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SU-E-T-531: Large--Scale DVH Quality Study: Correlated Aims Lead Relaxations

Purpose: Intensity modulated radiation therapy plans are designed to optimally target a tumor while sparing surrounding tissue. Desired dose distributions are iteratively approached via inverse planning. This leads to tradeoffs between clinical objectives for the planning target volume (PTV), organs at risk, and normal tissues. Dose volume histogram (DVHs) related aims are followed that are either institutional or internationally recommended. We analyze common goals and identify potential reasons that often lead to tradeoffs. Methods: 524 IMRT plans for various tumor sites were analyzed based on the main institutional DVH goal for PTV (D95) and the recommendations by ICRU-83 (D2, D50, and D98). Robust statistical tools are developed and applied to ensure that the results are immune to data uncertainties. The probability of violation was measured for each of the DVH goals based on the frequency of not meeting recommended doses. Conditional probabilities for satisfying and/or violating DVH aims were computed to test the hypothesized pair-wise relations between DVH aims. For example, for plans that satisfied D50, the probability of violating D98 was computed via P(D98 < 95% | 98% ≤ D50 ≤ 102%). The equality constraint D50 = 100% was relaxed to encompass the range [98,102]%. Results: A large majority of cases (88%) satisfied the institutional goal for PTV of D95 ≤ 95%. Similar consensus existed for D98. 51% of cases satisfied D2 ≥ 107%. However, only 18% of cases satisfied D50. The conditional probability showed correlations amongst the studied DVH goals. In fact, a negative correlation was revealed between D50 and D95 (and D98), suggesting that these competing goals cannot be satisfied concurrently. Conclusion: The majority of plans followed the institutional guidelines. The reason for their deviation from international recommendations seems to be that the latter goals are competing and cannot be satisfied concurrently in clinical practice.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Automatic Imagery Data Analysis for Proactive Computer-Based Workflow Management during Nuclear Power Plant Outages

This report is being submitted for the task “Final Report” of DOE NEUP Project 15-8121 “Automatic Imagery Data Analysis for Proactive Computer-Based Workflow Management during Nuclear Power Plant Outages.” Typical nuclear power plant (NPP) outages always involve thousands of maintenance and refueling activities and a large number of workers in limited workspaces, while having tight schedules and zero-tolerance for accidents. During an outage, thousands of workers will be working in various workspaces across the NPP. High outage costs and expensive delays (approximately 1.5 million dollars of loss per day of delay) in NPP maintenance demand tight outage schedules. In packed workspaces, an automatic system that monitors human behaviors in real-time and provides insights about current and pending schedule deviations from the plan is critical for ensuring: 1) effective collaboration among workers and worker teams from different trades; 2) less waste of time and resources due to the lack of situational awareness; and 3) proactive outage project control. The overall goal of this project is to test the hypothesis that real-time imagery-based object tracking and spatial analysis, as well as human behavior modeling of outage participants, will significantly improve the efficiency of outage control while lowering the rates of accidents and incidents. Three objectives of this project are: 1) Establish real-time object tracking and spatiotemporal analysis methods that automatically assess the productivity of field activities and detect anomalous spatiotemporal relationships among activities that cause inefficiencies and risks; 2) Establish realtime human tracking and human factor modeling methods for automatically diagnosing unexpected actions of and interactions between outage participants, those which cause inefficient collaborations between Advanced Outage Control Center (AOCC), satellite outage centers, NPP workers, and maintenance service providers; and 3) Test the proposed automated object tracking, human behavior modeling, and spatiotemporal analysis methods in outage control case studies in order to characterize the effectiveness of automated imagery-data-driven methods in proactively improving the efficiency and safety of workflows in outage coordination and risk management. Recent studies of detailed human behavior monitoring on construction sites have examined the potential of applying advanced computer vision algorithms in detecting and tracking anomalous workers (i.e., workers who do not wear hard hats or safety vests) for ensuring job site safety. Some studies of human factor studies revealed the importance of modeling detailed interactions between individuals within and across teams in better understanding the impact of human in proactive project control. Other studies in the construction domain have developed computational simulation frameworks that formalize detailed spatiotemporal interactions between tasks in order to simulate the impacts of individual tasks on the performance of workflows. While integrated analyses that combine human factor assessment, as well as image processing and simulation, are in demand for effective decision-making, limited studies have examined the potential of such integrated analyses in NPP outage control. This research project has examined an automatic outage monitoring and control system that integrates human factor analysis, computer vision techniques, and simulation methods in order to enable engineers to better understand the interactions between humans, resources, and workflows during outage processes. The project aims at providing NPP maintenance agencies insights into more efficient use of limited resources in extending the life of a nuclear plant, as well as reducing waste while ensuring sufficient generation of electricity. This study is significant for the safety of nuclear plants, sustainable electricity generation for livable communities, and cost savings for maintaining electricity infrastructures in the United States.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Online anomaly detection for multi‐source VMware using a distributed streaming framework

