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Vento, V. (2018). Ions, Protons, and Photons as Signatures of Monopoles. Universe, 4(11), 117–12pp.
Abstract: Magnetic monopoles have been a subject of interest since Dirac established the relationship between the existence of monopoles and charge quantization. The Dirac quantization condition bestows the monopole with a huge magnetic charge. The aim of this study was to determine whether this huge magnetic charge allows monopoles to be detected by the scattering of charged ions and protons on matter where they might be bound. We also analyze if this charge favors monopolium (monopole-antimonopole) annihilation into many photons over two photon decays.
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MoEDAL Collaboration(Acharya, B. et al), Bernabeu, J., Garcia, C., King, M., Mitsou, V. A., Vento, V., et al. (2016). Search for magnetic monopoles with the MoEDAL prototype trapping detector in 8 TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 067–25pp.
Abstract: The MoEDAL experiment is designed to search for magnetic monopoles and other highly-ionising particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC. The largely passive MoEDAL detector, deployed at Interaction Point 8 on the LHC ring, relies on two dedicated direct detection techniques. The first technique is based on stacks of nuclear-track detectors with surface area similar to 18 m(2), sensitive to particle ionisation exceeding a high threshold. These detectors are analysed offline by optical scanning microscopes. The second technique is based on the trapping of charged particles in an array of roughly 800 kg of aluminium samples. These samples are monitored offline for the presence of trapped magnetic charge at a remote superconducting magnetometer facility. We present here the results of a search for magnetic monopoles using a 160 kg prototype MoEDAL trapping detector exposed to 8TeV proton-proton collisions at the LHC, for an integrated luminosity of 0.75 fb(-1). No magnetic charge exceeding 0.5g(D) (where g(D) is the Dirac magnetic charge) is measured in any of the exposed samples, allowing limits to be placed on monopole production in the mass range 100 GeV <= m <= 3500 GeV. Model-independent cross-section limits are presented in fiducial regions of monopole energy and direction for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 6g(D), and model-dependent cross-section limits are obtained for Drell-Yan pair production of spin-1/2 and spin-0 monopoles for 1g(D) <= vertical bar g vertical bar <= 4g(D). Under the assumption of Drell-Yan cross sections, mass limits are derived for vertical bar g vertical bar = 2g(D) and vertical bar g vertical bar = 3g(D) for the first time at the LHC, surpassing the results from previous collider experiments.
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Rinaldi, M., Scopetta, S., Traini, M., & Vento, V. (2016). Correlations in double parton distributions: perturbative and non-perturbative effects. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 063–36pp.
Abstract: The correct description of Double Parton Scattering (DPS), which represents a background in several channels for the search of new Physics at the LHC, requires the knowledge of double parton distribution functions (dPDFs). These quantities represent also a novel tool for the study of the three-dimensional nucleon structure, complementary to the possibilities offered by electromagnetic probes. In this paper we analyze dPDFs using Poincare covariant predictions obtained by using a Light-Front constituent quark model proposed in a recent paper, and QCD evolution. We study to what extent factorized expressions for dPDFs, which neglect, at least in part, two-parton correlations, can be used. We show that they fail in reproducing the calculated dPDFs, in particular in the valence region. Actually measurable processes at existing facilities occur at low longitudinal momenta of the interacting partons; to have contact with these processes we have analyzed correlations between pairs of partons of different kind, finding that, in some cases, they are strongly suppressed at low longitudinal momenta, while for other distributions they can be sizeable. For example, the effect of gluon-gluon correlations can be as large as 20 %. We have shown that these behaviors can be understood in terms of a delicate interference of non-perturbative correlations, generated by the dynamics of the model, and perturbative ones, generated by the model independent evolution procedure. Our analysis shows that at LHC kinematics two-parton correlations can be relevant in DPS, and therefore we address the possibility to study them experimentally.
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Rinaldi, M., Scopetta, S., Traini, M., & Vento, V. (2014). Double parton correlations and constituent quark models: a light front approach to the valence sector. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 028–23pp.
