Longitudinal and transverse spin asymmetries for inclusive jet production at mid-rapidity in polarized p+p collisions at sqrt{s}=200 GeV
We report STAR measurements of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL, the transverse single-spin asymmetry A_N, and the transverse double-spin asymmetries A_Sigma and A_TT for inclusive jet production at mid-rapidity in polarized p+p collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt{s} = 200 GeV. The data represent integrated luminosities of 7.6 /pb with longitudinal polarization and 1.8 /pb with transverse polarization, with 50-55% beam polarization, and were recorded in 2005 and 2006. No evidence is found for the existence of statistically significant jet A_N, A_Sigma, or A_TT at mid-rapidity. Recent model calculations indicate the A_N results may provide new limits on the gluon Sivers distribution in the proton. The asymmetry A_LL significantly improves the knowledge of gluon polarization in the nucleon.

title: Energy and system-size dependence of two- and four-particle $v_2$ measurements in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and their implications on flow fluctuations and nonflow
abstract: We present STAR measurements of azimuthal anisotropy by means of the two- and four-particle cumulants $v_2$ ($v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$) for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at center of mass energies $\sqrt{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}} = 62.4$ and 200 GeV. The difference between $v_2\{2\}^2$ and $v_2\{4\}^2$ is related to $v_{2}$ fluctuations ($\sigma_{v_2}$) and nonflow $(\delta_{2})$. We present an upper limit to $\sigma_{v_2}/v_{2}$. Following the assumption that eccentricity fluctuations $\sigma_{\epsilon}$ dominate $v_2$ fluctuations $\frac{\sigma_{v_2}}{v_2} \approx \frac{\sigma_{\epsilon}}{\epsilon}$ we deduce the nonflow implied for several models of eccentricity fluctuations that would be required for consistency with $v_2\{2\}$ and $v_2\{4\}$. We also present results on the ratio of $v_2$ to eccentricity.

title: Higher moments of net proton multiplicity distributions at RHIC.
abstract: We report the first measurements of the kurtosis (κ), skewness (S), and variance (σ2) of net-proton multiplicity (Np-Np) distributions at midrapidity for Au+Au collisions at square root of s(NN)=19.6, 62.4, and 200 GeV corresponding to baryon chemical potentials (μB) between 200 and 20 MeV. Our measurements of the products κσ2 and Sσ, which can be related to theoretical calculations sensitive to baryon number susceptibilities and long-range correlations, are constant as functions of collision centrality. We compare these products with results from lattice QCD and various models without a critical point and study the square root of s(NN) dependence of κσ2. From the measurements at the three beam energies, we find no evidence for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram for μB below 200 MeV.

title: An Experimental Exploration of the QCD Phase Diagram: The Search for the Critical Point and the Onset of De-confinement
abstract: The QCD phase diagram lies at the heart of what the RHIC Physics Program is
all about. While RHIC has been operating very successfully at or close to its
maximum energy for almost a decade, it has become clear that this collider can
also be operated at lower energies down to 5 GeV without extensive upgrades. An
exploration of the full region of beam energies available at the RHIC facility
is imperative. The STAR detector, due to its large uniform acceptance and
excellent particle identification capabilities, is uniquely positioned to carry
out this program in depth and detail. The first exploratory beam energy scan
(BES) run at RHIC took place in 2010 (Run 10), since several STAR upgrades,
most importantly a full barrel Time of Flight detector, are now completed which
add new capabilities important for the interesting physics at BES energies. In
this document we discuss current proposed measurements, with estimations of the
accuracy of the measurements given an assumed event count at each beam energy.

title: Measurements of $D^{0}$ and $D^{*}$ Production in $p$ + $p$ Collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV
abstract: We report measurements of charmed-hadron ($D^{0}$, $D^{*}$) production cross sections at mid-rapidity in $p$ + $p$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 200 GeV by the STAR experiment. Charmed hadrons were reconstructed via the hadronic decays $D^{0}\rightarrow K^{-}\pi^{+}$, $D^{*+}\rightarrow D^{0}\pi^{+}\rightarrow K^{-}\pi^{+}\pi^{+}$ and their charge conjugates, covering the $p_T$ range of 0.6$-$2.0 GeV/$c$ and 2.0$-$6.0 GeV/$c$ for $D^{0}$ and $D^{*+}$, respectively. From this analysis, the charm-pair production cross section at mid-rapidity is $d\sigma/dy|_{y=0}^{c\bar{c}}$ = 170 $\pm$ 45 (stat.) $^{+38}_{-59}$ (sys.) $\mu$b. The extracted charm-pair cross section is compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The transverse momentum differential cross section is found to be consistent with the upper bound of a Fixed-Order Next-to-Leading Logarithm calculation.

