Angles-Castillo, A., Bañuls, M. C., Perez, A., & De Vega, I. (2020). Prethermalization of quantum systems interacting with non-equilibrium environments. New J. Phys., 22(8), 083067–17pp.
Abstract: The usual paradigm of open quantum systems falls short when the environment is actually coupled to additional fields or components that drive it out of equilibrium. Here we explore the simplest such scenario, by considering a two level system coupled to a first thermal reservoir that in turn couples to a second thermal bath at a different temperature. We derive a master equation description for the system and show that, in this situation, the dynamics can be especially rich. In particular, we observe prethermalization, a transitory phenomenon in which the system initially approaches thermal equilibrium with respect to the first reservoir, but after a longer time converges to the thermal state dictated by the temperature of the second environment. Using analytical arguments and numerical simulations, we analyze the occurrence of this phenomenon, and how it depends on temperatures and coupling strengths. The phenomenology gets even richer if the system is placed between two such non-equilibrium environments. In this case, the energy current through the system may exhibit transient features and even switch direction, before the system eventually reaches a non-equilibrium steady state.
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Alvarez-Ruso, L., Hayato, Y., & Nieves, J. (2014). Progress and open questions in the physics of neutrino cross sections at intermediate energies. New J. Phys., 16, 075015–62pp.
Abstract: New and more precise measurements of neutrino cross sections have renewed interest in a better understanding of electroweak interactions on nucleons and nuclei. This effort is crucial to achieving the precision goals of the neutrino oscillation program, making new discoveries, like the CP violation in the leptonic sector, possible. We review the recent progress in the physics of neutrino cross sections, putting emphasis on the open questions that arise in the comparison with new experimental data. Following an overview of recent neutrino experiments and future plans, we present some details about the theoretical development in the description of (anti) neutrino-induced quasielastic (QE) scattering and the role of multi-nucleon QE-like mechanisms. We cover not only pion production in nucleons and nuclei but also other inelastic channels including strangeness production and photon emission. Coherent reaction channels on nuclear targets are also discussed. Finally, we briefly describe some of the Monte Carlo event generators, which are at the core of all neutrino oscillation and cross-section measurements.
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Gonzalez, P. (2017). A quark model study of strong decays of X(3915). J. Phys. G, 44(7), 075004–13pp.
Abstract: Strong decays of X(3915) are analyzed from two quark model descriptions of X(3915), a conventional one in terms of the Cornell potential and an unconventional one from a generalized screened potential. We conclude that the experimental suppression of the OZI allowed decay X(3915) -> D (D) over bar might be explained in both cases due to the momentum dependence of the decay amplitude. However, the experimental significance of the OZI forbidden decay X(3915) -> omega J/psi could favor an unconventional description.
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Ayala, C., Cvetic, G., & Kogerler, R. (2017). Lattice-motivated holomorphic nearly perturbative QCD. J. Phys. G, 44(7), 075001–30pp.
Abstract: Newer lattice results indicate that, in the Landau gauge at low spacelike momenta, the gluon propagator and the ghost dressing function are finite non-zero. This leads to a definition of the QCD running coupling, in a specific scheme, that goes to zero at low spacelike momenta. We construct a running coupling which fulfills these conditions, and at the same time reproduces to a high precision the perturbative behavior at high momenta. The coupling is constructed in such a way that it reflects qualitatively correctly the holomorphic (analytic) behavior of spacelike observables in the complex plane of the squared momenta, as dictated by the general principles of quantum field theories. Further, we require the coupling to reproduce correctly the nonstrange semihadronic decay rate of tau lepton which is the best measured low-momentum QCD observable with small higher-twist effects. Subsequent application of the Borel sum rules to the V + A spectral functions of tau lepton decays, as measured by OPAL Collaboration, determines the values of the gluon condensate and of the V + A six-dimensional condensate, and reproduces the data to a significantly higher precision than the usual (MS) over bar running coupling.
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NEXT Collaboration, Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Felkai, R., Kekic, M., Lopez-March, N., et al. (2020). Mitigation of backgrounds from cosmogenic Xe-137 in xenon gas experiments using He-3 neutron capture. J. Phys. G, 47(7), 075001–17pp.
Abstract: Xe-136 is used as the target medium for many experiments searching for 0 nu beta beta. Despite underground operation, cosmic muons that reach the laboratory can produce spallation neutrons causing activation of detector materials. A potential background that is difficult to veto using muon tagging comes in the form of Xe-137 created by the capture of neutrons on Xe-136. This isotope decays via beta decay with a half-life of 3.8 min and a Q(beta) of similar to 4.16 MeV. This work proposes and explores the concept of adding a small percentage of He-3 to xenon as a means to capture thermal neutrons and reduce the number of activations in the detector volume. When using this technique we find the contamination from Xe-137 activation can be reduced to negligible levels in tonne and multi-tonne scale high pressure gas xenon neutrinoless double beta decay experiments running at any depth in an underground laboratory.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Cerda Alberich, L., et al. (2016). A search for an excited muon decaying to a muon and two jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. New J. Phys., 18, 073021–21pp.
Abstract: Anew search signature for excited leptons is explored. Excited muons are sought in the channel pp -> μmu* -> μμjet jet, assuming both the production and decay occur via a contact interaction. The analysis is based on 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 8 TeV taken with the ATLAS detector at the large hadron collider. No evidence of excited muons is found, and limits are set at the 95% confidence level on the cross section times branching ratio as a function of the excited-muon mass m(mu)*. For m(mu)* between 1.3 and 3.0 TeV, the upper limit on sigma B(mu* -> μq (q) over bar) is between 0.6 and 1 fb. Limits on sB are converted to lower bounds on the compositeness scale Lambda. In the limiting case Lambda = m(mu)*, excited muons with a mass below 2.8 TeV are excluded. With the same model assumptions, these limits at larger mu* masses improve upon previous limits from traditional searches based on the gauge-mediated decay mu* -> μgamma.
