Beneke, M., Hellmann, C., & Ruiz-Femenia, P. (2015). Non-relativistic pair annihilation of nearly mass degenerate neutralinos and charginos III. Computation of the Sommerfeld enhancements. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 115–57pp.
Abstract: This paper concludes the presentation of the non-relativistic effective field theory formalism designed to calculate the radiative corrections that enhance the pair-annihilation cross sections of slowly moving neutralinos and charginos within the general minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). While papers I and II focused on the computation of the tree-level annihilation rates that feed into the short-distance part, here we describe in detail the method to obtain the Sommerfeld factors that contain the enhanced long-distance corrections. This includes the computation of the potential interactions in the MSSM, which are provided in compact analytic form, and a novel solution of the multi-state Schrodinger equation that is free from the numerical instabilities generated by large mass splittings between the scattering states. Our results allow for a precise computation of the MSSM neutralino dark matter relic abundance and pair-annihilation rates in the present Universe, when Sommerfeld enhancements are important.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Measurement of forward Z -> e(+)e(-) production at root s=8 TeV. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 109–21pp.
Abstract: A measurement of the cross-section for Z-boson production in the forward region of pp collisions at 8 TeV centre-of-mass energy is presented. The measurement is based on a sample of Z -> e(+)e(-) decays reconstructed using the LHCb detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.0 fb(-1). The acceptance is defined by the requirements 2.0 < eta < 4.5 and p(T) > 20 GeV for the pseudorapidities and transverse momenta of the leptons. Their invariant mass is required to lie in the range 60-120 GeV. The cross-section is determined to be sigma(pp -> Z -> e(+)e(-)) = 93.81 +/- 0.41(stat) +/- 1.48(syst) +/- 1.14(lumi) pb, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second reflects all systematic effects apart from that arising from the luminosity, which is given as the third uncertainty. Differential cross-sections are presented as functions of the Z-boson rapidity and of the angular variable phi*, which is related to the Z-boson transverse momentum.
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Vincent, A. C., Fernandez Martinez, E., Hernandez, P., Mena, O., & Lattanzi, M. (2015). Revisiting cosmological bounds on sterile neutrinos. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 006–23pp.
Abstract: We employ state-of-the art cosmological observables including supernova surveys and BAO information to provide constraints on the mass and mixing angle of a non-resonantly produced sterile neutrino species, showing that cosmology can effectively rule out sterile neutrinos which decay between BBN and the present day. The decoupling of an additional heavy neutrino species can modify the time dependence of the Universe's expansion between BBN and recombination and, in extreme cases, lead to an additional matter-dominated period; while this could naively lead to a younger Universe with a larger Hubble parameter, it could later be compensated by the extra radiation expected in the form of neutrinos from sterile decay. However, recombination-era observables including the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the shift parameter R-CMB and the sound horizon r(s) from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) severely constrain this scenario. We self-consistently include the full time-evolution of the coupled sterile neutrino and standard model sectors in an MCMC, showing that if decay occurs after BBN, the sterile neutrino is essentially bounded by the constraint sin(2) theta less than or similar to 0.026(m(s)/eV)(-2).
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Egea Canet, F. J. et al, Gadea, A., & Huyuk, T. (2015). A New Front-End High-Resolution Sampling Board for the New-Generation Electronics of EXOGAM2 and NEDA Detectors. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 62(3), 1056–1062.
Abstract: This paper presents the final design and results of the FADC Mezzanine for the EXOGAM (EXOtic GAMma array spectrometer) and NEDA (Neutron Detector Array) detectors. The measurements performed include those of studying the effective number of bits, the energy resolution using HP-Ge detectors, as well as timing histograms and discrimination performance. Finally, the conclusion shows how a common digitizing device has been integrated in the experimental environment of two very different detectors which combine both low-noise acquisition and fast sampling rates. Not only the integration fulfilled the expected specifications on both systems, but it also showed how a study of synergy between detectors could lead to the reduction of resources and time by applying a common strategy.
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Egea Canet, F. J. et al, Gadea, A., & Huyuk, T. (2015). Digital Front-End Electronics for the Neutron Detector NEDA. IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci., 62(3), 1063–1069.
Abstract: This paper presents the design of the NEDA (Neutron Detector Array) electronics, a first attempt to involve the use of digital electronics in large neutron detector arrays. Starting from the front-end modules attached to the PMTs (PhotoMultiplier Tubes) and ending up with the data processing workstations, a comprehensive electronic system capable of dealing with the acquisition and pre-processing of the neutron array is detailed. Among the electronic modules required, we emphasize the front-end analog processing, the digitalization, digital pre-processing and communications firmware, as well as the integration of the GTS (Global Trigger and Synchronization) system, already used successfully in AGATA (Advanced Gamma Tracking Array). The NEDA array will be available for measurements in 2016.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetries in B-s(0) -> J/psi K-S(0). J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 131–22pp.
Abstract: The first measurement of decay-time-dependent CP asymmetries in the decay B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0) and an updated measurement of the ratio of branching fractions B(B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0))/B(B-0 -> J/psi K-S(0)) are presented. The results are obtained using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1) of proton-proton collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The results on the CP asymmetries are A(Delta Gamma)(B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0)) = 0.49 +/- (0.77)(0.65)(stat) +/- 0.06(syst), C-dir(B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0)) = -0.28 +/- 0.41(stat) +/- 0.08(syst), S-mix(B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0)) = -0.08 +/- 0.40(stat) +/- 0.08(syst). The ratio B(B-S(0) -> J/psi K-S(0))/B(B-0 -> J/psi K-S(0)) is measured to be 0.0431 +/- 0.0017(stat) +/- 0.0012(syst) +/- 0.0025(f(s)/f(d)), where the last uncertainty is due to the knowledge of the B-S(0) and B-0 production fractions.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., Ruiz Valls, P., & Sanchez Mayordomo, C. (2015). Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda mu(+)mu(-) decays. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 115–29pp.
