Villanueva-Domingo, P., Mena, O., & Miralda-Escude, J. (2020). Maximum amplitude of the high-redshift 21-cm absorption feature. Phys. Rev. D, 101(8), 083502–8pp.
Abstract: We examine the maximum possible strength of the global 21-cm absorption dip on the cosmic background radiation at high-redshift caused by the atomic intergalactic medium, when the Lyman-alpha coupling is maximum, assuming no exotic cooling mechanisms from interactions with dark matter. This maximum absorption is limited by three inevitable factors that need to be accounted for: (a) heating by energy transferred from the cosmic background radiation to the hydrogen atoms via 21-cm transitions, dubbed as 21-cm heating; (b) Ly alpha heating by scatterings of Ly alpha photons from the first stars; (c) the impact of the expected density fluctuations in the intergalactic gas in standard cold dark matter theory, which reduces the mean 21-cm absorption signal. Inclusion of this third novel effect reduces the maximum global 21-cm absorption by similar to 10%. Overall, the three effects studied here reduce the 21-cm global absorption by similar to 20% at z similar or equal to 17.
|
Villanueva-Domingo, P., & Ichiki, K. (2023). 21 cm forest constraints on primordial black holes. Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn., 75(SP1), S33–S49.
Abstract: Primordial black holes (PBHs) as part of the dark matter (DM) would modify the evolution of large-scale structures and the thermal history of the universe. Future 21 cm forest observations, sensitive to small scales and the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM), could probe the existence of such PBHs. In this article, we show that the shot noise isocurvature mode on small scales induced by the presence of PBHs can enhance the amount of low-mass halos, or minihalos, and thus, the number of 21 cm absorption lines. However, if the mass of PBHs is as large as M-PBH greater than or similar to 10 M-circle dot, with an abundant enough fraction of PBHs as DM, f(PBH), the IGM heating due to accretion on to the PBHs counteracts the enhancement due to the isocurvature mode, reducing the number of absorption lines instead. The concurrence of both effects imprints distinctive signatures on the number of absorbers, allowing the abundance of PBHs to be bound. We compute the prospects for constraining PBHs with future 21 cm forest observations, finding achievable competitive upper limits on the abundance as low as f(PBH) similar to 10(-3) at M-PBH = 100 M-circle dot, or even lower at larger masses, in regions of the parameter space unexplored by current probes. The impact of astrophysical X-ray sources on the IGM temperature is also studied, which could potentially weaken the bounds.
|
Villaescusa-Navarro, F. et al, & Villanueva-Domingo, P. (2022). The CAMELS Multifield Data Set: Learning the Universe's Fundamental Parameters with Artificial Intelligence. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 259(2), 61–14pp.
Abstract: We present the Cosmology and Astrophysics with Machine Learning Simulations (CAMELS) Multifield Data set (CMD), a collection of hundreds of thousands of 2D maps and 3D grids containing many different properties of cosmic gas, dark matter, and stars from more than 2000 distinct simulated universes at several cosmic times. The 2D maps and 3D grids represent cosmic regions that span similar to 100 million light-years and have been generated from thousands of state-of-the-art hydrodynamic and gravity-only N-body simulations from the CAMELS project. Designed to train machine-learning models, CMD is the largest data set of its kind containing more than 70 TB of data. In this paper we describe CMD in detail and outline a few of its applications. We focus our attention on one such task, parameter inference, formulating the problems we face as a challenge to the community. We release all data and provide further technical details at https://camels-multifield-dataset.readthedocs.io.
|
Villaescusa-Navarro, F. et al, & Villanueva-Domingo, P. (2023). The CAMELS Project: Public Data Release. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser., 265(2), 54–14pp.
