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At least 919 records · Page 51

Application of the coincidence counting technique to DD neutron spectrometry data at the NIF, OMEGA, and Z

A compact neutron spectrometer, based on a CH foil for the production of recoil protons and CR-39 detection, is being developed for the measurements of the DD-neutron spectrum at the NIF, OMEGA, and Z facilities. As a CR-39 detector will be used in the spectrometer, the principal sources of background are neutron-induced tracks and intrinsic tracks (defects in the CR-39). To reject the background to the required level for measurements of the down-scattered and primary DD-neutron components in the spectrum, the Coincidence Counting Technique (CCT) must be applied to the data. Using a piece of CR-39 exposed to 2.5-MeV protons at the MIT HEDP accelerator facility and DD-neutrons at Z, a significant improvement of a DD-neutron signal-to-background level has been demonstrated for the first time using the CCT. These results are in excellent agreement with previous work applied to DT neutrons.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Optical spectroscopic observations of blazars and γ-ray blazar candidates in the Sloan digital sky survey data release nine

We present an analysis of the optical spectra available in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data release nine (SDSS DR9) for the blazars listed in the ROMA-BZCAT and for the γ-ray blazar candidates selected according to their IR colors. First, we adopt a statistical approach based on Monte Carlo simulations to find the optical counterparts of the blazars listed in the ROMA-BZCAT catalog. Then, we crossmatched the SDSS spectroscopic catalog with our selected samples of blazars and γ-ray blazar candidates, searching for those with optical spectra available to classify our blazar-like sources and, whenever possible, to confirm their redshifts. Our main objectives are to determine the classification of uncertain blazars listed in the ROMA-BZCAT and to discover new gamma-ray blazars. For the ROMA-BZCAT sources, we investigated a sample of 84 blazars, confirming the classification for 20 of them and obtaining 18 new redshift estimates. For the γ-ray blazars, indicated as potential counterparts of unassociated Fermi sources or with uncertain nature, we established the blazar-like nature of 8 out of the 27 sources analyzed and confirmed 14 classifications.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DETERMINATION OF THE POINT-SPREAD FUNCTION FOR THE FERMI LARGE AREA TELESCOPE FROM ON-ORBIT DATA AND LIMITS ON PAIR HALOS OF ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is a pair-conversion telescope designed to detect photons with energies from Almost-Equal-To 20 MeV to >300 GeV. The pre-launch response functions of the LAT were determined through extensive Monte Carlo simulations and beam tests. The point-spread function (PSF) characterizing the angular distribution of reconstructed photons as a function of energy and geometry in the detector is determined here from two years of on-orbit data by examining the distributions of {gamma} rays from pulsars and active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Above 3 GeV, the PSF is found to be broader than the pre-launch PSF. We checked for dependence of the PSF on the class of {gamma}-ray source and observation epoch and found none. We also investigated several possible spatial models for pair-halo emission around BL Lac AGNs. We found no evidence for a component with spatial extension larger than the PSF and set upper limits on the amplitude of halo emission in stacked images of low- and high-redshift BL Lac AGNs and the TeV blazars 1ES0229+200 and 1ES0347-121.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Blob-hole correlation model for edge turbulence and comparisons with NSTX gas puff imaging data [Blob-hole correlation model for edge turbulence and comparisons with NSTX GPI data]

