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At least 325 records · Page 18

On the Validity of Certain Approximations Used in the Modeling of Nuclear EMP

The legacy codes developed for the modeling of EMP, multiple scattering of Compton electrons has typically been modeled by the obliquity factor. A recent publication has examined this approximation in the context of the generated Compton current [W. A. Farmer and A. Friedman, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sc. 62, 1695 (2015)]. Here, this previous analysis is extended to include the generation of the electromagnetic fields. Obliquity factor predictions are compared with Monte-Carlo models. In using a Monte-Carlo description of scattering, two distributions of scattering angles are considered: Gaussian and a Gaussian with a single-scattering tail. Additionally, legacy codes also neglect the radial derivative of the backward-traveling wave for computational efficiency. The neglect of this derivative improperly treats the backward-traveling wave. Moreover, these approximations are examined in the context of a high-altitude burst, and it is shown that in comparison to more complete models, the discrepancy between field amplitudes is roughly two to three percent and between rise-times, 10%. Finally, it is concluded that the biggest factor in determining the rise time of the signal is not the dynamics of the Compton current, but is instead the conductivity.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

Nonlinear Thomson scattering of a relativistically strong tightly focused ultrashort laser pulse

The problem of nonlinear Thomson scattering of a relativistically strong linearly polarized ultrashort laser pulse tightly focused into a spot with a diameter of D{sub F} ≳ λ (where λ is the laser wavelength) is solved. The energy, spectral, and angular distributions of radiation generated due to Thomson scattering from test electrons located in the focal region are found. The characteristics of scattered radiation are studied as functions of the tightness of laser focusing and the initial position of test particles relative to the center of the focal region for a given laser pulse energy. It is demonstrated that the ultratight focusing is not optimal for obtaining the brightest and hardest source of secondary electromagnetic radiation. The hardest and shortest radiation pulse is generated when the beam waist diameter is ≃10λ.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Compilation and analysis of charge asymmetry measurements from electron and positron scattering on nucleon and nuclei

World data on the lepton-charge asymmetry in the elastic and inelastic lepton scattering off the proton and nuclei are compiled and discussed. After reviewing the published results, we compare the elastic data to a model calculation of the two-photon-exchange mechanism. We show that the existing data do not provide any evidence for enhancement of the two-photon contribution. At confidence level 95% the data allow to exclude the two-photon exchange as an explanation for the difference between Rosenbluth and polarization transfer measurements of proton electromagnetic form factors.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Relativistic electron precipitation events driven by electromagnetic ion-cyclotron waves

We adopt a canonical approach to describe the stochastic motion of relativistic belt electrons and their scattering into the loss cone by nonlinear EMIC waves. The estimated rate of scattering is sufficient to account for the rate and intensity of bursty electron precipitation. This interaction is shown to result in particle scattering into the loss cone, forming ∼10 s microbursts of precipitating electrons. These dynamics can account for the statistical correlations between processes of energization, pitch angle scattering, and relativistic electron precipitation events, that are manifested on large temporal scales of the order of the diffusion time ∼tens of minutes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Nonlinear propagation of vector extremely short pulses in a medium of symmetric and asymmetric molecules

The nonlinear propagation of extremely short electromagnetic pulses in a medium of symmetric and asymmetric molecules placed in static magnetic and electric fields is theoretically studied. Asymmetric molecules differ in that they have nonzero permanent dipole moments in stationary quantum states. A system of wave equations is derived for the ordinary and extraordinary components of pulses. It is shown that this system can be reduced in some cases to a system of coupled Ostrovsky equations and to the equation intagrable by the method for an inverse scattering transformation, including the vector version of the Ostrovsky–Vakhnenko equation. Different types of solutions of this system are considered. Only solutions representing the superposition of periodic solutions are single-valued, whereas soliton and breather solutions are multivalued.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Silver nanoparticles on nanopatterned LiF(110) surface studied by extreme ultraviolet light scattering

