Large-x d/u Ratio in W-boson Production

Recent analysis of proton and deuteron deep-inelastic scattering data have suggested that the extracted d/u quark distribution ratio at large x may be significantly larger than previously believed, if the data are corrected for nuclear binding effects in the deuteron. We examine the sensitivity to the large-x d/u ratio of lepton asymmetries from W-boson production in p-pbar and p-p collisions at large rapidity, which do not suffer from nuclear contamination.Comment: 15 pages revtex, 5 postscript figures; new data on lepton asymmetry included, references added, version to be published in Phys. Lett.

Random solids and random solidification: What can be learned by exploring systems obeying permanent random constraints?

In many interesting physical settings, such as the vulcanization of rubber, the introduction of permanent random constraints between the constituents of a homogeneous fluid can cause a phase transition to a random solid state. In this random solid state, particles are permanently but randomly localized in space, and a rigidity to shear deformations emerges. Owing to the permanence of the random constraints, this phase transition is an equilibrium transition, which confers on it a simplicity (at least relative to the conventional glass transition) in the sense that it is amenable to established techniques of equilibrium statistical mechanics. In this Paper I shall review recent developments in the theory of random solidification for systems obeying permanent random constraints, with the aim of bringing to the fore the similarities and differences between such systems and those exhibiting the conventional glass transition. I shall also report new results, obtained in collaboration with Weiqun Peng, on equilibrium correlations and susceptibilities that signal the approach of the random solidification transition, discussing the physical interpretation and values of these quantities both at the Gaussian level of approximation and, via a renormalization-group approach, beyond.Comment: Paper presented at the "Unifying Concepts in Glass Physics" workshop, International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy (September 15-18, 1999