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ANTARES Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Lambard, G., Mangano, S., et al. (2014). Searches for clustering in the time integrated skymap of the ANTARES neutrino telescope. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 001–14pp.
Abstract: This paper reports a search for spatial clustering of the arrival directions of high energy muon neutrinos detected by the ANTARES neutrino telescope. An improved two-point correlation method is used to study the autocorrelation of 3058 neutrino candidate events as well as cross-correlations with other classes of astrophysical objects: sources of high energy gamma rays, massive black holes and nearby galaxies. No significant deviations from the isotropic distribution of arrival directions expected from atmospheric backgrounds are observed.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Massimi, C. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., Giubrone, G., & Tain, J. L. (2017). Neutron spectroscopy of Mg-26 states: Constraining the stellar neutron source Ne-22(alpha, n)Mg-25. Phys. Lett. B, 768, 1–6.
Abstract: This work reports on accurate, high-resolution measurements of the Mg-25(n, gamma)Mg-26 and Mg-25(n, tot) cross sections in the neutron energy range from thermal to about 300 keV, leading to a significantly improved Mg-25(n, gamma)Mg-26 parametrization. The relevant resonances for n+Mg-25 were characterized from a combined R-matrix analysis of the experimental data. This resulted in an unambiguous spin/parity assignment of the corresponding excited states in Mg-26. With this information experimental upper limits of the reaction rates for Ne-22(alpha, n)Mg-25 and Ne-22(alpha, gamma)Mg-26 were established, potentially leading to a significantly higher (alpha, n)/(alpha, gamma) ratio than previously evaluated. The impact of these results has been studied for stellar models in the mass range 2 to 25 M-circle dot. (C) 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
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LUX-ZEPLIN Collaboration(Akerib, D. S. et al), & Bailey, A. J. (2017). Identification of radiopure titanium for the LZ dark matter experiment and future rare event searches. Astropart Phys., 96, 1–10.
Abstract: The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment will search for dark matter particle interactions with a detector containing a total of 10 tonnes of liquid xenon within a double -vessel cryostat. The large mass and proximity of the cryostat to the active detector volume demand the use of material with extremely low intrinsic radioactivity. We report on the radioassay campaign conducted to identify suitable metals, the determination of factors limiting radiopure production, and the selection of titanium for construction of the LZ cryostat and other detector components. This titanium has been measured with activities of U-238(e) < 1.6 mBq/kg, U-238(I) < 0.09 mBq/kg, Th-232(e) = 0.28 +/- 0.03 mBq/kg, Th-232(I) = 0.25 +/- 0.02 mBq/kg, K-40 <0.54 mBq/kg, and (60) Co <0.02 mBq/kg (68% CL). Such low intrinsic activities, which are some of the lowest ever reported for titanium, enable its use for future dark matter and other rare event searches. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to assess the expected background contribution from the LZ cryostat with this radioactivity. In 1,000 days of WIMP search exposure of a 5.6-tonne fiducial mass, the cryostat will contribute only a mean background of 0.160 +/- 0.001(stat) +/- 0.030(sys) counts.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., Heisenberg, L., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2018). Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity. Phys. Rep., 727, 1–129.
Abstract: General Relativity has shown an outstanding observational success in the scales where it has been directly tested. However, modifications have been intensively explored in the regimes where it seems either incomplete or signals its own limit of validity. In particular, the breakdown of unitarity near the Planck scale strongly suggests that General Relativity needs to be modified at high energies and quantum gravity effects are expected to be important. This is related to the existence of spacetime singularities when the solutions of General Relativity are extrapolated to regimes where curvatures are large. In this sense, Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity have shown an extraordinary ability to regularise the gravitational dynamics, leading to non-singular cosmologies and regular black hole spacetimes in a very robust manner and without resorting to quantum gravity effects. This has boosted the interest in these theories in applications to stellar structure, compact objects, inflationary scenarios, cosmological singularities, and black hole and wormhole physics, among others. We review the motivations, various formulations, and main results achieved within these theories, including their observational viability, and provide an overview of current open problems and future research opportunities.
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Caputo, A., Zavala, J., & Blas, D. (2018). Binary pulsars as probes of a Galactic dark matter disk. Phys. Dark Universe, 19, 1–11.
Abstract: As a binary pulsar moves through a wind of dark matter particles, the resulting dynamical friction modifies the binary's orbit. We study this effect for the double disk dark matter (DDDM) scenario, where a fraction of the dark matter is dissipative and settles into a thin disk. For binaries within the dark disk, this effect is enhanced due to the higher dark matter density and lower velocity dispersion of the dark disk, and due to its co-rotation with the baryonic disk. We estimate the effect and compare it with observations for two different limits in the Knudsen number (Kn). First, in the case where DDDM is effectively collisionless within the characteristic scale of the binary (Kn >> 1) and ignoring the possible interaction between the pair of dark matter wakes. Second, in the fully collisional case (Kn << 1), where a fluid description can be adopted and the interaction of the pair of wakes is taken into account. We find that the change in the orbital period is of the same order of magnitude in both limits. A comparison with observations reveals good prospects to probe currently allowed DDDM models with timing data from binary pulsars in the near future. We finally comment on the possibility of extending the analysis to the intermediate (rarefied gas) case with Kn similar to 1.
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Alvarez-Ruso, L. et al, & Nieves, J. (2018). NuSTEC White Paper: Status and challenges of neutrino-nucleus scattering. Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys., 100, 1–68.
