arXiv subjects

Alessandro Bombini

Publications and source records attributed to Alessandro Bombini.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Physics Informed Neural Networks for design optimisation of diamond particle detectors for charged particle fast-tracking at high luminosity hadron colliders

Future high-luminosity hadron colliders demand tracking detectors with extreme radiation tolerance, high spatial precision, and sub-nanosecond timing. 3D diamond pixel sensors offer these capabilities due to diamond's radiation hardness and high carrier mobility. Conductive electrodes, produced via femtosecond IR laser pulses, exhibit high resistivity that delays signal propagation. This effect necessitates extending the classical Ramo-Shockley weighting potential formalism. We model the phenomenon through a 3rd-order, 3+1D PDE derived as a quasi-stationary approximation of Maxwell's equations. The PDE is solved numerically and coupled with charge transport simulations for realistic 3D sensor geometries. A Mixture-of-Experts Physics-Informed Neural Network, trained on Spectral Method data, provides a meshless solver to assess timing degradation from electrode resistance.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Optimization of 3D diamond detectors with graphitized electrodes based on an innovative numerical simulation

Future experiments at hadron colliders require an evolution of the tracking sensors to ensure sufficient radiation hardness as well as space and time resolution to handle unprecedented particle fluxes. 3D diamond sensors with laser-graphitized electrodes are promising candidates due to their strong binding energy, small atomic number, and high carrier mobility. However, the high resistance of the engraved electrodes delays the propagation of the induced signals towards the readout electronics, thereby degrading the precision of the timing measurements. So far, this effect has been the dominant factor limiting the time resolution of these devices, with other contributions, such as those due to electric field inhomogeneities or electronic noise, typically neglected. Recent advancements in graphitization technology, however, motivate a renewed effort in modeling signal generation in 3D diamond detectors, to achieve more reliable predictions. To this purpose, we apply an extended version of the Ramo-Shockley theorem, describing the effect of signal propagation as a time-dependent weighting potential, obtained by numerically solving the Maxwell's equations in a quasi-static approximation. We developed a custom spectral method solver and validated it against COMSOL MultiPhysics. The response of the modeled sensor to a beam of particles is then simulated using Garfield++ and is compared to the data acquired in a beam test carried on in 2021 by the TimeSPOT Collaboration at the SPS, at CERN. Based on the results obtained with this simulation workflow, we conclude that reducing the resistivity of the graphitic columns remains the priority for significantly improving the time resolution of 3D diamond detectors. Once achieved, optimization of the detector geometry and readout electronics design will become equally important steps to further enhance the timing performance of these devices.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2025

Classifying spectra of emission-line regions with neural networks -- An application to integral field spectroscopic data of M33

Emission-line regions are key to understanding the properties of galaxies, as they trace the exchange of matter and energy between stars and the interstellar medium (ISM). In nearby galaxies, individual nebulae can be identified as HII regions, planetary nebulae (PNe), supernova remnants (SNR), and diffuse ionised gas (DIG) with criteria on single or multiple emission-line ratios. However, these methods are limited by rigid classification boundaries, the narrow scope of information they are based upon, and the inability to account for line-of-sight nebular superpositions. In this work, we use artificial neural networks to classify these regions using their optical spectra. Our training set consists of simulated spectra, obtained from photoionisation and shock models, and processed to match observations obtained with MUSE. We evaluate the performance of the network on simulated spectra for a range of signal-to-noise (S/N) levels and dust extinction, and the superposition of different nebulae along the line of sight. At infinite S/N the network achieves perfect predictive performance, while as the S/N decreases, the classification accuracy declines, reaching an average of ~80% at S/N(H$\alpha$)=20. We apply our model to real spectra from MUSE observations of the galaxy M33, where it provides a robust classification of individual spaxels, even at low S/N, identifying HII regions and PNe and distinguishing them from SNRs and diffuse ionized gas, while identifying overlapping nebulae. We then compare the network's classification with traditional diagnostics and find satisfactory agreement. Using activation maximisation maps, we find that at high S/N the model mainly relies on weak lines (e.g. auroral lines of metal ions and He recombination lines), while at the S/N level typical of our dataset the model effectively emulates traditional diagnostic methods by leveraging strong nebular lines.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2024

Towards virtual painting recolouring using Vision Transformer on X-Ray Fluorescence datacubes

