K^*(892)^\pm resonance. The branching ratio {B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^+π^-)/{B}(D^0 \rightarrow K_S^0K^-π^+) is determined to be 0.592 \pm 0.044 (stat.) \pm 0.018 (syst.), which is more precise than previous measurements.

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arXiv2016

Model-independent determination of the strong-phase difference between D^0 and D^0-bar-> K^0_S,L h^+ h^- (h=pi,K) and its impact on the measurement of the CKM angle gamma/phi_3

We report the first determination of the relative strong-phase difference between D^0 -> K^0_S,L K^+ K^- and D^0-bar -> K^0_S,L K^+ K^-. In addition, we present updated measurements of the relative strong-phase difference between D^0 -> K^0_S,L pi^+ pi^- and D^0-bar -> K^0_S,L pi^+ pi^-. Both measurements exploit the quantum coherence between a pair of D^0 and D^0-bar mesons produced from psi(3770) decays. The strong-phase differences measured are important for determining the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa angle gamma/phi_3 in B^- -> K^- D^0-tilde decays, where D^0-tilde is a D^0 or D^0-bar meson decaying to K^0_S h^+ h^- (h=pi,K), in a manner independent of the model assumed to describe the D^0 -> K^0_S h^+ h^- decay. Using our results, the uncertainty in gamma/phi_3 due to the error on the strong-phase difference is expected to be between 1.7 and 3.9 degrees for an analysis using B^- K^- D^0-tilde D^0-tilde -> K^0_S pi^+ pi^- decays, and between 3.2 and 3.9 degrees for an analysis based on B^- -> K^- D^0-tilde, D^0-tilde -> K^0_S K^+ K^- decays. A measurement is also presented of the CP-odd fraction, F_-, of the decay D^0 -> K^0_S K^+ K^- in the region of the phi -> K^+ K^- resonance. We find that in a region within 0.01 GeV^2/c^4 of the nominal phi mass squared F_- > 0.91 at the 90% confidence level.

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arXiv2015

P-MaNGA: Emission Lines Properties - Gas Ionisation and Chemical Abundances from Prototype Observations

MaNGA (Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory) is a SDSS-IV survey that will obtain spatially resolved spectroscopy from 3600 Å to 10300 Å for a representative sample of over 10000 nearby galaxies. In this paper we present the analysis of nebular emission line properties in 14 galaxies obtained with P-MaNGA, a prototype of the MaNGA instrument. Using spatially resolved diagnostic diagrams we find extended star formation in galaxies that are centrally dominated by Seyfert/LINER-like emission, which illustrates that galaxy characterisations based on single fibre spectra are necessarily incomplete. We observe extended LINER-like emission (up to $\rm 1 R_{e}$) in three galaxies. We make use of the $\rm EW(H α)$ to argue that the observed emission is consistent with ionisation from hot evolved stars. We derive stellar population indices and demonstrate a clear correlation between $\rm D_n(4000)$ and $\rm EW(H δ_A)$ and the position in the ionisation diagnostic diagram: resolved galactic regions which are ionised by a Seyfert/LINER-like radiation field are also devoid of recent star formation and host older and/or more metal rich stellar populations. We also detect extraplanar LINER-like emission in two highly inclined galaxies, and identify it with diffuse ionised gas. We investigate spatially resolved metallicities and find a positive correlation between metallicity and star formation rate (SFR) surface density. We study the relation between N/O vs O/H on resolved scales. We find that, at given N/O, regions within individual galaxies are spread towards lower metallicities, deviating from the sequence defined by galactic central regions as traced by Sloan $3''$ fibre spectra. We suggest that the observed dispersion can be a tracer for gas flows in galaxies: infalls of pristine gas and/or the effect of a galactic fountain.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2015

A Comprehensive Study of the Radiative Decays of $J/ψ$ and $ψ(2S)$ to Pseudoscalar Meson Pairs, and Search for Glueballs