Abstract: An explicit evaluation of the double parton distribution functions (dPDFs), within a relativistic Light-Front approach to constituent quark models, is presented. dPDFs encode information on the correlations between two partons inside a target and represent the non-perturbative QCD ingredient for the description of double parton scattering in proton-proton collisions, a crucial issue in the search of new Physics at the LHC. Valence dPDFs are evaluated at the low scale of the model and the perturbative scale of the experiments is reached by means of QCD evolution. The present results show that the strong correlation effects present at the scale of the model are still sizable, in the valence region, at the experimental scale. At the low values of x presently studied at the LHC the correlations become less relevant, although they are still important for the spin-dependent contributions to unpolarized proton scattering.
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Vento, V. (2018). Skyrmions at high density. Phys. Part. Nuclei Lett., 15(4), 367–370.
Abstract: The phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics is conjectured to have a rich structure containing at least three forms of matter: hadronic nuclear matter, quarkyonic matter and quark gluon plasma. We describe its formulation in terms of Skyrme crystals and justify the origin of the quarkyonic phase transition in a chiral-quark model.
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Vento, V. (2017). Skyrmions at high density. Int. J. Mod. Phys. E, 26(1-2), 1740029–15pp.
Abstract: The phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics is conjectured to have a rich structure containing at least three forms of matter: hadronic nuclear matter, quarkyonic matter and quark-gluon plasma. We justify the origin of the quarkyonic phase transition in a chiral-quark model and describe its formulation in terms of Skyrme crystals.
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Mantovani-Sarti, V., Park, B. Y., & Vento, V. (2013). The Soliton-Soliton Interaction in the Chiral Dilaton Model. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 28(27), 1350136–19pp.
Abstract: We study the interaction between two B = 1 states in the Chiral Dilaton Model where baryons are described as nontopological solitons arising from the interaction of chiral mesons and quarks. By using the hedgehog solution for B = 1 states we construct, via a product ansatz, three possible B = 2 configurations to analyse the role of the relative orientation of the hedgehog quills in the dynamics of the soliton-soliton interaction and investigate the behavior of these solutions in the range of long/intermediate distance. One of the solutions is quite binding due to the dynamics of the pi and sigma fields at intermediate distance and should be used for nuclear matter studies. Since the product ansatz break down as the two solitons get close, we explore the short range distance regime with a model that describes the interaction via a six-quark bag ansatz. We calculate the interaction energy as a function of the inter-soliton distance and show that for small separations the six quarks bag, assuming a hedgehog structure, provides a stable bound state that at large separations connects with a special configuration coming from the product ansatz.
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MoEDAL Collaboration(Acharya, B. et al), Bernabeu, J., Garcia, C., King, M., Mitsou, V. A., Vento, V., et al. (2014). The physics programme of the MoEDAL experiment at the LHC. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 29(23), 1430050–91pp.
Abstract: The MoEDAL experiment at Point 8 of the LHC ring is the seventh and newest LHC experiment. It is dedicated to the search for highly-ionizing particle avatars of physics beyond the Standard Model, extending significantly the discovery horizon of the LHC. A MoEDAL discovery would have revolutionary implications for our fundamental understanding of the Microcosm. MoEDAL is an unconventional and largely passive LHC detector comprised of the largest array of Nuclear Track Detector stacks ever deployed at an accelerator, surrounding the intersection region at Point 8 on the LHC ring. Another novel feature is the use of paramagnetic trapping volumes to capture both electrically and magnetically charged highly-ionizing particles predicted in new physics scenarios. It includes an array of TimePix pixel devices for monitoring highly-ionizing particle backgrounds. The main passive elements of the MoEDAL detector do not require a trigger system, electronic readout, or online computerized data acquisition. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the MoEDAL physics reach, which is largely complementary to the programs of the large multipurpose LHC detectors ATLAS and CMS.
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Ayala, C., Gonzalez, P., & Vento, V. (2016). Heavy quark potential from QCD-related effective coupling. J. Phys. G, 43(12), 125002–12pp.
Abstract: We implement our past investigations of quark-antiquark interaction through a non-perturbative running coupling defined in terms of a gluon mass function, similar to that used in some Schwinger-Dyson approaches. This coupling leads to a quark-antiquark potential, which satisfies not only asymptotic freedom but also describes linear confinement correctly. From this potential, we calculate the bottomonium and charmonium spectra below the first open flavor meson-meson thresholds and show that for a small range of values of the free parameter determining the gluon mass function an excellent agreement with data is attained.
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Noguera, S., & Vento, V. (2010). The pion transition form factor and the pion distribution amplitude. Eur. Phys. J. A, 46(2), 197–205.
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.
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