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At least 667 records · Page 37

Neutrino interaction physics and the DUNE Near Detector

DUNE is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that will take data in a wideband neutrino beam at Fermilab, starting in the latter half of the 2020s. The experiment is planning to build a very capable near detector to facilitate the high precision extraction of oscillation parameters. Part of the mission of the near detector is to acquire powerful data sets that can be used to constrain the fits used in the oscillation analyses and improve the neutrino interaction model. In this talk, the importance and the potential of a vibrant program of neutrino interaction physics using this detector is described. A few case studies that illustrate the power of the DUNE near detector for studying neutrino interaction physics are described.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Magnetically collimated relativistic charge-neutral electron–positron beams from high-power lasers

In this work, we report the observation of charge-neutral MeV electron-positron beams from magnetically collimated laser-driven pair-production experiments. Relativistic pairs of electrons were generated from laser-solid interactions in an external 13-T mirror field. The pairs were subsequently confined, deflected or collimated depending on the particle energy and field strength, and measured by a magnetic particle spectrometer. Equal quantities of positrons and electrons were measured in the collimated beams with an energy around 13 MeV along the magnetic mirror axis.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Inducing a tunable skyrmion-antiskyrmion system through ion beam modification of FeGe films

Abstract Skyrmions and antiskyrmions are nanoscale swirling textures of magnetic moments formed by chiral interactions between atomic spins in magnetic noncentrosymmetric materials and multilayer films with broken inversion symmetry. These quasiparticles are of interest for use as information carriers in next-generation, low-energy spintronic applications. To develop skyrmion-based memory and logic, we must understand skyrmion-defect interactions with two main goals—determining how skyrmions navigate intrinsic material defects and determining how to engineer disorder for optimal device operation. Here, we introduce a tunable means of creating a skyrmion-antiskyrmion system by engineering the disorder landscape in FeGe using ion irradiation. Specifically, we irradiate epitaxial B20-phase FeGe films with 2.8 MeV Au 4+ ions at varying fluences, inducing amorphous regions within the crystalline matrix. Using low-temperature electrical transport and magnetization measurements, we observe a strong topological Hall effect with a double-peak feature that serves as a signature of skyrmions and antiskyrmions. These results are a step towards the development of information storage devices that use skyrmions and antiskyrmions as storage bits, and our system may serve as a testbed for theoretically predicted phenomena in skyrmion-antiskyrmion crystals.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Design Status Update of the Electron-Ion Collider

The design of the electron-ion collider EIC to be constructed at Brookhaven National Laboratory has been continuously evolving towards a realistic and robust design that meets all the requirements set forth by the nuclear physics community in the White Paper. Over the past year activities have been focused on maturing the design, and on developing alternatives to mitigate risk. These include improvements of the interaction region design as well as modifications of the hadron ring vacuum system to accommodate the high average and peak beam currents. Beam dynamics studies have been performed to determine and optimize the dynamic aperture in the two collider rings and the beam-beam performance. We will present the EIC design with a focus on recent developments.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

First Observation of Neutrino Candidates in ProtoDUNE

The Neutrino Platform at CERN hosts two massive prototypes for the DUNE Far Detector to test the technology for the coming Horizontal Drift and Vertical Drift designs, almost perfectly on axis with the direction of the SPS beamline pointed towards the North Area. The 400 GeV/c SPS protons impacting on the T2 target area may produce exotic particles that could travel ~700 meters to the detectors, in addition to a substantial flux of neutrinos. Simulations of the neutrino flux demonstrate that thousands of neutrino interactions are expected per week in the active volume of NP04 spanning energies from a few GeV up to 180 GeV, constituting the main background for such search. The first step towards establishing a BSM physics program at the Neutrino Platform is therefore to observe neutrinos originating from the SPS beam. A sample of high-energy neutrino events in a DUNE FD-like LArTPC may also be of broader use to the DUNE collaboration. For example, by testing the performance of reconstruction algorithms on highly-energetic neutrino interactions with large hadronic showers. An initial neutrino search was performed by developing filters to remove cosmic events. After filtering, the remaining events were eye-scanned to identify neutrino candidates amongst the residual cosmic background. Over two of the available NP04 runs, 29 neutrino candidates were identified. A separate run taken with the SPS beam off yielded no neutrino candidates. An analysis is now under development that will use all available data, large Monte Carlo samples and full event reconstruction, with the aim of confirming whether NP04 is capable of observing feebly interacting particles originating from the SPS beam.

