[en] Measuring ε'/ε in the kaon complex with the KLOE detector at DAΦNE, the Frascati φ-factory, poses non-trivial problems to the tracking system. The solution adopted by the KLOE collaboration is a single cell drift chamber, non-conventional for both its huge dimensions and for the gas mixture. He-based gas mixtures are characterized by a slow, non saturated drift velocity and by a low electron yield. The R and D activity reported here shows however that binary He mixtures possess the necessary characteristics in terms of stability of operation, cell efficiency, spatial resolution. (orig.)

[en] We have measured the charged-particle multiplicities of events containing a large-transverse-momentum (p/sub perpendicular/) photon produced near center-of-mass polar angles (theta) of 90 degree, 17.5degree, and 8degree in proton-proton collisions. The data were obtained at the CERN Intersecting Storage Rings at center-of-mass energies of 23, 31, 45, 53, and 62 GeV and for the transverse-momentum range 0 < or = p/sub perpendicular/ < or = 4.5 GeV/c. When the photons are detected near theta = 90degree, the associated multiplicity in the hemisphere away from the observed photon is found to increase with increasing photon transverse momentum. In the hemisphere containing the photon, the associated multiplicity decreases at the lowest energy and is approximately constant at the highest energies. The data at theta = 17.5 degree and 8degree are similar, with the exception that the particle multiplicities near the detected photon are found to decrease with increasing photon p/sub perpendicular/ at all energies. No strong back-to-back structure is observed in the data; however, as the photon emission angle is changed, some shift of the multiplicity distributions in the direction opposite the photon is observed. The data at all three polar angles show a broad peak in the azimuthal angular distributions at phi = 180degree (opposite the detected photon). Finally, the data are compared to a simplified picture for particle production in high-p/sub perpendicular/ events, and to the various classes of high-p/sub perpendicular/ models that have been proposed

[en] We review the experimental status of the angles of the Unitarity Triangle of the CKM matrix, as measured by the BABAR and Belle experiments

[en] The experimental findings reported in our original paper de Sangro et al. (Eur. Phys. J. C 75:137, 2015) have been criticized in Shabad (Eur. Phys. J. C 76:508, 2016). We believe that the arguments brought in Shabad (Eur. Phys. J. C 76:508, 2016) are not correct and we show evidence for this. (orig.)

No abstract available

[en] The problem of gravity propagation has been subject of discussion for quite a long time: Newton, Laplace and, in relatively more modern times, Eddington pointed out that, if gravity propagated with finite velocity, planet motion around the sun would become unstable due to a torque originating from time lag of the gravitational interactions. Such an odd behavior can be found also in electromagnetism, when one computes the propagation of the electric fields generated by a set of uniformly moving charges. As a matter of fact the Lienard-Weichert retarded potential leads to the same formula as the one obtained assuming that the electric field propagate with infinite velocity. The Feynman explanation for this apparent paradox was based on the fact that uniform motions last indefinitely. To verify such an explanation, we performed an experiment to measure the time/space evolution of the electric field generated by an uniformly moving electron beam. The results we obtain, on a finite lifetime kinematical state, are compatible with an electric field rigidly carried by the beam itself. (orig.)

[en] In planetary systems the problem arises whether gravity attracting the planets towards the central star has an instantaneous action or propagates with finite velocity. Laplace noticed that, if gravity propagated with finite velocity, planets motion would become unstable due to a torque originating from time lag of the gravitational interactions. Given that actions describing gravitational interaction are formally the same as that describing electrostatic interactions, we have performed an experiment meant to measure the time/space evolution of the electric field generated by an uniformly moving set of electrons. The results we obtain seem compatible with an electric field rigidly carried by the beam itself. (paper)

[en] The authors have cloned and sequenced a cDNA encoding human liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase an inner mitochondrial membrane enzyme that plays a major role in the fatty acid oxidation pathway. Mixed oligonucleotide primers whose sequences were deduced from one tryptic peptide obtained from purified CPTase were used in a polymerase chain reaction, allowing the amplification of a 0.12-kilobase fragment of human genomic DNA encoding such a peptide. A 60-base-pair (bp) oligonucleotide synthesized on the basis of the sequence from this fragment was used for the screening of a cDNA library from human liver and hybridized to a cDNA insert of 2255 bp. This cDNA contains an open reading frame of 1974 bp that encodes a protein of 658 amino acid residues including 25 residues of an NH₂-terminal leader peptide. The assignment of this open reading frame to human liver CPTase is confirmed by matches to seven different amino acid sequences of tryptic peptides derived from pure human CPTase and by the 82.2% homology with the amino acid sequence of rat CPTase. The NH₂-terminal region of CPTase contains a leucine-proline motif that is shared by carnitine acetyl- and octanoyltransferases and by choline acetyltransferase. The gene encoding CPTase was assigned to human chromosome 1, region 1q12-1pter, by hybridization of CPTase cDNA with a DNA panel of 19 human-hanster somatic cell hybrids

[en] The performance of a telescope of Micro-Strip Gas Chambers (MSGC) has been studied in a beam of minimum ionizing particles. Detectors of two different pitches have been studied. The position resolutions is obtained by reading out the cathodes and interpolating based on the amplitude of the signals. The position of the hit in the chamber is found to differ systematically from the cluster centroid position. A correction method is derived from the data and applied to improve the resolution. After correction, the spatial resolution of chambers with 200 μm pitch is found to be 42 μm, and for the 400 μm pitch detectors the resolution is 42 μm. The improved interpolation for the 400 μm pitch chamber can be understood in terms of the better signal to noise observed for the 400 μm pitch detectors. The degradation in resolution as a function of angle of track incidence is also expected to be less for the larger pitch chambers

[en] A prototype drift chamber cell with good space resolution, dE/dx, and two particle separation has been constructed. A 100 MHz, 11 bit waveform digitizer readout scheme has been used for the tests. (orig.)