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At least 73 records · Page 4

Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing of composite fermions

Topological pairing of composite fermions has led to remarkable ideas, such as excitations obeying non-Abelian braid statistics and topological quantum computation. Here, we construct a p-wave paired Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) wave function for composite fermions in the torus geometry, which is a convenient geometry for formulating momentum space pairing as well as for revealing the underlying composite-fermion Fermi sea. Following the standard BCS approach, we minimize the Coulomb interaction energy at half filling in the lowest and the second Landau levels, which correspond to filling factors ν = 1/2 and ν = 5/2 in GaAs quantum wells, by optimizing two variational parameters that are analogous to the gap and the Debye cut-off energy of the BCS theory. Our results show no evidence for pairing at ν = 1/2 but a clear evidence for pairing at ν = 5/2. To a good approximation, the highest overlap between the exact Coulomb ground state at ν = 5/2 and the BCS state is obtained for parameters that minimize the energy of the latter, thereby providing support for the physics of composite-fermion pairing as the mechanism for the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall effect. We discuss the issue of modular covariance of the composite-fermion BCS wave function, and calculate its Hall viscosity and pair correlation function. By similar methods, we look for but do not find an instability to s-wave pairing for a spin-singlet composite-fermion Fermi sea at half-filled lowest Landau level in a system where the Zeeman splitting has been set to zero.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Composite Fermion Pairing Induced by Landau Level Mixing

Pairing of composite fermions provides a possible mechanism for fractional quantum Hall effect at even denominator fractions and is believed to serve as a platform for realizing quasiparticles with non-Abelian braiding statistics. We present results from fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo calculations which predict that substantial Landau level mixing can induce a pairing of composite fermions at filling factors v = 1/2 and v = 1/4 in the l = -3 relative angular momentum channel, thereby destabilizing the composite-fermion Fermi seas to produce non-Abelian fractional quantum Hall states.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Great Markarian 421 Flare of 2010 February: Multiwavelength Variability and Correlation Studies

We report on variability and correlation studies using multiwavelength observations of the blazar Mrk 421 during the month of February, 2010 when an extraordinary flare reaching a level of ~27 Crab Units above 1 TeV was measured in very-highenergy (VHE) γ-rays with the VERITAS observatory. This is the highest flux state for Mrk 421 ever observed in VHE γ-rays. Data are analyzed from a coordinated campaign across multiple instruments including VHE γ-ray (VERITAS, MAGIC), high-energy (HE) γ-ray (Fermi-LAT), X-ray (Swift, RXTE, MAXI), optical (including the GASP-WEBT collaboration and polarization data) and radio (Mets¨ahovi, OVRO, UMRAO). Light curves are produced spanning multiple days before and after the peak of the VHE flare, including over several flare ‘decline’ epochs. The main flare statistics allow 2-minute time bins to be constructed in both the VHE and optical bands enabling a cross-correlation analysis that shows evidence for an optical lag of ~25–55 minutes, the first time-lagged correlation between these bands reported on such short timescales. Limits on the Doppler factor (δ & 33) and the size of the emission region (δ -1RB . 3.8 × 10 13 cm) are obtained from the fast variability observed by VERITAS during the main flare. Analysis of 10-minute-binned VHE and X-ray data over the decline epochs shows an extraordinary range of behavior in the flux-flux relationship: from linear to quadratic to lack of correlation to anti-correlation. Taken together, these detailed observations of an unprecedented flare seen in Mrk 421 are difficult to explain by the classic single-zone synchrotron self-Compton model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Detection of Kardar–Parisi–Zhang hydrodynamics in a quantum Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain

Classical hydrodynamics is a remarkably versatile description of the coarse-grained behaviour of many-particle systems once local equilibrium has been established. The form of the hydrodynamical equations is determined primarily by the conserved quantities present in a system. Some quantum spin chains are known to possess, even in the simplest cases, a greatly expanded set of conservation laws, and recent work suggests that these laws strongly modify collective spin dynamics, even at high temperature. In this work, by probing the dynamical exponent of the one-dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet KCuF 3 with neutron scattering, we find evidence that the spin dynamics are well described by the dynamical exponent z = 3/2, which is consistent with the recent theoretical conjecture that the dynamics of this quantum system are described by the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang universality class. This observation shows that low-energy inelastic neutron scattering at moderate temperatures can reveal the details of emergent quantum fluid properties like those arising in non-Fermi liquids in higher dimensions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Block Lanczos algorithm for lattice QCD spectroscopy and matrix elements

