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At least 775 records · Page 43

A high-precision miniaturized rotating coil transducer for magnetic measurements

A miniaturized Printed Circuit Board (PCB) sensing coil, jointly developed by CERN and Fermilab for measuring the field of small-gap (less than 10 mm) accelerator magnets, is illustrated. A sensing coil array, with a scheme for compensating the main field when measuring the harmonic error components, hosted on a synthetic sapphire-based transducer, is presented. Key innovating features are (i) very-small size, both for the sensing coil array (thickness of 1.380 mm) and for the transducer (overall diameter of 7.350 mm), (ii) metrological performance, namely accuracy (more than five times better than state of the art), and 1-sigma repeatability (ten times better on harmonics with amplitude less than 100 ppm), and (iii) manufacturing technology of both the coil array (13 double layers aligned within 10 μm), and the sapphire support (concentricity, the most important uncertainty source for rotating coils, 3 μm of uncertainty, namely one order of magnitude better than fiberglass support). After stating the measurement problem, the design of the transducer and a case study of a two-layer PCB sensor array are also illustrated. Then, the prototyping and quality control of both the sensor and the transducer are discussed. Furthermore, the calibration and the results obtained with a prototype setup at Fermilab are presented. Finally, in the appendix, the theory of the rotating coil, the sensor geometry, and the harmonic compensation are briefly reviewed for the reader easiness.

06.20.fb/calibration↗

Introduction to Accelerator Dynamics

How does a particle accelerator work? The most direct and intuitive answer focuses on the dynamics of single particles as they travel through an accelerator. Particle accelerators are becoming ever more sophisticated and diverse, from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN to multi-MW linear accelerators and small medical synchrotrons. This self-contained book presents a pedagogical account of the important field of accelerator physics, which has grown rapidly since its inception in the latter half of the last century. Key topics covered include the physics of particle acceleration, collision and beam dynamics, and the engineering considerations intrinsic to the effective construction and operation of particle accelerators. By drawing direct connections between accelerator technology and the parallel development of computational capability, this book offers an accessible introduction to this exciting field at a level appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, accelerator scientists, and engineers.

Peggs, Stephen↗

The Significant Role of New Particle Composition and Morphology on the HNO 3 -Driven Growth of Particles down to Sub-10 nm

New particle formation and growth greatly influence air quality and the global climate. Recent CERN Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets (CLOUD) chamber experiments proposed that in cold urban atmospheres with highly supersaturated HNO 3 and NH 3 , newly formed sub-10 nm nanoparticles can grow rapidly (up to 1000 nm h –1 ). Here, we present direct observational evidence that in winter Beijing with persistent highly supersaturated HNO 3 and NH 3 , nitrate contributed less than ~14% of the 8–40 nm nanoparticle composition, and overall growth rates were only ~0.8–5 nm h –1 . To explain the observed growth rates and particulate nitrate fraction, the effective mass accommodation coefficient of HNO 3 (α HNO 3 ) on the nanoparticles in urban Beijing needs to be 2–4 orders of magnitude lower than those in the CLOUD chamber. We propose that the inefficient uptake of HNO 3 on nanoparticles is mainly due to the much higher particulate organic fraction and lower relative humidity in urban Beijing. To quantitatively reproduce the observed growth, we show that an inhomogeneous “inorganic core–organic shell” nanoparticle morphology might exist for nanoparticles in Beijing. Finally, this study emphasized that growth for nanoparticles down to sub-10 nm was largely influenced by their composition, which was previously ignored and should be considered in future studies on nanoparticle growth.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Unexpectedly large charge radii of neutron-rich calcium isotopes

Here, despite being a complex many-body system, the atomic nucleus exhibits simple structures for certain ‘magic’ numbers of protons and neutrons. The calcium chain in particular is both unique and puzzling: evidence of doubly magic features are known in 40,48 Ca, and recently suggested in two radioactive isotopes, 52,54 Ca. Although many properties of experimentally known calcium isotopes have been successfully described by nuclear theory, it is still a challenge to predict the evolution of their charge radii. Here we present the first measurements of the charge radii of 49,51,52 Ca, obtained from laser spectroscopy experiments at ISOLDE, CERN. The experimental results are complemented by state-of-the-art theoretical calculations. The large and unexpected increase of the size of the neutron-rich calcium isotopes beyond N = 28 challenges the doubly magic nature of 52 Ca and opens new intriguing questions on the evolution of nuclear sizes away from stability, which are of importance for our understanding of neutron-rich atomic nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