Pullia, Dario [CERN]↗

The GlueX beamline and detector

The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab has been designed to study photoproduction reactions with a 9-GeV linearly polarized photon beam. The energy and arrival time of beam photons are tagged using a scintillator hodoscope and a scintillating fiber array. The photon flux is determined using a pair spectrometer, while the linear polarization of the photon beam is determined using a polarimeter based on triplet photoproduction. Charged-particle tracks from interactions in the central target are analyzed in a solenoidal field using a central straw-tube drift chamber and six packages of planar chambers with cathode strips and drift wires. Electromagnetic showers are reconstructed in a cylindrical scintillating fiber calorimeter inside the magnet and a lead-glass array downstream. Charged particle identification is achieved by measuring energy loss in the wire chambers and using the flight time of particles between the target and detectors outside the magnet. The signals from all detectors are recorded with flash ADCs and/or pipeline TDCs into memories allowing trigger decisions with a latency of 3.3 $μs$. The detector operates routinely at trigger rates of 40 kHz and data rates of 600 megabytes per second. Here, we describe the photon beam, the GlueX detector components, electronics, data-acquisition and monitoring systems, and the performance of the experiment during the first three years of operation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Neutron and photon in-vivo materials characterization at the evolving plasma-material interface in plasma-burning fusion environments

This report includes the first set of MOSS data collected in the context of fusion-relevant plasma-material interactions. The data collected show that the surface curvature and stress irreversibly change during low-energy deuterium ion irradiation. This holds for both tungsten thin films, bulk tungsten, and single-crystal silicon. Meanwhile, argon irradiation did not produce this same effect. The surface morphology of the exposed samples was virtually identical regardless of gas species. There were, however, some surface chemistry differences between argon-exposed and deuterium-exposed samples, mainly concerning the oxide states of the W4f XPS signal. The changes in surface chemistry could be due to hydrogen dynamics on the tungsten surfaces, though further investigation will be required with in-situ irradiation and analysis. The changes in surface stress could also not be explained by temperature alone, as the temperature reached during the ion irradiations was too low to induce non-elastic strain. With this in mind, deuterium retention in the materials could change the surface curvature and stress. To confirm this, further work will be needed to quantify the change in curvature and relate it to ion flux, fluence, and deuterium retention. Unfortunately, when this work was conducted, the experimental setup for thermal desorption spectroscopy was not operating correctly, and that work could not be included in this dissertation. Despite experimental difficulties, this work shows the first results of a promising technique to study deuterium dynamics in tungsten-based reconstituted thin films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Search for Electron Neutrino Anomalies with the MicroBooNE Detector

The Micro Booster Neutrino Experiment (MicroBooNE) is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) located in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The experiment was devised to investigate a series of observed anomalies concerning short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics. The LArTPC technology enables the experiment to study neutrino-argon scattering with unprecedented detail.This thesis presents a cosmic-ray characterisation and rate measurement. The understanding of cosmic activity in the detector - MicroBooNE's dominant background - is then used to develop cosmic rejection tools. A flavour-agnostic neutrino selection is constructed, which forms the cornerstone of this and further analyses. Inclusive muon and electron charged-current neutrino interaction selections with unprecedented purity and efficiency are presented.The first fully-automated characterisation of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam with the LArTPC detector technology is performed. The Booster Neutrino Beam has an energy peaking around 1GeV and an intrinsic electron content of approximately 0.5%. The analysis investigates electrons produced in charged-current electron neutrino interactions. The kinematics of the electrons are measured along with comparisons to simulation. Most of the systematic uncertainties are constrained using a data-driven sample of charged-current muon neutrino events. The measurement of electron neutrinos originating from the Booster Neutrino Beam is a crucial component towards understanding the nature of the observed excess of low-energy electromagnetic-like events at its predecessor, MiniBooNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Deterministic scattering of relativistic electron beams by off-resonant circularly polarized electromagnetic waves

