Penas, J., Alejo, A., Bembibre, A., Apiñaniz, J. I., Garcia-Garcia, E., Guerrero, C., et al. (2024). Production of carbon-11 for PET preclinical imaging using a high-repetition rate laser-driven proton source. Sci Rep, 14(1), 11448–12pp.
Abstract: Most advanced medical imaging techniques, such as positron-emission tomography (PET), require tracers that are produced in conventional particle accelerators. This paper focuses on the evaluation of a potential alternative technology based on laser-driven ion acceleration for the production of radioisotopes for PET imaging. We report for the first time the use of a high-repetition rate, ultra-intense laser system for the production of carbon-11 in multi-shot operation. Proton bunches with energies up to 10-14 MeV were systematically accelerated in long series at pulse rates between 0.1 and 1 Hz using a PW-class laser. These protons were used to activate a boron target via the 11 \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$<^>{11}$$\end{document} B(p,n) 11 \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$<^>{11}$$\end{document} C nuclear reaction. A peak activity of 234 kBq was obtained in multi-shot operation with laser pulses with an energy of 25 J. Significant carbon-11 production was also achieved for lower pulse energies. The experimental carbon-11 activities measured in this work are comparable to the levels required for preclinical PET, which would be feasible by operating at the repetition rate of current state-of-the-art technology (10 Hz). The scalability of next-generation laser-driven accelerators in terms of this parameter for sustained operation over time could increase these overall levels into the clinical PET range.
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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. (2024). Probing the CP nature of the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling in t(t)over-bar H and tH events with H → b(b)over-bar decays using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Phys. Lett. B, 849, 138469–25pp.
Abstract: The CP properties of the coupling between the Higgs boson and the top quark are investigated using 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 13 TeV. The CP structure of the top quark-Higgs boson Yukawa coupling is probed in events with a Higgs boson decaying into a pair of b-quarks and produced in association with either a pair of top quarks, t (t) over barH or a single top quark, tH. Events containing one or two electrons or muons are used for the measurement. Multivariate techniques are used to select regions enriched in t (t) over barh and tH events, where dedicated SP-sensitive observables are exploited. In an extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a CP-odd admixture in the top-Higgs Yukawa coupling, the mixing angle between CP-even and CP-odd couplings is measured to be alpha = 11 degrees(+52 degrees)(-73 degrees) compatible with the SM prediction corresponding to alpha = 0.
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Rossi, R. R., Sanchez Garcia, G., & Tortola, M. (2024). Probing nuclear properties and neutrino physics with current and future CEνNS experiments. Phys. Rev. D, 109(9), 095044–17pp.
Abstract: The recent observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) with neutrinos from pion decay at rest (N-DAR) sources by the COHERENT Collaboration has raised interest in this process in the search for new physics. Unfortunately, current uncertainties in the determination of nuclear parameters relevant to those processes can hide new physics effects. This is not the case for processes involving lower-energy neutrino sources such as nuclear reactors. Note, however, that a CEvNS measurement with reactor neutrinos depends largely on a (still-missing) precise determination of the quenching factor at very low energies, making its observation more challenging. In the upcoming years, once this signal is confirmed, a combined analysis of N-DAR and reactor CEvNS experiments will be very useful to probe particle and nuclear physics, with a reduced dependence on nuclear uncertainties. In this work, we explore this idea by simultaneously testing the sensitivity of current and future CEvNS experiments to neutrino nonstandard interactions (NSIs) and the neutron root mean square (rms) radius, considering different neutrino sources as well as several detection materials. We show how the interplay between future reactor and accelerator CEvNS experiments can help to get robust constraints on the neutron rms and to break degeneracies between the NSI parameters. Our forecast could be used as a guide to optimize the experimental sensitivity to the parameters under study.
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Irles, A., Marquez, J. P., Pöschl, R., Richard, F., Saibel, A., Yamamoto, H., et al. (2024). Probing gauge-Higgs unification models at the ILC with quark-antiquark forward-backward asymmetry at center-of-mass energies above the Z mass. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(5), 537–17pp.
Abstract: The International Linear Collider (ILC) will allow the precise study of e(-)e(+)-> q (q) over bar interactions at different center-of-mass energies from the Z-pole to 1 TeV. In this paper, we discuss the experimental prospects for measuring differential observables in e(-)e(+)-> b (b) over bar and e(-)e(+) -> c (c) over bar at the ILC baseline energies, 250 and 500 GeV. The study is based on full simulation and reconstruction of the International Large Detector (ILD) concept. Two gauge-Higgs unification models predicting new high-mass resonances beyond the Standard Model are discussed. These models predict sizable deviations of the forward-backward observables at the ILC running above the Z mass and with longitudinally polarized electron and positron beams. The ability of the ILC to probe these models via high-precision measurements of the forward-backward asymmetry is discussed. Alternative scenarios at other energies and beam polarization schemes are also discussed, extrapolating the estimated uncertainties from the two baseline scenarios.
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Jungclaus, A., Doornenbal, P., Acosta, J., Vaquero, V., Browne, F., Cortes, M. L., et al. (2024). Position of the single-particle 3/2- state in 135Sn and the N = 90 subshell closure. Phys. Lett. B, 851, 138561–5pp.