New CAST limit on the axion–photon interaction

Hypothetical low-mass particles, such as axions, provide a compelling explanation for the dark matter in the universe. Such particles are expected to emerge abundantly from the hot interior of stars. To test this prediction, the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) uses a 9 T refurbished Large Hadron Collider test magnet directed towards the Sun. In the strong magnetic field, solar axions can be converted to X-ray photons which can be recorded by X-ray detectors. In the 2013–2015 run, thanks to low-background detectors and a new X-ray telescope, the signal-to-noise ratio was increased by about a factor of three. Here, we report the best limit on the axion–photon coupling strength (0.66 × 10 -10 GeV -1 at 95% confidence level) set by CAST, which now reaches similar levels to the most restrictive astrophysical bounds.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Search for Dark Matter Axions with CAST-CAPP

The CAST-CAPP axion haloscope, operating at CERN inside the CAST dipole magnet, has searched for axions in the 19.74 μeV to 22.47 μeV mass range. The detection concept follows the Sikivie haloscope principle, where Dark Matter axions convert into photons within a resonator immersed in a magnetic field. The CAST-CAPP resonator is an array of four individual rectangular cavities inserted in a strong dipole magnet, phase-matched to maximize the detection sensitivity. Here we report on the data acquired for 4124 h from 2019 to 2021. Each cavity is equipped with a fast frequency tuning mechanism of 10 MHz/ min between 4.774 GHz and 5.434 GHz. In the present work, we exclude axion-photon couplings for virialized galactic axions down to g aγγ = 8 × 10 –14 GeV –1 at the 90% confidence level. The here implemented phase-matching technique also allows for future large-scale upgrades.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Nanosecond anomaly detection with decision trees and real-time application to exotic Higgs decays

Abstract We present an interpretable implementation of the autoencoding algorithm, used as an anomaly detector, built with a forest of deep decision trees on FPGA, field programmable gate arrays. Scenarios at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are considered, for which the autoencoder is trained using known physical processes of the Standard Model. The design is then deployed in real-time trigger systems for anomaly detection of unknown physical processes, such as the detection of rare exotic decays of the Higgs boson. The inference is made with a latency value of 30 ns at percent-level resource usage using the Xilinx Virtex UltraScale+ VU9P FPGA. Our method offers anomaly detection at low latency values for edge AI users with resource constraints.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Laboratory realization of relativistic pair-plasma beams

Relativistic electron-positron plasmas are ubiquitous in extreme astrophysical environments such as black-hole and neutron-star magnetospheres, where accretion-powered jets and pulsar winds are expected to be enriched with electron-positron pairs. Their role in the dynamics of such environments is in many cases believed to be fundamental, but their behavior differs significantly from typical electron-ion plasmas due to the matter-antimatter symmetry of the charged components. So far, our experimental inability to produce large yields of positrons in quasi-neutral beams has restricted the understanding of electron-positron pair plasmas to simple numerical and analytical studies, which are rather limited. We present the first experimental results confirming the generation of high-density, quasi-neutral, relativistic electron-positron pair beams using the 440 GeV/c beam at CERN’s Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) accelerator. Monte Carlo simulations agree well with the experimental data and show that the characteristic scales necessary for collective plasma behavior, such as the Debye length and the collisionless skin depth, are exceeded by the measured size of the produced pair beams. Our work opens up the possibility of directly probing the microphysics of pair plasmas beyond quasi-linear evolution into regimes that are challenging to simulate or measure via astronomical observations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Particle physics at accelerators in the United States and Asia

Particle physics experiments in the United States and Asia have greatly contributed to the understanding of elementary particles and their interactions. With the recent discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN, interest in the development of next-generation colliders has been rekindled. A linear electron–positron collider in Japan and a circular collider in China have been proposed for precision studies of the Higgs boson. In addition to the Higgs programme, new accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino mega-facilities are being built in the United States and Japan. Here, we outline the present status of key particle physics programmes at accelerators, and future plans in the United States and Asia that largely complement approaches being explored in the European Strategy for Particle Physics Update. Furthermore, we encourage the pursuit of this global approach, reaching beyond regional boundaries for optimized development and operations of major accelerator facilities worldwide, to ensure an active and productive future of the field.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurement and microscopic description of odd–even staggering of charge radii of exotic copper isotopes

Nuclear charge radii globally scale with atomic mass number A as A 1/3 , and isotopes with an odd number of neutrons are usually slightly smaller in size than their even-neutron neighbours. This odd–even staggering, ubiquitous throughout the nuclear landscape1, varies with the number of protons and neutrons, and poses a substantial challenge for nuclear theory. Here, we report measurements of the charge radii of short-lived copper isotopes up to the very exotic 78 Cu (with proton number Z = 29 and neutron number N = 49), produced at only 20 ions s –1 , using the collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy method at the Isotope Mass Separator On-Line Device facility (ISOLDE) at CERN. We observe an unexpected reduction in the odd–even staggering for isotopes approaching the N = 50 shell gap. To describe the data, we applied models based on nuclear density functional theory and A-body valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group theory. Through these comparisons, we demonstrate a relation between the global behaviour of charge radii and the saturation density of nuclear matter, and show that the local charge radii variations, which reflect the many-body polarization effects, naturally emerge from A-body calculations fitted to properties of A ≤ 4 nuclei.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Search for charged-lepton-flavour violation in Z-boson decays with the ATLAS detector

