55822151
Measurement of geo-neutrinos from 1353 days of Borexino
Abstract We present a measurement of the geo-neutrino signal obtained from 1353 days of data with the Borexino detector at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. With a fiducial exposure of ( 3.69 ± 0.16 ) × 10 31 proton × year after all selection cuts and background subtraction, we detected ( 14.3 ± 4.4 ) geo-neutrino events assuming a fixed chondritic mass Th/U ratio of 3.9. This corresponds to a geo-neutrino signal S geo = ( 38.8 ± 12.0 ) TNU with just a 6 × 10 − 6 probability for a null geo-neutrino measurement. With U and Th left as free parameters in the fit, the relative signals are S Th = ( 10.6 ± 12.7 ) TNU and S U = ( 26.5 ± 19.5 ) TNU . Borexino data alone are compatible with a mantle geo-neutrino signal of ( 15.4 ± 12.3 ) TNU , while a combined analysis with the KamLAND data allows to extract a mantle signal of ( 14.1 ± 8.1 ) TNU . Our measurement of 31.2 − 6.1 + 7.0 reactor anti-neutrino events is in agreement with expectations in the presence of neutrino oscillations.
119000964
Measurement of the cosmogenic 11C background with the Borexino Counting Test Facility
Within next year, two organic liquid scintillator detectors, Borexino and KamLAND, will start the measurement of the mono‐energetic 7Be solar neutrino flux in real time. Besides this objective, both of them have the potential to detect neutrinos from the pep fusion reaction and the CNO cycle in the Sun.For this purpose, two conditions are required: an extremely low radioactive contamination level and the efficient identification of the 11C background, produced in reactions induced by the residual cosmic muon flux on 12C. In the process, a free neutron is almost always produced. 11C can be tagged on an event by event basis by looking at the three‐fold coincidence with the parent muon track and the subsequent neutron capture on protons. We tested successfully this coincidence method with the Borexino Counting Test Facility. The results are reported here.Moreover, we discuss on the effective potential of Borexino and KamLAND in detecting pep+CNO neutrinos compared to SNO+, a detector specifically designed fo...
11472516
The classification of flaring states of blazars
Aims. The time evolution of the electromagnetic emission from blazars, in particular high-frequency peaked sources (HBLs), displays irregular activity that has not yet been understood. In this work we report a methodology capable of characterizing the time behavior of these variable objects. Methods. The maximum likelihood blocks (MLBs) is a model-independent estimator that subdivides the light curve into time blocks, whose length and amplitude are compatible with states of constant emission rate of the observed source. The MLBs yield the statistical significance in the rate variations and strongly suppresses the noise fluctuations in the light curves. We applied the MLBs for the first time on the long term X-ray light curves (RXTE/ASM) of Mkn 421, Mkn 501, 1ES 1959+650, and 1ES 2155-304, more than 10 years of observational data (1996-2007). Using the MLBs interpretation of RXTE/ASM data, the integrated time flux distribution is determined for each single source considered. We identify in these distributions the characteristic level, as well as the flaring states of the blazars. Results. All the distributions show a significant component at negative flux values, most probably caused by an uncertainty in the background subtraction and by intrinsic fluctuations of RXTE/ASM. This effect concerns in particular short time observations. To quantify the probability that the intrinsic fluctuations give rise to a false identification of a flare, we study a population of very faint sources and their integrated time-flux distribution. We determine duty cycle or fraction of time a source spent in the flaring state of the source Mkn 421, Mkn 501, 1ES 1959+650 and 1ES 2155-304. Moreover, we study the random coincidences between flares and generic sporadic events such as high-energy neutrinos or flares in other wavelengths.
119181847
Positronium signature in organic liquid scintillators for neutrino experiments
Electron antineutrinos are commonly detected in liquid scintillator experiments via inverse {beta} decay by looking at the coincidence between the reaction products: neutrons and positrons. Prior to positron annihilation, an electron-positron pair may form an orthopositronium (o-Ps) state, with a mean lifetime of a few nanoseconds. Even if the o-Ps decay is speeded up by spin-flip or pick-off effects, it may introduce distortions in the photon emission time distribution, crucial for position reconstruction and pulse shape discrimination algorithms in antineutrino experiments. Reversing the problem, the o-Ps-induced time distortion represents a new signature for tagging antineutrinos in liquid scintillator. In this article, we report the results of measurements of the o-Ps formation probability and lifetime for the most used solvents for organic liquid scintillators in neutrino physics (pseudocumene, linear alkyl benzene, phenylxylylethane, and dodecane). We characterize also a mixture of pseudocumene +1.5 g/l of 2,5-diphenyloxazole, a fluor acting as wavelength shifter. In the second part of the article, we demonstrate that the o-Ps-induced distortion of the scintillation photon emission time distributions represent an optimal signature for tagging positrons on an event by event basis, potentially enhancing the antineutrino detection.
120792860
Simple parametrizations of light meson properties in hot or dense matter
Abstract Sophisticated calculations of the dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions often need as input properties of light mesons in medium. In this context simple analytical expressions for these quantities which respect chiral symmetry and low-energy current algebra results are most desirable. In the present work we provide such simple expressions based on a bosonized version of the microscopic NJL model. We also study the pion lifetime in hot and dense matter showing that the ratio τ(π − →μ − + ν μ ) τ(π − →e − + ν e ) changes by a factor about three and thus carries a clear signature of the chiral phase transition.
18319959
Paley-Wiener-Schwartz Theorem and Microlocal Analysis in Theory of Tempered Ultrahyperfunctions
We give some precisions on the Fourier-Laplace transform theorem for tempered ultrahyperfunctions introduced by Sebastiao e Silva and Hasumi, by considering the theorem in its simplest form: the equivalence between support properties of a distribution in a closed convex cone and the holomorphy of its Fourier-Laplace transform in a suitable tube with conical basis. We establish a generalization of Paley-Wiener-Schwartz theorem for this setting. This theorem is interesting in connection with the microlocal analysis, where a description of the singularity structure of tempered ultrahyperfunctions in terms of the concept of analytic wave front set is given. We also suggest a physical application of the results obtained in the construction and study of field theories with fundamental length.
17124386
Exact scale invarianmce of the BF-Yang-Mills theory in three dimensions
The ``extended'' BF-Yang-Mills theory in 3 dimensions, which contains a minimally coupled scalar field, is shown to be ultraviolet finite. It obeys a trivial Callan-Symanzik equation, with all β-functions and anomalous dimensions vanishing. The proof is based on an anomaly-free trace identity valid to all orders of perturbation theory.
122211885
On the Renormalization of the Chiral Fermion Meson Model: An Algebraic Approach
We re-investigate the problem of the renormalizability of the chiral fermion meson model on the light of the regularization-independent algebraic method. The present letter is intended as a useful application of a modern technique in theory of current interest for the description of low energy hadron phenomenology. We show that the model is stable under radiative corrections and anomaly free in a regularization-free way without having to resort to the explicit calculation of Feynman diagrams.
119216045
Lorentz and CPT violation in QED revisited: A missing analysis
Abstract We investigate the breakdown of Lorentz symmetry in QED by a CPT violating interaction term consisting of the coupling of an axial fermion current with a constant vector field b , in the framework of algebraic renormalization — a regularization-independent method. We show, to all orders in perturbation theory, that a CPT-odd and Lorentz violating Chern–Simons-like term, definitively, is not radiatively induced by the axial coupling of the fermions with the constant vector b .