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At least 343 records · Page 19

Search for double-beta decay of $$\mathrm {^{130}Te}$$ to the $$0^+$$ states of $$\mathrm {^{130}Xe}$$ with CUORE

Abstract The CUORE experiment is a large bolometric array searching for the lepton number violating neutrino-less double beta decay ( $$0\nu \beta \beta $$ 0 ν β β ) in the isotope $$\mathrm {^{130}Te}$$ 130 Te . In this work we present the latest results on two searches for the double beta decay (DBD) of $$\mathrm {^{130}Te}$$ 130 Te to the first $$0^{+}_2$$ 0 2 + excited state of $$\mathrm {^{130}Xe}$$ 130 Xe : the $$0\nu \beta \beta $$ 0 ν β β decay and the Standard Model-allowed two-neutrinos double beta decay ( $$2\nu \beta \beta $$ 2 ν β β ). Both searches are based on a 372.5 kg $$\times $$ × yr TeO $$_2$$ 2 exposure. The de-excitation gamma rays emitted by the excited Xe nucleus in the final state yield a unique signature, which can be searched for with low background by studying coincident events in two or more bolometers. The closely packed arrangement of the CUORE crystals constitutes a significant advantage in this regard. The median limit setting sensitivities at 90% Credible Interval (C.I.) of the given searches were estimated as $$\mathrm {S^{0\nu }_{1/2} = 5.6 \times 10^{24} \, \mathrm {yr}}$$ S 1 / 2 0 ν = 5.6 × 10 24 yr for the $${0\nu \beta \beta }$$ 0 ν β β decay and $$\mathrm {S^{2\nu }_{1/2} = 2.1 \times 10^{24} \, \mathrm {yr}}$$ S 1 / 2 2 ν = 2.1 × 10 24 yr for the $${2\nu \beta \beta }$$ 2 ν β β decay. No significant evidence for either of the decay modes was observed and a Bayesian lower bound at $$90\%$$ 90 % C.I. on the decay half lives is obtained as: $$\mathrm {(T_{1/2})^{0\nu }_{0^+_2} > 5.9 \times 10^{24} \, \mathrm {yr}}$$ ( T 1 / 2 ) 0 2 + 0 ν > 5.9 × 10 24 yr for the $$0\nu \beta \beta $$ 0 ν β β mode and $$\mathrm {(T_{1/2})^{2\nu }_{0^+_2} > 1.3 \times 10^{24} \, \mathrm {yr}}$$ ( T 1 / 2 ) 0 2 + 2 ν > 1.3 × 10 24 yr for the $$2\nu \beta \beta $$ 2 ν β β mode. These represent the most stringent limits on the DBD of $$^{130}$$ 130 Te to excited states and improve by a factor $$\sim 5$$ ∼ 5 the previous results on this process.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Precision measurement of positron decay modes of Xe-125 in the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment

The radioisotope $^{125}\text{Xe}$ is a short-lived ($T_{1/2}\sim16.9 h$) activation product of the neutron calibrations performed in the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. Subsequently, $^{125}$Xe decays primarily ($>99\%$) via electron capture, but positron emission has been confirmed by direct measurement to at least the 243 keV level of $^{125}\text{I}$. An additional decay to the 188keV level is expected from triple-coincident measurements of the annihilation and relaxation $γ$ rays, but has not been directly confirmed. By utilizing multiple-scatter event analysis and the pre-activation data to constrain backgrounds, this work reports positron emission with a statistical significance of 5.5$σ$. This corresponds to a total branching ratio of $0.29\pm0.08_{\text{stat.}}\pm0.04_{\text{sys.}}$%, and is the first constraint to the individual branching levels of $^{125}\text{I}$.

Akerib, D. S. [SLAC; KIPAC, Menlo Park]↗

Low-energy nuclear recoil calibration of the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment with a photoneutron source

The LZ experiment is a liquid xenon time-projection chamber (TPC) searching for evidence of particle dark matter interactions. In the simplest assumption of elastic scattering, many dark matter models predict an energy spectrum which rises quasi-exponentially with decreasing energy transfer to a target atom. LZ expects to detect coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering of $^{8}$B solar neutrinos, the signal from which is very similar to a dark matter particle with mass of about 5.5 GeV/$c^{2}$, which result in typical nuclear recoil energies of $<$5 keV$_{\text{nr}}$. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to calibrate the response of recoiling xenon nuclei to keV-energy recoils. This analysis details the first in situ photoneutron calibration of the LZ detector and probes its response in this energy regime.