In this contribution, we define (and test) a pipeline to perform virtual painting recolouring using raw data of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analysis on pictorial artworks. To circumvent the small dataset size, we generate a synthetic dataset, starting from a database of XRF spectra; furthermore, to ensure a better generalisation capacity (and to tackle the issue of in-memory size and inference time), we define a Deep Variational Embedding network to embed the XRF spectra into a lower dimensional, K-Means friendly, metric space. We thus train a set of models to assign coloured images to embedded XRF images. We report here the devised pipeline performances in terms of visual quality metrics, and we close on a discussion on the results.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

Datacube segmentation via Deep Spectral Clustering

Extended Vision techniques are ubiquitous in physics. However, the data cubes steaming from such analysis often pose a challenge in their interpretation, due to the intrinsic difficulty in discerning the relevant information from the spectra composing the data cube. Furthermore, the huge dimensionality of data cube spectra poses a complex task in its statistical interpretation; nevertheless, this complexity contains a massive amount of statistical information that can be exploited in an unsupervised manner to outline some essential properties of the case study at hand, e.g.~it is possible to obtain an image segmentation via (deep) clustering of data-cube's spectra, performed in a suitably defined low-dimensional embedding space. To tackle this topic, we explore the possibility of applying unsupervised clustering methods in encoded space, i.e. perform deep clustering on the spectral properties of datacube pixels. A statistical dimensional reduction is performed by an ad hoc trained (Variational) AutoEncoder, in charge of mapping spectra into lower dimensional metric spaces, while the clustering process is performed by a (learnable) iterative K-Means clustering algorithm. We apply this technique to two different use cases, of different physical origins: a set of Macro mapping X-Ray Fluorescence (MA-XRF) synthetic data on pictorial artworks, and a dataset of simulated astrophysical observations.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2023

ganX -- generate artificially new XRF a python library to generate MA-XRF raw data out of RGB images

In this paper we present the first version of ganX -- generate artificially new XRF, a Python library to generate X-ray fluorescence Macro maps (MA-XRF) from a coloured RGB image. To do that, a Monte Carlo method is used, where each MA-XRF pixel signal is sampled out of an XRF signal probability function. Such probability function is computed using a database of couples (pigment characteristic XRF signal, RGB), by a weighted sum of such pigment XRF signal by proximity of the image RGB to the pigment characteristic RGB. The library is released to PyPi and the code is available open source on GitHub.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

Holographic entanglement entropy and complexity of microstate geometries

We study holographic entanglement entropy and holographic complexity in a two-charge, $\frac{1}{4}$-BPS family of solutions of type IIB supergravity, controlled by one dimensionless parameter. All the geometries in this family are asymptotically AdS$_3 \times \mathbb{S}^3 \times \mathbb{T}^4$ and, varying the parameter that controls them, they interpolates between the global AdS$_3 \times \mathbb{S}^3 \times \mathbb{T}^4$ and the massless BTZ$_3 \times \mathbb{S}^3 \times \mathbb{T}^4$ geometry. Due to AdS/CFT duality, these geometries are dual to pure CFT heavy states. We find that there is no emergence of entanglement shadow for all the values of the parameter and we discuss the relation with the massless BTZ result, underlying the relevance of the nature of the dual states. We also compute the holographic complexity of formation of these geometries, finding a nice monotonic function that interpolates between the pure AdS$_3$ result and the massless BTZ one.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

AdS$_3$ four-point functions from $\frac{1}{8}$-BPS states

We compute four-point functions in the Heavy-Heavy-Light-Light limit involving all possible $\frac{1}{8}$-BPS heavy states whose dual supergravity solutions are explicitly known, avoiding the use of Witten diagrams. This is achieved by using the AdS/CFT dictionary of type IIB supergravity on AdS$_3 \times S^3 \times {\cal M}_4$ that maps supersymmetric heavy operators whose conformal dimension is the order of the central charge to explicit asymptotically AdS supergravity solutions. Using the Ward Identities for the generators of the ${\cal N}=(4,4)$ superconformal $SU(2)$ Kac-Moody algebra, we can relate all of these four-point functions to each other and to other known four-point functions involving $\frac{1}{4}$-BPS heavy states, furnishing non-trivial checks of the computations. Finally, the Ward Identities can be employed to reconstruct the all-light four-point functions, providing the first holographic correlators of single-trace operators computed in AdS$_3$ involving $\frac{1}{8}$-BPS operators.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

