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Based on $334{\mathrm{pb}}^{-1}$ of photoproduction data collected with the GlueX detector at Jefferson Lab, we have measured for the first time the cross section of the exclusive reaction $\gamma +p\to \varphi \left(1020\right){\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}p$ by reconstructing the final state $K^{+}{K}^{-}{\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}p$ produced with a photon beam of energies between 8.0 and 11.6 GeV. Based on the measured differential cross section, we have performed a search for the strangeoniumlike exotic candidate $Y\left(2175\right)$ , recently renamed to $\varphi \left(2170\right)$ . This state has been reported by different $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilation experiments and it is addressed here for the first time in a photoproduction experiment. We do not find evidence for this state when using the resonance parameters quoted by the Particle Data Group and provide upper limits on the photoproduction cross section. Instead, we find a structure at a mass of $m\left(\varphi {\pi }^{+}{\pi }^{-}\right)=2.24\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ with a statistical significance of about $5\sigma$ . The parameters of this structure differ from those quoted by the Particle Data Group for the $\varphi \left(2170\right)$ and are consistent with a previous observation in $e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilation. In addition, there is evidence for a second structure at $1.82\mathrm{GeV}/c^2$ . 

The experiment at Jefferson Lab has observed $p\overline{p}$ and, for the first time, $\mathrm{\Lambda }\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}$ and $p\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}$ photoproduction from a proton target at photon energies up to 11.6 GeV. The angular distributions are forward peaked for all produced pairs, consistent with Regge-like $t$ -channel exchange. Asymmetric wide-angle antibaryon distributions show the presence of additional processes. In a phenomenological model, we find consistency with a double- $t$ -channel exchange process where antibaryons are created only at the middle vertex. The model matches all observed distributions with a small number of free parameters. In the hyperon channels, we observe a clear distinction between photoproduction of the $\mathrm{\Lambda }\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}$ and $p\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}$ systems but general similarity to the $p\overline{p}$ system. We report both total cross sections and cross sections differential with respect to momentum transfer and the invariant masses of the created particle pairs. No narrow resonant structures were found in these reaction channels. The suppression of $s\overline{s}$ quark pairs relative to $d\overline{d}$ quark pairs is similar to what has been seen in other reactions. 

American Physics Society 

Abstract A new search for two-neutrino double-beta (2νββ) decay of¹³⁶Xe to theexcited state of¹³⁶Ba is performed with the full EXO-200 dataset. A deep learning-based convolutional neural network is used to discriminate signal from background events. Signal detection efficiency is increased relative to previous searches by EXO-200 by more than a factor of two. With the addition of the Phase II dataset taken with an upgraded detector, the median 90% confidence level half-life sensitivity of 2νββdecay to thestate of¹³⁶Ba isyr using a total¹³⁶Xe exposure of 234.1 kg yr. No statistically significant evidence for 2νββdecay to thestate is observed, leading to a lower limit ofyr at 90% confidence level, improved by 70% relative to the current world's best constraint. 

Abstract Generative Adversarial Networks trained on samples of simulated or actual events have been proposed as a way of generating large simulated datasets at a reduced computational cost. In this work, a novel approach to perform the simulation of photodetector signals from the time projection chamber of the EXO-200 experiment is demonstrated. The method is based on a Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network — a deep learning technique allowing for implicit non-parametric estimation of the population distribution for a given set of objects. Our network is trained on real calibration data using raw scintillation waveforms as input. We find that it is able to produce high-quality simulated waveforms an order of magnitude faster than the traditional simulation approach and, importantly, generalize from the training sample and discern salient high-level features of the data. In particular, the network correctly deduces position dependency of scintillation light response in the detector and correctly recognizes dead photodetector channels. The network output is then integrated into the EXO-200 analysis framework to show that the standard EXO-200 reconstruction routine processes the simulated waveforms to produce energy distributions comparable to that of real waveforms. Finally, the remaining discrepancies and potential ways to improve the approach further are highlighted. 

The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab studies photoproduction of mesons using linearly polarized 8.5GeV photons impinging on a hydrogen target which is contained within a detector with near-complete coverage for charged and neutral particles. We present measurements of spin-density matrix elements for the photoproduction of the vector meson 𝜌(770). The statistical precision achieved exceeds that of previous experiments for polarized photoproduction in this energy range by orders of magnitude. We confirm a high degree of 𝑠-channel helicity conservation at small squared four-momentum transfer 𝑡 and are able to extract the 𝑡 dependence of natural- and unnatural-parity exchange contributions to the production process in detail. We confirm the dominance of natural-parity exchange over the full 𝑡 range. We also find that helicity amplitudes in which the helicity of the incident photon and the photoproduced 𝜌⁡(770) differ by two units are negligible for −𝑡<0.5GeV2/𝑐2. 

The explicit breaking of the axial symmetry by quantum fluctuations gives rise to the so-called axial anomaly. This phenomenon is solely responsible for the decay of the neutral pion π 0 into two photons (γγ), leading to its unusually short lifetime. We precisely measured the decay width Γ of the π 0 →   γ γ process. The differential cross sections for π 0 photoproduction at forward angles were measured on two targets, carbon-12 and silicon-28, yielding Γ ( π 0 →   γ γ ) = 7.798 ± 0.056 ( stat . ) ± 0.109 ( syst . )  eV , where stat. denotes the statistical uncertainty and syst. the systematic uncertainty. We combined the results of this and an earlier experiment to generate a weighted average of Γ ( π 0 →   γ γ ) = 7.802 ± 0.052 ( stat . ) ± 0.105 ( syst . )  eV . Our final result has a total uncertainty of 1.50% and confirms the prediction based on the chiral anomaly in quantum chromodynamics.