Laser-plasma accelerator group

Abstract:

A combination is presented of all inclusive deep inelastic cross sections previously published by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations at HERA for neutral and charged current e±p scattering for zero beam polarisation. The data were taken at proton beam energies of 920, 820, 575 and 460 GeV and an electron beam energy of 27.5 GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 1 fb−1 and span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, Q2, and Bjorken x. The correlations of the systematic uncertainties were evaluated and taken into account for the combination. The combined cross sections were input to QCD analyses at leading order, next-to-leading order and at next-to-next-to-leading order, providing a new set of parton distribution functions, called HERAPDF2.0. In addition to the experimental uncertainties, model and parameterisation uncertainties were assessed for these parton distribution functions. Variants of HERAPDF2.0 with an alternative gluon parameterisation, HERAPDF2.0AG, and using fixed-flavour-number schemes, HERAPDF2.0FF, are presented. The analysis was extended by including HERA data on charm and jet production, resulting in the variant HERAPDF2.0Jets. The inclusion of jet-production cross sections made a simultaneous determination of these parton distributions and the strong coupling constant possible, resulting in αs(MZ)=0.1183±0.0009(exp)±0.0005(model/parameterisation)±0.0012(hadronisation)+0.0037−0.0030(scale). An extraction of xFγZ3 and results on electroweak unification and scaling violations are also presented.

Abstract:

A combination is presented of all inclusive deep inelastic cross sections previously published by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations at HERA for neutral and charged current (Formula presented.) scattering for zero beam polarisation. The data were taken at proton beam energies of 920, 820, 575 and 460 GeV and an electron beam energy of 27.5 GeV. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of about 1 fb(Formula presented.) and span six orders of magnitude in negative four-momentum-transfer squared, (Formula presented.), and Bjorken x. The correlations of the systematic uncertainties were evaluated and taken into account for the combination. The combined cross sections were input to QCD analyses at leading order, next-to-leading order and at next-to-next-to-leading order, providing a new set of parton distribution functions, called HERAPDF2.0. In addition to the experimental uncertainties, model and parameterisation uncertainties were assessed for these parton distribution functions. Variants of HERAPDF2.0 with an alternative gluon parameterisation, HERAPDF2.0AG, and using fixed-flavour-number schemes, HERAPDF2.0FF, are presented. The analysis was extended by including HERA data on charm and jet production, resulting in the variant HERAPDF2.0Jets. The inclusion of jet-production cross sections made a simultaneous determination of these parton distributions and the strong coupling constant possible, resulting in (Formula presented.). An extraction of (Formula presented.) and results on electroweak unification and scaling violations are also presented.

Abstract:

We demonstrate laser-plasma acceleration of high charge electron beams to the ∼10  MeV scale using ultrashort laser pulses with as little energy as 10 mJ. This result is made possible by an extremely dense and thin hydrogen gas jet. Total charge up to ∼0.5  nC is measured for energies >1  MeV. Acceleration is correlated to the presence of a relativistically self-focused laser filament accompanied by an intense coherent broadband light flash, associated with wave breaking, which can radiate more than ∼3% of the laser energy in a ∼1  fs bandwidth consistent with half-cycle optical emission. Our results enable truly portable applications of laser-driven acceleration, such as low dose radiography, ultrafast probing of matter, and isotope production.

Abstract:

H1 and ZEUS have published single-differential cross sections for inclusive D^∗±-meson production in deep-inelastic ep scattering at HERA from their respective final data sets. These cross sections are combined in the common visible phase-space region of photon virtuality Q²> 5 GeV², electron inelasticity 0.02 < y < 0.7 and the D^∗± meson’s transverse momentum pT(D^∗) > 1.5 GeV and pseudorapidity |η(D^∗)| < 1.5. The combination procedure takes into account all correlations, yielding significantly reduced experimental uncertainties. Double-differential cross sections d²σ/dQ²dy are combined with earlier D^∗± data, extending the kinematic range down to Q²> 1.5 GeV². Perturbative next-to-leading-order QCD predictions are compared to the results.