General Supersymmetric AdS$_5$ Black Holes with Squashed Boundary

We present a new family of asymptotically locally AdS$_5$ squashed supersymmetric black hole solutions of Fayet-Iliopoulos gauged ${\cal N}=2$, $D=5$ supergravity with two vector multiplets that have a natural uplift to type IIB supergravity. Our new family of black holes is characterized by three parameters, of which two control the horizon geometry while the latter regulates the squashing at the boundary. We evaluate the main physical properties of the family of solutions using holographic renormalization and find that the entropy is independent on the squashing and it is reproduced by using the angular momentum and the Page charges. In previously known solutions Page and holographic charges are equal, due to the vanishing of the Chern-Simons term that here, instead, is relevant. This result suggests that for asymptotically locally AdS$_5$ solutions we should refer to the Page charges to describe the thermodynamics of the system.

hep-th↗

arXiv2019

Three-charge superstrata with internal excitations

We construct a new family of three-charge $\frac{1}{8}-$BPS smooth solutions that have the same charges as the supersymmetric D1D5P Black Hole and are non-invariant under rotations of the compact manifold. We work in type IIB string theory on $T^4$ and we show how the supergravity and BPS equations reduce to a linear system, arranged in two `layers' of partial differential equations. We then build two solutions of our system of equations: the first is a superdescendant three-charge solution, obtained by acting with rigid symmetries on a seed two-charge solution, on which we can perform a non-trivial check for the system of equations; the second is a new superstratum solution that has both internal and external excitations. We then describe the CFT heavy states dual to these new geometries.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

AdS Vacuum Bubbles, Holography and Dual RG Flows

We explore the holographic properties of non-perturbative vacuum decay in Anti-de Sitter ($\mathrm{AdS}$) geometries. To this end, we consider a gravitational theory in a metastable $\mathrm{AdS}_3$ state, which decays into an $\mathrm{AdS}_3$ of lower vacuum energy via bubble nucleation, and we employ the Ryu-Takayanagi conjecture to compute the entanglement entropy $S_\text{ent}$ in its alleged holographic dual. Our analysis leads us to infer that the nucleation and growth of a vacuum bubble correspond, in the boundary theory, to the introduction of a relevant deformation and a subsequent Renormalization Group (RG) flow, where $S_\text{ent}$ provides a $c$-function. We provide further evidence for the claim and comment on the holographic interpretation of off-centred or multiple bubbles. We also frame the issue in the formalism of Holographic Integral Geometry, discussing the consequences on the structure of the holographic RG flow and recovering the standard holographic RG as a limiting case.

hep-th↗

arXiv2018

A note on the Virasoro blocks at order $1/c$

We derive an explicit expression for the $1/c$ contribution to the Virasoro blocks in 2D CFT in the limit of large $c$ with fixed values of the operators' dimensions. We follow the direct approach of orthonormalising, at order $1/c$, the space of the Virasoro descendants to obtain the blocks as a series expansion around $z=0$. For generic conformal weights this expansion can be summed in terms of hypergeometric functions and their first derivatives with respect to one parameter. For integer conformal weights we provide an equivalent expression written in terms of a finite sum of undifferentiated hypergeometric functions. These results make the monodromies of the blocks around $z=1$ manifest.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Unitary 4-point correlators from classical geometries

We compute correlators of two heavy and two light operators in the strong coupling and large $c$ limit of the D1D5 CFT which is dual to weakly coupled AdS$_3$ gravity. The light operators have dimension two and are scalar descendants of the chiral primaries considered in arXiv:1705.09250, while the heavy operators belong to an ensemble of Ramond-Ramond ground states. We derive a general expression for these correlators when the heavy states in the ensemble are close to the maximally spinning ground state. For a particular family of heavy states we also provide a result valid for any value of the spin. In all cases we find that the correlators depend non-trivially on the CFT moduli and are not determined by the symmetries of the theory, however they have the properties expected for correlators among pure states in a unitary theory, in particular they do not decay at large Lorentzian times.

hep-th↗

arXiv2017

Non-extremal superdescendants of the D1D5 CFT

We construct solutions of IIB supergravity dual to non-supersymmetric states of the D1D5 system. These solutions are constructed as perturbations carrying both left and right moving momentum around the maximally rotating D1D5 ground state at linear order. They are found by extending to the asymptotically flat region the geometry generated in the decoupling limit by the action of left and right R-currents on a known D1D5 microstate. The perturbations are regular everywhere and do not carry any global charge. We also study the near-extremal limit of the solutions and derive the first non-trivial correction to the extremal geometry.

hep-th↗