Recent work introduced a new framework for analyzing correlation functions with improved convergence and signal-to-noise properties, as well as rigorous quantification of excited-state effects, based on the Lanczos algorithm and spurious eigenvalue filtering with the Cullum-Willoughby test. Here, we extend this framework to the analysis of correlation-function matrices built from multiple interpolating operators in lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) by constructing an oblique generalization of the block Lanczos algorithm, as well as a new physically motivated reformulation of the Cullum-Willoughby test that generalizes to block Lanczos straightforwardly. The resulting block Lanczos method directly extends generalized eigenvalue problem (GEVP) methods, which can be viewed as applying a single iteration of block Lanczos. Block Lanczos provides qualitative and quantitative advantages over GEVP methods analogous to the benefits of Lanczos over the standard effective mass, including faster convergence to ground- and excited-state energies, explicitly computable two-sided error bounds, straightforward extraction of matrix elements of external currents, and asymptotically constant signal-to-noise. No fits or statistical inference are required. Proof-of-principle calculations are performed for noiseless mock-data examples as well as two-by-two proton correlation-function matrices in lattice QCD.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

First observations of solar halo gamma rays over a full solar cycle

We analyze 15 years of Fermi-LAT data and produce a detailed model of the Sun’s inverse-Compton scattering emission (solar halo), which is powered by interactions between ambient cosmic-ray electrons and positrons with sunlight. By developing a novel analysis method to analyze moving sources, we robustly detect the solar halo at energies between 31.6 MeV and 100 GeV, and angular extensions up to 45° from the Sun, providing new insight into spatial regions where there are no direct measurements of the Galactic cosmic-ray flux. The large statistical significance of our signal allows us to subdivide the data and provide the first 𝛾-ray probes into the time variation and azimuthal asymmetry of the solar modulation potential, finding time-dependent changes in solar modulation both parallel and perpendicular to the ecliptic plane. Our results are consistent with (but with independent uncertainties from) local cosmic-ray measurements, unlocking new probes into astrophysical processes near the solar surface.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The hierarchical growth of bright central galaxies and intracluster light as traced by the magnitude gap

Using a sample of 2800 galaxy clusters identified in the Dark Energy Survey across the redshift range 0.20 < z < 0.60, we characterize the hierarchical assembly of bright central galaxies (BCGs) and the surrounding intracluster light (ICL). To quantify hierarchical formation we use the stellar mass–halo mass (SMHM) relation, comparing the halo mass, estimated via the mass–richness relation, to the stellar mass within the BCG + ICL system. Moreover, we incorporate the magnitude gap (M14), the difference in brightness between the BCG (measured within 30 kpc) and fourth brightest cluster member galaxy within 0.5 $R_{200,c}$, as a third parameter in this linear relation. The inclusion of M14, which traces BCG hierarchical growth, increases the slope and decreases the intrinsic scatter, highlighting that it is a latent variable within the BCG + ICL SMHM relation. Moreover, the correlation with M14 decreases at large radii. However, the stellar light within the BCG + ICL transition region (30 –80 kpc) most strongly correlates with halo mass and has a statistically significant correlation with M14. Since the transition region and M14 are independent measurements, the transition region may grow due to the BCG’s hierarchical formation. Additionally, as M14 and ICL result from hierarchical growth, we use a stacked sample and find that clusters with large M14 values are characterized by larger ICL and BCG + ICL fractions, which illustrates that the merger processes that build the BCG stellar mass also grow the ICL. Furthermore, this may suggest that M14 combined with the ICL fraction can identify dynamically relaxed clusters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Geometry, Disorder and Phase Transitions in Topological States of Matter