A mechanism is presented whereby relativistic electron beams localized in phase space are deterministically scattered by coherent circularly polarized electromagnetic waves without stochastic processes. It is shown via an exact single-particle analysis that the condition for maximal scattering is an off-resonant condition, contrary to previous kinetic analyses that predict maximal diffusion or interaction at exact resonance or its harmonics. The mechanism, verified by single-particle simulations, enables a fast, nonlinear redistribution of the beam particles. A possible application of this mechanism to runaway electron suppression is presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Neutrino Interaction Identification for the DUNE Trigger

The DUNE will be a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment using a high purity muon neutrino beam and near detector, both located at the FNAL, and a far detector hosted 1300 km downstream at the SURF. The 10 kt fiducial mass of LAr will allow DUNE to have a rich off-beam neutrino physics programme, including the study of neutrino signals from core collapse supernovae. The SP DUNE FD module will read out ionisation data at a rate of 1.2 TB\textsuperscript{-1} whilst only a total data volume of 30 PB per year can be permanently stored. DUNE will make use of FPGA resources in the front-end of the DAQ as part of the necessitated triggering system. This thesis presents a validation study of the FPGA-based TPG in the front-end DAQ using data collected by the ProtoDUNE experiment hosted at the CERN. The FPGA-based TPG was utilised as the first stage of a baseline SNB trigger whose performance was evaluated using simulated neutrino interactions for a $11.2 m_\odot$ progenitor star. The efficiency of the baseline SNB trigger was determined to have a lower limit of $97.7\substack{+ 0.2\\ -0.3}\%$ for supernovae at a distance of 20kpc, achieving the technical requirements set out for DUNE. To improve the performance of the SNB trigger at greater SNB distances, the use of a bounding box proposal network, YOLOv3, was explored. This was found to improve the efficiency of the SNB trigger to 100\% up to the far side of the Milky Way galaxy and to $92.5\substack{+ 0.5\\ -0.5}\%$ at the Large Magellanic Cloud.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Reactive Oxygen Ion Beam-Induced Deposition for Concurrent Purification of Platinum Nanostructures

Oxygen-focused ion beam induced deposition (O-FIBID) enables the direct-write fabrication of Pt nanostructures while simultaneously enhancing purity concurrently through reactive oxygen–deposit interactions. By systematically varying the dwell time, accelerating voltage, and precursor pressure, the Pt content and conductivity can be controlled. Under optimum conditions, the Pt content reached 63 at.%. Across the dwell-time range used for resistivity measurements, the Pt content increased from 20 to 33 at.%, while the resistivity decreased from 2.9 × 10 4 μΩ·cm to 1.2 × 10 3 μΩ·cm, which is consistent with enhanced percolation through Pt grains and the lower intrinsic resistivity of the purer Pt deposit. The simulation results support a purification mechanism driven by the beam-induced activation of implanted oxygen balanced against the preferential sputtering of Pt. These results demonstrate O-FIBID as a viable method for the nanoscale direct write of conductive Pt without post-processing, and some deviations from conventional FIBID wisdom are observed. These results serve as a foundation for exploring nascent, reactive focused ion beam-induced deposition processes.

deposit purification↗

Dark Photon Search at the Short-Baseline Near Detector

Neutrino physics has long been a key field in elementary particle physics, both enhancing our understanding of the Standard Model (SM) and raising new questions. Among these are the so-called "Short-Baseline Anomalies" observed by neutrino experiments, particularly the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab, which detected an excess of low-energy electron-like events. In recent years, beyond Standard Model (BSM) explanations have been proposed to address this anomaly, with a focus on neutrino beam-related processes. A novel interpretation involving a dark-sector explanation was recently suggested, introducing a vector portal that connects the SM and dark sectors through a new interaction mediated by a bosonic particle, the Dark Photon. This work investigates the production of dark-sector particles, specifically Dark Photons, in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab and their potential detection at the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). The BNB produces mesons which decay into Dark Photons, detectable via their decay into electron-positron pairs at SBND. By exploiting the temporal structure of the neutrino beam, we propose a method to isolate Dark Photon signals from neutrino backgrounds using time-delayed event detection. In this thesis, the sensitivity of SBND to Dark Photons is assessed using a three-year exposure, demonstrating that SBND has the potential to significantly improve current experimental constraints on Dark Photons. This analysis provides a promising avenue for future dark sector searches in neutrino experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Proton and neutron density distributions at supranormal density in low- and medium-energy heavy-ion collisions. II. Central Pb + Pb collisions

