|
Lerendegui-Marco, J., Balibrea-Correa, J., Babiano-Suarez, V., Ladarescu, I., & Domingo-Pardo, C. (2022). Towards machine learning aided real-time range imaging in proton therapy. Sci Rep, 12(1), 2735–17pp.
Abstract: Compton imaging represents a promising technique for range verification in proton therapy treatments. In this work, we report on the advantageous aspects of the i-TED detector for proton-range monitoring, based on the results of the first Monte Carlo study of its applicability to this field. i-TED is an array of Compton cameras, that have been specifically designed for neutron-capture nuclear physics experiments, which are characterized by gamma-ray energies spanning up to 5-6 MeV, rather low gamma-ray emission yields and very intense neutron induced gamma-ray backgrounds. Our developments to cope with these three aspects are concomitant with those required in the field of hadron therapy, especially in terms of high efficiency for real-time monitoring, low sensitivity to neutron backgrounds and reliable performance at the high gamma-ray energies. We find that signal-to-background ratios can be appreciably improved with i-TED thanks to its light-weight design and the low neutron-capture cross sections of its LaCl3 crystals, when compared to other similar systems based on LYSO, CdZnTe or LaBr3. Its high time-resolution (CRT similar to 500 ps) represents an additional advantage for background suppression when operated in pulsed HT mode. Each i-TED Compton module features two detection planes of very large LaCl3 monolithic crystals, thereby achieving a high efficiency in coincidence of 0.2% for a point-like 1 MeV gamma-ray source at 5 cm distance. This leads to sufficient statistics for reliable image reconstruction with an array of four i-TED detectors assuming clinical intensities of 10(8) protons per treatment point. The use of a two-plane design instead of three-planes has been preferred owing to the higher attainable efficiency for double time-coincidences than for threefold events. The loss of full-energy events for high energy gamma-rays is compensated by means of machine-learning based algorithms, which allow one to enhance the signal-to-total ratio up to a factor of 2.
|
|
|
Hati, C., Patra, S., Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2017). Towards gauge coupling unification in left-right symmetric SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) theories. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 015004–9pp.
Abstract: We consider the possibility of gauge coupling unification within the simplest realizations of the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) gauge theory. We present a first exploration of the renormalization group equations governing the “bottom-up” evolution of the gauge couplings in a generic model with free normalization for the generators. Interestingly, we find that for a SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) symmetry breaking scale M-X as low as a few TeV one can achieve unification in the presence of leptonic octets. We briefly comment on possible grand unified theory frameworks which can embed the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) model as well as possible implications, such as lepton flavor violating physics at the LHC.
|
|
|
Hueso-Gonzalez, F., Ballester, F., Perez-Calatayud, J., Siebert, F. A., & Vijande, J. (2017). Towards clinical application of RayStretch for heterogeneity corrections in LDR permanent I-125 prostate brachytherapy. Brachytherapy, 16(3), 616–623.
Abstract: PURPOSE: RayStretch is a simple algorithm proposed for heterogeneity corrections in low-dose-rate brachytherapy. It is built on top of TG-43 consensus data, and it has been validated with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. In this study, we take a real clinical prostate implant with 71 1251 seeds as reference and we apply RayStretch to analyze its performance in worst-case scenarios. METHODS AND MATERIALS: To do so, we design two cases where large calcifications are located in the prostate lobules. RayStretch resilience under various calcification density values is also explored. Comparisons against MC calculations are performed. RESULTS: Dose volume histogram related parameters like prostate D-90, rectum D-2cc, or urethra D-10 obtained with RayStretch agree within a few percent with the detailed MC results for all cases considered. CONCLUSIONS: The robustness and compatibility of RayStretch with commercial treatment planning systems indicate its applicability in clinical practice for dosimetric corrections in prostate calcifications. Its use during intraoperative ultrasound planning is foreseen.
|
|
|
Holz, S., Plenter, J., Xiao, C. W., Dato, T., Hanhart, C., Kubis, B., et al. (2021). Towards an improved understanding of eta -> gamma*gamma *. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(11), 1002–15pp.
Abstract: We argue that high-quality data on the reaction e(+)e(-) -> pi(+) pi(-) eta will allow one to determine the doubly-virtual form factor eta -> gamma*gamma* in a model-independent way with controlled accuracy. This is an important step towards a reliable evaluation of the hadronic light-by-light scattering contribution to the anomalous magnetic moment of themuon. When analyzing the existing data for e(+) e(-) -> pi(+) pi(-) eta for total energies squared k(2) > 1GeV(2), we demonstrate that the effect of the a(2) meson provides a natural breaking mechanism for the commonly employed factorization ansatz in the doubly-virtual form factor F-eta gamma*gamma* (q(2), k(2)). However, better data are needed to draw firm conclusions.
|
|
|
Baeza-Ballesteros, J., Donini, A., Molina-Terriza, G., Monrabal, F., & Simon, A. (2024). Towards a realistic setup for a dynamical measurement of deviations from Newton's 1/r2 law: the impact of air viscosity. Eur. Phys. J. C, 84(6), 596–20pp.
