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C. Hughes

Publications and source records attributed to C. Hughes.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Measurement of isolated prompt photon production in $p$+$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV with the sPHENIX detector

The differential cross section of isolated prompt photon production is measured as a function of photon transverse energy ($E_{\mathrm{T}}^{\gamma}$) in proton--proton ($p$+$p$) collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV. The data were recorded in $2024$ with the sPHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Photons are reconstructed in $|\eta^{\gamma}| < 0.7$ and $12 < E_{\mathrm{T}}^{\gamma} < 32$ GeV using the electromagnetic calorimeter, and an isolation requirement is imposed using both the electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. The measured cross section is compared with the PYTHIA Monte Carlo event generator and perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD) calculations at next-to-leading and next-to-next-to-leading order. The pQCD calculations are consistent with the result within the quoted uncertainties. This measurement provides a test of pQCD calculations for a process with sensitivity to the gluon parton distribution function of the proton and establishes the $p$+$p$ baseline for forthcoming sPHENIX measurements of isolated prompt photons in heavy-ion collisions.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2026

Large-scale real-time signal processing in physics experiments: The ALICE TPC FPGA pipeline

For LHC Run 3, the ALICE Time Projection Chamber was upgraded to operate in continuous readout mode. Interaction rates of up to 50 kHz in Pb-Pb collisions require real-time processing of more than 3 TB/s of raw detector data. This requirement is met by a custom FPGA-based processing pipeline that performs the complete front-end data treatment fully in-stream, including common-mode correction, pedestal subtraction, ion-tail filtering, zero suppression, and dense data packing. A central element of the design is a highly parallel common-mode correction algorithm operating directly on the streaming data. It robustly identifies signal-free readout channels on a time-bin basis and applies pad-dependent scaling to compensate for local variations in capacitive coupling in the GEM readout. In combination with pedestal subtraction and ion-tail filtering, this enables accurate baseline restoration under extreme high-occupancy conditions, preventing signal loss while efficiently suppressing noise prior to zero suppression. The pipeline operates continuously at the full detector bandwidth and reduces the raw input rate to about 900 GB/s for Pb-Pb collisions at the target interaction rate. Overall, it represents a large-scale FPGA-based real-time signal-processing implementation for high-energy physics detector readout.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2023

Separating signal from combinatorial jets in a high background environment

We study procedures for discriminating combinatorial jets in a high background environment, such as a heavy ion collision, from signal jets arising from a hard-scattering. We investigate a population of jets clustered from a combined PYTHIA+TennGen event, focusing on jets which can unambiguously be classified as signal or combinatorial jets. By selecting jets based on their kinematic properties, we investigate whether it is possible to separate signal and combinatorial jets without biasing the signal population significantly. We find that, after a loose selection on the jet area, surviving combinatorial jets are dominantly imposters, combinatorial jets with properties indistinguishable from signal jets. We also find that, after a loose selection on the leading hadron momentum, surviving combinatorial jets are still dominantly imposters. We use rule extraction, a machine learning technique, to extract an optimal kinematic selection from a random forest trained on our population of jets. In general, this technique found a stricter kinematic selection on the jet's leading hadron momentum to be optimal. We find that it is possible to suppress combinatorial jets significantly using this machine learning based selection, but that some signal is removed as well. Due to this stricter kinematic selection, we find that the surviving signal is biased towards quark-like jets. Since similar selections are used in many measurements, this indicates that those measurements are biased towards quark-like jets as well. These studies should motivate an increased emphasis on assumptions made when suppressing and subtracting combinatorial background and the biases introduced by methods for doing so.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2022

The COHERENT Experimental Program

The COHERENT experiment located in Neutrino Alley at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), has made the world's first two measurements of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), on CsI and argon, using neutrinos produced at the SNS. The COHERENT collaboration continues to pursue CEvNS measurements on various targets as well as additional studies of inelastic neutrino-nucleus interactions, searches for accelerator-produced dark matter (DM) and physics beyond the Standard Model, using the uniquely high-quality and high-intensity neutrino source available at the SNS. This white paper describes primarily COHERENT's ongoing and near-future program at the SNS First Target Station (FTS). Opportunities enabled by the SNS Second Target Station (STS) for the study of neutrino physics and development of novel detector technologies are elaborated in a separate white paper.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

The upgrade of the ALICE TPC with GEMs and continuous readout

The upgrade of the ALICE TPC will allow the experiment to cope with the high interaction rates foreseen for the forthcoming Run 3 and Run 4 at the CERN LHC. In this article, we describe the design of new readout chambers and front-end electronics, which are driven by the goals of the experiment. Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors arranged in stacks containing four GEMs each, and continuous readout electronics based on the SAMPA chip, an ALICE development, are replacing the previous elements. The construction of these new elements, together with their associated quality control procedures, is explained in detail. Finally, the readout chamber and front-end electronics cards replacement, together with the commissioning of the detector prior to installation in the experimental cavern, are presented. After a nine-year period of R&D, construction, and assembly, the upgrade of the TPC was completed in 2020.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2018