The quantum Hall effect is the birthplace of topological states of matter, a major theme at the forefront of condensed matter physics in the past two decades. The fractional quantum Hall (FQH) effect revolutionized our understanding of phases of electronic matter. FQH states support exotic fractionally charged excitations that obey Abelian or non-Abelian fractional statistics, which are topological excitations that result from the underlying topological order. During this project, our group discovered a previously unrecognized geometric degree of freedom of incompressible FQH states and studied that for a variety of gapped FQH states. We brought this new concept into direct contact with experiments for the first time by generalizing it to Fermi-liquid states of composite fermions. Using the newly formulated powerful infinite Density Matrix Renormalization Group method, our numerical calculations yielded a parameter free prediction that was found to be in excellent agreement with experimental findings on electron systems in semiconductor heterostructures. In parallel, we performed extensive numerical studies on different, competing phases at various Landau level filling factors, and quantum phase transitions that result from such a competition, e.g. Abelian-non-Abelian phase transitions in bilayer systems. We studied geometrical excitations dubbed “gravitons” (because of their analogy with excitations in the theory of gravitation) and ways to excite and detect them, and explored how they couple with topological excitations. In graphene-based chiral materials, we realized the ability to tune through different incompressible and compressible states in a single Landau level, and found appropriate experimental parameters for the exploration of universal Luttinger liquid behavior not obtained in semiconductor-based electron systems. We showed that topological systems had a very different response from nontopological systems to strong disorder (many-body localization) as well as periodic drives.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Final Report on the Measurement of the Positive Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment at Fermilab to 127 ppb

This report details the final measurement of the muon magnetic anomaly, $a_μ=(g_μ-2)/2$, by the Muon $g-2$ experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), using positive muons collected from 2021 to 2023. The value of $a_μ$ is determined from the ratio of the anomalous spin precession frequency to the shielded proton precession frequency in the muon storage ring magnetic field, combined with external constants known at the 22 ppb level. The new dataset, containing over $2.5$ times the statistics of our previous results, yields $a_μ=116\,592\,0710(162)\times 10^{-12}$ (139 ppb), or $a_μ=116\,592\,0705(148)\times 10^{-12}$ (127 ppb) when combined with our previous results. The new experimental world average, dominated by the measurements at FNAL, is $a_μ^{\text{Exp}}=116\,592\,0715(145)\times 10^{-12}$ (124 ppb).

Aguillard, D. P. [U. Michigan, Ann Arbor] (ORCID:0↗

Yet Another Sunshine Mystery: Unexpected Asymmetry in GeV Emission from the Solar Disk

The Sun is one of the most luminous γ-ray sources in the sky and continues to challenge our understanding of its high-energy emission mechanisms. This study provides an in-depth investigation of the solar disk γ-ray emission, using data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope spanning 2008 August to 2022 January. We focus on γ-ray events with energies exceeding 5 GeV, originating from 0°5 angular aperture centered on the Sun, and implement stringent time cuts to minimize potential sample contaminants. We use a helioprojection method to resolve the γ-ray events relative to the solar rotation axes and combine statistical tests to investigate the distribution of events over the solar disk. We found that integrating observations over large time windows may overlook relevant asymmetrical features, which we reveal in this work through a refined time-dependent morphological analysis. We describe significant anisotropic trends and confirm compelling evidence of energy-dependent asymmetry in the solar disk γ-ray emission. Intriguingly, the asymmetric signature coincides with the Sun's polar field flip during the cycle 24 solar maximum, around 2014 June. Our findings suggest that the Sun's magnetic configuration plays a significant role in shaping the resulting γ-ray signature, highlighting a potential link between the observed anisotropies, solar cycle, and the solar magnetic fields. These insights pose substantial challenges to established emission models, prompting fresh perspectives on high-energy solar astrophysics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

ThunderSecure: deploying real-time intrusion detection for 100G research networks by leveraging stream-based features and one-class classification network

Nowadays, data generated by large-scale scientific experiments are on the scale of petabytes per month. These data are transferred through dedicated high-bandwidth networks (40/100G) across distributed sites for processing, storage, and analysis. Like general purpose networks, research networks experience intrusions. However, monitoring anomalies in such high-speed network traffics is challenging given current cyber-infrastructure. Moreover, traditional network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) are signature based. However, anomaly patterns are difficult to define and that rulesets are often not updated frequently enough to reflect the changes of attack behaviors. We present ThunderSecure, a high-throughput, unsupervised learning-based intrusions detection system for 100G research networks. ThunderSecure implements an efficient packet processing and detection pipeline using multi-cores and GPUs. It extracts statistical and temporal features from real-time network data streams and feeds them to a one-class anomaly detection network. A baseline of normal distribution will be created based on the training observation. Testing traffic deviated from the learned profile will be marked as anomalies. We trained ThunderSecure on hundreds of billions of science data packets mirrored from two 100G network connections at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The detection performance was evaluated on traffic captured from the same research network days and weeks after the training with different types of attack flows injected. Results show that ThunderSecure can recognize science data traffic captured long after the training and made nearly certain detection on the segment of the streams where anomalous flows were injected.

