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n_TOF Collaboration(Amaducci, S. et al), Babiano-Suarez, V., Caballero-Ontanaya, L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Ladarescu, I., Tain, J. L., et al. (2024). Measurement of the 140Ceðn;γþ Cross Section at n_TOF and Its Astrophysical Implications for the Chemical Evolution of the Universe. Phys. Rev. Lett., 132(12), 122701–8pp.
Abstract: 140Ce(n, gamma) is a key reaction for slow neutron -capture (s -process) nucleosynthesis due to being a bottleneck in the reaction flow. For this reason, it was measured with high accuracy (uncertainty approximate to 5%) at the n_TOF facility, with an unprecedented combination of a high purity sample and low neutron -sensitivity detectors. The measured Maxwellian averaged cross section is up to 40% higher than previously accepted values. Stellar model calculations indicate a reduction around 20% of the s -process contribution to the Galactic cerium abundance and smaller sizeable differences for most of the heavier elements. No variations are found in the nucleosynthesis from massive stars.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Amaducci, S. et al), Babiano-Suarez, V., Caballero-Ontanaya, L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Ladarescu, I., & Tain, J. L. (2021). First Results of the Ce-140(n,gamma)Ce-141 Cross-Section Measurement at n_TOF. Universe, 7(6), 200–11pp.
Abstract: An accurate measurement of the Ce-140(n,gamma) energy-dependent cross-section was performed at the n_TOF facility at CERN. This cross-section is of great importance because it represents a bottleneck for the s-process nucleosynthesis and determines to a large extent the cerium abundance in stars. The measurement was motivated by the significant difference between the cerium abundance measured in globular clusters and the value predicted by theoretical stellar models. This discrepancy can be ascribed to an overestimation of the Ce-140 capture cross-section due to a lack of accurate nuclear data. For this measurement, we used a sample of cerium oxide enriched in Ce-140 to 99.4%. The experimental apparatus consisted of four deuterated benzene liquid scintillator detectors, which allowed us to overcome the difficulties present in the previous measurements, thanks to their very low neutron sensitivity. The accurate analysis of the p-wave resonances and the calculation of their average parameters are fundamental to improve the evaluation of the Ce-140 Maxwellian-averaged cross-section.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Alcayne, V. et al), Balibrea-Correa, J., Domingo-Pardo, C., Lerendegui-Marco, J., Babiano-Suarez, V., & Ladarescu, I. (2024). A Segmented Total Energy Detector (sTED) optimized for (n,γ) cross-section measurements at n_TOF EAR2. Radiat. Phys. Chem., 217, 11pp.
Abstract: The neutron time-of-flight facility nTOF at CERN is a spallation source dedicated to measurements of neutroninduced reaction cross-sections of interest in nuclear technologies, astrophysics, and other applications. Since 2014, Experimental ARea 2 (EAR2) is operational and delivers a neutron fluence of similar to 4 center dot 10(7) neutrons per nominal proton pulse, which is similar to 50 times higher than the one of Experimental ARea 1 (EAR1) of similar to 8 center dot 10(5) neutrons per pulse. The high neutron flux at EAR2 results in high counting rates in the detectors that challenged the previously existing capture detection systems. For this reason, a Segmented Total Energy Detector (sTED) has been developed to overcome the limitations in the detector's response, by reducing the active volume per module and by using a photo-multiplier (PMT) optimized for high counting rates. This paper presents the main characteristics of the sTED, including energy and time resolution, response to gamma-rays, and provides as well details of the use of the Pulse Height Weighting Technique (PHWT) with this detector. The sTED has been validated to perform neutron-capture cross-section measurements in EAR2 in the neutron energy range from thermal up to at least 400 keV. The detector has already been successfully used in several measurements at nTOF EAR2.
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Nzongani, U., Zylberman, J., Doncecchi, C. E., Perez, A., Debbasch, F., & Arnault, P. (2023). Quantum circuits for discrete-time quantum walks with position-dependent coin operator. Quantum Inf. Process., 22(7), 270–46pp.