Reduction of Prolonged Excessive Pressure in Seated Persons With Paraplegia Using Wireless Lingual Tactile Feedback: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Pressure ulcers (PU) are known to be a high-cost disease with a risk of severe morbidity. This work evaluates a new clinical strategy based on an innovative medical device (Tongue Display Unit-TDU) that implements perceptive supplementation in order to reduce prolonged excessive pressure, recognized as one of the main causes of PU. A randomized, controlled, parallel-group trial was carried out with 12 subjects with spinal cord injuries (SCI). Subjects were assigned to the control (without TDU, n=6) or intervention (with TDU, n=5) group. Each subject took part in two sessions, during which the subject, seated on a pressure map sensor, watched a movie for one hour. The TDU was activated during the second session of the intervention group. Intention-to-treat analysis showed that the improvement in adequate weight shifting between the two sessions was higher in the intervention group (0.84 [0.24; 0.89]) than in the control group (0.01 [-0.01; 0.09]; p=0.004) and that the ratio of prolonged excessive pressure between the two sessions was lower in the intervention group (0.74 [0.37; 1.92]) than in the control group (1.72 [1.32; 2.56]; p=0.06). The pressure map sensor was evaluated as being convenient for use in daily life, however this was not the case for the TDU. This work shows that persons with SCI could benefit from a system based on perceptive supplementation that alerts and guides the user on how to adapt their posture in order to reduce prolonged excessive pressure, one of the main causes of PU.

physics.med-ph↗
arXiv2017

New methods for B meson decay constants and form factors from lattice NRQCD

We determine the normalisation of scalar and pseudoscalar current operators made from non-relativistic $b$ quarks and Highly Improved Staggered light quarks in lattice Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) through $\mathcal{O}(α_s)$ and $Λ_{\text{QCD}}/m_b$. We use matrix elements of these operators to extract $B$ meson decay constants and form factors, then compare to those obtained using the standard vector and axial-vector operators. This provides a test of systematic errors in the lattice QCD determination of the $B$ meson decay constants and form factors. We provide a new value for the $B$ and $B_s$ meson decay constants from lattice QCD calculations on ensembles that include $u$, $d$, $s$ and $c$ quarks in the sea and those which have the $u/d$ quark mass going down to its physical value. Our results are $f_B=0.196(6)$ GeV, $f_{B_s}=0.236(7)$ GeV and $f_{B_s}/f_B =1.207(7)$, agreeing well with earlier results using the temporal axial current. By combining with these previous results, we provide updated values of $f_B=0.190(4)$ GeV, $f_{B_s}=0.229(5)$ GeV and $f_{B_s}/f_B = 1.206(5)$.

hep-lat↗
arXiv2015

Bottomonium hyperfine splittings from lattice NRQCD including radiative and relativistic corrections

We present a calculation of the hyperfine splittings in bottomonium using lattice Nonrelativistic QCD. The calculation includes spin-dependent relativistic corrections through O(v^6), radiative corrections to the leading spin-magnetic coupling and, for the first time, non-perturbative 4-quark interactions which enter at alpha_s^2 v^3. We also include the effect of u,d,s and c quark vacuum polarisation. Our result for the 1S hyperfine splitting is M(Upsilon,1S) - M(eta_b,1S)= 60.0(6.4) MeV. We find the ratio of 2S to 1S hyperfine splittings (M(Upsilon,2S) - M(eta_b,2S))/ (M(Upsilon,1S) - M(eta_b,1S)) = 0.445(28).

hep-lat↗
arXiv2014

Constraining black hole masses in low-accreting AGN using X-ray spectra

In a recent work we demonstrated that a novel X-ray scaling method, originally introduced for Galactic black holes (GBHs), can be reliably extended to estimate the mass of supermassive black holes accreting at a moderate to high level. Here we investigate the limits of applicability of this method to low-accreting active galactic nuclei, using a control sample with good-quality X-ray data and dynamically measured mass. For low-accreting AGNs, because the basic assumption that the photon index positively correlates with the accretion rate no longer holds the X-ray scaling method cannot be used. Nevertheless, the inverse correlation in the Gamma-Lx/LEdd diagram, found in several low-accreting black holes and confirmed by this sample, can be used to constrain black hole mass within a factor of ~10 from the dynamically determined values. We provide a simple recipe to determine black hole mass using solely X-ray spectral data, which can be used as a sanity check for black hole mass determination based on indirect optical methods.

astro-ph.HE↗