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Morales, A. I., & Tuzon, P. (2022). Misconceptions, Knowledge, and Attitudes Towards the Phenomenon of Radioactivity. Sci. Educ., 31, 405–426.
Abstract: The teaching of the phenomenon of radioactivity is considered a key ingredient in the path towards developing critical thinking skills in many secondary science education curricula. Despite being one of the basic concepts in general physics courses, the scientific teaching literature of the last 40 years reports a great deal of misconceptions and conceptual errors related to radioactivity that seemingly appear regardless of the educational level and context. This study reports the first cross-sectional diagnostic study in Spain to secondary education students and pre-service teachers. Data were collected in the year 2019 through a questionnaire adapted from a previously validated one to explore the main misconceptions, attitudes, and knowledge status on the topic on a sample of 191 secondary school students and 29 Physics-and-Chemistry trainee teachers in the Spanish region of Valencia. Open and closed questions were used to categorize the entity itself, its properties, and the main misconceptions related to radioactivity. The responses were analysed using conventional statistical methods. The results indicate an evolution from a widespread dissenting notion on the phenomenon, which is staunchly related to danger, hazard, and destruction in the lowest educational levels, towards a more rational, relative, and multidimensional perspective in the highest ones. On the other hand, the ideas, emotions, and attitudes of the inquired individuals are in good agreement with the main misconceptions reported in the literature.
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Moon, B. et al, & Montaner-Piza, A. (2021). Nuclear structure of Te isotopes beyond neutron magic number N=82. Phys. Rev. C, 103(3), 034320–15pp.
Abstract: Newly observed decay schemes of the nuclei Sb-137 and Sb-138 are reported. The neutron-rich Sb isotopes were produced by the in-flight fragmentation of a U-238 primary beam with an energy of 345 MeV/nucleon. Several new excited states of Te-137 with tentatively assigned spin-parities of (5/2(-)), (9/2(-)), and (7/2) have been established which play an important role in the evolution of neutron levels beyond N = 82. The study of the beta decay of Sb-138 led to a considerable extension of the level scheme of Te-138 including the identification of several nonyrast states. The structure of Te-137 and Te-138 is discussed on the basis of large-scale shell-model calculations performed using two different effective interactions.
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Montesinos, V., Albaladejo, M., Nieves, J., & Tolos, L. (2023). Properties of the Tcc(3875)+ and Tcbar,cbar(3875)- and their heavy-quark spin partners in nuclear matter. Phys. Rev. C, 108(3), 035205–15pp.
Abstract: We discuss the modification of the properties of the tetraquark-like Tcc(3875)+ and Tc over bar c over bar (3875)- states in dense nuclear matter. We consider the Tcc+ and Tc over bar c over bar – in vacuum as purely isoscalar D*D and D*D S-wave bound states, respectively, dynamically generated from a heavy-quark effective interaction between the charmed mesons. We compute the D, D, D*, and D* spectral functions embedded in a nuclear medium and use them to determine the corresponding Tcc+ and Tc over bar c over bar – self-energies and spectral functions. We find important modifications of the D*D and D*D scattering amplitudes and of the pole position of these exotic states already for p0/2, with p0 the normal nuclear density. We also discuss the dependence of these results on the D*D (D*D) molecular component in the Tcc+ (Tc over bar c- over bar ) wave function. Owing to the different nature of the D(*)N and D(*)N interactions, we find characteristic changes of the in-medium properties of the Tcc(3875)+ and Tc over bar c over bar (3875)-, which become increasingly visible as the density increases. The experimental confirmation of the found distinctive density pattern will give support to the existence of molecular components in these tetraquark-like states, since in the case they were mostly colorless compact quark structures (cct over bar t over bar and c over bar c over bar tt, with t = u, d), the density behaviors of the Tcc(3875)+ and Tc over bar c over bar (3875)- nuclear medium spectral functions, though different, would not likely be the same as those found in this work for molecular scenarios. Finally, we perform similar analyses for the isoscalar JP = 1+ heavy-quark spin symmetry partners of the Tcc+ (T cc *+ ) and the T c over bar c- over bar (T*- c over bar c over bar ) by considering the D*0D*+ and D*0D*- scattering T matrices.