We report that gas puff imaging (GPI) observations made in NSTX have revealed two-point spatial correlations of edge and scrape-off layer turbulence in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field. A common feature is the occurrence of dipole-like patterns with significant regions of negative correlation. In this paper, we explore the possibility that these dipole patterns may be due to blob-hole pairs. Statistical methods are applied to determine the two-point spatial correlation that results from a model of blob-hole pair formation. It is shown that the model produces dipole correlation patterns that are qualitatively similar to the GPI data in several respects. Effects of the reference location (confined surfaces or scrape-off layer), a superimposed random background, hole velocity and lifetime, and background sheared flows are explored and discussed with respect to experimental observations. Additional analysis of the experimental GPI dataset is performed to further test this blob-hole correlation model. A time delay two-point spatial correlation study did not reveal inward propagation of the negative correlation structures that were postulated to correspond to holes in the data nor did it suggest that the negative correlation structures are due to neutral shadowing. However, tracking of the highest and lowest values (extrema) of the normalized GPI fluctuations shows strong evidence for mean inward propagation of minima and outward propagation of maxima, in qualitative agreement with theoretical expectations. Finally, other properties of the experimentally observed extrema are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Search for 100 MeV to 10 GeV γ-ray lines in the Fermi-LAT data and implications for gravitino dark matter in the μνSSM

We present that dark matter decay or annihilation may produce monochromatic signals in the γ-ray energy range. In this work we argue that there are strong theoretical motivations for studying these signals in the framework of gravitino dark matter decay and we perform a search for γ-ray spectral lines from 100 MeV to 10 GeV with Fermi-LAT data. In contrast to previous line searches at higher energies, the sensitivity of the present search is dominated by systematic uncertainties across most of the energy range considered. We estimate the size of systematic effects by analysing the flux from a number of control regions, and include the systematic uncertainties consistently in our fitting procedure. We have not observed any significant signals and present model-independent limits on γ-ray line emission from decaying and annihilating dark matter. We apply the former limits to the case of the gravitino, a well-known dark matter candidate in supersymmetric scenarios. In particular, the R-parity violating ''μ from ν'' Supersymmetric Standard Model μνSSM) is an attractive scenario in which including right-handed neutrinos solves the μ problem of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model while simultaneously explaining the origin of neutrino masses. At the same time, the violation of R-parity renders the gravitino unstable and subject to decay into a photon and a neutrino. Finally, as a consequence of the limits on line emission, μνSSM gravitinos with masses larger than about 5 GeV, or lifetimes smaller than about 1028 s, are excluded at 95% confidence level as dark matter candidates.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Comparing Galactic Center MSSM dark matter solutions to the Reticulum II gamma-ray data

Observations with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) indicate a possible small photon signal originating from the dwarf galaxy Reticulum II that exceeds the expected background between 2 GeV and 10 GeV. We have investigated two specific scenarios for annihilating WIMP dark matter within the phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM) framework as a possible source for these photons. We find that the same parameter ranges in pMSSM as reported by an earlier paper to be consistent with the Galactic Center excess, are also consistent with the excess observed in Reticulum II, resulting in a J-factor of log{sub 10} (J(α{sub int}=0.5{sup ∘}))≃(20.3−20.5){sub −0.3}{sup +0.2} GeV{sup 2}cm{sup −5}. This J-factor is consistent with log{sub 10} (J(α{sub int}=0.5{sup ∘}))=19.6{sub −0.7}{sup +1.0} GeV{sup 2}cm{sup −5}, which was derived using an optimized spherical Jeans analysis of kinematic data obtained from the Michigan/Magellan Fiber System (M2FS)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evidence for dark matter interactions in cosmological precision data?

We study a two-parameter extension of the cosmological standard model ΛCDM in which cold dark matter interacts with a new form of dark radiation. The two parameters correspond to the energy density in the dark radiation fluid Δ N fluid and the interaction strength between dark matter and dark radiation. The interactions give rise to a very weak "dark matter drag" which damps the growth of matter density perturbations throughout radiation domination, allowing to reconcile the tension between predictions of large scale structure from the CMB and direct measurements of σ 8 . We perform a precision fit to Planck CMB data, BAO, large scale structure, and direct measurements of the expansion rate of the universe today. Our model lowers the χ-squared relative to ΛCDM by about 12, corresponding to a preference for non-zero dark matter drag by more than 3σ. Particle physics models which naturally produce a dark matter drag of the required form include the recently proposed non-Abelian dark matter model in which the dark radiation corresponds to massless dark gluons.