Abstract: The Cosmology and Astrophysics with Machine Learning Simulations (CAMELS) project was developed to combine cosmology with astrophysics through thousands of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations and machine learning. CAMELS contains 4233 cosmological simulations, 2049 N-body simulations, and 2184 state-of-the-art hydrodynamic simulations that sample a vast volume in parameter space. In this paper, we present the CAMELS public data release, describing the characteristics of the CAMELS simulations and a variety of data products generated from them, including halo, subhalo, galaxy, and void catalogs, power spectra, bispectra, Lya spectra, probability distribution functions, halo radial profiles, and X-rays photon lists. We also release over 1000 catalogs that contain billions of galaxies from CAMELS-SAM: a large collection of N-body simulations that have been combined with the Santa Cruz semianalytic model. We release all the data, comprising more than 350 terabytes and containing 143,922 snapshots, millions of halos, galaxies, and summary statistics. We provide further technical details on how to access, download, read, and process the data at .
|
Vijande, J., Tedgren, A. C., Ballester, F., Baltas, D., Papagiannis, P., Rivard, M. J., et al. (2021). Source strength determination in iridium-192 and cobalt-60 brachytherapy: A European survey on the level of agreement between clinical measurements and manufacturer certificates. Phys. Imag. Radiat. Oncol., 19, 108–111.
Abstract: Background and purpose: Brachytherapy treatment outcomes depend on the accuracy of the delivered dose distribution, which is proportional to the reference air-kerma rate (RAKR). Current societal recommendations require the medical physicist to compare the measured RAKR values to the manufacturer source calibration certificate. The purpose of this work was to report agreement observed in current clinical practice in the European Union. Materials and methods: A European survey was performed for high- and pulsed-dose-rate (HDR and PDR) highenergy sources (Ir-192 and Co-60), to quantify observed RAKR differences. Medical physicists at eighteen hospitals from eight European countries were contacted, providing 1,032 data points from 2001 to 2020. Results: Over the survey period, 77% of the Ir-192 measurements used a well chamber instead of the older Krieger phantom method. Mean differences with the manufacturer calibration certificate were 0.01% +/- 1.15% for Ir-192 and -0.1% +/- 1.3% for Co-60. Over 95% of RAKR measurements in the clinic were within 3% of the manufacturer calibration certificate. Conclusions: This study showed that the agreement level was generally better than that reflected in prior societal recommendations positing 5%. Future recommendations on high-energy HDR and PDR source calibrations in the clinic may consider tightened agreements levels.
|
Vijande, J., Carmona, V., Lliso, F., Ballester, F., & Perez-Calatayud, J. (2024). An efficient component of the redundancy calibration program to ensure equipment stability by assaying HDR Ir-192 sources at the time of replacement. J. Appl. Clin. Med. Phys, , 5pp.
Abstract: BackgroundBrachytherapy (BT) treatments involving temporary high-dose rate (HDR) sources are extensively employed in clinical practice. Ensuring the consistency of all measurement equipment at the hospital level is crucial, requiring a robust redundancy and consistency program. This enables the institution to verify the stability of the dosimetry system over time.PurposeTo describe, justify, and analyze a component of the redundancy program of the calibration protocols followed by the Radiotherapy Department of the Hospital Universitari i Polit & egrave;cnic La Fe (Val & egrave;ncia, Spain) during the last 10 years for the case of HDR BT as an additional component to ensure long term stability of the measurement equipment.MethodsAt the time the HDR BT source is replaced, its Air Kerma Strength (SK) is measured. By comparing this value with the one obtained at the time of installation (corrected by decay), a clear determination of the stability of the measurement equipment can be performed.ResultsDifference between SK,vendor and SK,hosp as a function of the measurement date is reported for a 10 years' period. All measurements are well within the +/- 3% tolerance level recommended in current international guidelines. Percentage differences of SK,hosp values at the time of replacement compared to SK,hosp ones at the time when the source was installed are within the +/- 0.5% range, reflecting oscillations around a null deviation.ConclusionsThe method proposed allows any hospital to ensure a redundancy component of the long-term stability of all equipment involved in BT measurements in a very simple and time efficient manner. Additionally, it enables the hospital to maintain a detailed log of historical differences, facilitating the identification and correction of potential systematic deviations over time.
|
Viegas, R., Roser, J., Barrientos, L., Borja-Lloret, M., Casaña, J. V., Lopez, J. G., et al. (2023). Characterization of a Compton camera based on the TOFPET2 ASIC. Radiat. Phys. Chem., 202, 110507–11pp.