Abstract: The decay of excited states of the nucleus Sn-135, with three neutrons outside the doubly-magic Sn-132 core, was studied in an experiment performed at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory at RIKEN. Several gamma rays emitted from excited Sn-135 ions were observed following one-neutron and one-neutron-one-proton removal from Sn-136 and Sb-137 beams, respectively, on a beryllium target at relativistic energies. Based on the analogy to 133Sn populated via one-neutron removal from Sn-134, an excitation energy of 695(15) keV is assigned to the 3/2(-) state with strongest single-particle character in 135Sn. This result provides the first direct information about the evolution of the neutron shell structure beyond N = 82 and thus allows for a crucial test of shellmodel calculations in this region. The experimental findings are in full agreement with calculations performed employing microscopic effective two-body interactions derived from CD-Bonn and N3LO nucleon-nucleon potentials, which do not predict a pronounced subshell gap at neutron number N=90. The occurrence of such a gap in Sn-140, i.e., when the 1f(7/2) orbital is completely filled, had been proposed in the past, in analogy to the magicity of Ca-48, featuring a completely filled 0f(7/2) orbital one harmonic oscillator shell below.
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Bout, R., Busto, J., Cecchini, V., Charpentier, P., Chapellier, M., Dastgheibi-Fard, A., et al. (2024). Perspectives of a single-anode cylindrical chamber operating in ionization mode and high gas pressure. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(5), 512–14pp.
Abstract: As part of the R2D2 (Rare Decays with Radial Detector) R &D, the use of a gas detector with a spherical or cylindrical cathode, equipped with a single anode and operating at high pressure, was studied for the search of rare phenomena such as neutrinoless double-beta decay. The presented measurements were obtained with a cylindrical detector, covering gas pressures ranging from 1 to 10 bar in argon and 1 to 6 bar in xenon, using both a point-like source of 210 \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$<^>{210} $$\end{document} Po (5.3 MeV alpha \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\alpha $$\end{document} ) and a diffuse source of 222 \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$<^>{222}$$\end{document} Rn (5.5 MeV alpha \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\alpha $$\end{document} ). Analysis and interpretation of the data were developed using the anodic current waveform. Similar detection performances were achieved with both gases, and comparable energy resolutions were measured with both sources. As long as the purity of the gas was sufficient, no significant degradation of the measured energy was observed by increasing the pressure. At the highest operating pressure, an energy resolution better than 1.5% full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) was obtained for both gaseous media, although optimal noise conditions were not reached.
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Nascimento, J. R., Olmo, G. J., Petrov, A. Y., & Porfirio, P. J. (2024). On metric-affine bumblebee model coupled to scalar matter. Nucl. Phys. B, 1004, 116577–10pp.
Abstract: We consider the coupling of the metric-affine bumblebee gravity model to scalar matter and calculate the lower -order contributions to two -point functions of bumblebee and scalar fields in the weak gravity approximation. We also obtain the one -loop effective potentials for both scalar and vector fields.
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Bernabeu, J., Sabulsky, D. O., Sanchez, F., & Segarra, A. (2024). Neutrino mass and nature through its mediation in atomic clock interference. AVS Quantum Sci., 6(1), 014410–8pp.
Abstract: The absolute mass of neutrinos and their nature are presently unknown. Aggregate matter has a coherent weak charge leading to a repulsive interaction mediated by a neutrino pair. The virtual neutrinos are non-relativistic at micron distances, giving a distinct behavior for Dirac versus Majorana mass terms. This effective potential allows for the disentanglement of the Dirac or Majorana nature of the neutrino via magnitude and distance dependence. We propose an experiment to search for this potential based on the concept that the density-dependent interaction of an atomic probe with a material source in one arm of an atomic clock interferometer generates a differential phase. The appropriate geometry of the device is selected using the saturation of the weak potential as a guide. The proposed experiment has the added benefit of being sensitive to gravity at micron distances. A strategy to suppress the competing Casimir-Polder interaction, depending on the electronic structure of the material source, as well as a way to compensate the gravitational interaction in the two arms of the interferometer is discussed.
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Roca, L., Song, J., & Oset, E. (2024). Molecular pentaquarks with hidden charm and double strangeness. Phys. Rev. D, 109(9), 094005–8pp.
Abstract: We analyze theoretically the coupled-channel meson-baryon interaction with global flavor c<overline>cssn and c<overline>csss, where mesons are pseudoscalars or vectors, and baryons have JP = 1/2+ or 3/2+. The aim is to explore whether the nonlinear dynamics inherent in the unitarization process within coupled channels can dynamically generate double- and triple-strange pentaquark-type states (Pcss and Pcsss, respectively), for which there is no experimental evidence to date. We evaluate the s-wave scattering matrix by implementing unitarity in coupled channels, using potential kernels obtained from t-channel vector meson exchange. The required PPV and VVV vertices are obtained from Lagrangians derived through appropriate extensions of the local hidden gauge symmetry approach to the charm sector, while capitalizing on the symmetry of the spin and flavor wave function to evaluate the BBV vertex. We find four different poles in the double strange sector, some of them degenerate in spin. For the triple-strange channel, we find the meson-baryon interaction insufficient to generate a bound or resonance state through the unitary coupled-channel dynamics.
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Chen, M. C., Li, X. Q., Liu, X. G., Medina, O., & Ratz, M. (2024). Modular invariant holomorphic observables. Phys. Lett. B, 852, 138600–13pp.
Abstract: In modular invariant models of flavor, observables must be modular invariant. The observables discussed so far in the literature are functions of the modulus tau and its conjugate, (tau) over bar. We point out that certain combinations of observables depend only on tau , i.e. are meromorphic, and in some cases even holomorphic functions of tau. These functions, which we dub “invariants” in this Letter, are highly constrained, renormalization group invariant, and allow us to derive many of the models' features without the need for extensive parameter scans. We illustrate the robustness of these invariants in two existing models in the literature based on modular symmetries, Gamma(3) and Gamma(5). We find that, in some cases, the invariants give rise to robust relations among physical observables that are independent of tau. Furthermore, there are instances where additional symmetries exist among the invariants. These symmetries are relevant phenomenologically and may provide a dynamical way to realize symmetries of mass matrices.
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