100G research network↗

A Search for Neutrino Point-source Populations in 7 yr of IceCube Data with Neutrino-count Statistics

The presence of a population of point sources in a data set modifies the underlying neutrino-count statistics from the Poisson distribution. This deviation can be exactly quantified using the non-Poissonian template fitting technique, and in this work we present the first application of this approach to the IceCube high-energy neutrino data set. Using this method, we search in 7 yr of IceCube data for point-source populations correlated with the disk of the Milky Way, the Fermi bubbles, the Schlegel, Finkbeiner, and Davis dust map, or with the isotropic extragalactic sky. No evidence for such a population is found in the data using this technique, and in the absence of a signal, we establish constraints on population models with source-count distribution functions that can be described by a power law with a single break. Here, the derived limits can be interpreted in the context of many possible source classes. In order to enhance the flexibility of the results, we publish the full posterior from our analysis, which can be used to establish limits on specific population models that would contribute to the observed IceCube neutrino flux.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effect of boundary conditions on fluctuations of the Bose condensate of interacting atoms

For a gas of trapped interacting atoms forming a Bose condensate, we demonstrate a possibility of a significant influence of the boundary conditions on the statistics of the number of particles in the fundamental mode of the system. The analysis is carried out in the Bogoliubov – Popov low-temperature approximation for model homogeneous cubic traps with periodic or combined periodic and zero boundary conditions. It is shown that the effect of the boundary conditions does not weaken even in the region of parameters corresponding to the relatively strong interaction in the Thomas – Fermi asymptotic case, and does not disappear when proceeding to the thermodynamic limit. (paper)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Multiscale astrobiology with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) presents an unprecedented opportunity to advance the search for astrobiologically relevant data across diverse astronomical environments. Through its extensive imaging capabilities, LSST will enhance our inventory of Solar System objects and assess their potential astrobiological conditions. Beyond the Solar System, LSST will survey billions of stars, contributing to the detection of exoplanets, characterizing planetary atmospheres at a zeroth-order level, identifying transient phenomena, and exploring conditions within habitable zones. In this paper, we highlight LSST’s unique contribution to astrobiology, complementing other missions and expanding the search for life beyond Earth in the coming decades.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The NuMI Flux Prediction at ICARUS

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment seeking to probe fundamental symmetries within the structure of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) mixing matrix, and perform precision measurements its parameters including the neutrino mass ordering via the sign of $\Delta m^2_{31}$, and the charge-parity violating phase, $\delta_{CP}$. To make these measurements with high precision, DUNE will require external $\nu$-Ar scattering cross section data as a crucial input to the oscillation fit. Imaging Cosmic And Rare Underground Signals (ICARUS) is a 476 t liquid argon neutrino detector located at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) where it is serving as the far detector for the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) axis. ICARUS additionally lies 795 m downstream and 100.1 mrad off-axis of the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beam. From this position, ICARUS is exposed to a large flux of NuMI (anti-)electron and (anti-)muon neutrinos, and poses a unique opportunity to provide high-statistics measurements of quasi-elastic and single pion-production cross sections for four neutrino flavors ($\nu_{\mu}$, $\nu_{e}$, $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$, $\bar{\nu}_{e}$). This dissertation is centered around accurately characterizing the models and estimating their precision for use in making these measurements. This includes identifying major sources of uncertainty in the models such that they can be properly propagated to the cross section measurements. Specifically, this work focused on the model of the NuMI beamline and its impact on the neutrino fluxes, but also delved into the detector response model and its impact on reconstructed observables in the detector. Significant efforts were made to improve the characterization to enhance precision and thus reduce the level of propagated uncertainty. In particular, the NuMI flux was determined to be composed of 57% $\nu_{\mu}$, 38% $\bar{\nu}_{\mu}$, 3% $\nu_{e}$, and 2% $\bar{\nu}_{e}$ while the horns are operating in the positive-particle focusing configuration. The total uncertainty on the $\nu_{\mu} + \bar{\nu}_{\mu}$ ($\nu_{e} + \bar{\nu}_{e}$) flux while operating in the forward horn operating mode was determined to be 10.84% (9.04%). Compared to the on-axis flux, mesons that eventually decay to neutrinos more frequently reinteract within the NuMI structure, resulting in elevated uncertainty as these processes are not well-constrained by existing hadron interaction cross section measurements. Covariance matrices were calculated to propagate the flux uncertainty characterization to NuMI analyses.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

