Tain, J. L. et al, Algora, A., Estevez, E., Rubio, B., Valencia, E., & Jordan, D. (2011). Beta Decay Studies of Neutron Rich Nuclei Using Total Absorption Gamma-ray Spectroscopy and Delayed Neutron Measurements. J. Korean Phys. Soc., 59(2), 1499–1502.
Abstract: A complete characterisation of the beta-decay of neutron-rich nuclei can be obtained from the measurement of beta-delayed gamma rays and, whenever the process is energetically possible, beta-delayed neutrons. The accurate determination of the beta-intensity distribution and the beta-delayed neutron emission probability is of great relevance in the fields of reactor technology and nuclear astrophysics. A programme for combined measurements using the total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy technique and both neutron counters and neutron time-of-flight spectrometers is presented.
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Rubio, B., Gelletly, W., Algora, A., Nacher, E., & Tain, J. L. (2017). Beta decay studies with total absorption spectroscopy and the Lucrecia spectrometer at ISOLDE. J. Phys. G, 44(8), 084004–25pp.
Abstract: Here we present the experimental activities carried out at ISOLDE with the total absorption spectrometer Lucrecia, a large 4 pi scintillator detector designed to absorb a full gamma cascade following beta decay. This spectrometer is designed to measure beta-feeding to excited states without the systematic error called Pandemonium. The set up allows the measurement of decays of very short half life. Experimental results from several campaigns, that focus on the determination of the shapes of beta-decaying nuclei by measuring their beta decay strength distributions as a function of excitation energy in the daughter nucleus, are presented.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., Heisenberg, L., Olmo, G. J., & Rubiera-Garcia, D. (2018). Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity. Phys. Rep., 727, 1–129.
Abstract: General Relativity has shown an outstanding observational success in the scales where it has been directly tested. However, modifications have been intensively explored in the regimes where it seems either incomplete or signals its own limit of validity. In particular, the breakdown of unitarity near the Planck scale strongly suggests that General Relativity needs to be modified at high energies and quantum gravity effects are expected to be important. This is related to the existence of spacetime singularities when the solutions of General Relativity are extrapolated to regimes where curvatures are large. In this sense, Born-Infeld inspired modifications of gravity have shown an extraordinary ability to regularise the gravitational dynamics, leading to non-singular cosmologies and regular black hole spacetimes in a very robust manner and without resorting to quantum gravity effects. This has boosted the interest in these theories in applications to stellar structure, compact objects, inflationary scenarios, cosmological singularities, and black hole and wormhole physics, among others. We review the motivations, various formulations, and main results achieved within these theories, including their observational viability, and provide an overview of current open problems and future research opportunities.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Remon Alepuz, C., et al. (2017). Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions in the forward region in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 025–22pp.
Abstract: Bose-Einstein correlations of same-sign charged pions, produced in proton-proton collisions at a 7TeV centre-of-mass energy, are studied using a data sample collected by the LHCb experiment. The signature for Bose-Einstein correlations is observed in the form of an enhancement of pairs of like-sign charged pions with small four-momentum difference squared. The charged-particle multiplicity dependence of the Bose-Einstein correlation parameters describing the correlation strength and the size of the emitting source is investigated, determining both the correlation radius and the chaoticity parameter. The measured correlation radius is found to increase as a function of increasing charged-particle multiplicity, while the chaoticity parameter is seen to decrease.
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Blennow, M., Fernandez-Martinez, E., Hernandez-Garcia, J., Lopez-Pavon, J., Marcano, X., & Naredo-Tuero, D. (2023). Bounds on lepton non-unitarity and heavy neutrino mixing. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 030–41pp.
Abstract: We present an updated and improved global fit analysis of current flavour and electroweak precision observables to derive bounds on unitarity deviations of the leptonic mixing matrix and on the mixing of heavy neutrinos with the active flavours. This new analysis is motivated by new and updated experimental results on key observables such as V-ud, the invisible decay width of the Z boson and the W boson mass. It also improves upon previous studies by considering the full correlations among the different observables and explicitly calibrating the test statistic, which may present significant deviations from a & chi;(2) distribution. The results are provided for three different Type-I seesaw scenarios: the minimal scenario with only two additional right-handed neutrinos, the next to minimal one with three extra neutrinos, and the most general one with an arbitrary number of heavy neutrinos that we parametrise via a generic deviation from a unitary leptonic mixing matrix. Additionally, we also analyze the case of generic deviations from unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix, not necessarily induced by the presence of additional neutrinos. This last case relaxes some correlations among the parameters and is able to provide a better fit to the data. Nevertheless, inducing only leptonic unitarity deviations avoiding both the correlations implied by the right-handed neutrino extension as well as more strongly constrained operators is challenging and would imply significantly more complex UV completions.
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Coloma, P., Esteban, I., Gonzalez-Garcia, M. C., Larizgoitia, L., Monrabal, F., & Palomares-Ruiz, S. (2022). Bounds on new physics with data of the Dresden-II reactor experiment and COHERENT. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 037–33pp.
Abstract: Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering was first experimentally established five years ago by the COHERENT experiment using neutrinos from the spallation neutron source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The first evidence of observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with reactor antineutrinos has now been reported by the Dresden-II reactor experiment, using a germanium detector. In this paper, we present constraints on a variety of beyond the Standard Model scenarios using the new Dresden-II data. In particular, we explore the constraints imposed on neutrino nonstandard interactions, neutrino magnetic moments, and several models with light scalar or light vector mediators. We also quantify the impact of their combination with COHERENT (CsI and Ar) data. In doing so, we highlight the synergies between spallation neutron source and nuclear reactor experiments regarding beyond the Standard Model searches, as well as the advantages of combining data obtained with different nuclear targets. We also study the possible signal from beyond the Standard Model scenarios due to elastic scattering off electrons (which would pass selection cuts of the COHERENT CsI and the Dresden-II experiments) and find more stringent constraints in certain parts of the parameter space than those obtained considering coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering.