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to build quantum circuits that implement discrete-time quantum walks having an arbitrary position-dependent coin operator. The position of the walker is encoded in base 2: with n wires, each corresponding to one qubit, we encode 2(n) position states. The data necessary to define an arbitrary position-dependent coin operator is therefore exponential in n. Hence, the exponentiality will necessarily appear somewhere in our circuits. We first propose a circuit implementing the position-dependent coin operator, that is naive, in the sense that it has exponential depth and implements sequentially all appropriate position-dependent coin operators. We then propose a circuit that “transfers” all the depth into ancillae, yielding a final depth that is linear in n at the cost of an exponential number of ancillae. Themain idea of this linear-depth circuit is to implement in parallel all coin operators at the different positions. Reducing the depth exponentially at the cost of having an exponential number of ancillae is a goal which has already been achieved for the problem of loading classical data on a quantum circuit (Araujo in Sci Rep 11:6329, 2021) (notice that such a circuit can be used to load the initial state of the walker). Here, we achieve this goal for the problem of applying a position-dependent coin operator in a discrete-time quantum walk. Finally, we extend the result of Welch (New J Phys 16:033040, 2014) from position-dependent unitaries which are diagonal in the position basis to position-dependent 2 x 2-block-diagonal unitaries: indeed, we show that for a position dependence of the coin operator (the block-diagonal unitary) which is smooth enough, one can find an efficient quantum-circuit implementation approximating the coin operator up to an error epsilon (in terms of the spectral norm), the depth and size of which scale as O(1/epsilon). A typical application of the efficient implementation would be the quantum simulation of a relativistic spin-1/2 particle on a lattice, coupled to a smooth external gauge field; notice that recently, quantum spatial-search schemes have been developed which use gauge fields as the oracle, to mark the vertex to be found (Zylberman in Entropy 23:1441, 2021), (Fredon arXiv:2210.13920). A typical application of the linear-depth circuit would be when there is spatial noise on the coin operator (and hence a non-smooth dependence in the position).
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Nygren, D. R., Jones, B. J. P., Lopez-March, N., Mei, Y., Psihas, F., & Renner, J. (2018). Neutrinoless double beta decay with 82SeF6 and direct ion imaging. J. Instrum., 13, P03015–23pp.
Abstract: We present a new neutrinoless double beta decay concept: the high pressure selenium hexafluoride gas time projection chamber. A promising new detection technique is outlined which combines techniques pioneered in high pressure xenon gas, such as topological discrimination, with the high Q-value afforded by the double beta decay isotope Se-82. The lack of free electrons in SeF6 mandates the use of an ion TPC. The microphysics of ion production and drift, which have many nuances, are explored. Background estimates are presented, suggesting that such a detector may achieve background indices of better than 1 count per ton per year in the region of interest at the 100 kg scale, and still better at the ton-scale.
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Nunes, R. C., Vagnozzi, S., Kumar, S., Di Valentino, E., & Mena, O. (2022). New tests of dark sector interactions from the full-shape galaxy power spectrum. Phys. Rev. D, 105(12), 123506–18pp.
Abstract: We explore the role of redshift-space galaxy clustering data in constraining nongravitational interactions between dark energy (DE) and dark matter (DM), for which state-of-the-art limits have so far been obtained from late-time background measurements. We use the joint likelihood for prereconstruction full-shape (FS) galaxy power spectrum and postreconstruction Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements from the BOSS DR12 sample, alongside Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data from Planck: from this dataset combination we infer H0 1/4 68.02+0.49 and the 2?? lower limit ?? > ???0.12, among the strongest limits ever reported on the DM-DE coupling strength ?? for the particular model considered. Contrary to what has been observed for the ??CDM model and simple extensions thereof, we find that the CMB + FS combination returns tighter constraints compared to the CMB + BAO one, suggesting that there is valuable additional information contained in the broadband of the power spectrum. We test this finding by running additional CMB-free analyses and removing sound horizon information, and discuss the important role of the equality scale in setting constraints on DM-DE interactions. Our results reinforce the critical role played by redshift-space galaxy clustering measurements in the epoch of precision cosmology, particularly in relation to tests of nonminimal dark sector extensions of the ??CDM model.
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Nunes da Silva, T., Chinellato, D. D., Giannini, A. V., Takahashi, J., Ferreira, M. N., Denicol, G. S., et al. (2023). Prehydrodynamic evolution in large and small systems. Phys. Rev. C, 107(4), 044901–12pp.