Using 53 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken at $\sqrt{s}=3.686$ GeV, a comprehensive study has been made of the radiative decays of samples of 5.1 million $J/ψ$ and 24.5 million $ψ(2S)$ into pairs of pseudoscalar mesons, $π^+π^-$, $π^0π^0$, $K^+K^-$, $K_S^0K_S^0$, and $ηη$. Product branching fractions for the radiative decays of $J/ψ$ and $ψ(2S)$ to scalar resonances $f_0(1370,1500,1710,2100, \text{and} 2200)$, and tensor resonances $f_2(1270,1525, \text{and} 2230)$ have been determined, and are discussed in relation to predicted glueballs. For $ψ(2S)$ radiative decays the search for glueballs has been extended to masses between 2.5 GeV and 3.3 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2015

Precision Measurement of the Mass of the $D^{0}$ Meson and the Binding Energy of the $X(3872)$ Meson as a $D^0\overline{D^{0}}$ Molecule

A precision measurement of the mass difference between the $D^0$ and $D^{*0}$ mesons has been made using 316~pb$^{-1}$ of $e^{+}e^{-}$ annihilation data taken at $\sqrt{s}=4170$~MeV using the CLEO-c detector. We obtain $ΔM \equiv M(D^{*0})-M(D^0) =142.007\pm0.015$(stat)~$\pm$~0.014(syst)~MeV, as the average for the two decays, $D^0\to K^-π^+$ and $D^0\to K^-π^+π^-π^+$. The new measurement of $ΔM$ leads to $M(D^{*0})=2006.850\pm0.049$~MeV, and the currently most precise measurement of the binding energy of the ``exotic'' meson X(3872) if interpreted as a $D^0D^{*0}$ hadronic molecule, $E_{b}(\text{X}(3872))\equiv M(D^0D^{*0})-M(\text{X}(3872))=3\pm192$ keV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2014

First Measurements of Timelike Form Factors of the Hyperons, Lambda0, Sigma0, Sigma+, Xi0, Xi-, and Omega-, and Evidence of Diquark Correlations

Using 805 pb^-1 of e+e- annihilation data taken with the CLEO-c detector at psi(3770), sqrt{s}=3770 MeV, we report the first measurements of the electromagnetic form factors of the Lambda0, Sigma0, Sigma+, Xi0, Xi-, and Omega- hyperons for the large timelike momentum transfer of |Q^2|=14.2 GeV^2. The form factors for the different hyperons are found to vary by nearly a factor two. It is found that |G_M(Lambda0)|=1.66(24) x |G_M(Sigma0)|. The Lambda0 and Sigma0 hyperons have the same uds quark content, but differ in their isospin, and therefore the spin of the $ud$ quark pair. It is suggested that the spatial correlation implied by the singlet spin--isospin configuration in the Lambda0 is an example of strong diquark correlations in the Lambda0, as anticipated by Jaffe and Wilczek. Improved measurements of the branching fractions of psi(2S) -> p pbar and hyperon--antihyperon pairs are also reported.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2014

Updated measurements of absolute $D^+$ and $D^0$ hadronic branching fractions and $σ(e^+e^-\to D\overline{D})$ at $E_\mathrm{cm} = 3774$ MeV

Utilizing the full CLEO-c data sample of 818 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ data taken at the $ψ(3770)$ resonance, we update our measurements of absolute hadronic branching fractions of charged and neutral $D$ mesons. We previously reportedresults from subsets of these data. Using a double tag technique we obtain branching fractions for three $D^0$ and six $D^+$ modes, including the reference branching fractions $\mathcal{B} (D^0\to K^-π^+)=(3.934 \pm 0.021 \pm 0.061)\%$ and $\mathcal{B} (D^+ \to K^- π^+π^+)=(9.224 \pm 0.059 \pm 0.157)\%$. The uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. In these measurements we include the effects of final-state radiation by allowing for additional unobserved photons in the final state, and the systematic errors include our estimates of the uncertainties of these effects. Furthermore, using an independent measurement of the luminosity, we obtain the cross sections $σ(e^+e^-\to D^0\overline{D}{}^0)=(3.607\pm 0.017 \pm 0.056) \ \mathrm{nb}$ and $σ(e^+e^-\to D^+D^-)=(2.882\pm 0.018 \pm 0.042) \ \mathrm{nb}$ at a center of mass energy, $E_\mathrm{cm} = 3774 \pm 1$ MeV.