Summary Anomaly detection refers to the identification of patterns in a dataset that do not conform to expected patterns. Such non‐conformant patterns typically correspond to samples of interest and are assigned to different labels in different domains, such as outliers, anomalies, exceptions, and malware. A daunting challenge is to detect anomalies in rapid voluminous streams of data. This paper presents a novel, generic real‐time distributed anomaly detection framework for multi‐source stream data. As a case study, we investigate anomaly detection for a multi‐source VMware‐based cloud data center, which maintains a large number of virtual machines (VMs). This framework continuously monitors VMware performance stream data related to CPU statistics (e.g., load and usage). It collects data simultaneously from all of the VMs connected to the network and notifies the resource manager to reschedule its CPU resources dynamically when it identifies any abnormal behavior from its collected data. A semi‐supervised clustering technique is used to build a model from benign training data only. During testing, if a data instance deviates significantly from the model, then it is flagged as an anomaly. Effective anomaly detection in this case demands a distributed framework with high throughput and low latency. Distributed streaming frameworks like Apache Storm, Apache Spark, S4, and others are designed for a lower data processing time and a higher throughput than standard centralized frameworks. We have experimentally compared the average processing latency of a tuple during clustering and prediction in both Spark and Storm and demonstrated that Spark processes a tuple much quicker than storm on average. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Solaimani, Mohiuddin↗

Search for dark matter in events with energetic, hadronically decaying top quarks and missing transverse momentum at $ \sqrt{s}=13 $ TeV

A search for dark matter is conducted in events with large missing transverse momentum and a hadronically decaying, Lorentz-boosted top quark. This study is performed using proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, in data recorded by the CMS detector in 2016 at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 fb$^{−1}$. New substructure techniques, including the novel use of energy correlation functions, are utilized to identify the decay products of the top quark. With no significant deviations observed from predictions of the standard model, limits are placed on the production of new heavy bosons coupling to dark matter particles. For a scenario with purely vector-like or purely axial-vector-like flavor changing neutral currents, mediator masses between 0.20 and 1.75 TeV are excluded at 95% confidence level, given a sufficiently small dark matter mass. Scalar resonances decaying into a top quark and a dark matter fermion are excluded for masses below 3.4 TeV, assuming a dark matter mass of 100 GeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A novel additive manufacturing compression overmolding process for hybrid metal polymer composite structures

