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At least 1,387 records · Page 77

Observation of radon mitigation in MicroBooNE by a liquid argon filtration system

We report the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) maintains a high level of liquid argon purity through the use of a filtration system that removes electronegative contaminants in continuously-circulated liquid, recondensed boil off, and externally supplied argon gas. We use the MicroBooNE LArTPC to reconstruct MeV-scale radiological decays. Using this technique we measure the liquid argon filtration system's efficacy at removing radon. This is studied by placing a 500 kBq 222 Rn source upstream of the filters and searching for a time-dependent increase in the number of radiological decays in the LArTPC. In the context of two models for radon mitigation via a liquid argon filtration system, a slowing mechanism and a trapping mechanism, MicroBooNE data supports a radon reduction factor of greater than 97% or 99.999%, respectively. Furthermore, a radiological survey of the filters found that the copper-based filter material was the primary medium that removed the 222 Rn. This is the first observation of radon mitigation in liquid argon with a large-scale copper-based filter and could offer a radon mitigation solution for future large LArTPCs.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Fast calculation of diffraction patterns from an ensemble of aligned molecules

We report an algorithm to calculate electron diffraction patterns for molecules with anisotropic angular distribution, which is significantly faster than existing methods. The algorithm uses a transform to convert the molecular orientation distribution, which is a function of three Euler angles, to the atom-pair distribution functions which depend on the polar and azimuthal angles. The diffraction signal can then be calculated from the atom-pair distributions. We demonstrate the computation method numerically by calculating electron diffraction patterns for a symmetric top molecule (trifluoroiodomethane) and an asymmetric top molecule (formaldehyde) and show that it reduces the calculation time by approximately two orders of magnitude compared to the standard brute-force method. Here, the method can also be applied to the calculation of x-ray diffraction patterns.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

Quantum Monte Carlo studies of a trimer scaling function with microscopic two- and three-body interactions

Here, we present an energy scaling function to predict, in a specific range, the energy of bosonic trimers with large scattering lengths and finite range interactions, which is validated by quantum Monte Carlo calculations using microscopic Hamiltonians with two- and three-body potentials. The proposed scaling function depends on the scattering length, effective range, and a reference energy, which we chose as the trimer energy at unitarity. We obtained the scaling function as a limit cycle from the solution of the renormalized zero-range model with effective range corrections. We proposed a simple parametrization of the energy scaling function. Besides the intrinsic interest in theoretical and experimental investigations, this scaling function allows one to probe Efimov physics with only the trimer ground states, which may open opportunities to identify Efimov trimers whenever access to excited states is limited.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Study of the lineshape of the χ c1 (3872) state

A study of the lineshape of the χ c1 (3872) state is made using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb –1 collected in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV with the LHCb detector. Candidate χ c1 (3872) and ψ(2S) mesons from b-hadron decays are selected in the J/ψπ + π – decay mode. Describing the lineshape with a Breit-Wigner function, the mass splitting between the χ c1 (3872) and ψ(2S) states, Δm, and the width of the χ c1 (3872) state, Γ BW , are determined to be Δm=185.598 ± 0.067 ± 0.068 MeV, Γ BW = 1.39 ± 0.24 ± 0.10 MeV, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. Using a Flatté-inspired model, the mode and full width at half maximum of the lineshape are determined to be mode = 3871.69+0.00+0.05 – 0.04–0.13 MeV, FWHM=0.22 +0.07+0.11–0.06–0.13 MeV. An investigation of the analytic structure of the Flatté amplitude reveals a pole structure, which is compatible with a quasibound D 0 D¯ *0 state but a quasivirtual state is still allowed at the level of 2 standard deviations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Classical and quantum evolution in a simple coherent neutrino problem

The extraordinary neutrino flux produced in extreme astrophysical environments like the early Universe, core-collapse supernovae and neutron star mergers may produce coherent quantum neutrino oscillations on macroscopic length scales. The Hamiltonian describing this evolution can be mapped into quantum spin models with all-to-all couplings arising from neutrino-neutrino forward scattering. To date many studies of these oscillations have been performed in a mean-field limit where the neutrinos time evolve in a product state. In this paper we examine a simple two-beam model evolving from an initial product state and compare the mean-field and many-body evolution. The symmetries in this model allow us to solve the real-time evolution for the quantum many-body system for hundreds or thousands of spins, far beyond what would be possible in a more general case with an exponential number (2 N ) of quantum states. We compare mean-field and many-body solutions for different initial product states and ratios of one- and two-body couplings, and find that in all cases in the limit of infinite spins the mean-field (product state) and many-body solutions coincide for simple observables. This agreement can be understood as a consequence of the fact that the typical initial condition represents a very local but dense distribution about a mean energy in the spectrum of the Hamiltonian. We explore quantum information measures like entanglement entropy and purity of the many-body solutions, finding intriguing relationships between the quantum information measures and the dynamical behavior of simple physical observables.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