Abstract: Recent BaBar data on the pion transition form factor, whose Q(2)-dependence is much steeper then predicted by asymptotic Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), have caused a renewed interest in its theoretical description. We present here a formalism based on a model-independent description for low photon virtuality and a high photon virtuality description based on QCD, which match at a scale Q(0). The high photon virtuality description incorporates a flat pion distribution amplitude, phi(x) = 1, at the matching scale Q(0) and QCD evolution from Q(0) to Q > Q(0). The flat pion distribution is connected, through soft pion theorems and chiral symmetry, to the pion valence parton distribution at the same low scale Q(0). The procedure leads to a good description of the data, and by incorporating additional twist-three effects, to an excellent description of the data.

Abstract: Results on the deep sub-threshold production of the short-lived hadronic resonance K*(892)(0) are reported for collisions of Ar + KCl at 1.76 A GeV beam energy, studied with the High Acceptance Di-Electron Spectrometer (HADES) at SIS18/GSI. The K*(892)(0) production probability per central collision of P-K*0 = (4.4 +/- 1.1 +/- 0.5) x 10(-4) and the K*(892)(0)/K-0 ratio of P-K*0/P-K0 = (1.9 +/- 0.5 +/- 0.3) x 10(-2) are determined at the lowest energy so far (i.e. deep below the threshold for the corresponding production in nucleon-nucleon collisions, root s(NN)-root s(thr) = -340MeV). The K*(0)/K-0 ratio is compared with results of other experiments and with the predictions of the UrQMD transport approach and of the statistical hadronization model. The experimental K*(0) yield and the K-*0/K-0 ratio are overestimated by the transport model by factors of about five and two, respectively. In a chemically equilibrated medium the ratio corresponds to a temperature of the thermalized system being systematically lower than the value determined by the yields of the stable and long-lived hadrons produced in Ar + KCl collisions. From the present measurement, we conclude that sub-threshold K* production either cannot be considered to proceed in a system being in thermal equilibrium or these short-lived resonances appear undersaturated, for example as a result of the rescattering of the decay particles in the ambient hadronic medium.

Abstract: The AGATA collaboration has a long-standing leadership in the development of front-end electronics for high resolution ?-ray spectroscopy using large volume high purity germanium detectors. For two decades, the AGATA collaboration has been developing state-of-the-art digital electronics processing with high resolution sampling ADC, high-speed signal transfer and fast readout to a high throughput computing (HTC) farm for on-line pulse shape analysis. The collaboration is presently addressing the next challenge of equipping a 4p array with more than 6000 channels in high resolution mode, generating approximately 10 MHz of total trigger requests, coupled to a large variety of complementary instruments. A next generation of front-end electronics, presently under design, is based on industrial products (System on Module FPGA's), has higher integration and lower power consumption. In this contribution, the conceptual design of the new electronics is presented. The results of the very first tests of the pre-production electronics are presented as well as future perspectives.