A New Sample of Gamma-Ray Emitting Jetted Active Galactic Nuclei—Preliminary Results

We are compiling a new list of gamma-ray jetted active galactic nuclei (AGN), starting from the fourth catalog of point sources of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). Our aim is to prepare a list of jetted AGN with known redshifts and classifications to be used to calibrate jet power. We searched in the available literature for all the published optical spectra and multiwavelength studies useful to characterize the sources. We found new, missed, or even forgotten information leading to a substantial change in the redshift values and classification of many sources. We present here the preliminary results of this analysis and some statistics based on the gamma-ray sources with right ascension within the interval 0 h --12 h (J2000). Although flat-spectrum radio quasars and BL Lac objects are still the dominant populations, there is a significant increase in the number of other objects, such as misaligned AGN, narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies, and Seyfert galaxies. We also introduced two new classes of objects: changing-look AGN and ambiguous sources. About one third of the sources remain unclassified.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Harnessing the Population Statistics of Subhalos to Search for Annihilating Dark Matter

The Milky Way's dark matter halo is expected to host numerous low-mass subhalos with no detectable associated stellar component. Such subhalos are invisible unless their dark matter annihilates to visible states such as photons. One of the established methods for identifying candidate subhalos is to search for individual unassociated gamma-ray sources with properties consistent with the dark matter expectation. However, robustly ruling out an astrophysical origin for any such candidate is challenging. In this work, we present a complementary approach that harnesses information about the entire population of subhalos—such as their spatial and mass distribution in the Galaxy—to search for a signal of annihilating dark matter. Using simulated data, we show that the collective emission from subhalos can imprint itself in a unique way on the statistics of observed photons, even when individual subhalos may be too dim to be resolved on their own. Additionally, we demonstrate that, for the models we consider, the signal can be identified even in the face of unresolved astrophysical point-source emission of extragalactic and Galactic origin. Furthermore, this establishes a new search technique for subhalos that is complementary to established methods, and that could have important ramifications for gamma-ray dark matter searches using observatories such as the Fermi Large Area Telescope and the Cerenkov Telescope Array.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NOvA Sterile Neutrino Search with Additional Systematic Constraints

The NOvA experiment measures neutrino oscillations in a nearly pure muon neutrino beam. The neutral current (NC) and the muon neutrino charged current (CC) interaction disappearance are studied to search for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations. NOvA consists of two functionally identical detectors placed 14 mrad off-axis of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's NuMI beamline. The Near Detector (ND) is located 100 meters underground on-site at Fermilab, while the Far Detector (FD) is situated on the surface 810 kilometers away at Ash River, Minnesota. The NuMI beam is capable of operating in either forward or reverse horn current modes, producing predominantly neutrino or antineutrino beams, respectively. For this analysis, a simultaneous near and far detector joint fit approach was utilized. Systematic uncertainties constrain the ND while the statistical uncertainties constrain the FD. In addition to the dual baseline approach, the neutrino-on-electron elastic scattering sample was included. This interaction is advantageous as it is subject to minimal cross-section uncertainties, which will help reduce degeneracies between other uncertainty categories. This thesis presents the sterile neutrino oscillation sensitivity results using 27.2e+20 POT in FHC mode, 12.6e+20 in RHC mode, with the nu-on-e sample of 13.6e+20 POT in FHC.

Oh, Haejun [Cincinnati U.]↗