Abstract: The precise measurement of neutrino properties is among the highest priorities in fundamental particle physics, involving many experiments worldwide. Since the experiments rely on the interactions of neutrinos with bound nucleons inside atomic nuclei, the planned advances in the scope and precision of these experiments require a commensurate effort in the understanding and modeling of the hadronic and nuclear physics of these interactions, which is incorporated as a nuclear model in neutrino event generators. This model is essential to every phase of experimental analyses and its theoretical uncertainties play an important role in interpreting every result. In this White Paper we discuss in detail the impact of neutrino-nucleus interactions, especially the nuclear effects, on the measurement of neutrino properties using the determination of oscillation parameters as a central example. After an Executive Summary and a concise Overview of the issues, we explain how the neutrino event generators work, what can be learned from electron-nucleus interactions and how each underlying physics process – from quasi-elastic to deep inelastic scattering – is understood today. We then emphasize how our understanding must improve to meet the demands of future experiments. With every topic we find that the challenges can be met only with the active support and collaboration among specialists in strong interactions and electroweak physics that include theorists and experimentalists from both the nuclear and high energy physics communities.
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Aliaga, R. J., & Guirao, A. J. (2019). On the preserved extremal structure of Lipschitz-free spaces. Studia Math., 245(1), 1–14.
Abstract: We characterize preserved extreme points of the unit ball of Lipschitz-free spaces F (X) in terms of simple geometric conditions on the underlying metric space (X, d). Namely, the preserved extreme points are the elementary molecules corresponding to pairs of points p, q in X such that the triangle inequality d (p, q) <= d (p, r) + d (q, r) is uniformly strict for r away from p, q. For compact X, this condition reduces to the triangle inequality being strict. As a consequence, we give an affirmative answer to a conjecture of N. Weaver that compact spaces are concave if and only if they have no triple of metrically aligned points, and we show that all extreme points are preserved for several classes of compact metric spaces X, including Holder and countable compacta.
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e-ASTROGAM Collaboration(De Angelis, A. et al), & Coleiro, A. (2018). Science with e-ASTROGAM A space mission for MeV-GeV gamma-ray astrophysics. J. High Energy Astrophys., 19, 1–106.
Abstract: e-ASTROGAM ('enhanced ASTROGAM') is a breakthrough Observatory space mission, with a detector composed by a Silicon tracker, a calorimeter, and an anticoincidence system, dedicated to the study of the non-thermal Universe in the photon energy range from 0.3 MeV to 3 GeV – the lower energy limit can be pushed to energies as low as 150 keV for the tracker, and to 30 keV for calorimetric detection. The mission is based on an advanced space-proven detector technology, with unprecedented sensitivity, angular and energy resolution, combined with polarimetric capability. Thanks to its performance in the MeV-GeV domain, substantially improving its predecessors, e-ASTROGAM will open a new window on the non-thermal Universe, making pioneering observations of the most powerful Galactic and extragalactic sources, elucidating the nature of their relativistic outflows and their effects on the surroundings. With a line sensitivity in the MeV energy range one to two orders of magnitude better than previous generation instruments, e-ASTROGAM will determine the origin of key isotopes fundamental for the understanding of supernova explosion and the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. The mission will provide unique data of significant interest to a broad astronomical community, complementary to powerful observatories such as LIGO-Virgo-GEO600-KAGRA, SKA, ALMA, E-ELT, TMT, LSST, JWST, Athena, CTA, IceCube, KM3NeT, and LISA.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aaboud, M. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2019). Search for Higgs boson decays into a pair of light bosons in the bb μμfinal state in pp collision at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Lett. B, 790, 1–21.
Abstract: A search for decays of the Higgs boson into a pair of new spin-zero particles, H -> aa, where the a-bosons decay into a b-quark pair and a muon pair, is presented. The search uses 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in 2015 and 2016. No significant deviation from the Standard Model prediction is observed. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are placed on the branching ratio (sigma(H)/sigma(SM)) x B(H -> aa -> bb μmu), ranging from 1.2 x 10(-4) to 8.4 x 10(-4) in the a-boson mass range of 20-60 GeV. Model-independent limits are set on the visible production cross-section times the branching ratio to the bb μμfinal state for new physics, sigma(vis)(X) x B(X -> bb μmu), ranging from 0.1 fb to 0.73 fb for m(mu mu) between 18 and 62 GeV.
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Babiano, V., Caballero, L., Calvo, D., Ladarescu, I., Olleros, P., & Domingo-Pardo, C. (2019). gamma-Ray position reconstruction in large monolithic LaCl3(Ce) crystals with SiPM readout. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 931, 1–22.
Abstract: We report on the spatial response characterization of large LaCl3(Ce) monolithic crystals optically coupled to 8 x 8 pixel silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) sensors. A systematic study has been carried out for 511 keV gamma-rays using three different crystal thicknesses of 10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm, all of them with planar geometry and a base size of 50 x 50 mm(2). In this work we investigate and compare two different approaches for the determination of the main gamma-ray hit location. On one hand, methods based on the fit of an analytical model for the scintillation light distribution provide the best results in terms of linearity and field of view, with spatial resolutions close to similar to 1 mm FWHM. On the other hand, position reconstruction techniques based on neural networks provide similar linearity and field-of-view, becoming the attainable spatial resolution similar to 3 mm FWHM. For the third space coordinate z or depth-of-interaction we have implemented an inverse linear calibration approach based on the cross-section of the measured scintillation-light distribution at a certain height. The detectors characterized in this work are intended for the development of so-called Total Energy Detectors with Compton imaging capability (i-TED), aimed at enhanced sensitivity and selectivity measurements of neutron capture cross sections via the time-of-flight (TOF) technique.
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