Ciemala, M. et al, Domingo-Pardo, C., & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2020). Testing ab initio nuclear structure in neutron-rich nuclei: Lifetime measurements of second 2(+) state in C-16 and O-20. Phys. Rev. C, 101(2), 021303–7pp.
Abstract: To test the predictive power of ab initio nuclear structure theory, the lifetime of the second 2(+) state in neutron-rich O-20, tau(2(2)(+)) = 150(-30)(+80) fs, and an estimate for the lifetime of the second 2(+) state in C-16 have been obtained for the first time. The results were achieved via a novel Monte Carlo technique that allowed us to measure nuclear state lifetimes in the tens-to-hundreds of femtoseconds range by analyzing the Doppler-shifted gamma-transition line shapes of products of low-energy transfer and deep-inelastic processes in the reaction O-18 (7.0 MeV/u) + Ta-181. The requested sensitivity could only be reached owing to the excellent performances of the Advanced gamma-Tracking Array AGATA, coupled to the PARIS scintillator array and to the VAMOS++ magnetic spectrometer. The experimental lifetimes agree with predictions of ab initio calculations using two- and three-nucleon interactions, obtained with the valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group for O-20 and with the no-core shell model for C-16. The present measurement shows the power of electromagnetic observables, determined with high-precision gamma spectroscopy, to assess the quality of first-principles nuclear structure calculations, complementing common benchmarks based on nuclear energies. The proposed experimental approach will be essential for short lifetime measurements in unexplored regions of the nuclear chart, including r-process nuclei, when intense beams, produced by Isotope Separation On-Line (ISOL) techniques, become available.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Alvarez Piqueras, D., Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Barranco Navarro, L., Cabrera Urban, S., et al. (2020). Measurement of Azimuthal Anisotropy of Muons from Charm and Bottom Hadrons in pp Collisions at root s=13 TeV with the ATLAS Detector. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(8), 082301–20pp.
Abstract: The elliptic flow of muons from the decay of charm and bottom hadrons is measured in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV using a data sample with an integrated luminosity of 150 pb(-1) recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The muons from heavy-flavor decay are separated from light-hadron decay muons using momentum imbalance between the tracking and muon spectrometers. The heavy-flavor decay muons are further separated into those from charm decay and those from bottom decay using the distance-of-closest-approach to the collision vertex. The measurement is performed for muons in the transverse momentum range 4-7 GeV and pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.4. A significant nonzero elliptic anisotropy coefficient nu(2) is observed for muons from charm decays, while the nu(2) value for muons from bottom decays is consistent with zero within uncertainties.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2020). First Observation of Excited Omega(-)(b) States. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(8), 082002–12pp.
Abstract: We report four narrow peaks in the Xi K-0(b)- mass spectrum obtained using pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7, 8, and 13 TeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 9 fb(-1) recorded by the LHCb experiment. Referring to these states by their mass, the mass values are m[Omega(b)(6316)(-)] = 6315.64 +/- 0.31 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.50 MeV, m[Omega(b)(6330)(-)] = 6330.30 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.50 MeV, m[Omega(b)(6340)(-)] = 6339.71 +/- 0.26 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.50 MeV, m[Omega(b)(6350)(-)] = 6349.88 +/- 0.35 +/- 0.05 +/- 0.50 MeV, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic, and the last is due to the knowledge of the Xi(0)(b) mass. The natural widths of the three lower mass states are consistent with zero, and the 90% confidence-level upper limits are determined to be Gamma[Omega(b)(6316)(-)] < 2.8 MeV, Gamma[Omega(b)(6330)(-)] < 3.1 MeV and Gamma[Omega(b)(6340)-] < 1.5 MeV. The natural width of the Omega(b)(6350)(-) peak is 1.4(-0.8)(+1.0) +/- 0.1 MeV, which is 2.5 sigma from zero and corresponds to an upper limit of 2.8 MeV. The peaks have local significances ranging from 3.6 sigma to 7.2 sigma. After accounting for the look-elsewhere effect, the significances of the Omega(b)(6316)(-) and Omega(b)(6330)(-) peaks are reduced to 2.1 sigma and 2.6 sigma, respectively, while the two higher mass peaks exceed 5 sigma. The observed peaks are consistent with expectations for excited Omega(-)(b) resonances.
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Aguilar, A. C., De Soto, F., Ferreira, M. N., Papavassiliou, J., Rodriguez-Quintero, J., & Zafeiropoulos, S. (2020). Gluon propagator and three-gluon vertex with dynamical quarks. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(2), 154–17pp.