Metal polymer composites combining low density, high strength composites with highly ductile and tough metals have gained traction over the last few decades as lightweight and high-performance materials for industrial applications. However, the mechanical properties are limited by the interfacial bonding strength between metals and polymers achieved through adhesives, welding, and surface treatment processes. In this paper, a novel manufacturing process combining additive manufacturing and compression molding to obtain hybrid metal polymer composites with enhanced mechanical properties is presented. Additive manufacturing enabled deposition of polymeric material with fibers in a predetermined pattern to form tailored charge or preform for compression molding. Here, a grade 300 maraging steel triangular lattice is first fabricated using AddUp FormUp350 laser powder bed system and compression overmolded with additively manufactured long carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide-6,6 (40% wt. CF/PA66) preform. The fabricated hybrid metal polymer composites showed high stiffness and tensile strength. The stiffness and failure characteristics determined from the uniaxial tensile tests were correlated to a finite element model within 20% deviation. Fractographic analyses was performed using microscopy to investigate failure mechanisms of the hybrid structures.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Preparation and performance study of MgFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}/metal–organic framework composite for rapid removal of organic dyes from water

In present study, a stable and magnetic metal-organic framework (MOF) material was synthesized by simple solvothermal method as adsorbent to rapid removal of two organic dyes, the Rhodamine B (RB) and Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G), in water samples. The prepared material showed great characteristics of large surface area (519.86 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}), excellent magnetic responsivity (35.00 emu g{sup −1}) and rapid removal (within 5 min). Maximum adsorption capacities of the magnetic material toward RB and Rh6G were up to 219.78 and 306.75 mg g{sup −1}, respectively. Adsorption kinetics suggested the adsorption process met the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The prepared material could be reused at least 10 times by washing with acetonitrile solution, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of these ten cycles removal efficiency was 4.8%. In conclusion, good chemical inertness, a mechanical/water stability and super-hydrophilicity feature made this MOF a promising adsorbent for targets removal from environmental water sample. - Graphical abstract: The magnetic MgFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}/metal–organic framework with ultra-high adsorption capacity towards rhodamine dyes showed rapid removal efficiency (within 5 min) and good reusability (at least 10 times). Display Omitted - Highlights: • A stable and magnetic MgFe{sub 2}O{sub 4}@MOF material was synthesized as adsorbent to rapid removal of organic dyes. • The material in this article could rapidly sequestered rhodamine dyes within 5 min. • The maximum adsorption capacities of the magnetic material were high.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Land‐Atmosphere Responses to a Total Solar Eclipse in Three Ecosystems With Contrasting Structure and Physiology

Abstract Mid‐Missouri experienced up to 2 min 40 s of totality at around solar noon during the total eclipse of 2017. We conducted the Mid‐Missouri Eclipse Meteorology Experiment to examine land‐atmosphere interactions during the eclipse. Here, research examining the eclipse responses in three contrasting ecosystems (forest, prairie, and soybeans) is described. There was variable cloudiness around first and fourth contacts (i.e., the start and end of partial solar obscuration) at the forest and prairie; however, solar irradiance ( K ↓ ) signals during the eclipse were relatively clean. Unfortunately, the eclipse forcing at the soybean field was contaminated by convective activity, which decreased K ↓ beginning about an hour before first contact and exposed the field to cold outflow ~30 min before second contact. Turbulence was suppressed during the eclipse at all sites; however, there was also an amplified signal at the soybean field during the passage of a gust front. The standard deviations of the horizontal and vertical wind velocities and friction velocities decreased by ~75% at the forest (aerodynamically rough), and ~60% at the prairie (aerodynamically smooth). The eddy fluxes of energy were highly coherent with the solar forcing with the latent and sensible heat fluxes approaching 0 W/m 2 and changing in direction, respectively. For the prairie site, we estimated a canopy‐scale time constant for the surface conductance light response of 10 min. Although the eclipse imparted large forcings on surface energy balances, the air temperature response was relatively muted (1.5–2.5 °C decrease) due to the absence of topographic effects and the relatively moist land and atmosphere.