This paper represents a continuation of our investigation into the limitations on total, proton, and neutron particle number densities, as well as the asymmetry of proton and neutron density distributions achievable in central heavy-ion collisions. We explore these aspects at low and medium energies within the framework of the Boltzmann-Uhlenbeck-Uehling (pBUU) transport and time-dependent Hartree-Fock (TDHF) models. Previous studies, focusing on symmetric and asymmetric collisions of Ca and Sn nuclei [1], and initial results on Pb-nuclei collisions [2], emphasized the role of the Coulomb interaction in these events. Our findings indicated that: (i) the highest total densities predicted at 𝐸 beam = 800 MeV/nucleon were on the order of ≈ 2.5⁢𝜌 0 (𝜌 0 = 0.16 fm −3 ), (ii) the proton-neutron asymmetry for maximal densities, 𝛿=(𝜌$^{max}_{n}$− 𝜌$^{max}_{p}$)/(𝜌$^{max}_{n}$+𝜌$^{max}_{p}$), did not generally exceed the asymmetry in the initial state of the collision at all beam energies and tended to decrease during the reaction, and (iii) a significant portion of this asymmetry had its microscopic origin in Coulomb forces, masking the pure nuclear contribution. These new findings, particularly relevant in the astrophysical context, are further examined in this work, focusing on the heaviest target-projectile combination 212,208 Pb accessible in an experiment. We introduce the SkT3 Skyrme force model, not previously used for the Pb system, and compare it to the SV-bas and SV-sym34 models to explore the symmetry-energy dependence of the results. Contour plots of nucleonic densities are presented, contrasting the time evolution of the density distributions in low (TDHF) and high (pBUU) models. We also present the evolution of normalized maximal proton, neutron, and total nucleon number density with increasing beam energy in the full pBUU model and the Vlasov approximation, aiming to explore the impact of correlations in the reaction. The time evolution of the proton and neutron density distributions in the plane transverse to the beam direction is illustrated at both low and high beam energy. In conclusion, our detailed examination of the Pb system in this work provides further essential evidence that the aforementioned findings (i)–(iii) are only weakly dependent on system size and a symmetry-energy model, and thus, they are of more general importance.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

EIC Detector Overview

The Electron Ion Collider will have two interaction regions that can be instrumented with detectors. Here, the first region will be instrumented as part of the project and needs to be capable of delivering the physics that has been outlined by the National Academy of Sciences and ready at the start of beam commissioning near the end of this decade. Plans for a second complementary detector to be located at a second interaction region are already in progress and will hopefully come to fruition just few years after the first detector comes online. While the basic parameters of these detectors are being selected using conventional approaches, the optimization of the detectors is already being enhanced by making use of advanced optimization techniques.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Parametric amplification of angularly multiplexed waves for application to beam smoothing

The parametric amplification of angularly multiplexed waves is studied via modeling and experiments. The phase-matching properties of the amplification process with a single pump, including parasitic interactions of pairs of signal/idler, are investigated. An experimental demonstration with up to six signal waves is presented, with a quantification of the output properties, including stability relative to the input pump and seeds. A proof-of-concept study of beam smoothing induced by combining up to 12 speckle fields generated from six signal waves and six idler waves is shown.