A LiF(110) surface featuring a ridge-and-valley nanopatterned structure periodic along the [−1,1,0] direction (period and height of the order of 30 nm and 10 nm, respectively) formed by [001] macrosteps exposing (100) and (010) facets was functionalized by rows of Ag nanoparticles and studied by elastic light scattering in the energy range 50–100 eV. Families of diffraction efficiencies curves were taken at grazing incidence angle and fixed photon energy as a function of scattering angle, and elastic scattering curves were taken at fixed scattering angle as a function of energy. The scattering curves presented well-defined features ascribable to the periodicities of the surface, or equivalently to the reciprocal q{sub X} vectors correlated with the power spectral density features of topological images of atomic force microscopy. Other characteristics of the functionalized surface, including the height of ridge-valley profile, the Ag nanoparticle dimensions, and the material distribution in the scattering plane, were obtained by fitting the experimental zero and first order efficiency curves to simulation results of a parameterized model. The simulations were carried out adapting an in-house code based on the electromagnetic differential method, and the different material properties were taken into account by a space dependent complex dielectric constant. Information along the direction perpendicular to the scattering plane was not accessible but morphological insights were obtained combining light diffraction with atomic force microscopy. The results indicate nanoparticles with a quasi-ellipsoidal shape prolate along the ridge direction with minor and major axes of ∼12 nm and ∼21 nm, respectively.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Synthesis of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles decorated with gold nanoclusters using pulsed laser ablation in liquid

Amorphous spherical titanium dioxide (TiO{sub 2}) nanoparticles, decorated gold nanoparticles, are shown to be formed under irradiation of commercial TiO{sub 2} nanopowders dispersed in aqueous solution of hydrogen tetrachloroaurate (HAuCl{sub 4}) by second-harmonic nanosecond pulses of an Nd : YAG laser. It is found that these hybrid nanostructures are formed during laser-induced remelting of the initial nanoparticles, stimulated by gold nanoclusters (providing more efficient absorption of visible laser radiation by titanium dioxide) recovered on their surface. The morphology and chemical composition of the newly formed hybrid nanomaterials are investigated in detail by electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and energy-dispersive analysis. It is shown that the average size and number of gold nanoparticles recovered on the TiO{sub 2} surface can be controlled by varying the concentration ratio of the initial nanomaterial and HAuCl{sub 4}. A spectroscopic analysis of light scattering by single hybrid nanoparticles and the results of numerical calculation of the structure of electromagnetic fields near their surface indicate good prospects of these hybrid nanomaterials for various applications in modern optics, optoelectronics, and nanophotonics; for example, for designing chemo- and biosensor platforms and new-generation solar cells. (nanoparticles)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Origin of multi-band emission from the microquasar Cygnus X-1

We study the origin of non-thermal emissions from the Galactic black hole X-ray binary Cygnus X-1, which is a confirmed high-mass microquasar. By analogy with the methods used in studies of active galactic nuclei, we propose a two-dimensional, time-dependent radiation model from the microquasar Cygnus X-1. In this model, the evolution equation for relativistic electrons in a conical jet are numerically solved by including escape, adiabatic, and various radiative losses. The radiative processes involved are synchrotron emission, its self-Compton scattering, and inverse Compton scatterings of an accretion disk and its surrounding stellar companion. This model also includes an electromagnetic cascade process of an anisotropic γ-γ interaction. We study the spectral properties of electron evolution and its emission spectral characteristic at different heights of the emission region located in the jet. We find that radio data from Cygnus X-1 are reproduced by the synchrotron emission, the Fermi Large Area Telescope measurements by the synchrotron emission and Comptonization of photons of the stellar companion, and the TeV band emission fluxes by the Comptonization of the stellar photons. Our results show the following. (1) The radio emission region extends from the binary system scales to the termination of the jet. (2) The GeV band emissions should originate from the distance close to the binary system scales. (3) The TeV band emissions could be inside the binary system, and these emissions could be probed by the upcoming Cherenkov Telescope Array. (4) The MeV tail emissions, which produce a strongly linearly polarized signal, are emitted inside the binary system. The location of the emissions is very close to the inner region of the jet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dispersive evaluation of the inner radiative correction in neutron and nuclear β decay

We propose a novel dispersive treatment of the so-called inner radiative correction to the neutron and nuclear β decay. We show that it requires knowledge of the parity-violating structure function $F$$^{(0)}_{3}$ that arises from the interference of the axial vector charged current and the isoscalar part of the electromagnetic current. By isospin symmetry, we relate this structure function to the charged current inelastic scattering of neutrinos and antineutrinos. Applying this new data-driven analysis we obtain a new, more precise evaluation for the universal radiative correction $Δ$$^{V,new}_{R}$ = 0.02467(22) that supersedes the previous estimate by Marciano and Sirlin, $Δ$$^{V}_{R}$ = 0.02361(38). The substantial shift in the central value of $Δ$$^{V}_{R}$ reflects in a respective shift of Vud and a considerable tension in the unitarity constraint on the first row of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix which is used as one of the most stringent constraints on new physics contributions in the charged current sector. We also point out that dispersion relations offer a unifying tool for treating hadronic and nuclear corrections within the same framework. We explore the potential of the dispersion relations for addressing the nuclear structure corrections absorbed in the Ft values, a crucial ingredient alongside $Δ$$^{V}_{R}$ in extracting Vud from superallowed nuclear decays. In particular, we estimate the quenching of the free neutron Born contribution in the nuclear environment, corresponding to a quasielastic single-nucleon knockout, and find a significantly stronger quenching effect as compared to currently used estimates based on the quenching of spin operators in nuclear transitions. Furthermore, this observation suggests that the currently used theoretical uncertainties of Ft values might be underestimated and require a renewed scrutiny, while emphasizing the importance of new, more precise measurements of the free neutron decay where nuclear corrections are absent.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Accessing the gravitational form factors of the nucleon and nuclei through a massive graviton