Leptons with essentially the same properties apart from their mass are grouped into three families (or flavours). The number of leptons of each flavour is conserved in interactions, but this is not imposed by fundamental principles. Since the formulation of the standard model of particle physics, the observation of flavour oscillations among neutrinos has shown that lepton flavour is not conserved in neutrino weak interactions. So far, there has been no experimental evidence that this also occurs in interactions between charged leptons. Such an observation would be a sign of undiscovered particles or a yet unknown type of interaction. Here the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN reports a constraint on lepton-flavour-violating effects in weak interactions, searching for Z -boson decays into a τ lepton and another lepton of different flavour with opposite electric charge. The branching fractions for these decays are measured to be less than 8.1 × 10 –6 ( eτ ) and 9.5 × 10 –6 ( μτ ) at the 95% confidence level using 139 fb –1 of proton–proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV and 20.3 fb –1 at $\sqrt{s}=8$ TeV. These results supersede the limits from the Large Electron–Positron Collider experiments conducted more than two decades ago.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Test of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays

The standard model of particle physics currently provides our best description of fundamental particles and their interactions. The theory predicts that the different charged leptons, the electron, muon and tau, have identical electroweak interaction strengths. Previous measurements have shown that a wide range of particle decays are consistent with this principle of lepton universality. This article presents evidence for the breaking of lepton universality in beauty-quark decays, with a significance of 3.1 standard deviations, based on proton–proton collision data collected with the LHCb detector at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. The measurements are of processes in which a beauty meson transforms into a strange meson with the emission of either an electron and a positron, or a muon and an antimuon. If confirmed by future measurements, this violation of lepton universality would imply physics beyond the standard model, such as a new fundamental interaction between quarks and leptons.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Measurement of the Higgs boson width and evidence of its off-shell contributions to ZZ production

Since the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012, detailed studies of its properties have been ongoing. Besides its mass, its width - related to its lifetime - is an important parameter. One way to determine this quantity is by measuring its off-shell production, where the Higgs boson mass is far away from its nominal value, and relating it to its on-shell production, where the mass is close to the nominal value. Here, we report evidence for such off-shell contributions to the production cross section of two Z bosons with data from the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We constrain the total rate of the off-shell Higgs boson contribution beyond the Z boson pair production threshold, relative to its standard model expectation, to the interval [0.0061, 2.0] at 95% confidence level. The scenario with no off-shell contribution is excluded at a p-value of 0.0003 (3.6 standard deviations). We measure the width of the Higgs boson as $\Gamma_{\mathrm{H}}$ = 3.2 $_{-1.7}^{+2.4}$ MeV, in agreement with the standard model expectation of 4.1 MeV. In addition, we set constraints on anomalous Higgs boson couplings to W and Z boson pairs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Acceleration of electrons in the plasma wakefield of a proton bunch

High-energy particle accelerators have been crucial in providing a deeper understanding of fundamental particles and the forces that govern their interactions. To increase the energy of the particles or to reduce the size of the accelerator, new acceleration schemes need to be developed. Plasma wakefield acceleration, in which the electrons in a plasma are excited, leading to strong electric fields (so called ‘wakefields’), is one such promising acceleration technique. Experiments have shown that an intense laser pulse or electron bunch traversing a plasma can drive electric fields of tens of gigavolts per metre and above—well beyond those achieved in conventional radio-frequency accelerators (about 0.1 gigavolt per metre). However, the low stored energy of laser pulses and electron bunches means that multiple acceleration stages are needed to reach very high particle energies. The use of proton bunches is compelling because they have the potential to drive wakefields and to accelerate electrons to high energy in a single acceleration stage. Long, thin proton bunches can be used because they undergo a process called self-modulation, a particle–plasma interaction that splits the bunch longitudinally into a series of high-density microbunches, which then act resonantly to create large wakefields. The Advanced Wakefield (AWAKE) experiment at CERN uses high-intensity proton bunches—in which each proton has an energy of 400 gigaelectronvolts, resulting in a total bunch energy of 19 kilojoules—to drive a wakefield in a ten-metre-long plasma. Electron bunches are then injected into this wakefield. Here we present measurements of electrons accelerated up to two gigaelectronvolts at the AWAKE experiment, in a demonstration of proton-driven plasma wakefield acceleration. Measurements were conducted under various plasma conditions and the acceleration was found to be consistent and reliable. The potential for this scheme to produce very high-energy electron bunches in a single accelerating stage means that our results are an important step towards the development of future high-energy particle accelerators.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Unveiling the strong interaction among hadrons at the LHC