Aalbers, J. [SLAC; Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; KIPAC↗

Integration of Highly Luminescent Lead Halide Perovskite Nanocrystals on Transparent Lead Halide Nanowire Waveguides through Morphological Transformation and Spontaneous Growth in Water

The integration of highly luminescent CsPbBr 3 quantum dots on nanowire waveguides has enormous potential applications in nanophotonics, optical sensing and quantum communications. On the other hand, CsPb 2 Br 5 nanowires have also attracted a lot of attention due to their unique water stability and controversial luminescent property. Here we first report the growth of CsPbBr 3 nanocrystals on CsPb 2 Br 5 nanowires by simply immersing CsPbBr 3 powder into pure water, CsPbBr 3-γ X γ (X = Cl, I) nanocrystals on CsPb 2 Br 5-γ X γ nanowires are then synthesized for tunable light sources. Systematic structure and morphology studies, including in-situ monitoring, revealed that CsPbBr 3 powder was first converted to CsPb 2 Br 5 microplatelets in water, followed by a morphological transformation from CsPb 2 Br 5 microplatelets to nanowires, which is a kinetic dissolution-recrystallization process controlled by electrolytic dissociation and supersaturation of CsPb 2 Br 5 . CsPbB r3 nanocrystals are spontaneously formed on CsPb 2 Br 5 nanowires when nanowires are collected from the aqueous solution. Raman spectroscopy, combined photoluminescence and SEM imaging confirm that the bright emission originates from CsPbBr 3-γ X γ nanocrystals while CsPb 2 Br 5-γ X γ nanowires are transparent waveguides. In conclusion, the intimate integration of nanoscale light sources with a nanowire waveguide is demonstrated through the observation of the wave guiding of light from nanocrystals and Fabry-Perot interference modes of the nanowire cavity.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Fluid‐Driven Cohesive Strengthening: Critical Role of Reaction Kinetics as the Determinant for Frictional Stability

After an earthquake, faults in the Earth's crust lock up and slowly regain strength. This process, called fault healing, plays a key role in determining how often earthquakes happen and how large they can be. While scientists know that healing involves both mechanical friction and chemical changes in rocks, it has been unclear how these processes work together, especially over shorter timescales in laboratory settings. In our study, we ran controlled experiments on the mineral anhydrite under different fluid conditions. We found that the presence and pressure of water speeds up fault healing by triggering a chemical reaction that strengthens the fault over time. This strengthening makes the fault more resistant to sliding, which could delay future earthquakes—but also sets the stage for larger ones when they do occur. We propose a model that combines frictional and chemical processes to explain this water‐activated, time‐dependent healing. Importantly, our results show that even faults typically considered stable could still produce earthquakes if they undergo sufficient chemical healing. This has broad implications for understanding where and when earthquakes might strike, especially in fluid‐rich environments such as subduction zones and geoenergy settings.

Affinito, R [Pennsylvania State Univ., University ↗

Performance of a Front End prototype ASIC for picosecond precision time measurements with LGAD sensors

For the High-Luminosity phase of LHC, the ATLAS experiment is proposing the addition of a High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) in the forward region, to mitigate the effects of the increased pile-up. The chosen detection technology is Low Gain Avalanche Detector (LGAD) silicon sensors that can provide an excellent timing resolution below 50 ps. The front-end read-out ASIC must exploit the large signal derivative and small noise provided by the sensor, while keeping low power consumption. This paper presents the results on the first prototype of a front-end ASIC, named ALTIROC0, which contains the analog stages (preamplifier and discriminator) of the read-out chip. The ASIC was characterised both alone and as part of a module with a 2×2 LGAD array of 1.1×1.1 mm 2 pads bump-bonded to it. The various contributions of the electronics to the time resolution were investigated in test-bench measurements with a calibration setup. Both when the ASIC is alone or with a bump-bonded sensor, the jitter of the ASIC is better than 20 ps for an injected charge of 10 fC. The time walk effect, which arises from the different preamplifier response for various injected charges, can be corrected up to 10 ps using a Time Over Threshold measurement. The combined performance of the ASIC and the LGAD sensor, which was measured during a beam test campaign in October 2018 with pions of 120 GeV energy at the CERN SPS, is around 40 ps for all measured modules. All tested modules show good efficiency and time resolution uniformity.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