title: T-1018 UCLA Spacordion Tungsten Powder Calorimeter
abstract: The present experiments at the BNL-RHIC facility are evolving towards physics goals which require the detection of medium energy electromagnetic particles (photons, electrons, neutral pions, eta mesons, etc.), especially at forward angles. New detectors will place increasing demands on energy resolution, hadron rejection and two-photon resolution and will require large area, high performance electromagnetic calorimeters in a variety of geometries. In the immediate future, either RHIC or JLAB will propose a facility upgrade (Electron-Ion Collider, or EIC) with physics goals such as electron-heavy ion collisions (or p-A collisions) with a wide range of calorimeter requirements. An R and D program based at Brookhaven National Laboratory has awarded the group funding of approximately $110,000 to develop new types of calorimeters for EIC experiments. The UCLA group is developing a method to manufacture very flexible and cost-effective, yet high quality calorimeters based on scintillating fibers and tungsten powder. The design and features of the calorimeter can be briefly stated as follows: an arbitrarily large number of small diameter fibers (< 0.5 mm) are assembled as a matrix and held rigidly in place by a set of precision screens inside an empty container. The container is then back-filled with tungsten powder, compacted onmore » a vibrating table and infused with epoxy under vacuum. The container is then removed. The resulting sub-modules are extremely uniform and achieve roughly the density of pure Lead. The sub-modules are stacked together to achieve a final detector of the desired shape. There is no dead space between sub-modules and the fibers can be in an accordion geometry bent to prevent 'channeling' of the particles due to accidental alignment of their track with the module axis. This technology has the advantage of being modular and inexpensive to the point where the construction work may be divided among groups the size of typical university physics departments. This test run if a proof-of-principle and allows the experiment to improve the design and performance of the final detectors. The experimenters have constructed prototypes of three different designs in order to investigate the characteristics of practical devices such as uniformity, linearity, longitudinal and transverse shower shapes. The first design is an array of 4 x 4 modules intended as a prototype for a practical device to be installed within two years in the STAR experimental hall. The modules are a combination of a spaghetti calorimeter and an accordion (hence 'spacordion'). Each sub-module is 1.44 cm x 1.44 cm x 15 cm and constructed individually. The second design is a prototype of 4 sub-modules constructed in one step, using a different construction technique. The third design is a set of single sub-modules each intended to test variations of the tungsten powder/embedded fiber concept by enhancing the light output/density using liquid scintillator or heavy liquids.« less

title: Asymptotic limits and sum rules for the quark propagator
abstract: For the structure functions of the quark propagator, the asymptotic behavior is obtained for general, linear, covariant gauges, and in all directions of the complex k 2 -plane. Asymptotic freedom is assumed. Corresponding previous results for the gauge field propagator are important in the derivation. Except for coefficients, the leading asymptotic terms are determined by one-loop or by two-loop information, and are gauge independent. Various sum rules are derived.

title: Angular Reconstruction of a Lead Scintillating-Fiber Sandwiched Electromagnetic Calorimeter
abstract: The Neighbor Cell Deposited Energy Ratio (NCDER) is a new method that is proposed to reconstruct incidence position in a single layer for a 3-dimensional imaging electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL). This method was applied to reconstruct the ECAL test beam data for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02). The results show that this method can achieve an angular resolution of 7.36 +/- 0.08 degrees/root E circle plus 0.28 +/- 0.02 degrees in the determination of the photon's direction, which is much more precise than that obtained with the commonly-adopted Center of Gravity (COG) method (8.4 +/- 0.1 degrees/root E circle plus 0.8 +/- 0.3 degrees). Furthermore, since it uses only the properties of electromagnetic showers, this new method could also be used for other type of fine grain sampling calorimeters.

title: Thermodynamic Relations for the Entropy and Temperature of Multi-Horizon Black Holes
abstract: We present some entropy and temperature relations of multi-horizons, even including the “virtual” horizon. These relations are related to the product, division and sum of the entropy and temperature of multi-horizons. We obtain the additional thermodynamic relations of both static and rotating black holes in three- and four-dimensional (A)dS spacetime. Especially, a new dimensionless, charge-independence and T+S+ = T_S_-like relation is presented. This relation does not depend on the mass, electric charge, angular momentum and cosmological constant, as it is always a constant. These relations lead us to obtaining some interesting thermodynamic bounds of entropy and temperature, including the Penrose inequality, which is the first geometrical inequality of black holes. Besides, based on these new relations, one can obtain the first law of thermodynamics and the Smarr relation for all horizons of a black hole.

title: DIGITAL LONGITUDINAL BUNCH-BY-BUNCH FEEDBACK SYSTEM FOR THE HLS II
abstract: In order to suppress the longitudinal coupled bunch instabilities, a digital longitudinal bunch-by-bunch feedback system will be developed in the upgrade project of Hefei Light Source (HLS II). The longitudinal feedback system consists of a pickup BPM, a front- end/back-end signal processor unit to detect the phase errors of all electron bunches, an iGp signal processor to calculate correction signals of those bunches, two RF power amplifiers, and a longitudinal kicker to supply proper correction energy kicks to individual bunches. A new waveguide overloaded cavity longitudinal feedback kicker has been designed with broadband and high shunt impedance. In this paper, we describe an overview of the new longitudinal feedback system.

title: Higher-order-mode absorbers for energy recovery linac cryomodules at Brookhaven National Laboratory
abstract: Several future accelerator projects at Brookhaven for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are based on energy recovery linacs (ERLs) with high-charge high-current electron beams. Their stable operation mandates effective higher-order-mode (HOM) damping. The development of HOM dampers for these projects is pursued actively at this laboratory. Strong HOM damping was experimentally demonstrated both at room and at superconducting (SC) temperatures in a prototype research and development (RD this will impose additional constraints and complications. This paper presents the results of simulations and measurements of several damper configurations.