NEXT Collaboration(Alvarez, V. et al), Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., Gil, A., et al. (2013). Near-intrinsic energy resolution for 30-662 keV gamma rays in a high pressure xenon electroluminescent TPC. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 708, 101–114.
Abstract: We present the design, data and results from the NEXT prototype for Double Beta and Dark Matter (NEXT-DBDM) detector, a high-pressure gaseous natural xenon electroluminescent time projection chamber (TPC) that was built at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It is a prototype of the planned NEXT-100 Xe-136 neutrino-less double beta decay (0 nu beta beta) experiment with the main objectives of demonstrating near-intrinsic energy resolution at energies up to 662 keV and of optimizing the NEXT-100 detector design and operating parameters. Energy resolutions of similar to 1% FWHM for 662 keV gamma rays were obtained at 10 and 15 atm and similar to 5% FWHM for 30 keV fluorescence xenon X-rays. These results demonstrate that 0.5% FWHM resolutions for the 2459 keV hypothetical neutrino-less double beta decay peak are realizable. This energy resolution is a factor 7-20 better than that of the current leading 0 nu beta beta experiments using liquid xenon and thus represents a significant advancement. We present also first results from a track imaging system consisting of 64 silicon photo-multipliers recently installed in NEXT-DBDM that, along with the excellent energy resolution, demonstrates the key functionalities required for the NEXT-100 0 nu beta beta search.
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Gillam, J. E., Solevi, P., Oliver, J. F., & Rafecas, M. (2013). Simulated one-pass list-mode: an approach to on-the-fly system matrix calculation. Phys. Med. Biol., 58(7), 2377–2394.
Abstract: In the development of prototype systems for positron emission tomography a valid and robust image reconstruction algorithm is required. However, prototypes often employ novel detector and system geometries which may change rapidly under optimization. In addition, developing systems generally produce highly granular, or possibly continuous detection domains which require some level of on-the-fly calculation for retention of measurement precision. In this investigation a new method of on-the-fly system matrix calculation is proposed that provides advantages in application to such list-mode systems in terms of flexibility in system modeling. The new method is easily adaptable to complicated system geometries and available computational resources. Detection uncertainty models are used as random number generators to produce ensembles of possible photon trajectories at image reconstruction time for each datum in the measurement list. However, the result of this approach is that the system matrix elements change at each iteration in a non-repetitive manner. The resulting algorithm is considered the simulation of a one-pass list (SOPL) which is generated and the list traversed during image reconstruction. SOPL alters the system matrix in use at each iteration and so behavior within the maximum likelihood-expectation maximization algorithm was investigated. A two-pixel system and a small two dimensional imaging model are used to illustrate the process and quantify aspects of the algorithm. The two-dimensional imaging system showed that, while incurring a penalty in image resolution, in comparison to a non-random equal-computation counterpart, SOPL provides much enhanced noise properties. In addition, enhancement in system matrix quality is straightforward (by increasing the number of samples in the ensemble) so that the resolution penalty can be recovered when desired while retaining improvement in noise properties. Finally the approach is tested and validated against a standard (highly accurate) system matrix using experimental data from a prototype system-the AX-PET.
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Balbinot, R., Fabbri, A., & Mayoral, C. (2013). Hawking effect in BECs acoustic white holes. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 128(2), 16–21pp.
Abstract: Bogoliubov pseudoparticle creation in a BEC undergoing a WH-like flow is investigated analytically in the case of a one-dimensional geometry with stepwise homogeneous regions. Comparison of the results with those corresponding to a BH flow is performed. The implications for the analogous gravitational problem is discussed.
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Felipe, R. G., Serodio, H., & Silva, J. P. (2013). Models with three Higgs doublets in the triplet representations of A(4) or S-4. Phys. Rev. D, 87(5), 055010–7pp.
Abstract: We consider the quark sector of theories containing three scalar SU(2)(L) doublets in the triplet representation of A(4) (or S-4) and three generations of quarks in arbitrary A(4) (or S-4) representations. We show that for all possible choices of quark field representations and for all possible alignments of the Higgs vacuum expectation values that can constitute global minima of the scalar potential, it is not possible to obtain simultaneously nonvanishing quark masses and a nonvanishing CP-violating phase in the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa quark mixing matrix. As a result, in this minimal form, models with three scalar fields in the triplet representation of A(4) or S-4 cannot be extended to the quark sector in a way consistent with experiment.
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Botella-Soler, V., Oteo, J. A., Ros, J., & Glendinning, P. (2013). Lyapunov exponent and topological entropy plateaus in piecewise linear maps. J. Phys. A, 46(12), 125101–26pp.
Abstract: We consider a two-parameter family of piecewise linear maps in which the moduli of the two slopes take different values. We provide numerical evidence of the existence of some parameter regions in which the Lyapunov exponent and the topological entropy remain constant. Analytical proof of this phenomenon is also given for certain cases. Surprisingly however, the systems with that property are not conjugate as we prove by using kneading theory.
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Diamanti, R., Giusarma, E., Mena, O., Archidiacono, M., & Melchiorri, A. (2013). Dark radiation and interacting scenarios. Phys. Rev. D, 87(6), 063509–8pp.