cosmological parameters from CMB↗

Combined fit of spectrum and composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

In this paper, we present a combined fit of a simple astrophysical model of UHECR sources to both the energy spectrum and mass composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The fit has been performed for energies above 5 • 10 18 eV, i.e. the region of the all-particle spectrum above the so-called 'ankle' feature. The astrophysical model we adopted consists of identical sources uniformly distributed in a comoving volume, where nuclei are accelerated through a rigidity-dependent mechanism. The fit results suggest sources characterized by relatively low maximum injection energies, hard spectra and heavy chemical composition. We also show that uncertainties about physical quantities relevant to UHECR propagation and shower development have a non-negligible impact on the fit results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Updated constraints on the dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si data

Here we present an updated halo-dependent and halo-independent analysis of viable light WIMP dark matter candidates which could account for the excess observed in CDMS-II-Si. We include recent constraints from LUX, PandaX-II, and PICO-60, as well as projected sensitivities for XENON1T, SuperCDMS SNOLAB, LZ, DARWIN, DarkSide-20k, and PICO-250, on candidates with spin-independent isospin conserving and isospin-violating interactions, and either elastic or exothermic scattering. We show that there exist dark matter candidates which can explain the CDMS-II-Si data and remain very marginally consistent with the null results of all current experiments, however such models are highly tuned, making a dark matter interpretation of CDMS-II-Si very unlikely. We find that these models can only be ruled out in the future by an experiment comparable to LZ or PICO-250.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Electron and photon energy calibration with the ATLAS detector using 2015–2016 LHC proton-proton collision data

This paper presents the electron and photon energy calibration obtained with the ATLAS detector using about 36 fb –1 of LHC proton-proton collision data recorded at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. The different calibration steps applied to the data and the optimization of the reconstruction of electron and photon energies are discussed. The absolute energy scale is set using a large sample of Z boson decays into electron-positron pairs. The systematic uncertainty in the energy scale calibration varies between 0.03% to 0.2% in most of the detector acceptance for electrons with transverse momentum close to 45 GeV . For electrons with transverse momentum of 10 GeV the typical uncertainty is 0.3% to 0.8% and it varies between 0.25% and 1% for photons with transverse momentum around 60 GeV . Validations of the energy calibration with J/ψ → e + e – decays and radiative Z boson decays are also presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

EINSTEIN@HOME DISCOVERY OF FOUR YOUNG GAMMA-RAY PULSARS IN FERMI LAT DATA

We report the discovery of four gamma-ray pulsars, detected in computing-intensive blind searches of data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). The pulsars were found using a novel search approach, combining volunteer distributed computing via Einstein@Home and methods originally developed in gravitational-wave astronomy. The pulsars PSRs J0554+3107, J1422–6138, J1522–5735, and J1932+1916 are young and energetic, with characteristic ages between 35 and 56 kyr and spin-down powers in the range 6 × 10{sup 34}—10{sup 36} erg s{sup –1}. They are located in the Galactic plane and have rotation rates of less than 10 Hz, among which the 2.1 Hz spin frequency of PSR J0554+3107 is the slowest of any known gamma-ray pulsar. For two of the new pulsars, we find supernova remnants coincident on the sky and discuss the plausibility of such associations. Deep radio follow-up observations found no pulsations, suggesting that all four pulsars are radio-quiet as viewed from Earth. These discoveries, the first gamma-ray pulsars found by volunteer computing, motivate continued blind pulsar searches of the many other unidentified LAT gamma-ray sources.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Topological data analysis of task-based fMRI data from experiments on schizophrenia