Abstract: The use of Compton cameras for medical imaging and its interest as a hadron therapy treatment monitoring has increased in the last decade with the development of silicon photomultipliers. MACACOp is a Compton camera prototype designed and assembled at the IRIS group of IFIC-Valencia. This Compton camera is based on monolithic Lanthanum (III) Bromide crystals and silicon photomultipliers, and employs the novel TOFPET2 ASIC as readout electronics. This system emerged as an alternative to MACACO II prototype, with the aim of improving its limited time resolution. To test the performance of the ASIC in a Compton camera setup, the prototype was characterized, both in laboratory and in-beam. A time resolution of 1.5 ns was obtained after time corrections, which improves greatly the performance of the MACACO II. Moreover, the results obtained at high photon energies demonstrate the ability of the system to obtain 1 mm displacements of the reconstructed spots. The results reinforce the potential of the system as a monitoring device for hadron therapy.
|
Vidaña, I., Feijoo, A., Albaladejo, M., Nieves, J., & Oset, E. (2023). Femtoscopic correlation function for the Tcc(3875)+ state. Phys. Lett. B, 846, 138201–9pp.
Abstract: We have conducted a study of the femtoscopic correlation functions for the D0D*+ and D+D*0 channels that build the Tcc state. We develop a formalism that allows us to factorize the scattering amplitudes outside the integrals in the formulas, and the integrals involve the range of the strong interaction explicitly. For a source of size of 1 fm, we find values for the correlation functions of the D0D*+ and D+D*0 channels at the origin around 30 and 2.5, respectively, and we see these observables converging to unity already for relative momenta of the order of 200 MeV. We conduct tests to see the relevance of the different contributions to the correlation function and find that it mostly provides information on the scattering length, but should the correlation functions be measured with the precision of the latest experiments, the effective range of the D0D*+ could also be obtained.
|
Vicente, A. (2019). Higgs Lepton Flavor Violating Decays in Two Higgs Doublet Models. Front. Physics, 7, 174–13pp.
Abstract: The discovery of a non-zero rate for a lepton flavor violating decay mode of the Higgs boson would definitely be an indication of New Physics. We review the prospects for such signal in Two Higgs Doublet Models, in particular for Higgs boson decays into tau μfinal states. We will show that this scenario contains all the necessary ingredients to provide large flavor violating rates and still be compatible with the stringent limits from direct searches and low-energy flavor experiments.
|
Verdera, A., Torres-Sanchez, P., Praena, J., & Porras, I. (2024). Study of the out-of-field dose from an accelerator-based neutron source for boron neutron capture therapy. Appl. Radiat. Isot., 212, 111458–6pp.
Abstract: One important issue in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy is the delivered dose to the tissues outside the tumor. An international standard for light ion beam systems sets two recommended limits for out-of-field dose based on distance from the field edge: maximum absorbed dose from all radiation types shall not exceed 0.5 % of the maximum dose at distances 15 cm to 50 cm from the field edge. At distances > 50 cm from the field edge, the maximum absorbed dose shall not exceed 0.1 %. This paper is a continuation of our previous works focused on the design of an accelerator-based neutron source for BNCT. We already designed a novel Beam Shape Assembly which meets the IAEA criteria for BNCT treatments. Using this BSA, in the present work, we characterize by Monte Carlo simulations the dose outside the neutron field. The out-of-field dose has been assessed via estimates using the ambient and equivalent dose. Also the boron uptake in healthy tissues has been analyzed for the equivalent dose computation. It is concluded that our design for a future accelerator-based source for BNCT meets reasonably well the criteria defined from other forms of radiotherapy on both equivalent and effective dose outside the field.
|
