T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Molina Bueno, L., & Novella, P. (2023). Updated T2K measurements of muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance using 3.6 x 10^21 protons on target. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 072011–10pp.
Abstract: Muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance probabilities are identical in the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework, but CPT violation and nonstandard interactions can violate this symmetry. In this work we report the measurements of sin2 theta 23 and Delta m232 independently for neutrinos and antineutrinos. The aforementioned symmetry violation would manifest as an inconsistency in the neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters. The analysis discussed here uses a total of 1.97 x 1021 and 1.63 x 1021 protons on target taken with a neutrino and antineutrino beam respectively, and benefits from improved flux and cross section models, new near-detector samples and more than double the data reducing the overall uncertainty of the result. No significant deviation is observed, consistent with the standard neutrino oscillation picture.
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NEXT Collaboration(Navarro, K. E. et al), Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Lopez, F., Lopez-March, N., Martin-Albo, J., et al. (2023). A compact dication source for Ba2+ tagging and heavy metal ion sensor development. J. Instrum., 18(7), P07044–19pp.
Abstract: We present a tunable metal ion beam that delivers controllable ion currents in the picoamp range for testing of dry-phase ion sensors. Ion beams are formed by sequential atomic evaporation and single or multiple electron impact ionization, followed by acceleration into a sensing region. Controllability of the ionic charge state is achieved through tuning of electrode potentials that influence the retention time in the ionization region. Barium, lead, and cadmium samples have been used to test the system, with ion currents identified and quantified using a quadrupole mass analyzer. Realization of a clean Ba2+ ion beam within a bench-top system represents an important technical advance toward the development and characterization of barium tagging systems for neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon gas. This system also provides a testbed for investigation of novel ion sensing methodologies for environmental assay applications, with dication beams of Pb2+ and Cd2+ also demonstrated for this purpose.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Amos, K. R., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Bouchhar, N., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2023). Integrated and differential fiducial cross-section measurements for the vector boson fusion production of the Higgs boson in the H → WW* → eνμν decay channel at 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 072003–52pp.
Abstract: The vector-boson production cross section for the Higgs boson decay in the H -> WW* -> e nu μnu channel is measured as a function of kinematic observables sensitive to the Higgs boson production and decay properties as well as integrated in a fiducial phase space. The analysis is performed using the proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS detector in Run 2 of the LHC at root s = 13 TeV center-of-mass energy, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb(-1). The different flavor final state is studied by selecting an electron and a muon originating from a pair of W bosons and compatible with the Higgs boson decay. The data are corrected for the effects of detector inefficiency and resolution, and the measurements are compared with different state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The differential cross sections are used to constrain anomalous interactions described by dimension-six operators in an effective field theory.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Jaimes Elles, S. J., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Rebollo De Miguel, M., et al. (2023). Observation and branching fraction measurement of the decay Ξb- → Λ0 bπ-. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 072002–16pp.
Abstract: The decay E-b -> A0bx-- is observed using a proton-proton collision data sample collected at center-of-ffiffimass energy p s 1/4 13 TeV with the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5.5 fb-1. This process is mediated by the s -> uu over bar d quark-level transition, where the b quark in the E-b baryon is a spectator in the decay. Averaging the results obtained using the two A0b decay modes, A0b -> A thorn c x-- and A0b -> A thorn c x--x- thorn x--, the relative production ratio is measured to be ofE-b =fA0b thorn BoE-b -> A0bx-- thorn 1/4 o7.3 ⠂ 0.8 ⠂ 0.6 thorn x 10-4. Here the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively, and fE-bofA0b thorn is the fragmentation fraction for a b quark into a E-b (A0b) baryon. Using an independent measurement of fE-b =fA0b, the branching fraction BoE-b -> A0bx-- thorn 1/4 o0.89 ⠂ 0.10 ⠂ 0.07 ⠂ 0.29 thorn % is obtained, where the last uncertainty is due to the assumed SU(3) flavor symmetry in the determination of fE-b =fA0b.
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Gil-Dominguez, F., Alarcon, J. M., & Weiss, C. (2023). Proton charge radius extraction from muon scattering at MUSE using dispersively improved chiral effective field theory. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 074026–14pp.
Abstract: The MUSE experiment at Paul Scherrer Institute will perform the first measurement of low-energy muon-proton elastic scattering (muon lab momenta 115-210 MeV) with the aim of determining the proton charge radius. We study the prospects for the proton radius extraction using the theoretical framework of dispersively improved chiral effective field theory (DI.EFT). It connects the proton radii with the finite-Q(2) behavior of the form factors through complex analyticity and enables the use of data up to Q(2) similar to 0.1 GeV2 for radius extraction. We quantify the sensitivity of the μp cross section to the proton charge radius, the theoretical uncertainty of the cross section predictions, and the size of two-photon exchange corrections. We find that the optimal kinematics for radius extraction at MUSE is at momenta 210 MeV and Q(2) similar to 0.05-0.08 GeV2. We compare the performance of electron and muon scattering in the same kinematics. As a by-product, we obtain explicit predictions for the μp and ep cross sections at MUSE as functions of the assumed value of the proton radius.
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Real, D., Calvo, D., Zornoza, J. D., Manzaneda, M., Gozzini, R., Ricolfe-Viala, C., et al. (2024). Fast Coincidence Filter for Silicon Photomultiplier Dark Count Rate Rejection. Sensors, 24(7), 2084–12pp.