Wood, J. D.↗

Subseasonal Tropical Cyclone Prediction and Modulations by MJO and ENSO in CESM2

Subseasonal tropical cyclone (TC) reforecasts from the Community Earth System Model version 2 (CAM6) subseasonal prediction system are examined in this study. Here, we evaluate the modeled TC climatology and the probabilistic forecast skill of basin-wide TC genesis at weekly temporal resolution. Prediction skill is calculated using the Brier skill score relative to a constant annual mean climatology and to a monthly varying seasonal climatology during TC season. The model captures the observed basin-wide climatological TC seasonality and spatial distributions at weeks 1–6, but TC genesis is largely underestimated from Week 2 onward. For some basins and lead times, the predicted TC genesis is primarily controlled by the number of TC “seeds” and the mean-state climate condition. The model has good prediction skill relative to the constant climatology across all the basins and lead times, but is only skillful in the eastern Pacific, North Indian Ocean, and Southern Hemisphere at Week 1 when compared to the seasonal climatology, indicating limited skill in predicting deviations from the seasonal cycle. We find strong modulations of the predicted TC genesis at up to 3 weeks of forecast lead time by the Madden-Julian Oscillation. The interannual variability of predicted TC genesis and accumulated cyclone energy are skillfully predicted in the North Atlantic and the Northwestern Pacific, with a strong modulation by the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Predicting the Occurrence of Cosmetic Defects in Automotive Skin Panels

The appearance of defects such as 'hollows' and 'shock lines' can affect the perceived quality and attractiveness of automotive skin panels. These defects are the result of the stamping process and appear as small, localized deviations from the intended styling of the panels. Despite their size, they become visually apparent after the application of paint and the perceived quality of a panel may become unacceptable. Considerable time is then dedicated to minimizing their occurrence through tool modifications. This paper will investigate the use of the wavelet transform as a tool to analyze physically measured panels. The transform has two key aspects. The first is its ability to distinguish small scale local defects from large scale styling curvature. The second is its ability to characterize the shape of a defect in terms of its wavelength and a 'correlation value'. The two features of the transform enable it to be used as a tool for locating and predicting the severity of defects. The paper will describe the transform and illustrate its application on test cases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

IRON AND {alpha}-ELEMENT PRODUCTION IN THE FIRST ONE BILLION YEARS AFTER THE BIG BANG

We present measurements of carbon, oxygen, silicon, and iron in quasar absorption systems existing when the universe was roughly one billion years old. We measure column densities in nine low-ionization systems at 4.7 < z < 6.3 using Keck, Magellan, and Very Large Telescope optical and near-infrared spectra with moderate to high resolution. The column density ratios among C II, O I, Si II, and Fe II are nearly identical to sub-damped Ly{alpha} systems (sub-DLAs) and metal-poor ([M/H] {<=} -1) DLAs at lower redshifts, with no significant evolution over 2 {approx}< z {approx}< 6. The estimated intrinsic scatter in the ratio of any two elements is also small, with a typical rms deviation of {approx}< 0.1 dex. These facts suggest that dust depletion and ionization effects are minimal in our z > 4.7 systems, as in the lower-redshift DLAs, and that the column density ratios are close to the intrinsic relative element abundances. The abundances in our z > 4.7 systems are therefore likely to represent the typical integrated yields from stellar populations within the first gigayear of cosmic history. Due to the time limit imposed by the age of the universe at these redshifts, our measurements thus place direct constraints on the metal production of massive stars, including iron yields of prompt supernovae. The lack of redshift evolution further suggests that the metal inventories of most metal-poor absorption systems at z {approx}> 2 are also dominated by massive stars, with minimal contributions from delayed Type Ia supernovae or winds from asymptotic giant branch stars. The relative abundances in our systems broadly agree with those in very metal-poor, non-carbon-enhanced Galactic halo stars. This is consistent with the picture in which present-day metal-poor stars were potentially formed as early as one billion years after the big bang.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cosmology in general massive gravity theories