In contrast to the electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon and nuclei that have been extensively studied in electron scattering, there is no known way to directly measure the gravitational form factors (GFFs), the off-forward hadronic matrix element of the QCD energy-momentum tensor. I suggest exploring the possibility to access the GFFs of the proton and nuclei in conjunction with massive graviton searches at future TeV-scale lepton-ion colliders. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Cosmology and terrestrial signals of sexaquark dark matter

We investigate the hypothesis that sexaquarks, hypothetical stable six-quark states, could be a significant component of the dark matter. We expand on previous studies of sexaquark cosmology, accounting for the possibility that some relevant interaction cross sections might be strongly suppressed below expectations based on dimensional analysis. We update direct-detection constraints on stable sexaquarks comprising a subdominant fraction of the dark matter, as well as limits on the annihilation of an antisexaquark component from Super-Kamiokande. We argue that the scenario where sexaquarks comprise a O ( 1 ) fraction of the dark matter would require either a suppression of O ( 10 − 19 ) in sexaquark interactions with baryons, combined with a very high yield of net sexaquark number from the quark-hadron transition, or else a very strong suppression of the cross section for antisexaquark annihilation on nucleons ( 24 + orders of magnitude below the QCD scale). Independently, we find that a sexaquark component comprising more than O ( 10 − 3 ) of the dark matter can be excluded from direct-detection bounds, unless its scattering cross section is severely suppressed compared to the expected scale of strong and even electromagnetic interactions. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Effective field theory of Stückelberg vector bosons

We explore the effective field theory of a vector field $X^μ$ that has a Stückelberg mass. The absence of a gauge symmetry for $X^μ$ implies Lorentz-invariant operators are constructed directly from Xμ. Beyond the kinetic and mass terms, allowed interactions at the renormalizable level include $X_μX^μH^†H, (X_μX^μ)^2$, and $X_μj^μ$, where $j^μ$ is a global current of the SM or of a hidden sector. We show that all of these interactions lead to scattering amplitudes that grow with powers of $\sqrt{s}/m_X$, except for the case of $X_μj^μ$ where $j^μ$ is a nonanomalous global current. The latter is well-known when $\textit{X}$ is identified as a dark photon coupled to the electromagnetic current, often written equivalently as kinetic mixing between $\textit{X}$ and the photon. The power counting for the energy growth of the scattering amplitudes is facilitated by isolating the longitudinal enhancement. We examine in detail the interaction with an anomalous global vector current $X_μj^μ_{\text{anom}}$, carefully isolating the finite contribution to the fermion triangle diagram. We calculate the longitudinally-enhanced observables $Z → X_γ$ (when $m_X < m_Z), f\bar{f} → X_γ$, and $Z_γ → Z_γ$ when $\textit{X}$ couples to the baryon number current. Introducing a "fake" gauge-invariance by writing $X^μ = A^μ – ∂^μπ/m_X$, the would-be gauge anomaly associated with $A_μj^μ_{\text{anom}}$ is canceled by $j^μ_{\text{anom}}∂_μπ/m_X$; this is the four-dimensional Green-Schwarz anomaly-cancellation mechanism at work. Our analysis demonstrates there is a much larger set of possible interactions that an EFT with a Stückelberg vector field can have, revealing scattering amplitudes that grow with energy. The growth of these amplitudes can be tamed by a dark Higgs sector, but this requires dark Higgs boson interactions (and reintroduces fine-tuning in the dark Higgs sector) that can be separated from X interactions only in the limit $g \ll 1$ .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Performance and Commissioning of the BigBite Timing Hodoscope for Nucleon Form Factor Measurements at Jefferson Lab