First considerations on the supporting structures of FCC-ee booster and collider in the arc regions

In 2022, the FCC Feasibility Study management mandated a working group to analyse the best configuration of the FCC-ee tunnel in the arc regions, in view of the construction of a mock-up of the arc half-cell. One of the main and most challenging goals of the study, named FCC-ee Arc Half-Cell Mock-up Project, was to perform a preliminary investigation on the principles of supporting the Short-Straight Sections and dipoles of the half-cells, both for the booster and for the collider machines. This is an important input needed for the choice of the best configuration of the relative placement of the booster with respect to the collider. The structural stiffness, mass and stability of the supporting structures must be optimized to minimize the vibrations transmitted/transferred to the magnetic system of the accelerators by elements such as pumps, water cooling system, beam thermomechanical stresses, powering elements, etc. To perform the study, tools such as CAD software, FEM and analytical techniques were employed. This paper summarizes the preliminary design concepts and the results of the simulations performed.

Accelerator Subsystems and Technologies↗

The local ordering of polar solvents around crystalline carbon nitride nanosheets in solution

The crystalline graphitic carbon nitride, poly-triazine imide (PTI) is highly unusual among layered materials since it is spontaneously soluble in aprotic, polar solvents including dimethylformamide (DMF). The PTI material consists of layers of carbon nitride intercalated with LiBr. When dissolved, the resulting solutions consist of dissolved, luminescent single to multilayer nanosheets of around 60–125 nm in diameter and Li+ and Br- ions originating from the intercalating salt. To understand this unique solubility, the structure of these solutions has been investigated by high-energy X-ray and neutron diffraction. Although the diffraction patterns are dominated by inter-solvent correlations there are clear differences between the X-ray diffraction data of the PTI solution and the solvent in the 4–6 Å -1 range, with real space differences persisting to at least 10 Å. Structural modelling using both neutron and X-ray datasets as a constraint reveal the formation of distinct, dense solvation shells surrounding the nanoparticles with a layer of Br - close to the PTI-solvent interface. This solvent ordering provides a configuration that is energetically favourable underpinning thermodynamically driven PTI dissolution.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Evidence for ground-state electron capture of K 40

Potassium-40 is a widespread, naturally occurring isotope whose radioactivity impacts estimated geological ages spanning billions of years, nuclear structure theory, and subatomic rare-event searches—including those for dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay. The decays of this long-lived isotope must be precisely known for its use as a geochronometer, and to account for its presence in low-background experiments. There are several known decay modes for potassium-40, but a predicted electron-capture decay directly to the ground state of argon-40 has never been observed. The existence of this decay mode impacts several fields, while theoretical predictions span an order of magnitude. Here we report on the first, successful observation of this rare decay mode, obtained by the KDK (potassium decay) Collaboration using a novel combination of a low-threshold x-ray detector surrounded by a tonne-scale, high-efficiency γ -ray tagger at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. A blinded analysis reveals a distinctly nonzero ratio of intensities of ground-state electron-captures ( I EC 0 ) over excited-state ones ( I EC * ) of I EC 0 / I EC * = 0.0095 ± stat 0.0022 ± sys 0.0010 (68% CL), with the null hypothesis rejected at 4 σ [Stukel et al. , Phys. Rev. Lett. 131 , 052503 (2023) ]. In terms of branching ratio, this unambiguous signal yields I EC 0 = 0.098 % ± stat 0.023 % ± sys 0.010 % , roughly half of the commonly used prediction. This first observation of a third-forbidden unique electron capture improves our understanding of low-energy backgrounds in dark-matter searches and has implications for nuclear-structure calculations. For example, a shell-model based theoretical estimate for the neutrinoless double-beta decay half-life of calcium-48 is increased by a factor of 7 - 2 + 3 . Our nonzero measurement shifts geochronological ages by up to a percent; implications are illustrated for Earth and solar system chronologies.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Crystal structures of polymerized lithium chloride and dimethyl sulfoxide in the form of {2LiCl·3DMSO} n and {LiCl·DMSO} n

