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NEXT Collaboration(Henriques, C. A. O. et al), Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Diaz, J., Felkai, R., et al. (2022). Neutral Bremsstrahlung Emission in Xenon Unveiled. Phys. Rev. X, 12(2), 021005–23pp.
Abstract: We present evidence of non-excimer-based secondary scintillation in gaseous xenon, obtained using both the NEXT-White time projection chamber (TPC) and a dedicated setup. Detailed comparison with first-principle calculations allows us to assign this scintillation mechanism to neutral bremsstrahlung (NBrS), a process that is postulated to exist in xenon that has been largely overlooked. For photon emission below 1000 nm, the NBrS yield increases from about 10(-2) photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1) at pressure-reduced electric field values of 50 V cm(-1) bar(-1) to above 3 x 10(-1) photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1) at 500 V cm(-1) bar(-1). Above 1.5 kV cm(-1) bar(-1), values that are typically employed for electroluminescence, it is estimated that NBrS is present with an intensity around 1 photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1), which is about 2 orders of magnitude lower than conventional, excimer-based electroluminescence. Despite being fainter than its excimeric counterpart, our calculations reveal that NBrS causes luminous backgrounds that can interfere, in either gas or liquid phase, with the ability to distinguish and/or to precisely measure low primary-scintillation signals (S1). In particular, we show this to be the case in the "buffer region, where keeping the electric field below the electroluminescence threshold does not suffice to extinguish secondary scintillation. The electric field leakage in this region should be mitigated to avoid intolerable levels of NBrS emission. Furthermore, we show that this new source of light emission opens up a viable path toward obtaining S2 signals for discrimination purposes in future single-phase liquid TPCs for neutrino and dark matter physics, with estimated yields up to 20-50 photons/e(-) cm(-1).
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NEXT Collaboration, Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Felkai, R., Kekic, M., Lopez-March, N., et al. (2020). Mitigation of backgrounds from cosmogenic Xe-137 in xenon gas experiments using He-3 neutron capture. J. Phys. G, 47(7), 075001–17pp.
Abstract: Xe-136 is used as the target medium for many experiments searching for 0 nu beta beta. Despite underground operation, cosmic muons that reach the laboratory can produce spallation neutrons causing activation of detector materials. A potential background that is difficult to veto using muon tagging comes in the form of Xe-137 created by the capture of neutrons on Xe-136. This isotope decays via beta decay with a half-life of 3.8 min and a Q(beta) of similar to 4.16 MeV. This work proposes and explores the concept of adding a small percentage of He-3 to xenon as a means to capture thermal neutrons and reduce the number of activations in the detector volume. When using this technique we find the contamination from Xe-137 activation can be reduced to negligible levels in tonne and multi-tonne scale high pressure gas xenon neutrinoless double beta decay experiments running at any depth in an underground laboratory.
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NEXT Collaboration(Azevedo, C. D. R. et al), Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., et al. (2018). Microscopic simulation of xenon-based optical TPCs in the presence of molecular additives. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 877, 157–172.
Abstract: We introduce a simulation framework for the transport of high and low energy electrons in xenon-based optical time projection chambers (OTPCs). The simulation relies on elementary cross sections (electron-atom and electron-molecule) and incorporates, in order to compute the gas scintillation, the reaction/quenching rates (atom-atom and atom-molecule) of the first 41 excited states of xenon and the relevant associated excimers, together with their radiative cascade. The results compare positively with observations made in pure xenon and its mixtures with CO2 and CF4 in a range of pressures from 0.1 to 10 bar. This work sheds some light on the elementary processes responsible for the primary and secondary xenon-scintillation mechanisms in the presence of additives, that are of interest to the OTPC technology.
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BABAR Collaboration(Aubert, B. et al), Azzolini, V., Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., Milanes, D. A., & Oyanguren, A. (2010). Measurements of Charged Current Lepton Universality and vertical bar V-us vertical bar Using Tau Lepton Decays to e(-)(nu)over-bar(e)nu(tau), mu(-)(nu)over-bar(mu)nu(tau), pi(-)nu(tau), and K-nu(tau). Phys. Rev. Lett., 105(5), 051602–8pp.
Abstract: Using 467 fb(-1) of e(+)e(-) annihilation data collected with the BABAR detector, we measure B(tau(-)->mu(-)(nu) over bar (mu)nu(tau))/B(tau(-)-> e(-)(nu) over bar (e)nu(tau)) = (0.9796 +/- 0.0016 +/- 0.0036), B(tau(-)->pi(-)nu(tau))/B(tau(-)-> e(-)nu(e)nu(tau)) = (0.5945 +/- 0.0014 +/- 0.0061), and B(tau(-)-> K-nu(tau))/B(tau(-)-> e(-)nu(e)nu(tau)) = (0.03882 +/- 0.00032 +/- 0.00057), where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. From these precision similar to measurements, we test the standard model assumption of μ- e and tau – μcharge current lepton universality and provide determinations of vertical bar V-us vertical bar experimentally independent of the decay of a kaon.
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BABAR Collaboration(del Amo Sanchez, P. et al), Lopez-March, N., Martinez-Vidal, F., & Oyanguren, A. (2011). Measurements of branching fractions, polarizations, and direct CP-violation asymmetries in B+ -> rho K-0*(+) and B+ -> f(0)(980)K*(+) decays. Phys. Rev. D, 83(5), 051101–8pp.
Abstract: We present measurements of the branching fractions, longitudinal polarization, and direct CP-violation asymmetries for the decays B+ -> rho K-0*(+) and B+ -> f(0)(980)K*(+) with a sample of (467 +/- 5) x 10(6)B (B) over bar pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e(+)e(-) collider at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We observe B+ -> rho K-0*(+) with a significance of 5: 3 sigma and measure the branching fraction B(B+ -> rho K-0*(+)) = (4.6 +/- 1.0 +/- 0.4) x 10(-6), the longitudinal polarization f(L) = 0.78 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.03, and the CP-violation asymmetry A(CP) = 0.31 +/- 0.13 +/- 0.03. We observe B+ -> f(0)(980)K*(+) and measure the branching fraction B(B+ -> f(0)(980)K*(+)) x B(f(0)(980) -> pi(+)pi(-)) = (4.2 +/- 0.6 +/- 0.3) x 10(-6) and the CP-violation asymmetry A(CP) = 0.15 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.03. The first uncertainty quoted is statistical and the second is systematic.
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