The BigBite Timing Hodoscope detector is the primary subject of this thesis. The Super BigBite Spectrometer is a Jefferson Lab Hall A Collaboration project that has and will continue to measure nucleon electromagnetic form factors. This spectrometer includes the Timing Hodoscope which provides high resolution particle timing data for scattered electrons in the electron arm of BigBite. The Timing Hodoscope utilizes 90, 25 × 25 × 600 mm3 scintillator bars stacked on top of each other to form a single detector plane, and these bars are connected to 180 photo-multiplier tubes via light guides. Particles collide with the scintillating material creating a shower of optical photons and these particle events in the bars are collected to generate signals that are readout by the data acquisition (DAQ) electronics. NINO ASIC amplifier-discriminator cards output signals from the photo-multiplier tubes into analogue and logic signals, which are sent to analogue-to-digital (ADC) and time-to-digital (TDC) converter data acquisition readout modules. This data is then used for analysis of the detector. The focus of this thesis is the construction, commissioning, calibration, and performance of the BigBite Timing Hodoscope before and during the first of five nucleon electromagnetic form factor experiments at Jefferson Lab Hall A. Before the neutron magnetic form factor, G n M, experiment, cosmic ray data was collected during commissioning to confirm proper operation of the Timing Hodoscope electronics by observing the ADC and TDC data. Commissioning studies for charge normalization, gain matching, and other ADC and TDC detector data variables were performed before moving the detector into Hall A. Following installation in Hall A, several calibration studies were implemented to fine-tune the detector in preparation for use in the experiment. The calibration studies included analysis of timing cuts, TDC alignment, the time-walk effect, time difference offsets, and scintillator velocity corrections. Once the Timing Hodoscope was well-calibrated, data-taking during the experiment commenced and the beam-on-target data was used to characterize the Timing Hodoscope performance during the G n M experiment run-time. The performance analysis included studies observing energy deposit, cluster size, rates, accidentals, pile-up, tracking efficiency, position resolution, and time resolution. After application of physics cuts to ensure a data set comprised of particle tracks corresponding to elastic electrons, which is the main data of interest for measurement of G n M, the Timing Hodoscope is shown on average across all kinematic settings to have a >98% tracking efficiency, a position resolution of 4-6 cm in the non-dispersive plane and 1.5-2 cm in the dispersive plane, and a time resolution of 500-750 ps. These performance results are compared to a GEANT4 based performance simulation of the BigBite Timing Hodoscope for reference, showing to what degree the measured performance values match those taken from the simulation.

Marinaro, Ralph↗

The intermediate energy X-ray beamline at the APS

In this work, we report the optical design of the Intermediate Energy X-ray (IEX) beamline at the APS, which has been optimized to study emergent phenomena via angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and resonant soft X-ray scattering (RSXS). Driven by the scientific requirements of these two techniques the beamline consists of two separate branchlines sharing the same source, heat absorbing optics and monochromator, but each having its own refocusing optics. The ARPES branch is optimized for a very high “resolving power” and a small spot at the sample; whereas, the RSXS branch is designed for high flux and a low beam divergence at the sample. The very high “resolving power” in the ARPES branch is achieved by using a monochromator which consists of a plane mirror and a variable line spacing grating that focuses the beam at all photon energies. A flux higher than 10 10 photons/s at a “resolving power” better than 5×10 4 will be available at the sample position of the ARPES beamline on a spot size (FWHM) smaller than 21×4 μm 2 (hor.×ver.) for photon energies between 250 and 1660 eV. A second grating will increase the flux by more than a factor of 10 at a “resolving power” of 10 4 . The flux expected at the RSXS branch for energies between 250 eV and 1900 eV is higher than 4×10 12 photons/s at “resolving power” around 2.5×10 3 . The expected spot in this branch is sub-millimeter and the beam divergence is less than 0.3 mrad (FWHM).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Measurement of the Neutron Elastic Electromagnetic Form Factor Ratio at Large Momentum Transfer