Abstract: The differential branching fraction of the rare decay Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda mu(+)mu(-) is measured as a function of q(2), the square of the dimuon invariant mass. The analysis is performed using proton-proton collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb(-1), collected by the LHCb experiment. Evidence of signal is observed in the q(2) region below the square of the J/psi mass. Integrating over 15 < q(2) < 20 GeV2/c(4) the differential branching fraction is measured as dB(Lambda(0)(b) -> Lambda mu(+)mu(-))/dq(2) = (1.18(-0.08)(+0.09) +/- 0.03 +/- 0.27) x 10(-7) (GeV2/c(4))(-1) where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and due to the normalisation mode Lambda(0)(b) -> J/psi Lambda , respectively. In the q(2) intervals where the signal is observed, angular distributions are studied and the forward-backward asymmetries in the dimuon (A(FB)(l)) and hadron (A(FB)(h)) systems are measured for the first time. In the range 15 < q(2) < 20GeV(2)/c(4) they are found to be A(FB)(l) = -0.05 +/- 0.09 (stat) +/- 0.03 (syst) and A(FB)(h) = -0.29 +/- 0.07 (stat) +/- 0.03 (syst).
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NEXT Collaboration(Cebrian, S. et al), Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., et al. (2015). Radiopurity assessment of the tracking readout for the NEXT double beta decay experiment. J. Instrum., 10, P05006–16pp.
Abstract: The “Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon Time-Projection Chamber” (NEXT) is intended to investigate the neutrinoless double beta decay of Xe-136, which requires a severe suppression of potential backgrounds; therefore, an extensive screening and selection process is underway to control the radiopurity levels of the materials to be used in the experimental set-up of NEXT. The detector design combines the measurement of the topological signature of the event for background discrimination with the energy resolution optimization. Separate energy and tracking readout planes are based on different sensors: photomultiplier tubes for calorimetry and silicon multi-pixel photon counters for tracking. The design of a radiopure tracking plane, in direct contact with the gas detector medium, was specially challenging since the needed components like printed circuit boards, connectors, sensors or capacitors have typically, according to available information in databases and in the literature, activities too large for experiments requiring ultra-low background conditions. Here, the radiopurity assessment of tracking readout components based on gamma-ray spectroscopy using ultra-low background germanium detectors at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (Spain) is described. According to the obtained results, radiopure enough printed circuit boards made of kapton and copper, silicon photomultipliers and other required components, fulfilling the requirement of an overall background level in the region of interest of at most 8 x 10(-4) counts keV(-1) kg(-1) y(-1), have been identified.
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ANTARES and TANAMI Collaborations(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Gomez-Gonzalez, J. P., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Lambard, G., Mangano, S., et al. (2015). ANTARES constrains a blazar origin of two IceCube PeV neutrino events. Astron. Astrophys., 576, L8–6pp.
Abstract: Context. The source(s) of the neutrino excess reported by the IceCube Collaboration is unknown. The TANAMI Collaboration recently reported on the multiwavelength emission of six bright, variable blazars which are positionally coincident with two of the most energetic IceCube events. Objects like these are prime candidates to be the source of the highest-energy cosmic rays, and thus of associated neutrino emission. Aims. We present an analysis of neutrino emission from the six blazars using observations with the ANTARES neutrino telescope. Methods. The standard methods of the ANTARES candidate list search are applied to six years of data to search for an excess of muons – and hence their neutrino progenitors – from the directions of the six blazars described by the TANAMI Collaboration, and which are possibly associated with two IceCube events. Monte Carlo simulations of the detector response to both signal and background particle fluxes are used to estimate the sensitivity of this analysis for different possible source neutrino spectra. A maximum-likelihood approach, using the reconstructed energies and arrival directions of through-going muons, is used to identify events with properties consistent with a blazar origin. Results. Both blazars predicted to be the most neutrino-bright in the TANAMI sample (1653-329 and 1714-336) have a signal flux fitted by the likelihood analysis corresponding to approximately one event. This observation is consistent with the blazar-origin hypothesis of the IceCube event IC 14 for a broad range of blazar spectra, although an atmospheric origin cannot be excluded. No ANTARES events are observed from any of the other four blazars, including the three associated with IceCube event IC20. This excludes at a 90% confidence level the possibility that this event was produced by these blazars unless the neutrino spectrum is flatter than -2.4.
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NEXT Collaboration(Serra, L. et al), Sorel, M., Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., et al. (2015). An improved measurement of electron-ion recombination in high-pressure xenon gas. J. Instrum., 10, P03025–21pp.
Abstract: We report on results obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype of the NEXT-100 high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber (TPC), filled with pure xenon gas at 10 bar pressure and exposed to an alpha decay calibration source. Compared to our previous measurements with alpha particles, an upgraded detector and improved analysis techniques have been used. We measure event-by-event correlated fluctuations between ionization and scintillation due to electronion recombination in the gas, with correlation coefficients between -0.80 and -0.56 depending on the drift field conditions. By combining the two signals, we obtain a 2.8% FWHM energy resolution for 5.49 MeV alpha particles and a measurement of the optical gain of the electroluminescent TPC. The improved energy resolution also allows us to measure the specific activity of the radon in the gas due to natural impurities. Finally, we measure the average ratio of excited to ionized atoms produced in the xenon gas by alpha particles to be 0.561 +/- 0.045, translating into an average energy to produce a primary scintillation photon of W-ex = (39.2 +/- 3.2) eV.
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