Abstract: An extra dark radiation component can be present in the universe in the form of sterile neutrinos, axions or other very light degrees of freedom which may interact with the dark matter sector. We derive here the cosmological constraints on the dark radiation abundance, on its effective velocity and on its viscosity parameter from current data in dark radiation-dark matter coupled models. The cosmological bounds on the number of extra dark radiation species do not change significantly when considering interacting schemes. We also find that the constraints on the dark radiation effective velocity are degraded by an order of magnitude while the errors on the viscosity parameter are a factor of two larger when considering interacting scenarios. If future Cosmic Microwave Background data are analyzed assuming a noninteracting model but the dark radiation and the dark matter sectors interact in nature, the reconstructed values for the effective velocity and for the viscosity parameter will be shifted from their standard 1/3 expectation, namely c(eff)(2) = 0.34(-0.003)(+0.006) and c(vis)(2) = 0.29(-0.001)(+0.002) at 95% C.L. for the future COrE mission data.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., & Villanueva-Perez, P. (2013). Search for direct CP violation in singly Cabibbo-suppressed D-+/- -> K+K-pi(+/-) decays. Phys. Rev. D, 87(5), 052010–12pp.
Abstract: We report on a search for direct CP violation in the singly Cabibbo-suppressed decay D+ -> K+K-pi(+/-) using a data sample of 476 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data accumulated with the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II electron-positron collider, running at and just below the energy of the Upsilon(4S) resonance. The integrated CP-violating decay rate asymmetry A(CP) is determined to be (0.37 +/- 0.30 +/- 0.15)%. Model-independent and model-dependent Dalitz plot analysis techniques are used to search for CP-violating asymmetries in the various intermediate states. We find no evidence for CP-violation asymmetry.
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BABAR Collaboration(Lees, J. P. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2013). Measurement of CP asymmetries and branching fractions in charmless two-body B-meson decays to pions and kaons. Phys. Rev. D, 87(5), 052009–16pp.
Abstract: We present improved measurements of CP-violation parameters in the decays B-0 -> pi(+)pi(-), B-0 -> K+pi(-), and B-0 -> pi(0)pi(0), and of the branching fractions for B-0 -> pi(0)pi(0) and B-0 -> K-0 pi(0). The results are obtained with the full data set collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, corresponding to (467 +/- 5) x 10(6) B (B) over bar pairs. We find the CP-violation parameter values and branching fractions: S pi+pi- = -0.68 +/- 0.10 +/- 0.03, C-pi+pi(-) = -0.25 +/- 0.08 +/- 0.02, A(K+pi-) = -0.107 +/- 0.016(-0.004)(+0.006), C pi(0)pi(0) = -0.43 +/- 0.26 +/- 0.05, B(B-0 -> pi(0)pi(0)) = (1.83 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.13) x 10(-6), B(B-0 -> pi(0)pi(0)) = (10.1 +/- 0.6 +/- 0.4) x 10(-6), where in each case, the first uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic. We observe CP violation with a significance of 6.7 standard deviations for B-0 -> pi(+)pi(-) and 6.1 standard deviations for B-0 -> K+pi(-), including systematic uncertainties. Constraints on the unitarity triangle angle alpha are determined from the isospin relations among the B -> pi pi rates and asymmetries. Considering only the solution preferred by the Standard Model, we find alpha to be in the range [71 degrees,109 degrees] at the 68% confidence level.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fassi, F., Ferrer, A., et al. (2013). Measurement of upsilon production in 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS. Phys. Rev. D, 87(5), 052004–31pp.
Abstract: Using 1.8 fb(-1) of pp collisions at a center- of- mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider, we present measurements of the production cross sections of Upsilon(1S,2S,3S) mesons. Upsilon mesons are reconstructed using the dimuon decay mode. Total production cross sections for p(T) < 70 GeV and in the rapidity interval vertical bar y(Upsilon)vertical bar < 2. 25 are measured to be, 8.01 +/- 0.02 +/- 0.36 +/- 0.31 nb, 2.05 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.08 nb, and 0.92 +/- 0.01 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.04 nb, respectively, with uncertainties separated into statistical, systematic, and luminosity measurement effects. In addition, differential cross section times dimuon branching fractions for Upsilon(1S), Upsilon(2S), and Upsilon(3S) as a function of Upsilon transverse momentum pT and rapidity are presented. These cross sections are obtained assuming unpolarized production. If the production polarization is fully transverse or longitudinal with no azimuthal dependence in the helicity frame, the cross section may vary by approximately +/- 20%. If a nontrivial azimuthal dependence is considered, integrated cross sections may be significantly enhanced by a factor of 2 or more. We compare our results to several theoretical models of Upsilon meson production, finding that none provide an accurate description of our data over the full range of Upsilon transverse momenta accessible with this data set.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo Gimenez, V., Costa, M. J., Fassi, F., Ferrer, A., et al. (2013). Search for new phenomena in events with three charged leptons at root s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 87(5), 052002–33pp.
Abstract: A generic search for anomalous production of events with at least three charged leptons is presented. The search uses a pp-collision data sample at a center-of-mass energy of root s = 7 TeV corresponding to 4.6 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected in 2011 by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. Events are required to contain at least two electrons or muons, while the third lepton may either be an additional electron or muon, or a hadronically decaying tau lepton. Events are categorized by the presence or absence of a reconstructed tau-lepton or Z-boson candidate decaying to leptons. No significant excess above backgrounds expected from Standard Model processes is observed. Results are presented as upper limits on event yields from non-Standard-Model processes producing at least three prompt, isolated leptons, given as functions of lower bounds on several kinematic variables. Fiducial efficiencies for model testing are also provided. The use of the results is illustrated by setting upper limits on the production of doubly charged Higgs bosons decaying to same-sign lepton pairs.
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