Abstract: A novel experimental setup to measure deviations from the 1/r(2) distance dependence of Newtonian gravity was proposed in Donini and Marimon (Eur Phys J C 76:696, 2016). The underlying theoretical idea was to study the orbits of a microscopically-sized planetary system composed of a “Satellite”, with mass m(S) similar to O(10-9) g, and a “Planet”, with mass M-P similar to O(10-5) g at an initial distance of hundreds of microns. The detection of precession of the orbit in this system would be an unambiguous indication of a central potential with terms that scale with the distance differently from 1/r. This is a huge advantage with respect to the measurement of the absolute strength of the attraction between two bodies, as most electrically-induced background potentials do indeed scale as 1/r. Detection of orbit precession is unaffected by these effects, allowing for better sensitivities. In Baeza-Ballesteros et al. (Eur Phys J C 82:154, 2022), the impact of other subleading backgrounds that may induce orbit precession, such as, e.g., the electrical Casimir force or general relativity, was studied in detail. It was found that the proposed setup could test Yukawa-like corrections, alpha x exp(-r/lambda), to the 1/r potential with couplings as low as alpha similar to 10(-2) for distances as small as lambda similar to 10 μm, improving by roughly an order of magnitude present bounds. In this paper, we start to move from a theoretical study of the proposal to a more realistic implementation of the experimental setup. As a first step, we study the impact of air viscosity on the proposed setup and see how the setup should be modified in order to preserve the theoretical sensitivity achieved in Donini and Marimon (2016) and Baeza-Ballesteros et al. (2022).
|
|
|
Bennett, J. J., Buldgen, G., de Salas, P. F., Drewes, M., Gariazzo, S., Pastor, S., et al. (2021). Towards a precision calculation of the effective number of neutrinos N-eff in the Standard Model. Part II. Neutrino decoupling in the presence of flavour oscillations and finite-temperature QED. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 073–33pp.
Abstract: We present in this work a new calculation of the standard-model benchmark value for the effective number of neutrinos, N-eff(SM), that quantifies the cosmological neutrinoto-photon energy densities. The calculation takes into account neutrino flavour oscillations, finite-temperature effects in the quantum electrodynamics plasma to O(e(3)), where e is the elementary electric charge, and a full evaluation of the neutrino-neutrino collision integral. We provide furthermore a detailed assessment of the uncertainties in the benchmark N(eff)(SM )value, through testing the value's dependence on (i) optional approximate modelling of the weak collision integrals, (ii) measurement errors in the physical parameters of the weak sector, and (iii) numerical convergence, particularly in relation to momentum discretisation. Our new, recommended standard-model benchmark is N-eff(SM) 3.0440 +/- 0.0002, where the nominal uncertainty is attributed predominantly to errors incurred in the numerical solution procedure (vertical bar delta N-eff vertical bar similar to 10(-4)), augmented by measurement errors in the solar mixing angle sin(2) theta(12) (vertical bar delta N-eff vertical bar similar to 10(-4)).
|
|
|
Du, M. L., Albaladejo, M., Fernandez-Soler, P., Guo, F. K., Hanhart, C., Meissner, U. G., et al. (2018). Towards a new paradigm for heavy-light meson spectroscopy. Phys. Rev. D, 98(9), 094018–8pp.
Abstract: Since 2003 many new hadrons, including the lowest-lying positive-parity charm-strange mesons D*(s0) (2317) and D-s1 (2460), have been observed that do not conform with quark-model expectations. It was recently demonstrated that various puzzles in the charm-meson spectrum find a natural resolution if the SU(3) multiplets for the lightest scalar and axial-vector states, among them the D*(s0) (2317) and the D-s1 (2460), owe their existence to the nonperturbative dynamics of Goldstone-boson scattering off D-(s) and D*((s)) mesons. Most importantly the ordering of the lightest strange and nonstrange scalars becomes natural. We demonstrate for the first time that this mechanism is strongly supported by the recent high quality data on the B- -> D+ pi(-)pi(-) provided by the LHCb experiment. This implies that the lowest quark-model positive-parity charm mesons, together with their bottom counterparts, if realized in nature, do not form the ground-state multiplet. This is similar to the pattern that has been established for the scalar mesons made from light up, down, and strange quarks, where the lowest multiplet is considered to be made of states not described by the quark model. In a broader view, the hadron spectrum must be viewed as more than a collection of quark-model states.
|
|
|
Accettura, C. et al, & Zurita, J. (2023). Towards a muon collider. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(9), 864–110pp.
Abstract: A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.
|
|
|
Dorigo, T. et al, Ramos, A., & Ruiz de Austri, R. (2023). Toward the end-to-end optimization of particle physics instruments with differentiable programming. Rev. Phys., 10, 100085– pp.
Abstract: The full optimization of the design and operation of instruments whose functioning relies on the interaction of radiation with matter is a super-human task, due to the large dimensionality of the space of possible choices for geometry, detection technology, materials, data-acquisition, and information-extraction techniques, and the interdependence of the related parameters. On the other hand, massive potential gains in performance over standard, “experience-driven” layouts are in principle within our reach if an objective function fully aligned with the final goals of the instrument is maximized through a systematic search of the configuration space. The stochastic nature of the involved quantum processes make the modeling of these systems an intractable problem from a classical statistics point of view, yet the construction of a fully differentiable pipeline and the use of deep learning techniques may allow the simultaneous optimization of all design parameters.
|
|
|
AGATA Collaboration(Ralet, D. et al), Gadea, A., & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2017). Toward lifetime and g factor measurements of short-lived states in the vicinity of Pb-208. Phys. Scr., 92(5), 054004–4pp.
Abstract: The multi-nucleon transfer reaction mechanism was used to produce and study nuclei in the vicinity of 208Pb. This mass region is a test case for the nuclear shell model. The mass identification of the fragments was performed with the large acceptance magnetic spectrometer VAMOS++ coupled to the AGATA gamma-tracking array. This experiment aimed to determine both lifetimes and gyromagnetic ratios of excited states with the Cologne plunger device. The analysis indicates promising results with the possibility to determine several new lifetimes in this region.
|
|