We study the cosmological FRW flat solutions generated in general massive gravity theories. Such a model are obtained adding to the Einstein General Relativity action a peculiar non derivative potentials, function of the metric components, that induce the propagation of five gravitational degrees of freedom. This large class of theories includes both the case with a residual Lorentz invariance as well as the case with rotational invariance only. It turns out that the Lorentz-breaking case is selected as the only possibility. Moreover it turns out that that perturbations around strict Minkowski or dS space are strongly coupled. The upshot is that even though dark energy can be simply accounted by massive gravity modifications, its equation of state w{sub eff} has to deviate from -1. Indeed, there is an explicit relation between the strong coupling scale of perturbations and the deviation of w{sub eff} from -1. Taking into account current limits on w{sub eff} and submillimiter tests of the Newton's law as a limit on the possible strong coupling scale, we find that it is still possible to have a weakly coupled theory in a quasi dS background. Future experimental improvements on short distance tests of the Newton's law may be used to tighten the deviation of w{sub eff} form -1 in a weakly coupled massive gravity theory.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Isotope exchange kinetics in metal hydrides I : TPLUG model.

A one-dimensional isobaric reactor model is used to simulate hydrogen isotope exchange processes taking place during flow through a powdered palladium bed. This simple model is designed to serve primarily as a platform for the initial development of detailed chemical mechanisms that can then be refined with the aid of more complex reactor descriptions. The one-dimensional model is based on the Sandia in-house code TPLUG, which solves a transient set of governing equations including an overall mass balance for the gas phase, material balances for all of the gas-phase and surface species, and an ideal gas equation of state. An energy equation can also be solved if thermodynamic properties for all of the species involved are known. The code is coupled with the Chemkin package to facilitate the incorporation of arbitrary multistep reaction mechanisms into the simulations. This capability is used here to test and optimize a basic mechanism describing the surface chemistry at or near the interface between the gas phase and a palladium particle. The mechanism includes reversible dissociative adsorptions of the three gas-phase species on the particle surface as well as atomic migrations between the surface and the bulk. The migration steps are more general than those used previously in that they do not require simultaneous movement of two atoms in opposite directions; this makes possible the creation and destruction of bulk vacancies and thus allows the model to account for variations in the bulk stoichiometry with isotopic composition. The optimization code APPSPACK is used to adjust the mass-action rate constants so as to achieve the best possible fit to a given set of experimental data, subject to a set of rigorous thermodynamic constraints. When data for nearly isothermal and isobaric deuterium-to-hydrogen (D {yields} H) and hydrogen-to-deuterium (H {yields} D) exchanges are fitted simultaneously, results for the former are excellent, while those for the latter show pronounced deviations at long times. These discrepancies can be overcome by postulating the presence of a surface poison such as carbon monoxide, but this explanation is highly speculative. When the method is applied to D {yields} H exchanges intentionally poisoned by known amounts of CO, the fitting results are noticeably degraded from those for the nominally CO-free system but are still tolerable. When TPLUG is used to simulate a blowdown-type experiment, which is characterized by large and rapid changes in both pressure and temperature, discrepancies are even more apparent. Thus, it can be concluded that the best use of TPLUG is not in simulating realistic exchange scenarios, but in extracting preliminary estimates for the kinetic parameters from experiments in which variations in temperature and pressure are intentionally minimized.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Automated Clean Chemistry for Bulk Analysis of Environmental Swipe Samples – Final Report