We use methods from computational algebraic topology to study functional brain networks, in which nodes represent brain regions and weighted edges represent similarity of fMRI time series from each region. With these tools, which allow one to characterize topological invariants such as loops in high-dimensional data, we are able to gain understanding into low-dimensional structures in networks in a way that complements traditional approaches based on pairwise interactions. In the present paper, we analyze networks constructed from task-based fMRI data from schizophrenia patients, healthy controls, and healthy siblings of schizophrenia patients using persistent homology, which allows us to explore the persistence of topological structures such as loops at different scales in the networks. We use persistence landscapes, persistence images, and Betti curves to create output summaries from our persistent-homology calculations, and we study the persistence landscapes and images using k-means clustering and community detection. Based on our analysis of persistence landscapes, we find that the members of the sibling cohort have topological features (specifically, their 1-dimensional loops) that are distinct from the other two cohorts. From the persistence images, we are able to distinguish all three subject groups and to determine the brain regions in the loops (with four or more edges) that allow us to make these distinctions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

RCSB PDB Mobile : iOS and Android mobile apps to provide data access and visualization to the RCSB Protein Data Bank

The Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics Protein Data Bank (RCSB PDB) resource provides tools for query, analysis and visualization of the 3D structures in the PDB archive. As the mobile Web is starting to surpass desktop and laptop usage, scientists and educators are beginning to integrate mobile devices into their research and teaching. In response, we have developed the RCSB PDB Mobile app for the iOS and Android mobile platforms to enable fast and convenient access to RCSB PDB data and services. Lastly, using the app, users from the general public to expert researchers can quickly search and visualize biomolecules, and add personal annotations via the RCSB PDB's integrated MyPDB service.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Detection of random noise and anatomy of continuous seismic waveforms in dense array data near Anza California

We develop a methodology to separate continuous seismic waveforms into random noise (RN), not random noise (NRN) produced by earthquakes, wind, traffic and other sources of ground motions, and an undetermined mixture of signals. The analysis is applied to continuous records from a dense seismic array on the San Jacinto fault zone. To detect RN signals, we cut hourly waveforms into non-overlapping 1 s time windows and apply cross-correlations to separate RN candidates from outliers. The cross-correlation coefficients between different RN candidates fall into a tight range (i.e. 0.09–0.35), while cross-correlation coefficients of RN candidates with NRN signals (e.g. seismic or air-traffic events) are lower. The amplitude spectra of RN candidates have a well-defined level, while the amplitude spectra of other signals deviate from that level. Using these properties, we examine the amplitude spectra of moving time windows and cross-correlation coefficients with RN templates in each hour. The hourly RN is quasi-stationary and the results cluster tightly in the parameter space of cross-correlation coefficients and L2 norm deviations from the mean spectra of RN candidates. Time windows with parameters in this tight cluster are identified as RN, windows that deviate significantly from the RN cluster are identified as NRN and windows with values in between are identified as mixed signals. Several iterations on each hourly data are used to update and stabilize the selection of RN templates and mean noise spectra. For the days examined, the relative fractions of RN, NRN and mixed signals in local day (night) times are about 26 (42 percent), 40 (33 percent) and 34 percent (25 percent), respectively.

Geochemistry & Geophysics↗

Search for B → h ( * ) ν ν ¯ with the full Belle Υ ( 4 S ) data sample

This report is of a search for the rare decays B → h ( * ) ν ν ¯ , where h ( * ) stands for K + , K S 0 , K * + , K * 0 , π + , π 0 , ρ + , ρ 0 and Φ . The results are obtained from a 711 fb - 1 data sample that contains 772 × 10 6 B B ¯ pairs collected at the Υ ( 4 S ) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB e + e - collider. We search for signal candidates by fully reconstructing a hadronic decay of the accompanying B meson and requiring a single h ( * ) meson left on the signal side. No significant signal is observed and we set upper limits on the branching fractions at 90% confidence level. The measurements of B + → K * + ν ν ¯ , B + → π + ν ν ¯ , B 0 → π 0 ν ν ¯ and B 0 → ρ 0 ν ν ¯ provide the world’s currently most restrictive limits.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