Conde, D., Castillo, F. L., Escobar, C., García, C., Garcia Navarro, J. E., Sanz, V., et al. (2023). Forecasting Geomagnetic Storm Disturbances and Their Uncertainties Using Deep Learning. Space Weather, 21(11), e2023SW003474–27pp.
Abstract: Severe space weather produced by disturbed conditions on the Sun results in harmful effects both for humans in space and in high-latitude flights, and for technological systems such as spacecraft or communications. Also, geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) flowing on long ground-based conductors, such as power networks, potentially threaten critical infrastructures on Earth. The first step in developing an alarm system against GICs is to forecast them. This is a challenging task given the highly non-linear dependencies of the response of the magnetosphere to these perturbations. In the last few years, modern machine-learning models have shown to be very good at predicting magnetic activity indices. However, such complex models are on the one hand difficult to tune, and on the other hand they are known to bring along potentially large prediction uncertainties which are generally difficult to estimate. In this work we aim at predicting the SYM-H index characterizing geomagnetic storms multiple-hour ahead, using public interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) data from the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point and SYM-H data. We implement a type of machine-learning model called long short-term memory (LSTM) network. Our scope is to estimate the prediction uncertainties coming from a deep-learning model in the context of forecasting the SYM-H index. These uncertainties will be essential to set reliable alarm thresholds. The resulting uncertainties turn out to be sizable at the critical stages of the geomagnetic storms. Our methodology includes as well an efficient optimization of important hyper-parameters of the LSTM network and robustness tests.
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Plaza, J., Bécares, V., Cano-Ott, D., Gómez, C., Martínez, T., Mendoza, E., et al. (2023). CLYC as a neutron detector in low background conditions. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(11), 1049–10pp.
Abstract: We report on the thermal neutron flux measurements carried out at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) with two commercial 2 '' x 2 '' CLYC detectors. The measurements were performed as part of an experimental campaign at LSC with He-3 detectors, for establishing the sensitivity limits and use of CLYCs in low background conditions. Acareful characterization of the intrinsic alpha and gamma-ray background in the detectors was required and done with dedicated measurements. It was found that the alpha activities in the two CLYC crystals differ by a factor of three, and the use of Monte Carlo simulations and a Bayesian unfolding method allowed us to determine the specific alpha activities from the U-238 and Th-232 decay chains. The simulations and unfolding also revealed that the gamma-ray background registered in the detectors is dominated by the intrinsic activity of the components of the detector such as the aluminum housing and photo-multiplier and that the activity within the crystal is low in comparison. The data from the neutron flux measurements with the two detectors were analyzed with different methodologies: one based on an innovative alpha/neutron pulse shape discrimination method and one based on the subtraction of the intrinsic alpha background that masks the neutron signals in the region of interest. The neutron sensitivity of the CLYCs was calculated by Monte Carlo simulations with MCNP6 and GEANT4. The resulting thermal neutron fluxes are in good agreement with complementary flux measurement performed with He-3 detectors, but close to the detection limit imposed by the intrinsic a activity.
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Van Isacker, P., Algora, A., Vitéz-Sveiczer, A., Kiss, G. G., Orrigo, S. E. A., Rubio, B., et al. (2023). Gamow-Teller Beta Decay and Pseudo-SU(4) Symmetry. Symmetry-Basel, 15(11), 2001–15pp.
Abstract: We report on recent experimental results on beta decay into self-conjugate ( N = Z) nuclei with mass number 58 <= A <= 70. Super-allowed b decays from the J(pi) = 0(+) ground state of a Z = N + 2 parent nucleus are to the isobaric analogue state through so-called Fermi transitions and to J(pi) = 1(+) states by way of Gamow-Teller (GT) transitions. The operator of the latter decay is a generator of Wigner's SU(4) algebra and as a consequence GT transitions obey selection rules associated with this symmetry. Since SU(4) is progressively broken with increasing A, mainly as a consequence of the spinorbit interaction, this symmetry is not relevant for the nuclei considered here. We argue, however, that the pseudo-spin-orbit splitting can be small in nuclei with 58 <= A <= 70, in which case nuclear states exhibit an approximate pseudo-SU(4) symmetry. To test this conjecture, GT decay strength is calculated with use of a schematic Hamiltonian with pseudo-SU(4) symmetry. Some generic features of the GT beta decay due to pseudo-SU(4) symmetry are pointed out. The experimentally observed GT strength indicates a restoration of pseudo-SU(4) symmetry for A = 70.
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Adolf, P., Hirsch, M., & Päs, H. (2023). Radiative neutrino masses and the Cohen-Kaplan-Nelson bound. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 078–14pp.
Abstract: Recently, an increasing interest in UV/IR mixing phenomena has drawn attention to the range of validity of standard quantum field theory. Here we explore the consequences of such a limited range of validity in the context of radiative models for neutrino mass generation. We adopt an argument first published by Cohen, Kaplan and Nelson that gravity implies both UV and IR cutoffs, apply it to the loop integrals describing radiative corrections, and demonstrate that this effect has significant consequences for the parameter space of radiative neutrino mass models.
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Pasqualato, G. et al, Domingo-Pardo, C., & Gadea, A. (2023). Shape evolution in even-mass 98-104Zr isotopes via lifetime measurements using the γ γ-coincidence technique. Eur. Phys. J. A, 59(11), 276–13pp.
Abstract: The Zirconium (Z = 40) isotopic chain has attracted interest for more than four decades. The abrupt lowering of the energy of the first 2(+) state and the increase in the transition strength B(E2; 2(1)(+) -> 0(1)(+) ) going from Zr-98 to Zr-100 has been the first example of “quantum phase transition” in nuclear shapes, which has few equivalents in the nuclear chart. Although a multitude of experiments have been performed to measure nuclear properties related to nuclear shapes and collectivity in the region, none of the measured lifetimes were obtained using the Recoil Distance Doppler Shift method in the gamma gamma-coincidence mode where a gate on the direct feeding transition of the state of interest allows a strict control of systematical errors. This work reports the results of lifetime measurements for the first yrast excited states in Zr98-104 carried out to extract reduced transition probabilities. The new lifetime values in gamma gamma-coincidence and gamma-single mode are compared with the results of former experiments. Recent predictions of the Interacting Boson Model with Configuration Mixing, the Symmetry Conserving Configuration Mixing model based on the Hartree-Fock- Bogoliubov approach and the Monte Carlo Shell Model are presented and compared with the experimental data.
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