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Montesinos, V., Albaladejo, M., Nieves, J., & Tolos, L. (2024). Charge-conjugation asymmetry and molecular content: The Ds0*(2317)± in matter. Phys. Lett. B, 853, 138656–10pp.
Abstract: We analyze the modifications that a dense nuclear medium induces in the D-s0*(2317)(+/-) and D-s1(2460)(+/-). In the vacuum, we consider them as isoscalar D-(*K-) and (D) over bar (()*())(K) over bar S-wave bound states, which are dynamically generated from effective interactions that lead to different Weinberg compositeness scenarios. Matter effects are incorporated through the two-meson loop functions, taking into account the self energies that the D-(*()), (D) over bar (()*()), K, and (K) over bar develop when embedded in a nuclear medium. Although particle-antiparticle [D-s0,s1(()*())(2317,2460)(+) versus D-s0,s1(()*())(2317,2460)(-)] lineshapes are the same in vacuum, we find extremely different density patterns in matter. This charge-conjugation asymmetry mainly stems from the very different kaon and antikaon interaction with the nucleons of the dense medium. We show that the in-medium lineshapes found for these resonances strongly depend on their D-(*()), K/(D) over bar (()*()), K molecular content, and discuss how this novel feature can be used to better determine/constrain the inner structure of these exotic states.
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Mongillo, M., Abdullahi, A., Banto Oberhauser, B., Crivelli, P., Hostert, M., Massaro, D., et al. (2023). Constraining light thermal inelastic dark matter with NA64. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(5), 391–14pp.
Abstract: A vector portal between the Standard Model and the dark sector is a predictive and compelling framework for thermal dark matter. Through co-annihilations, models of inelastic dark matter (iDM) and inelastic Dirac dark matter (i2DM) can reproduce the observed relic density in the MeV to GeV mass range without violating cosmological limits. In these scenarios, the vector mediator behaves like a semi-visible particle, evading traditional bounds on visible or invisible resonances, and uncovering new parameter space to explain the muon (g – 2) anomaly. By means of a more inclusive signal definition at the NA64 experiment, we place new constraints on iDM and i2DM using a missing energy technique. With a recast-based analysis, we contextualize the NA64 exclusion limits in parameter space and estimate the reach of the newly collected and expected future NA64 data. Our results motivate the development of an optimized search program for semi-visible particles, in which fixed target experiments like NA64 provide a powerful probe in the sub-GeV mass range.
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Monerris-Belda, O., Cervera Marin, R., Rodriguez Jodar, M., Diaz-Caballero, E., Alcaide Guillen, C., Petit, J., et al. (2021). High Power RF Discharge Detection Technique Based on the In-Phase and Quadrature Signals. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 69(12), 5429–5438.
Abstract: High power radio frequency (RF) breakdown testing is a subject of great relevance in the space industry, due to the increasing need of higher transmission power and smaller devices. This work presents a novel RF breakdown detection system, which monitors the same parameters as the microwave nulling system but with several advantages. Where microwave nulling-a de facto standard in RF breakdown testing-is narrowband and requires continuous tuning to keep its sensitivity, the proposed technique is broadband and maintains its performance for any RF signal. On top of that, defining the detection threshold is cumbersome due to the lack of an international standardized criterion. Small responses may appear in the detection system during the test and, sometimes, it is not possible to determine if these are an actual RF breakdown or random noise. This new detection system uses a larger analysis bandwidth, thus reducing the cases in which a small response is difficult to be classified. The proposed detection method represents a major step forward in high power testing as it runs without human intervention, warning the operator or decreasing the RF power automatically much faster than any human operator.
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Molina, R., Xie, J. J., Liang, W. H., Geng, L. S., & Oset, E. (2020). Theoretical interpretation of the D-s(+) -> pi(+)pi(0)eta decay and the nature of a(0)(980). Phys. Lett. B, 803, 135279–4pp.