Abstract: Silicon Photomultipliers find applications across various fields. One potential Silicon Photomultiplier application domain is neutrino telescopes, where they may enhance the angular resolution. However, the elevated dark count rate associated with Silicon Photomultipliers represents a significant challenge to their widespread utilization. To address this issue, it is proposed to use Silicon Photomultipliers and Photomultiplier Tubes together. The Photomultiplier Tube signals serve as a trigger to mitigate the dark count rate, thereby preventing undue saturation of the available bandwidth. This paper presents an investigation into a fast and resource-efficient method for filtering the Silicon Photomultiplier dark count rate. A low-resource and fast coincident filter has been developed, which removes the Silicon Photomultiplier dark count rate by using as a trigger the Photomultiplier Tube input signals. The architecture of the coincidence filter, together with the first results obtained, which validate the effectiveness of this method, is presented.
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Bas i Beneito, A., Gargalionis, J., Herrero-Garcia, J., Santamaria, A., & Schmidt, M. A. (2024). An EFT approach to baryon number violation: lower limits on the new physics scale and correlations between nucleon decay modes. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 004–37pp.
Abstract: Baryon number is an accidental symmetry of the Standard Model at the Lagrangian level. Its violation is arguably one of the most compelling phenomena predicted by physics beyond the Standard Model. Furthermore, there is a large experimental effort to search for it including the Hyper-K, DUNE, JUNO, and THEIA experiments. Therefore, an agnostic, model-independent, analysis of baryon number violation using the power of Effective Field Theory is very timely. In particular, in this work we study the contribution of dimension six and seven effective operators to |triangle(B – L)| = 0, 2 nucleon decays taking into account the effects of Renormalisation Group Evolution. We obtain lower limits on the energy scale of each operator and study the correlations between different decay modes. We find that for some operators the effect of running is very significant.
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Easa, H., Gregoire, T., Stolarski, D., & Cosme, C. (2024). Baryogenesis and dark matter in multiple hidden sectors. Phys. Rev. D, 109(7), 075003–29pp.
Abstract: We explore a mechanism for producing the baryon asymmetry and dark matter in models with multiple hidden sectors that are Standard -Model -like but with varying Higgs mass parameters. If the field responsible for reheating the Standard Model and the exotic sectors carries an asymmetry, it can be converted into a baryon asymmetry using the standard sphaleron process. A hidden sector with positive Higgs mass squared can accommodate dark matter with its baryon asymmetry, and the larger abundance of dark matter relative to baryons is due to dark sphalerons being active all the way down the hidden sector QCD scale. This scenario predicts that dark matter is clustered in large dark nuclei and gives a lower bound on the effective relativistic degrees of freedom, Delta N eff greater than or similar to 0 .05 , which may be observable in the nextgeneration cosmic microwave background experiment CMB-S4.
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Timar, J. et al, & Algora, A. (2019). Experimental Evidence for Transverse Wobbling in Pd-105. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(6), 062501–6pp.
Abstract: New rotational bands built on the nu(h(11/2)) configuration have been identified in Pd-105. Two bands built on this configuration show the characteristics of transverse wobbling: the Delta I = 1 transitions between them have a predominant E2 component and the wobbling energy decreases with increasing spin. The properties of the observed wobbling bands are in good agreement with theoretical results obtained using constrained triaxial covariant density functional theory and quantum particle rotor model calculations. This provides the first experimental evidence for transverse wobbling bands based on a one-neutron configuration, and also represents the first observation of wobbling motion in the A similar to 100 mass region.
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Alvarez-Castillo, D. E., Blaschke, D. B., Grunfeld, A. G., & Pagura, V. P. (2019). Third family of compact stars within a nonlocal chiral quark model equation of state. Phys. Rev. D, 99(6), 063010–19pp.
Abstract: A class of hybrid compact star equations of state is investigated that joins by a Maxwell construction a low-density phase of hadronic matter, modeled by a relativistic mean-field approach with excluded nucleon volume, with a high-density phase of color superconducting two-flavor quark matter, described within a nonlocal covariant chiral quark model. It is found that the occurrence of a stable branch of hybrid compact stars requires a nonvanishing vector meson coupling in the quark model that exceeds a minimal value which depends on the presence of a diquark condensate. It is shown that these hybrid stars do not form a third family disconnected from the second family of ordinary neutron stars unless additional (de) confining effects are introduced with a density-dependent bag pressure. A suitably chosen density dependence of the vector meson coupling assures that at the same time the 2M(circle dot) maximum mass constraint is fulfilled on the hybrid star branch. A twofold interpolation method is realized which implements both the density dependence of a confining bag pressure at the onset of the hadron-to-quark matter transition and the stiffening of quark matter at higher densities by a density-dependent vector meson coupling. For three parametrizations of this class of hybrid equation of state the properties of corresponding compact star sequences are presented, including mass twins of neutron and hybrid stars at 2.00, 1.39 and 1.20 M-circle dot, respectively, and the hybrid compact star (third) families. The sensitivity of the hybrid equation of state and the corresponding compact star sequences to variations of the interpolation parameters at the 10% level is investigated and it is found that the feature of third family solutions for compact stars is robust against such a variation. This advanced description of hybrid star matter allows us to interpret GW170817 as a merger not only of two neutron stars but also of a neutron star with a hybrid star or of two hybrid stars.
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