One of the key challenges for nuclear physics today is to understand from first principles the effective interaction between hadrons with different quark content. First successes have been achieved using techniques that solve the dynamics of quarks and gluons on discrete space-time lattices. Experimentally, the dynamics of the strong interaction have been studied by scattering hadrons off each other. Such scattering experiments are difficult or impossible for unstable hadrons and so high-quality measurements exist only for hadrons containing up and down quarks. Here we demonstrate that measuring correlations in the momentum space between hadron pairs produced in ultrarelativistic proton–proton collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) provides a precise method with which to obtain the missing information on the interaction dynamics between any pair of unstable hadrons. Specifically, we discuss the case of the interaction of baryons containing strange quarks (hyperons). We demonstrate how, using precision measurements of proton–omega baryon correlations, the effect of the strong interaction for this hadron–hadron pair can be studied with precision similar to, and compared with, predictions from lattice calculations. The large number of hyperons identified in proton–proton collisions at the LHC, together with accurate modelling of the small (approximately one femtometre) inter-particle distance and exact predictions for the correlation functions, enables a detailed determination of the short-range part of the nucleon-hyperon interaction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

A portrait of the Higgs boson by the CMS experiment ten years after the discovery

In July 2012, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the CERN Large Hadron Collider announced the observation of a Higgs boson at a mass of around 125 gigaelectronvolts. Ten years later, and with the data corresponding to the production of a 30-times larger number of Higgs bosons, we have learnt much more about the properties of the Higgs boson. The CMS experiment has observed the Higgs boson in numerous fermionic and bosonic decay channels, established its spin–parity quantum numbers, determined its mass and measured its production cross-sections in various modes. Here the CMS Collaboration reports the most up-to-date combination of results on the properties of the Higgs boson, including the most stringent limit on the cross-section for the production of a pair of Higgs bosons, on the basis of data from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 teraelectronvolts. Within the uncertainties, all these observations are compatible with the predictions of the standard model of elementary particle physics. Much evidence points to the fact that the standard model is a low-energy approximation of a more comprehensive theory. Several of the standard model issues originate in the sector of Higgs boson physics. An order of magnitude larger number of Higgs bosons, expected to be examined over the next 15 years, will help deepen our understanding of this crucial sector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A detailed map of Higgs boson interactions by the ATLAS experiment ten years after the discovery

The standard model of particle physics describes the known fundamental particles and forces that make up our Universe, with the exception of gravity. One of the central features of the standard model is a field that permeates all of space and interacts with fundamental particles. The quantum excitation of this field, known as the Higgs field, manifests itself as the Higgs boson, the only fundamental particle with no spin. In 2012, a particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson of the standard model was observed by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Since then, more than 30 times as many Higgs bosons have been recorded by the ATLAS experiment, enabling much more precise measurements and new tests of the theory. Here, on the basis of this larger dataset, we combine an unprecedented number of production and decay processes of the Higgs boson to scrutinize its interactions with elementary particles. Interactions with gluons, photons, and W and Z bosons—the carriers of the strong, electromagnetic and weak forces—are studied in detail. Interactions with three third-generation matter particles (bottom (b) and top (t) quarks, and tau leptons (τ)) are well measured and indications of interactions with a second-generation particle (muons, μ) are emerging. These tests reveal that the Higgs boson discovered ten years ago is remarkably consistent with the predictions of the theory and provide stringent constraints on many models of new phenomena beyond the standard model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

High-precision measurement of the W boson mass with the CMS experiment

In the standard model of particle physics, the masses of the W and Z bosons, the carriers of the weak interaction, are uniquely related. A precise determination of their masses is important because quantum loops of heavy, undiscovered particles could modify this relationship. Although the Z mass is known to the remarkable precision of 22 parts per million (2.0 MeV), the W mass is known much less precisely. A global fit to measured electroweak observables predicts the W mass with 6 MeV uncertainty [1$-$3]. Reaching a comparable experimental precision would be a sensitive and fundamental test of the standard model, made even more urgent by a recent challenge to the global fit prediction by a measurement from the CDF Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron collider [4]. Here we report the measurement of the W mass by the CMS Collaboration at the CERN LHC, based on a large data sample of $W \to \mu \nu$ events collected in 2016 at the proton-proton collision energy of 13 TeV. The measurement exploits a high-granularity maximum likelihood fit to the kinematic properties of muons produced in W decays. By combining an accurate determination of experimental effects with marked in situ constraints of theoretical inputs, we reach a precise measurement of the W mass, of 80 360.2 $\pm$ 9.9 MeV, in agreement with the standard model prediction.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