Dorrer, C. [University of Rochester, NY (United St↗

Study of Excited Cascade Baryons and Preliminary Cross-Sections for Ξ(1530) Using Data from the GlueX Experiment

The spectra of predicted particles from elementary quark models (CQMs) are expansive, accurate for the low-lying spectra, but incomplete. The GlueX experiment at Jefferson Lab is a vehicle to study medium energy photoproduction of hadronic states. The primary goal of the GlueX collaboration is to study Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD, also known as the strong nuclear force) and the nature of quark confinement. The GlueX collaboration uses a polarized photon beam incident on a liquid hydrogen target (LH 2 ) to investigate the aftermath of photon-proton interactions. The cascade baryons, denoted by Ξ, are defined by having two, second-generation, strange quarks with an additional first-generation light quark (u or d). Experimentally, few cascades have been discovered, which is the antithesis of what most models expect. The cascades have some favorable attributes but are difficult to detect because the production cross sections are small and direct production is unlikely. Fortunately, in the 12 GeV era of the GlueX experiment, there is sufficient energy, beam time and data analysis tools for the detection of excited cascade states and their properties. From the reaction γ p →Κ + Κ + Ξ - π 0 , the invariant mass spectra of Ξ - π 0 system was surveyed for new possible resonances. The invariant mass spectrum has a strong Ξ(1530) signal with other smaller resonances throughout the spectrum. Preliminary cross sections for the Ξ(1530) that was photoproduced from the proton are presented at energies never before explored. While the Ξ(1530) couples almost exclusively to the Ξπ channel, there is an easily identifiable Ξ(1690) signal decaying Ξπ. Through the use of a simultaneous fitting routing of the Ξ*- mass spectra, I was able to observe the Ξ(1690) decaying to the KΛ, as well as to the Ξ - π 0 branch. With additional statistics, a measurement of the branching ratio should be possible. Lastly, a partial wave analysis (PWA) was completed to verify that the total angular momentum of Ξ(1530) is J = 3/2 and consistent with having positive parity. Additionally, there is evidence of a potentially interesting feature slightly above the mass of the Ξ(1530) that should be more fully explored as new GlueX data becomes available.

Sumner, Brandon↗

Advances in mapping of x-ray emission from NIF hohlraums

A newly available ns-gated laser-entrance-hole (GLEH) imager in the National Ignition Facility provides a routine, non-perturbative measurement of hohlraum x-ray emission from inner and outer laser beam deposition regions. The GLEH records the x-ray flux integrated over complex interactions of various part of hohlraum plasma that evolves on a sub-nanosecond time scale. In using these images to unravel hohlraum physics, the first step is to pinpoint the origin inside the hohlraum of the observed x-ray image features. By mapping the hohlraum emission to the GLEH images using high-resolution simulations, one can interpret the GLEH images and gain insight into the hohlraum dynamics.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Entanglement-enhanced matter-wave interferometry in a high-finesse cavity

An ensemble of atoms can operate as a quantum sensor by placing atoms in a superposition of two different states. Upon measurement of the sensor, each atom is individually projected into one of the two states. Creating quantum correlations between the atoms, that is entangling them, could lead to resolutions surpassing the standard quantum limit set by projections of individual atoms. Large amounts of entanglement involving the internal degrees of freedom of laser-cooled atomic ensembles have been generated in collective cavity quantum-electrodynamics systems, in which many atoms simultaneously interact with a single optical cavity mode. Here we report a matter-wave interferometer in a cavity quantum-electrodynamics system of 700 atoms that are entangled in their external degrees of freedom. In our system, each individual atom falls freely under gravity and simultaneously traverses two paths through space while entangled with the other atoms. In this work, we demonstrate both quantum non-demolition measurements and cavity-mediated spin interactions for generating squeezed momentum states with directly observed sensitivity $3.4^{+1.1}_{–0.9}$dB and $2.5^{+0.6}_{–0.6}$dB below the standard quantum limit, respectively. We successfully inject an entangled state into a Mach–Zehnder light-pulse interferometer with directly observed sensitivity $1.7^{+0.5}_{–0.5}$dB below the standard quantum limit. The combination of particle delocalization and entanglement in our approach may influence developments of enhanced inertial sensors, searches for new physics, particles and fields, future advanced gravitational wave detectors and accessing beyond mean-field quantum many-body physics.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