Two novel LiCl·DMSO polymer structures were created by combining dry LiCl salt with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), namely, catena-poly[[chlorido­lithium(I)]-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ 2 O:O-[chlorido­lithium(I)]-di-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ 4 O:O], [Li 2 Cl 2 (C 2 H 6 OS) 3 ]n, and catena-poly[lithium(I)-μ-chlorido-μ-(dimethyl sulfoxide)-κ 2 O:O], [LiCl(C 2 H 6 OS)]n. The initial synthesized phase had very small block-shaped crystals (<0.08 mm) with monoclinic symmetry and a 2 LiCl: 3 DMSO ratio. As the solution evaporated, a second phase formed with a plate-shaped crystal morphology. After about 20 minutes, large (>0.20 mm) octa­hedron-shaped crystals formed. The plate crystals and the octa­hedron crystals are the same tetra­gonal structure with a 1 LiCl: 1 DMSO ratio. These structures are reported and compared to other known LiCl·solvent compounds.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

A tunable dielectric resonator for axion searches at 11 GHz

In the context of axion search with haloscopes, tunable cavity resonators with high quality factor and high effective volume at frequencies above about 8 GHz are central for probing the axion-photon coupling with the required sensitivity to reach the QCD axion models. Higher order modes in dielectrically-loaded cavities allow for higher effective volumes and larger quality factors compared to basic cylindrical cavities, but a proper cavity frequency tuning mechanism to probe broad axion mass ranges is yet not available. In this work, we report about the design and construction of a tunable prototype of a single-shell dielectric resonator with its axion-sensitive pseudo-TM$_{030}$ high-order mode at about 11 GHz frequency. A clamshell tuning method previously tested for empty cylindrical resonators has been perfected for this geometry through simulations and in situ tests conducted at cryogenic temperature. Tuning is accomplished in a range of about 2 $\%$ the central frequency, without significantly impacting the quality factor of about 175000. The experimental results presented in this work demonstrate the tunability of this type of resonator, definitely confirming its applicability to high frequency axion searches.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Development, characterisation, and deployment of the SNO+ liquid scintillator

A liquid scintillator consisting of linear alkylbenzene as the solvent and 2,5-diphenyloxazole as the fluor was developed for the SNO+ experiment. This mixture was chosen as it is compatible with acrylic and has a competitive light yield to pre-existing liquid scintillators while conferring other advantages including longer attenuation lengths, superior safety characteristics, chemical simplicity, ease of handling, and logistical availability. Its properties have been extensively characterized and are presented here. This liquid scintillator is now used in several neutrino physics experiments in addition to SNO+.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Dark Matter Search Results from 4.2 Tonne−Years of Exposure of the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) Experiment

We report results of a search for nuclear recoils induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter using the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) two-phase xenon time projection chamber. This analysis uses a total exposure of 4.2 ±0.1 tonne-years from 280 live days of LZ operation, of which 3.3 ± 0.1 tonne-years and 220 live days are new. A technique to actively tag background electronic recoils from 214 Pb 𝛽 decays is featured for the first time. Enhanced electron-ion recombination is observed in two-neutrino double electron capture decays of 124 Xe, representing a noteworthy new background. After removal of artificial signal-like events injected into the dataset to mitigate analyzer bias, we find no evidence for an excess over expected backgrounds. World-leading constraints are placed on spin-independent (SI) and spin-dependent WIMP-nucleon cross sections for masses ≥9 GeV/𝑐 2 . The strongest SI exclusion set is 2.2×10 −48 cm 2 at the 90% confidence level and the best SI median sensitivity achieved is 5.1 ×10 −48 cm 2 , both for a mass of 40 GeV/𝑐 2 .

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

New Constraints on Cosmic Ray-Boosted Dark Matter from the LUX-ZEPLIN Experiment

While dual-phase xenon time projection chambers have driven the sensitivity toward weakly interacting massive particles at the GeV/c 2 to TeV/c 2 mass scale, the scope for sub-GeV/c 2 dark matter particles is hindered by a limited nuclear recoil energy detection threshold. One approach to probe for lighter candidates is to consider cases where they have been boosted by collisions with cosmic rays in the Milky Way, such that the additional kinetic energy lifts their induced signatures above the nominal threshold. In this Letter, we report first results of a search for cosmic ray-boosted dark matter (CRDM) with a combined 4.2 metric ton/yr exposure from the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment. We observe no excess above the expected backgrounds and establish world-leading constraints on the spin-independent CRDM-nucleon cross section as small as 3.9×10 −33 cm 2 at 90% confidence level for sub-GeV/c 2 masses.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