Abstract: We analyze the D (D) over bar mass distribution from a recent Belle experiment on the e(+)e(-) -> J/.D (D) over bar reaction, and show that the mass distribution divided by phase sp(c)e does not have a clear peak above the D (D) over bar threshold that justifies the experimental claim of chi(c0)(2P) state from those data. Then we use a unitary formalismwith coupled channels D+ D-, D-0 (D) over bar (0), D-s(D) over bar (s), and eta eta, with some of the interactions taken from a theoretical model, and use the data to fix other parameters. We then show that, given the poor quality of the data, we can get different fits leading to very different D (D) over bar amplitudes, some of them supporting a D (D) over bar bound state and others not. The main conclusion is that the claim for the chi(c0)(2P) state, already included in the PDG, is premature, but refined data can provide very valuable information on the D (D) over bar scattering amplitude. As side effects, we warn about the use of a Breit-Wigner amplitude parameterization close to threshold, and show that the D-s(D) over bar (s) channel plays an important role in this reaction.

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 measurement of the capture cross-section of fissile elements, of utmost importance for the design of innovative nuclear reactors and the management of nuclear waste, faces particular difficulties related to the.-ray background generated in the competing fission reactions. At the CERN neutron time-of-flight facility nTOF we have combined the Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) capture detector with a set of three U-235 loaded MicroMegas (MGAS) fission detectors for measuring simultaneously two reactions: capture and fission. The results presented here include the determination of the three detection efficiencies involved in the process: epsilon(TAC)(n, f), epsilon(TAC)(n, gamma) and epsilon(MGAS)(n, f). In the test measurement we have succeeded in measuring simultaneously with a high total efficiency the U-235 capture and fission cross-sections, disentangling accurately the two types of reactions. The work presented here proves that accurate capture cross-section measurements of fissile isotopes are feasible at nTOF.