Abstract: In a recent paper [I], the BESIII Collaboration reported the so-called first observation of pure W-annihi- lation decays D-s(+) -> a(0)(+) (980)pi(0) and D-s(+) -> a(0)(0)(980)pi(+). The measured absolute branching fractions are, however, puzzlingly larger than those of other measured pure W-annihilation decays by at least one order of magnitude. In addition, the relative phase between the two decay modes is found to be about 0 degrees. In this letter, we show that all these can be easily understood if the a(0)(980) is a dynamically generated state from (K) over barK and pi eta interactions in coupled channels. In such a scenario, the D-s(+) decay proceeds via internal W emission instead of W-annihilation, which has a larger decay rate than W-annihilation. The proposed decay mechanism and the molecular nature of the a(0)(980) also provide a natural explanation to the measured negative interference between the two decay modes.
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Molina, R., Xiao, C. W., Liang, W. H., & Oset, E. (2024). Correlation functions for the N*(1535) and the inverse problem. Phys. Rev. D, 109(5), 054002–10pp.
Abstract: The N*(1535) can be dynamically generated in the chiral unitary approach with the coupled channels, K0E+; K+E0; K+A, and eta p. In this work, we evaluate the correlation functions for every channel and face the inverse problem. Assuming the correlation functions to correspond to real measurements, we conduct a fit to the data within a general framework in order to extract the information contained in these correlation functions. The bootstrap method is used to determine the uncertainties of the different observables, and we find that, assuming errors of the same order than in present measurements of correlation functions, one can determine the scattering length and effective range of all channels with a very good accuracy. Most remarkable is the fact that the method predicts the existence of a bound state of isospin 12 nature around the mass of the N*(1535) with an accuracy of 6 MeV. These results should encourage the actual measurement of these correlation functions (only the K+A one is measured so far), which can shed valuable light on the relationship of the N*(1535) state to these coupled channels, a subject of continuous debate.
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Molina, R., & Ruiz de Elvira, J. (2020). Light- and strange-quark mass dependence of the rho(770) meson revisited. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 017–74pp.
Abstract: Recent lattice data on pi pi -scattering phase shifts in the vector-isovector channel, pseudoscalar meson masses and decay constants for strange-quark masses smaller or equal to the physical value allow us to study the strangeness dependence of these observables for the first time. We perform a global analysis on two kind of lattice trajectories depending on whether the sum of quark masses or the strange-quark mass is kept fixed to the physical point. The quark mass dependence of these observables is extracted from unitarized coupled-channel one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory. This analysis guides new predictions on the rho (770) meson properties over trajectories where the strange-quark mass is lighter than the physical mass, as well as on the SU(3) symmetric line. As a result, the light- and strange-quark mass dependence of the rho (770) meson parameters are discussed and precise values of the Low Energy Constants present in unitarized one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory are given. Finally, the current discrepancy between two- and three-flavor lattice results for the rho (770) meson is studied.
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Molina, R., & Oset, E. (2020). Triangle singularity in B- ->K- X(3872); X ->pi 0 pi+ pi- and the X(3872) mass. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(5), 451–9pp.
Abstract: We evaluate the contribution to the X(3872) width from a triangle mechanism in which the X decays into D0D<overbar></mml:mover>0-cc, then the D0(D<overbar></mml:mover>0) decays into D0 pi 0 (D<overbar></mml:mover>0 pi 0) and the D0D<overbar></mml:mover>0 fuse to produce pi+pi-. This mechanism produces an asymmetric peak from a triangle singularity in the pi+pi- invariant mass with a shape very sensitive to the X mass. We evaluate the branching ratios for a reaction where this effect can be seen in the B--> K-pi 0 pi+pi- reaction and show that the determination of the peak in the invariant mass distribution of pi <mml:mo>+pi <mml:mo>- is all that is needed to determine the X mass. Given the present uncertainties in the X mass, which do not allow to know whether the D<mml:mo>0<mml:mover accent=“true”>D<mml:mo stretchy=“false”><overbar></mml:mover>0 state is bound or not, measurements like the one suggested here should be most welcome to clarify this issue.
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