arXiv subjects

E. Czerwinski

Publications and source records attributed to E. Czerwinski.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Investigation of Novel Preclinical Total Body PET Designed With J-PET Technology:A Simulation Study

The growing interest in human-grade total body positron emission tomography (PET) systems has also application in small animal research. Due to the existing limitations in human-based studies involving drug development and novel treatment monitoring, animal-based research became a necessary step for testing and protocol preparation. In this simulation-based study two unconventional, cost-effective small animal total body PET scanners (for mouse and rat studies) have been investigated in order to inspect their feasibility for preclinical research. They were designed with the novel technology explored by the Jagiellonian-PET (J-PET) Collaboration. Two main PET characteristics: sensitivity and spatial resolution were mainly inspected to evaluate their performance. Moreover, the impact of the scintillator dimension and time-of-flight on the latter parameter was examined in order to design the most efficient tomographs. The presented results show that for mouse TB J-PET the achievable system sensitivity is equal to 2.35% and volumetric spatial resolution to 9.46 +- 0.54 mm3, while for rat TB J-PET they are equal to 2.6% and 14.11 +- 0.80 mm3, respectively. Furthermore, it was shown that the designed tomographs are almost parallax-free systems, hence, they resolve the problem of the acceptance criterion tradeoff between enhancing spatial resolution and reducing sensitivity.

physics.med-ph↗

arXiv2024

Comparative studies of plastic scintillator strips with high technical attenuation length for the total-body J-PET scanner

Plastic scintillator strips are considered as one of the promising solutions for the cost-effective construction of total-body positron emission tomography, (PET) system. The purpose of the performed measurements is to compare the transparency of long plastic scintillators with dimensions 6 mm x 24 mm x 1000 mm and with all surfaces polished. Six different types of commercial, general purpose, blue-emitting plastic scintillators with low attenuation of visible light were tested, namely: polyvinyl toluene-based BC-408, EJ-200, RP-408, and polystyrene-based Epic, SP32 and UPS-923A. For determination of the best type of plastic scintillator for totalbody Jagiellonian positron emission tomograph (TB-J-PET) construction, emission and transmission spectra, and technical attenuation length (TAL) of blue light-emitting by the scintillators were measured and compared. The TAL values were determined with the use of UV lamp as excitation source, and photodiode as light detector. Emission spectra of investigated scintillators have maxima in the range from 420 nm to 429 nm. The BC-408 and EJ-200 have the highest transmittance values of about 90% at the maximum emission wavelength measured through a 6 mm thick scintillator strip and the highest technical attenuation length reaching about 2000 mm, allowing assembly of long detection modules for time-of-flight (TOF) J-PET scanners. Influence of the 6 mm x 6 mm, 12 mm x 6 mm, 24 mm x 6 mm cross-sections of the 1000 mm long EJ-200 plastic scintillator on the TAL and signal intensity was measured. The highest TAL value was determined for samples with 24 mm x 6 mm cross-section.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Non-maximal entanglement of photons from positron-electron annihilation demonstrated using a novel plastic PET scanner

In state-of-the-art Positron Emission Tomography (PET), information about annihilation photon polarization is unavailable. Here, we present a PET scanner built from plastic scintillators, where annihilation photons primarily interact via the Compton effect, providing information about both photon polarization and propagation direction. Using this plastic-based PET, we determined the distribution of the relative angle between polarization planes of photons from positron-electron annihilation in a porous polymer. The amplitude of the observed distribution is smaller than predicted for maximally quantum-entangled two-photon states but larger than expected for separable photons. This result can be well explained by assuming that photons from pick-off annihilation are not entangled, while photons from direct and para-positronium annihilations are maximally entangled. Our result indicates that the degree of entanglement depends on the annihilation mechanism in matter, opening new avenues for exploring polarization correlations in PET as a diagnostic indicator.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2023

Feasibility studies for imaging e$^{+}$e$^{-}$ annihilation with modular multi-strip detectors

Studies based on imaging the annihilation of the electron (e$^{-}$) and its antiparticle positron (e$^{+}$) open up several interesting applications in nuclear medicine and fundamental research. The annihilation process involves both the direct conversion of e$^{+}$e$^{-}$ into photons and the formation of their atomically bound state, the positronium atom (Ps), which can be used as a probe for fundamental studies. With the ability to produce large quantities of Ps, manipulate them in long-lived Ps states, and image their annihilations after a free fall or after passing through atomic interferometers, this purely leptonic antimatter system can be used to perform inertial sensing studies in view of a direct test of Einstein equivalence principle. It is envisioned that modular multistrip detectors can be exploited as potential detection units for this kind of studies. In this work, we report the results of the first feasibility study performed on a e$^{+}$ beamline using two detection modules to evaluate their reconstruction performance and spatial resolution for imaging e$^{+}$e$^{-}$ annihilations and thus their applicability for gravitational studies of Ps.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