Abstract: We extend our previous investigation of the effects of prehydrodynamic evolution on final-state observables in heavy-ion collisions [38] to smaller systems. We use a state-of-the-art hybrid model for the numerical simulations with optimal parameters obtained from a previous Bayesian study. By studying p-Pb collisions, we find that the effects due to the assumption of a conformal evolution in the prehydrodynamical stage are even more important in small systems. We also show that this effect depends on the time duration of the pre-equilibrium stage, which is further enhanced in small systems. Finally, we show that the recent proposal of a free-streaming with subluminal velocity for the pre-equilibrium stage, thus effectively breaking conformal invariance, can alleviate the contamination of final-state observables. Our study further reinforces the need for moving beyond conformal approaches in pre-equilibrium dynamics modeling, especially when extracting transport coefficients from hybrid models in the high-precision era of heavy-ion collisions.
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Nieves, J., Pavao, R., & Tolos, L. (2018). Omega(c) excited states within a SU(6)(lsf) x HQSS model. Eur. Phys. J. C, 78(2), 114–10pp.
Abstract: We have reviewed the renormalization procedure used in the unitarized coupled-channel model of Romanets et al. (Phys Rev D 85: 114032, 2012), and its impact in the C = 1, S = -2, and I = 0 sector, where five Omega((*))(c) states have been recently observed by the LHCb Collaboration. The meson-baryon interactions used in the model are consistent with both chiral and heavy-quark spin symmetries, and lead to a successful description of the observed lowest-lying odd parity resonances Lambda(c)(2595) and Lambda(c)(2625), and Lambda(b)(5912) and Lambda(b)(5920) resonances. We show that some (probably at least three) of the states observed by LHCb will also have odd parity and J = 1/2 or J = 3/2, belonging two of them to the same SU(6)(light-spin-flavor) x HQSS multiplets as the latter charmed and beauty Lambda baryons.
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Nieves, J., Pavao, R., & Tolos, L. (2020). Xi(c) and Xi(b) excited states within a SU(6)(lsf) x HQSS model. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(1), 22–12pp.
Abstract: We study odd parity J = 1/2 and J = 3/2 Xi(c) resonances using a unitarized coupled-channel framework based on a SU(6)(lsf) xHQSS-extended Weinberg-Tomozawa baryon-meson interaction, while paying a special attention to the renormalization procedure. We predict a large molecular Lambda(c)(K) over bar component for the Xi(c) (2790) with a dominant 0(-) light-degree-of-freedom spin configuration. We discuss the differences between the 3/2(-) Lambda(c)(2625) and Xi(c)(2815) states, and conclude that they cannot be SU(3) siblings, whereas we predict the existence of other Xi(c)-states, one of them related to the two-pole structure of the Lambda(c)(2595). It is of particular interest a pair of J = 1/2 and J = 3/2 poles, which form a HQSS doublet and that we tentatively assign to the Xi(c)(2930) and Xi(c)(2970), respectively. Within this picture, the Xi(c)(2930) would be part of a SU(3) sextet, containing either the Omega(c)(3090) or the Omega(c)(3119), and that would be completed by the Sigma(c)(2800). Moreover, we identify a J = 1/2 sextet with the Xi(b)(6227) state and the recently discovered Sigma(b)(6097). Assuming the equal spacing rule and to complete this multiplet, we predict the existence of a J = 1/2 Omega(b) odd parity state, with a mass of 6360 MeV and that should be seen in the Xi(b) (K) over bar channel.
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Nieves, J., Pavao, R., & Sakai, S. (2019). Lambda(b) decays into Lambda cl(nu)over-barl and Lambda c*pi(-) [ Lambda(c)* = Lambda(c)( 2595) and Lambda(c)(2625)] and heavy quark spin symmetry. Eur. Phys. J. C, 79(5), 417–20pp.
Abstract: We study the implications for bc=c(2595) and c(2625)] decays that can be deduced from heavy quark spin symmetry (HQSS). Identifying the odd parity c(2595) and c(2625) resonances as HQSS partners, with total angular momentum-parity jqP=1- for the light degrees of freedom, we find that the ratios (bc(2595)-)/(bc(2625)-) and (bc(2595)) agree, within errors, with the experimental values given in the Review of Particle Physics. We discuss how future, and more precise, measurements of the above branching fractions could be used to shed light into the inner HQSS structure of the narrow c(2595) odd-parity resonance. Namely, we show that such studies would constrain the existence of a sizable jqP</mml:msubsup>=0- component in its wave-function, and/or of a two-pole pattern, in analogy to the case of the similar (1405) resonance in the strange sector, as suggested by most of the approaches that describe the c(2595) as a hadron molecule. We also investigate the lepton flavor universality ratios R[c]=B( may be affected by a new source of potentially large systematic errors if there are two) poles.
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