Majumdar, A., Papoulias, D. K., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2022). Physics implications of recent Dresden-II reactor data. Phys. Rev. D, 106(9), 093010–14pp.
Abstract: Prompted by the recent Dresden-II reactor data, we examine its implications for the determination of the weak mixing angle, paying attention to the effect of the quenching function. We also determine the resulting constraints on the unitarity of the neutrino mixing matrix, as well as on the most general type of nonstandard neutral-current neutrino interactions.
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De Romeri, V., Miranda, O. G., Papoulias, D. K., Sanchez Garcia, G., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2023). Physics implications of a combined analysis of COHERENT CsI and LAr data. J. High Energy Phys., 04(4), 035–41pp.
Abstract: The observation of coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering has opened the window to many physics opportunities. This process has been measured by the COHERENT Collaboration using two different targets, first CsI and then argon. Recently, the COHERENT Collaboration has updated the CsI data analysis with a higher statistics and an improved understanding of systematics. Here we perform a detailed statistical analysis of the full CsI data and combine it with the previous argon result. We discuss a vast array of implications, from tests of the Standard Model to new physics probes. In our analyses we take into account experimental uncertainties associated to the efficiency as well as the timing distribution of neutrino fluxes, making our results rather robust. In particular, we update previous measurements of the weak mixing angle and the neutron root mean square charge radius for CsI and argon. We also update the constraints on new physics scenarios including neutrino nonstandard interactions and the most general case of neutrino generalized interactions, as well as the possibility of light mediators. Finally, constraints on neutrino electromagnetic properties are also examined, including the conversion to sterile neutrino states. In many cases, the inclusion of the recent CsI data leads to a dramatic improvement of bounds.
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DUNE Collaboration(Abud, A. A. et al), Amedo, P., Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., et al. (2023). Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU. J. Instrum., 18(4), P04034–35pp.
Abstract: The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 103 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype.
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DUNE Collaboration(Abud, A. A. et al), Amedo, P., Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., et al. (2023). Identification and reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. Phys. Rev. D, 107(9), 092012–22pp.
Abstract: Measurements of electrons from ?e interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectra is derived, and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50 MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.
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Batra, A., Bharadwaj, P., Mandal, S., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2023). Phenomenology of the simplest linear seesaw mechanism. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 221–48pp.
Abstract: The linear seesaw mechanism provides a simple way to generate neutrino masses. In addition to Standard Model particles, it includes quasi-Dirac leptons as neutrino mass mediators, and a leptophilic scalar doublet seeding small neutrino masses. Here we review its associated physics, including restrictions from theory and phenomenology. The model yields potentially detectable μ-> e gamma rates as well as distinctive signatures in the production and decay of heavy neutrinos ( N-i) and the charged Higgs boson (H-+/-) arising from the second scalar doublet. We have found that production processes such as e(+) e(-) -> NN, e- gamma -> NH- and e(+) e(-) -> H (+) H- followed by the decay chain H-+/--> l(+/-) (i) N, N -> l`(+/-) (j) W (-/+) leads to striking lepton number violation signatures at high energies which may probe the Majorana nature of neutrinos.
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