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arXiv2014

A single radio-emitting nucleus in the dual AGN candidate NGC 5515

The Seyfert galaxy NGC 5515 has double-peaked narrow-line emission in its optical spectrum, and it has been suggested that this could indicate that it has two active nuclei. We observed the source with high resolution Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) at two radio frequencies, reduced archival Very Large Array data, and re-analysed its optical spectrum. We detected a single, compact radio source at the position of NGC 5515, with no additional radio emission in its vicinity. The optical spectrum of the source shows that the blue and red components of the double-peaked lines have very similar characteristics. While we cannot rule out unambiguously that NGC 5515 harbours a dual AGN, the assumption of a single AGN provides a more plausible explanation for the radio observations and the optical spectrum.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2014

First Measurement of the Electromagnetic Form Factor of the Neutral Kaon at a Large Momentum Transfer and the Effect of $SU(3)$ Breaking

At large momentum transfers the photon interacts with the charges and spins of the constituent partons in a hadron. It is expected that the neutral kaon can acquire finite electromagnetic form factors because its wave function is affected by the order of magnitude difference between the mass of the strange quark and that of the down quark, or flavor $SU(3)$ breaking. We report on the first measurement of the form factor of neutral kaons at the large timelike momentum transfer of $|Q^2|=17.4$ GeV$^2$ by measuring the cross section for $e^+e^-\to K_SK_L$ at $\sqrt{s}=4.17$ GeV using CLEO-c data with an integrated luminosity of 586 pb$^{-1}$. We obtain $F_{K_SK_L}(17.4~\textrm{GeV}^2)=5.3\times10^{-3}$, with a 90% C.L. interval of $(2.9-8.2)\times10^{-3}$. This is nearly an order of magnitude smaller than $F_{K^+K^-}(17.4~\textrm{GeV}^2)=(44\pm1)\times10^{-3}$, and indicates that the effect of $SU(3)$ breaking is small. In turn, this makes it unlikely that the recently observed strong violation of the pQCD prediction, $F_{π^+π^-}(|Q^2|)/F_{K^+K^-}(|Q^2|)=f_π^2/f_K^2$, which is based on the assumption of similar wave functions for the pions and kaons, can be attributed to $SU(3)$ breaking alone.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2014

High precision measurement of the masses of the $D^0$ and $K_S$ mesons

Using 580 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken with the CLEO--c detector at $ψ(3770)$, the decay $D^0(\overline{D}^0)\to K^\pmπ^\mp π^+π^-$ has been studied to make the highest precision measurement of $D^0$ mass, $M(D^0)=1864.845\pm0.025\pm0.022\pm0.053$ MeV, where the first error is statistical, the second error is systematic, and the third error is due to uncertainty in kaon masses. As an intermediate step of the present investigation the mass of the $K_S$ meson has been measured to be $M(K_S)=497.607\pm0.007\pm0.015$ MeV. Both $M(D^0)$ and $M(K_S)$ are the most precise single measurements of the masses of these mesons.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2013

Observation of the Charged Hadron $Z_c^{\pm}(3900)$ and Evidence for the Neutral $Z_c^0(3900)$ in $e^+e^-\to ππJ/ψ$ at $\sqrt{s}=4170$ MeV

Using 586 pb$^{-1}$ of $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken with the CLEO-c detector at $\sqrt{s}=4170$ MeV, the peak of the charmonium resonance $ψ(4160)$, we analyze the decay $ψ(4160)\to π^+π^- J/ψ$, and report observation of the charged state $Z_c^\pm(3900)$ decaying into $π^\pm J/ψ$ at a significance level of $>5 σ$. We obtain $M(Z_c^\pm)=3886\pm4(\text{stat})\pm 2(\text{syst})$ MeV and $Γ(Z_c^\pm)=37\pm4(\text{stat})\pm 8(\text{syst})$ MeV, which are in good agreement with the results for this resonance obtained by the BES III and Belle Collaborations in the decay of the resonance Y(4260). We also present first evidence for the production of the neutral member of this isospin triplet, $Z_c^0(3900)$ decaying into $π^0J/ψ$ at a $3.5σ$ significance level.

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