Abstract: We present a detailed analysis of the kinetic and mass terms associated with the Landau gauge gluon propagator in the presence of dynamical quarks, and a comprehensive dynamical study of certain special kinematic limits of the three-gluon vertex. Our approach capitalizes on results from recent lattice simulations with (2+1) domain wall fermions, a novel nonlinear treatment of the gluon mass equation, and the nonperturbative reconstruction of the longitudinal three-gluon vertex from its fundamental Slavnov-Taylor identities. Particular emphasis is placed on the persistence of the suppression displayed by certain combinations of the vertex form factors at intermediate and low momenta, already known from numerous pure Yang-Mills studies. One of our central findings is that the inclusion of dynamical quarks moderates the intensity of this phenomenon only mildly, leaving the asymptotic low-momentum behavior unaltered, but displaces the characteristic “zero crossing” deeper into the infrared region. In addition, the effect of the three-gluon vertex is explored at the level of the effective gauge coupling, whose size is considerably reduced with respect to its counterpart obtained from the ghost-gluon vertex. The main upshot of the above considerations is the further confirmation of the tightly interwoven dynamics between the two- and three-point sectors of QCD.
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Blas, D., Caputo, A., Ivanov, M. M., & Sberna, L. (2020). No chiral light bending by clumps of axion-like particles. Phys. Dark Universe, 27, 100428–4pp.
Abstract: We study the propagation of light in the presence of a parity-violating coupling between photons and axion-like particles (ALPs). Naively, this interaction could lead to a split of light rays into two separate beams of different polarization chirality and with different refraction angles. However, by using the eikonal method we explicitly show that this is not the case and that ALP clumps do not produce any spatial birefringence. This happens due to non-trivial variations of the photon's frequency and wavevector, which absorb time-derivatives and gradients of the ALP field. We argue that these variations represent a new way to probe the ALP-photon coupling with precision frequency measurements.
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Schreeck, H., Paschen, B., Wieduwilt, P., Ahlburg, P., Andricek, L., Dingfelder, J., et al. (2020). Effects of gamma irradiation on DEPFET pixel sensors for the Belle II experiment. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 959, 163522–9pp.
Abstract: For the Belle II experiment at KEK (Tsukuba, Japan) the KEKB accelerator was upgraded to deliver a 40 times larger instantaneous luminosity than before, which requires an increased radiation hardness of the detector components. As the innermost part of the Belle II detector, the pixel detector (PXD), based on DEPFET (DEpleted P-channel Field Effect Transistor) technology, is most exposed to radiation from the accelerator. An irradiation campaign was performed to verify that the PXD can cope with the expected amount of radiation. We present the results of this measurement campaign in which an X-ray machine was used to irradiate a single PXD half-ladder to a total dose of 266 kGy. The half-ladder is from the same batch as the half-ladders used for Belle II. According to simulations, the total accumulated dose corresponds to 7-10 years of Belle II operation. While individual components have been irradiated before, this campaign is the first full system irradiation. We discuss the effects on the DEPFET sensors, as well as the performance of the front-end electronics. In addition, we present efficiency studies of the half-ladder from beam tests performed before and after the irradiation.
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ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Castillo, F. L., Castillo Gimenez, V., et al. (2020). Searches for electroweak production of supersymmetric particles with compressed mass spectra in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector. Phys. Rev. D, 101(5), 052005–46pp.
Abstract: This paper presents results of searches for the electroweak production of supersymmetric particles in models with compressed mass spectra. The searches use 139 fb(-1) of root s = 13 TeV proton-proton collision data collected by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with missing transverse momentum and two same-flavor, oppositely charged, low-transverse-momentum leptons are selected, and are further categorized by the presence of hadronic activity from initial-state radiation or a topology compatible with vector-boson fusion processes. The data are found to be consistent with predictions from the Standard Model. The results are interpreted using simplified models of R-parity-conserving supersymmetry in which the lightest supersymmetric partner is a neutralino with a mass similar to the lightest chargino, the second-to-lightest neutralino, or the slepton. Lower limits on the masses of charginos in different simplified models range from 193 to 240 GeV for moderate mass splittings, and extend down to mass splittings of 1.5 to 2.4 GeV at the LEP chargino bounds (92.4 GeV). Similar lower limits on degenerate light-flavor sleptons extend up to masses of 251 GeV and down to mass splittings of 550 MeV. Constraints on vector-boson fusion production of electroweak SUSY states are also presented.
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Vagnozzi, S., Visinelli, L., Mena, O., & Mota, D. F. (2020). Do we have any hope of detecting scattering between dark energy and baryons through cosmology? Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc., 493(1), 1139–1152.
