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Etxebeste, A., Barrio, J., Bernabeu, J., Lacasta, C., Llosa, G., Muñoz, E., et al. (2019). Study of sensitivity and resolution for full ring PET prototypes based on continuous crystals and analytical modeling of the light distribution. Phys. Med. Biol., 64(3), 035015–17pp.
Abstract: Sensitivity and spatial resolution are the main parameters to maximize in the performance of a PET scanner. For this purpose, detectors consisting of a combination of continuous crystals optically coupled to segmented photodetectors have been employed. With the use of continuous crystals the sensitivity is increased with respect to the pixelated crystals. In addition, spatial resolution is no longer limited to the crystal size. The main drawback is the difficulty in determining the interaction position. In this work, we present the characterization of the performance of a full ring based on cuboid continuous crystals coupled to SiPMs. To this end, we have employed the simulations developed in a previous work for our experimental detector head. Sensitivity could be further enhanced by using tapered crystals. This enhancement is obtained by increasing the solid angle coverage, reducing the wedge-shaped gaps between contiguous detectors. The performance of the scanners based on both crystal geometries was characterized following NEMA NU 4-2008 standardized protocol in order to compare them. An average sensitivity gain over the entire axial field of view of 13.63% has been obtained with tapered geometry while similar performance of the spatial resolution has been proven with both scanners. The activity at which NECR and true peak occur is smaller and the peak value is greater for tapered crystals than for cuboid crystals. Moreover, a higher degree of homogeneity was obtained in the sensitivity map due to the tighter packing of the crystals, which reduces the gaps and results in a better recovery of homogeneous regions than for the cuboid configuration. Some of the results obtained, such as spatial resolution, depend on the interaction position estimation and may vary if other method is employed.
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Estienne, M., Fallot, M., Algora, A., Briz-Monago, J., Bui, V. M., Cormon, S., et al. (2019). Updated Summation Model: An Improved Agreement with the Daya Bay Antineutrino Fluxes. Phys. Rev. Lett., 123(2), 022502–6pp.
Abstract: A new summation method model of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum is presented. It is updated with the most recent evaluated decay databases and with our total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements performed during the last decade. For the first time, the spectral measurements from the Daya Bay experiment are compared with the antineutrino energy spectrum computed with the updated summation method without any renormalization. The results exhibit a better agreement than is obtained with the Huber-Mueller model in the 2-5 MeV range, the region that dominates the detected flux. A systematic trend is found in which the antineutrino flux computed with the summation model decreases with the inclusion of more pandemonium-free data. The calculated flux obtained now lies only 1.9% above that detected in the Daya Bay experiment, a value that may be reduced with forthcoming new pandemonium-free data, leaving less room for a reactor anomaly. Eventually, the new predictions of individual antineutrino spectra for the U-235, Pu-239, Pu-241, and U-238 are used to compute the dependence of the reactor antineutrino spectral shape on the fission fractions.
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Escudero, M., Hooper, D., Krnjaic, G., & Pierre, M. (2019). Cosmology with a very light Lmu – Ltau gauge boson. J. High Energy Phys., 03(3), 071–29pp.
Abstract: In this paper, we explore in detail the cosmological implications of an abelian L – L gauge extension of the Standard Model featuring a light and weakly coupled Z. Such a scenario is motivated by the longstanding approximate to 4 sigma discrepancy between the measured and predicted values of the muon's anomalous magnetic moment, (g – 2), as well as the tension between late and early time determinations of the Hubble constant. If sufficiently light, the Z population will decay to neutrinos, increasing the overall energy density of radiation and altering the expansion history of the early universe. We identify two distinct regions of parameter space in this model in which the Hubble tension can be significantly relaxed. The first of these is the previously identified region in which a approximate to 10 – 20 MeV Z reaches equilibrium in the early universe and then decays, heating the neutrino population and delaying the process of neutrino decoupling. For a coupling of g (-) similar or equal to (3 – 8) x 10(-4), such a particle can also explain the observed (g – 2) anomaly. In the second region, the Z is very light (mZ approximate to 1eV to MeV) and very weakly coupled (g (-) approximate to 10(-13) to 10(-9)). In this case, the Z population is produced through freeze-in, and decays to neutrinos after neutrino decoupling. Across large regions of parameter space, we predict a contribution to the energy density of radiation that can appreciably relax the reported Hubble tension, N-eff similar or equal to 0.2.
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Elor, G., Escudero, M., & Nelson, A. E. (2019). Baryogenesis and dark matter from B mesons. Phys. Rev. D, 99(3), 035031–18pp.
Abstract: We present a new mechanism of baryogenesis and dark matter production in which both the dark matter relic abundance and the baryon asymmetry arise from neutral B meson oscillations and subsequent decays. This setup is testable at hadron colliders and B factories. In the early universe, decays of a long lived particle produce B mesons and antimesons out of thermal equilibrium. These mesons/antimesons then undergo CP violating oscillations before quickly decaying into visible and dark sector particles. Dark matter will be charged under the baryon number so that the visible sector baryon asymmetry is produced without violating the total baryon number of the Universe. The produced baryon asymmetry will be directly related to the leptonic charge asymmetry in neutral B decays: an experimental observable. Dark matter is stabilized by an unbroken discrete symmetry, and proton decay is simply evaded by kinematics. We will illustrate this mechanism with a model that is unconstrained by dinucleon decay, does not require a high reheat temperature, and would have unique experimental signals-a positive leptonic asymmetry in B meson decays, a new decay of B mesons into a baryon and missing energy, and a new decay of b-flavored baryons into mesons and missing energy. These three observables are testable at current and upcoming collider experiments, allowing for a distinct probe of this mechanism.
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Ellis, J., Mavromatos, N. E., Sakharov, A. S., & Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, E. K. (2019). Limits on neutrino Lorentz violation from multimessenger observations of TXS 0506+056. Phys. Lett. B, 789, 352–355.
Abstract: The observation by the IceCube Collaboration of a high-energy (E greater than or similar to 200 TeV) neutrino from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 and the coincident observations of enhanced gamma-ray emissions from the same object by MAGIC and other experiments can be used to set stringent constraints on Lorentz violation in the propagation of neutrinos that is linear in the neutrino energy: Delta v = -E/M-1, where Delta v is the deviation from the velocity of light, and M-1 is an unknown high energy scale to be constrained by experiment. Allowing for a difference in neutrino and photon propagation times of similar to 10 days, we find that M-1 greater than or similar to 3 x 10(16) GeV. This improves on previous limits on linear Lorentz violation in neutrino propagation by many orders of magnitude, and the same is true for quadratic Lorentz violation.
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