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Romero-Barrientos, J., Marquez Damian, J. I., Molina, F., Zambra, M., Aguilera, P., Lopez-Usquiano, F., et al. (2022). Calculation of kinetic parameters beta eff and L with modified open source Monte Carlo code OpenMC(TD). Nucl. Eng. Technol., 54(3), 811–816.
Abstract: This work presents the methodology used to expand the capabilities of the Monte Carlo code OpenMC for the calculation of reactor kinetic parameters: effective delayed neutron fraction beff and neutron generation time L. The modified code, OpenMC(Time-Dependent) or OpenMC(TD), was then used to calculate the effective delayed neutron fraction by using the prompt method, while the neutron generation time was estimated using the pulsed method, fitting L to the decay of the neutron population. OpenMC(TD) is intended to serve as an alternative for the estimation of kinetic parameters when licensed codes are not available. The results obtained are compared to experimental data and MCNP calculated values for 18 benchmark configurations.
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Quintero-Quintero, A., Patiño-Camargo, G., Soriano, A., Palma, J. D., Vilar-Palop, J., Pujades, M. C., et al. (2018). Calibration of a thermoluminescent dosimeter worn over lead aprons in fluoroscopy guided procedures. J. Radiol. Prot., 38(2), 549–563.
Abstract: Fluoroscopy guided interventional procedures provide remarkable benefits to patients. However, medical staff working near the scattered radiation field may be exposed to high cumulative equivalent doses, thus requiring shielding devices such as lead aprons and thyroid collars. In this situation, it remains an acceptable practice to derive equivalent doses to the eye lenses or other unprotected soft tissues with a dosimeter placed above these protective devices. Nevertheless, the radiation backscattered by the lead shield differs from that generated during dosimeter calibration with a water phantom. In this study, a passive personal thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) was modelled by means of the Monte Carlo (MC) code Penelope. The results obtained were validated against measurements performed in reference conditions in a secondary standard dosimetry laboratory. Next, the MC model was used to evaluate the backscatter correction factor needed for the case where the dosimeter is worn over a lead shield to estimate the personal equivalent dose H-p(0.07) to unprotected soft tissues. For this purpose, the TLD was irradiated over a water slab phantom with a photon beam representative of the result of a fluoroscopy beam scattered by a patient. Incident beam angles of 0 degrees and 60 degrees, and lead thicknesses between the TLD and phantom of 0.25 and 0.5 mm Pb were considered. A backscatter correction factor of 1.23 (independent of lead thickness) was calculated comparing the results with those faced in reference conditions (i.e., without lead shield and with an angular incidence of 0 degrees). The corrected dose algorithm was validated in laboratory conditions with dosi-meters irradiated over a thyroid collar and angular incidences of 0 degrees, 40 degrees and 60 degrees, as well as with dosimeters worn by interventional radiologists and cardiologists. The corrected dose algorithm provides a better approach to estimate the equivalent dose to unprotected soft tissues such as eye lenses. Dosimeters that are not shielded from backscatter radiation might underestimate personal equivalent doses when worn over a lead apron and, therefore, should be specifically characterized for this purpose.
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NEXT Collaboration(Martinez-Lema, G. et al), Palmeiro, B., Botas, A., Laing, A., Renner, J., Simon, A., et al. (2018). Calibration of the NEXT-White detector using Kr-83m decays. J. Instrum., 13, P10014–21pp.
Abstract: The NEXT-White (NEW) detector is currently the largest radio-pure high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber with electroluminescent readout in the world. It has been operating at Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) since October 2016. This paper describes the calibrations performed using Kr-83m decays during a long run taken from March to November 2017 (Run II). Krypton calibrations are used to correct for the finite drift-electron lifetime as well as for the dependence of the measured energy on the event transverse position which is caused by variations in solid angle coverage both for direct and reflected light and edge effects. After producing calibration maps to correct for both effects we measure an excellent energy resolution for 41.5 keV point-like deposits of (4.553 +/- 0.010 (stat.) +/- 0.324 (sys.)) % FWHM in the full chamber and (3.804 +/- 0.013 (stat.) +/- 0.112 (sys.)) % FWHM in a restricted fiducial volume. Using naive 1/root E scaling, these values translate into resolutions of (0.5916 +/- 0.0014 (stat.) +/- 0.0421 (sys.)) % FWHM and (0.4943 +/- 0.0017 (stat.) +/- 0.0146 (sys.)) % FWHM at the Q(beta beta) energy of xenon double beta decay (2458 keV), well within range of our target value of 1%.
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Jimenez, R., Kitching, T., Pena-Garay, C., & Verde, L. (2010). Can we measure the neutrino mass hierarchy in the sky? J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 05(5), 035–14pp.
Abstract: Cosmological probes are steadily reducing the total neutrino mass window, resulting in constraints on the neutrino-mass degeneracy as the most significant outcome. In this work we explore the discovery potential of cosmological probes to constrain the neutrino hierarchy, and point out some subtleties that could yield spurious claims of detection. This has an important implication for next generation of double beta decay experiments, that will be able to achieve a positive signal in the case of degenerate or inverted hierarchy of Majorana neutrinos. We find that cosmological experiments that nearly cover the whole sky could in principle distinguish the neutrino hierarchy by yielding 'substantial' evidence for one scenario over the another, via precise measurements of the shape of the matter power spectrum from large scale structure and weak gravitational lensing.
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