Abstract: We consider the possibility that dark energy and baryons might scatter off each other. The type of interaction we consider leads to a pure momentum exchange, and does not affect the background evolution of the expansion history. We parametrize this interaction in an effective way at the level of Boltzmann equations. We compute the effect of dark energy-baryon scattering on cosmological observables, focusing on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy power spectrum and the matter power spectrum. Surprisingly, we find that even huge dark energy-baryon cross-sections sigma(xb) similar to O(b), which are generically excluded by non-cosmological probes such as collider searches or precision gravity tests, only leave an insignificant imprint on the observables considered. In the case of the CMB temperature power spectrum, the only imprint consists in a sub-per cent enhancement or depletion of power (depending whether or not the dark energy equation of state lies above or below -1) at very low multipoles, which is thus swamped by cosmic variance. These effects are explained in terms of differences in how gravitational potentials decay in the presence of a dark energy-baryon scattering, which ultimately lead to an increase or decrease in the late-time integrated Sachs-Wolfe power. Even smaller related effects are imprinted on the matter power spectrum. The imprints on the CMB are not expected to be degenerate with the effects due to altering the dark energy sound speed. We conclude that, while strongly appealing, the prospects for a direct detection of dark energy through cosmology do not seem feasible when considering realistic dark energy-baryon cross-sections. As a caveat, our results hold to linear order in perturbation theory.
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Etxebeste, A., Dauvergne, D., Fontana, M., Letang, J. M., Llosa, G., Muñoz, E., et al. (2020). CCMod: a GATE module for Compton camera imaging simulation. Phys. Med. Biol., 65(5), 055004–17pp.
Abstract: Compton cameras are gamma-ray imaging systems which have been proposed for a wide variety of applications such as medical imaging, nuclear decommissioning or homeland security. In the design and optimization of such a system Monte Carlo simulations play an essential role. In this work, we propose a generic module to perform Monte Carlo simulations and analyses of Compton Camera imaging which is included in the open-source GATE/Geant4 platform. Several digitization stages have been implemented within the module to mimic the performance of the most commonly employed detectors (e.g. monolithic blocks, pixelated scintillator crystals, strip detectors...). Time coincidence sorter and sequence coincidence reconstruction are also available in order to aim at providing modules to facilitate the comparison and reproduction of the data taken with different prototypes. All processing steps may be performed during the simulation (on-the-fly mode) or as a post-process of the output files (offline mode). The predictions of the module have been compared with experimental data in terms of energy spectra, angular resolution, efficiency and back-projection image reconstruction. Consistent results within a 3-sigma interval were obtained for the energy spectra except for low energies where small differences arise. The angular resolution measure for incident photons of 1275 keV was also in good agreement between both data sets with a value close to 13 degrees. Moreover, with the aim of demonstrating the versatility of such a tool the performance of two different Compton camera designs was evaluated and compared.
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LHCb Collaboration(Aaij, R. et al), Garcia Martin, L. M., Henry, L., Jashal, B. K., Martinez-Vidal, F., Oyanguren, A., et al. (2020). Measurement of psi (2S) production cross-sections in proton-proton collisions at v s=7 and 13 TeV. Eur. Phys. J. C, 80(3), 185–23pp.
Abstract: The cross-sections of.(2S) meson production in proton-proton collisions at v s = 13 TeV are measured with a data sample collected by the LHCb detector corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 275 pb-1. The production cross-sections for prompt.(2S) mesons and those for.(2S) mesons from b-hadron decays (.(2S)-from-b) are determined as functions of the transverse momentum, pT, and the rapidity, y, of the.(2S) meson in the kinematic range 2 < pT < 20 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5. The production cross-sections integrated over this kinematic region are s(prompt.(2S), 13 TeV) = 1.430 +/- 0.005 (stat) +/- 0.099 (syst) μb, s(.(2S)-from-b, 13 TeV) = 0.426 +/- 0.002 (stat) +/- 0.030 (syst) μb. A new measurement of.(2S) production cross-sections in pp collisions at v s = 7 TeV is also performed using data collected in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 614 pb-1. The integrated production cross-sections in the kinematic range 3.5 < pT < 14 GeV/c and 2.0 < y < 4.5 are s(prompt.(2S), 7 TeV) = 0.471 +/- 0.001 (stat) +/- 0.025 (syst) μb, s(.(2S)-from-b, 7 TeV) = 0.126 +/- 0.001 (stat) +/- 0.008 (syst) μb. All results show reasonable agreement with theoretical calculations.
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