Sample preparation methods for mass spectrometry are being automated using commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment to shorten lengthy and costly manual chemical purification procedures. This development addresses a serious need in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Network of Analytical Laboratories (NWAL) to increase efficiency in the Bulk Analysis of Environmental Samples for Safeguards program with a method that allows unattended, overnight operation. In collaboration with Elemental Scientific Inc. (ESI), the prepFAST-MC2 was designed based on COTS equipment. It was modified for uranium/plutonium separations using renewable columns packed with Eichrom TEVA® and UTEVA® resins, with a chemical separation method based on the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) NWAL chemical procedure. Initial verification of individual columns yielded small elution volumes with consistent elution profiles and good recovery. Combined column calibration demonstrated ample separation without crosscontamination of the eluent. Automated packing and unpacking of the built-in columns initially showed >15% deviation in resin loading by weight, which can lead to inconsistent separations. Optimization of the packing and unpacking methods led to a reduction in the variability of the packed resin to less than 5% daily. Based on the initial experience at ORNL with the prepFAST-MC2, a second-generation model, the prepFAST-SR, was built by ESI. The newly designed prepFAST-SR has several upgrades compared with the original prepFAST-MC2. The upgrades largely addressed issues with the reliability of unpacking the Eichrom columns and with ventilation to ensure adequate removal of acid vapors. Both systems are currently installed in the Ultra-Trace Forensics Science Center at ORNL. Separations of mixed uranium and plutonium samples containing certified reference materials were analyzed by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and yielded good results. Current efforts have demonstrated a wider applicability of the prepFAST system. Near-quantitative removal of metal interferences was achieved with the system in both uranium and plutonium separated fractions. Successful system validation was completed with several archived samples. Isotopic results from archived samples and certified reference materials were well within data quality limits for the IAEA NWAL. Additional COTS equipment has been evaluated for its potential to aid the prepFAST-SR system in reducing the time allotments and cleanroom infrastructure requirements for accurate separations. Overall, these efforts help ensure continued efficient and effective operation of the NWAL. Comparison of the amount of personnel time necessary for successful manual vs. automated chemical separations showed a significant decrease in hands-on time from 9.8 hours to 35 minutes for seven samples, respectively. This documented time savings and reduced labor translates to a significant cost savings per sample. Overall, the system will enable faster sample reporting times at reduced cost by limiting personnel hours dedicated to the chemical separation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Observation of Spin Correlation in t(t)over-bar Events from pp Collisions at root s=7 TeV Using the ATLAS Detector

A measurement of spin correlation in t{bar t} production is reported using data collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.1 fb{sup -1}. Candidate events are selected in the dilepton topology with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. The difference in azimuthal angle between the two charged leptons in the laboratory frame is used to extract the correlation between the top and antitop quark spins. In the helicity basis the measured degree of correlation corresponds to A{sub helicity} = 0.40{sub -0.08}{sup +0.09}, in agreement with the next-to-leading-order standard model prediction. The hypothesis of zero spin correlation is excluded at 5.1 standard deviations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Small Scale Mixing Demonstration Batch Transfer and Sampling Performance of Simulated HLW - 12307

The ability to effectively mix, sample, certify, and deliver consistent batches of High Level Waste (HLW) feed from the Hanford Double Shell Tanks (DST) to the Waste treatment Plant (WTP) has been recognized as a significant mission risk with potential to impact mission length and the quantity of HLW glass produced. At the end of 2009 DOE's Tank Operations Contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS), awarded a contract to EnergySolutions to design, fabricate and operate a demonstration platform called the Small Scale Mixing Demonstration (SSMD) to establish pre-transfer sampling capacity, and batch transfer performance data at two different scales. This data will be used to examine the baseline capacity for a tank mixed via rotational jet mixers to transfer consistent or bounding batches, and provide scale up information to predict full scale operational performance. This information will then in turn be used to define the baseline capacity of such a system to transfer and sample batches sent to WTP. The Small Scale Mixing Demonstration (SSMD) platform consists of 43'' and 120'' diameter clear acrylic test vessels, each equipped with two scaled jet mixer pump assemblies, and all supporting vessels, controls, services, and simulant make up facilities. All tank internals have been modeled including the air lift circulators (ALCs), the steam heating coil, and the radius between the wall and floor. The test vessels are set up to simulate the transfer of HLW out of a mixed tank, and collect a pre-transfer sample in a manner similar to the proposed baseline configuration. The collected material is submitted to an NQA-1 laboratory for chemical analysis. Previous work has been done to assess tank mixing performance at both scales. This work involved a combination of unique instruments to understand the three dimensional distribution of solids using a combination of Coriolis meter measurements, in situ chord length distribution measurements, and electro-resistive tomography. This current work utilized the same instruments to monitor simulated waste transfers. This paper will discuss some of the scaling compromises when it came to the scaled sampling system design, handling of large quantities of material for sampling, and present data for the discuss of likely behavior of the full scale DST based on scaling correlations using a scale ratio exponent (SRE) from 0.25 to 0.45 and the behavior observed in the SSMD platform. This does not establish a scaling factor for DST mixing using paired jet mixers but is an attempt to envelope the likely performance ranges in terms of certification sampling bias, certification sample root-mean-square-deviation, and bath to batch relative standard deviation. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