Exploring nucleon structure is vital both for understanding its origin and existence as well as for the advancement of the sciences. It helps us answer key questions such as how quark and gluon dynamics create 99% of the nucleon mass. Electron- nucleon scattering has been widely used for precision studies of the nucleon and nuclear structure since the Nobel Prize winning investigations by Robert Hofstadter and collaborators in the 1950s. These studies provide information about the spatial charge and current densities of the nucleon in terms of the electromagnetic form factors. The form factors are functions of four momentum transfer squared (Q2). Extending the electromagnetic form factor measurements to higher Q2 plays a critical role in furthering the understanding of nucleon structure. This motivated the Super BigBite Spectrometer (SBS) program at Jefferson Lab. The open nature of the spectrometers and the direct line of sight from the target to the tracking detector locations in experimental setups such as SBS creates high levels of background at the detectors. This necessitates the use of tracking detectors with high rate capability and good position resolution. Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors are an excellent choice for tracking detectors in such experiments. Understanding the performance of the GEM detectors is important not just for SBS experiments but also for future high-luminosity experiments. This thesis reports the exploratory results from the measurement of the neutron elastic electromagnetic form factor ratio (Gn E/Gn M) at high momentum transfer. A longitudinally polarized electron beam was scattered off a polarized 3He target, used as an effective polarized neutron target. In this experiment, the polarized 3He target achieved a world record polarization weighted luminosity at a beam current of 45 µA. Double spin asymmetry of the scattered neutron events is used to extract the neutron form factor ratio. Measurements were taken at Q2 = 3.0, 6.8, 9.8 (GeV/c)2. The lowest Q2 measurement is in good agreement with the existing world data, and the higher-Q2 measurements extend the Q2 reach well beyond the existing world data and are expected to remain unmatched for a long time.

Gamage, Vimukthi Haththotuwa [Univ. of Virginia, C↗

Measurement of the Two-Photon Exchange Contribution to the Elastic e ± p Scattering Cross Sections at the VEPP-3 Storage Ring

The ratio of the elastic e + p to e – p scattering cross sections has been measured precisely, allowing the determination of the two-photon exchange contribution to these processes. This neglected contribution is believed to be the cause of the discrepancy between the Rosenbluth and polarization transfer methods of measuring the proton electromagnetic form factors. The experiment was performed at the VEPP-3 storage ring at beam energies of 1.6 and 1.0 GeV and at lepton scattering angles between 15° and 105°. The data obtained show evidence of a significant two-photon exchange effect. Furthermore, the results are compared with several theoretical predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Analysis of {sup 4}He+{sup 40}Ca and {sup 4}He+{sup 44}Ti scattering using different optical model potentials

Elastic scattering of {sup 4}He+{sup 40}Ca and {sup 4}He+{sup 44}Ti reactions at backward angles has been analyzed using two different models, microscopic and semimicroscopic folding potentials. The derived real potentials supplemented with phenomenological Woods–Saxon imaginary potentials, provide good agreement with the experimental data at energy E{sub c.m.} = 21.8 MeV without need to renormalize the potentials. Coupled channels calculations are used to extract the inelastic scattering cross section to the low-lying state 2+ (1.083 MeV) of {sup 44}Ti. The deformation length is obtained and compared with the electromagnetic measurement values as well as those obtained from previous studies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Scattering of radio frequency waves by cylindrical density filaments in tokamak plasmas

In tokamak fusion plasmas, coherent fluctuations in the form of blobs or filaments are routinely observed in the scrape-off layer. Radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic waves, excited by antenna structures placed near the wall of a tokamak, have to propagate through the scrape-off layer before reaching the core of the plasma. While the effect of fluctuations on the properties of RF waves has not been quantified experimentally, it is of interest to carry out a theoretical study to determine if fluctuations can affect the propagation characteristics of RF waves. Usually, the difference between the plasma density inside the filament and the background plasma density is sizable, the ratio of the density difference to the background density being of order one. Generally, this precludes the use of geometrical optics in determining the effect of fluctuations, since the relevant ratio has to be much less than one, typically, of the order of 10% or less. In this study, a full-wave, analytical model is developed for the scattering of a RF plane wave by a cylindrical plasma filament. It is assumed that the plasma inside and outside the filament is cold and uniform and that the major axis of the filament is aligned along the toroidal magnetic field. The ratio of the density inside the filament to the density of the background plasma is not restricted. The theoretical framework applies to the scattering of any cold plasma wave. In order to satisfy the boundary conditions at the interface between the filament and the background plasma, the electromagnetic fields inside and outside the filament need to have the same k ∥ , the wave vector parallel to the ambient magnetic field, as the incident plane wave. Consequently, in contrast to the scattering of a RF wave by a spherical blob [Ram et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 056110-1–056110-10 (2013)], the scattering by a field-aligned filament does not broaden the k ∥ spectrum. However, the filament induces side-scattering leading to surface waves and can also couple some power to the cold plasma wave different from the incident wave. The changes induced by a filament in the propagation of electron cyclotron waves and lower hybrid waves are illustrated by numerical results displaying the properties of the Poynting vector. The Poynting flux in the wake of the filament, and directed towards the core of the plasma, develops a spatial structure due to diffraction and shadowing. Finally and thus, the fluctuations affect the uniformity of power flow into the plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