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Fadel, M., Yadin, B., Mao, Y. P., Byrnes, T., & Gessner, M. (2023). Multiparameter quantum metrology and mode entanglement with spatially split nonclassical spin ensembles. New J. Phys., 25(7), 073006–25pp.
Abstract: We identify the multiparameter sensitivity of entangled spin states, such as spin-squeezed and Dicke states that are spatially distributed into several addressable spatial modes. Analytical expressions for the spin-squeezing matrix of families of states that are accessible by current atomic experiments reveal the quantum gain in multiparameter metrology, as well as the optimal strategies to maximize the sensitivity gain for the estimation of any linear combination of parameters. We further study the mode entanglement of these states by deriving a witness for genuine k-partite mode entanglement from the spin-squeezing matrix. Our results highlight the advantage of mode entanglement for distributed sensing, and outline optimal protocols for multiparameter estimation with nonclassical spatially-distributed spin ensembles. We illustrate our findings with the design of a protocol for gradient sensing with a Bose-Einstein condensate in an entangled spin state in two modes.
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Araujo Filho, A. A., Hassanabadi, H., Reis, J. A. A. S., & Lisboa-Santos, L. (2023). Thermodynamics of a quantum ring modified by Lorentz violation. Phys. Scr., 98(6), 065943–13pp.
Abstract: In this work, we investigate the consequences of Lorentz-violating terms in the thermodynamic properties of a 1-dimensional quantum ring. In particular, we use the ensemble theory to obtain our results of interest. The thermodynamic functions as well as the spin currents are calculated as a function of the temperature. We observe that parameter xi, which triggers the Lorentz symmetry breaking, plays a major role in low temperature regime. Finally, depending on the configuration of the system, electrons can rotate in two different directions: clockwise and counterclockwise.
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Davesne, D., Pastore, A., & Navarro, J. (2014). Fitting (NLO)-L-3 pseudo-potentials through central plus tensor Landau parameters. J. Phys. G, 41(6), 065104–12pp.
Abstract: Landau parameters determined from phenomenological finite-range interactions are used to get an estimation of next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order ((NLO)-L-3) pseudo-potentials parameters. The parameter sets obtained in this way are shown to lead to consistent results concerning saturation properties. The uniqueness of this procedure is discussed, and an estimate of the error induced by the truncation at (NLO)-L-3 is given.
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Boggia, M., Cruz-Martinez, J. M., Frellesvig, H., Glover, N., Gomez-Ambrosio, R., Gonella, G., et al. (2018). The HiggsTools handbook: a beginners guide to decoding the Higgs sector. J. Phys. G, 45(6), 065004–152pp.
Abstract: This report summarises some of the activities of the HiggsTools initial training network working group in the period 2015-2017. The main goal of this working group was to produce a document discussing various aspects of state-of-the-art Higgs physics at the large hadron collider (LHC) in a pedagogic manner The first part of the report is devoted to a description of phenomenological searches for new physics (NP) at the LHC. All of the available studies of the couplings of the new resonance discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS experiments (Aad et al (ATLAS Collaboration) 2012 Phys. Lett. B 716 1-29; Chatrchyan et al (CMS Collaboration) 2012 Phys. Lett. B 716 30-61) conclude that it is compatible with the Higgs boson of the standard model (SM) within present precision. So far the LHC experiments have given no direct evidence for any physical phenomena that cannot be described by the SM. As the experimental measurements become more and more precise, there is a pressing need for a consistent framework in which deviations from the SM predictions can be computed precisely. Such a framework should be applicable to measurements in all sectors of particle physics, not only LHC Higgs measurements but also electroweak precision data, etc. We critically review the use of the k-framework, fiducial and simplified template cross sections, effective field theories, pseudoobservables and phenomenological Lagrangians. Some of the concepts presented here are well known and were used already at the time of the large electron-positron collider (LEP) experiment. However, after years of theoretical and experimental development, these techniques have been refined, and we describe new tools that have been introduced in order to improve the comparison between theory and experimental data. In the second part of the report, we propose Phi(eta)* as a new and complementary observable for studying Higgs boson production at large transverse momentum in the case where the Higgs boson decays to two photons. The Phi(eta)* variable depends on measurements of the angular directions and rapidities of the two Higgs decay products rather than the energies, and exploits the information provided by the calorimeter in the detector. We show that, even without tracking information, the experimental resolution for Phi(eta)* is better than that of the transverse momentum of the photon pair, particularly at low transverse momentum. We make a detailed study of the phenomenology of the Phi(eta)* variable, contrasting the behaviour with the Higgs transverse momentum distribution using a variety of theoretical tools including event generators and fixed order perturbative computations. We consider the theoretical uncertainties associated with both p TH and Phi(eta)* distributions. Unlike the transverse momentum distribution, the Phi(eta)* distribution is well predicted using the Higgs effective field theory in which the top quark is integrated out-even at large values of Phi(eta)*-thereby making this a better observable for extracting the parameters of the Higgs interaction. In contrast, the potential of the Phi(eta)* distribution as a probe of NP is rather limited, since although the overall rate is affected by the presence of additional heavy fields, the shape of the Phi(eta)* distribution is relatively insensitive to heavy particle thresholds.
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