Search for new non-resonant phenomena in high-mass dilepton final states with the ATLAS detector

A search for new physics with non-resonant signals in dielectron and dimuon final states in the mass range above 2 TeV is presented. This is the first search for non-resonant signals in dilepton final states at the LHC to use a background estimate from the data. The data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb –1 , were recorded by the ATLAS experiment in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The benchmark signal signature is a two-quark and two-lepton contact interaction, which would enhance the dilepton event rate at the TeV mass scale. To model the contribution from background processes a functional form is fit to the dilepton invariant-mass spectra in data in a mass region below the region of interest. It is then extrapolated to a high-mass signal region to obtain the expected background there. No significant deviation from the expected background is observed in the data. Upper limits at 95% CL on the number of events and the visible cross-section times branching fraction for processes involving new physics are provided. Observed (expected) 95% CL lower limits on the contact interaction energy scale reach 35.8 (37.6) TeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Search for a resonance decaying into a scalar particle and a Higgs boson in the final state with two bottom quarks and two photons in proton–proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for the resonant production of a heavy scalar X decaying into a Higgs boson and a new lighter scalar S, through the process X → S(→ $b\overline{b}$)H(→γγ), where the two photons are consistent with the Higgs boson decay, is performed. The search is conducted using an integrated luminosity of 140 fb -1 of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The search is performed over the mass range 170 ≤ m X ≤ 1000 GeV and 15 ≤ m S ≤ 500 GeV. Parameterised neural networks are used to enhance the signal purity and to achieve continuous sensitivity in a domain of the (m X , m S ) plane. No significant excess above the expected background is found and 95% CL upper limits are set on the cross section times branching ratio, ranging from 39 fb to 0.09 fb. The largest deviation from the background-only expectation occurs for (m X , m S ) = (575, 200) GeV with a local (global) significance of 3.5 (2.0) standard deviations.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Enhanced ring lasers: a new measurement tool for Earth sciences

We report the progress in the technology of fabrication of large ring lasers that has resulted in an increase in instrumental rotation sensitivity by as much as a factor of 3, to {delta}{Omega} = 1.2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -11} rad s{sup -1} Hz{sup -1/2}, which makes the domain of changes in the angular velocity of Earth's rotation, {Delta}{Omega}/{Omega} Almost-Equal-To 10{sup -9}, accessible to a local rotation sensor. New studies show that the largest contribution to the observed deviation in sensor performance with respect to the computed shot noise limit is caused by the micro-seismic background activity of the Earth. Our efforts have been concentrated on the improvement of sensor stability, including correction of drift effects, which are caused by the aging of the laser gas, fixing scale factor instabilities induced by atmospheric pressure variations, and minimising the temperature variations resulting from corresponding adiabatic expansion and compression of the local air around the instrument. To achieve this, we have recently introduced a pressure-stabilising vessel with dimensions slightly larger than the ring laser apparatus, such that it encloses the entire structure. By monitoring the optical frequency in the ring laser cavity continuously and stabilising the scale factor in a closed loop system with the pressure-stabilising vessel, it has become possible to extend the range of sensor stability from the short term (1 - 3 days) to well into the mid-term regime (>40 days), and possibly even well beyond that. Once a sufficiently long timeseries of the ring laser data has been recorded, we will be able to define the range of temporal stability in more detail. The extension of the regime of stability gives access to geophysical signals at frequencies substantially lower than previously observable with ring lasers. (laser applications and other topics in quantum electronics)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