J-PET detection modules based on plastic scintillators for performing studies with positron and positronium beams

The J-PET detector, which consists of inexpensive plastic scintillators, has demonstrated its potential in the study of fundamental physics. In recent years, a prototype with 192 plastic scintillators arranged in 3 layers has been optimized for the study of positronium decays. This allows performing precision tests of discrete symmetries (C, P, T) in the decays of positronium atoms. Moreover, thanks to the possibility of measuring the polarization direction of the photon based on Compton scattering, the predicted entanglement between the linear polarization of annihilation photons in positronium decays can also be studied. Recently, a new J-PET prototype was commissioned, based on a modular design of detection units. Each module consists of 13 plastic scintillators and can be used as a stand-alone, compact and portable detection unit. In this paper, the main features of the J-PET detector, the modular prototype and their applications for possible studies with positron and positronium beams are discussed. Preliminary results of the first test experiment performed on two detection units in the continuous positron beam recently developed at the Antimatter Laboratory (AML) of Trento are also reported.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Search for the $η$ mesic $^3$He in the $pd\rightarrow d p π^{0}$ reaction with the WASA-at-COSY facility

The excitation function for the $pd\rightarrow$ $d p π^{0}$ reaction has been measured by WASA-at-COSY experiment with the aim of searching for $^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η$ mesic nuclei. The measurement in the vicinity of $η$ meson production was performed using a ramped proton beam. The data analysis and interpretation was carried out with the assumption that the $η$-mesic Helium decays via the formation of an intermediate N$^{*}$(1535) resonance. No direct signal of the $η$-mesic nucleus is observed in the excitation function. We determine a new improved upper limit for the total cross section for the bound state production and decay in the $pd\rightarrow$ $(^{3}\hspace{-0.03cm}\mbox{He}$-$η)_{bound} \rightarrow$ $d p π^{0}$ process. It varies between 13 nb to 24 nb for the bound state with width in the range $Γ\in (5,50)$ MeV.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Synchronisation and calibration of the 24-modules J-PET prototype with 300~mm axial field of view

Research conducted in the framework of the J-PET project aims to develop a cost-effective total-body positron emission tomography scanner. As a first step on the way to construct a full-scale J-PET tomograph from long strips of plastic scintillators, a 24-strip prototype was built and tested. The prototype consists of detection modules arranged axially forming a cylindrical diagnostic chamber with the inner diameter of 360 mm and the axial field-of-view of 300 mm. Promising perspectives for a low-cost construction of a total-body PET scanner are opened due to an axial arrangement of strips of plastic scintillators, wchich have a small light attenuation, superior timing properties, and the possibility of cost-effective increase of the axial field-of-view. The presented prototype comprises dedicated solely digital front-end electronic circuits and a triggerless data acquisition system which required development of new calibration methods including time, thresholds and gain synchronization. The system and elaborated calibration methods including first results of the 24-module J-PET prototype are presented and discussed. The achieved coincidence resolving time equals to CRT = 490 $\pm$ 9 ps. This value can be translated to the position reconstruction accuracy $σ(Δl) =$ 18 mm which is fairly position-independent.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Isoscalar Single-Pion Production in the Region of Roper and $d^*(2380)$ Resonances

Exclusive measurements of the quasi-free $pn \to ppπ^-$ and $pp \to ppπ^0$ reactions have been performed by means of $pd$ collisions at $T_p$ = 1.2 GeV using the WASA detector setup at COSY. Total and differential cross sections have been obtained covering the energy region $T_p = 0.95 - 1.3$ GeV ($\sqrt s$ = 2.3 - 2.46 GeV), which includes the regions of $Δ(1232)$, $N^*(1440)$ and $d^*(2380)$ resonance excitations. From these measurements the isoscalar single-pion production has been extracted, for which data existed so far only below $T_p$ = 1 GeV. We observe a substantial increase of this cross section above 1 GeV, which can be related to the Roper resonance $N^*(1440)$, the strength of which shows up isolated from the $Δ$ resonance in the isoscalar $(Nπ)_{I=0}$ invariant-mass spectrum. No evidence for a decay of the dibaryon resonance $d^*(2380)$ into the isoscalar $(NNπ)_{I=0}$ channel is found. An upper limit of 90 $μ$b (90 $\%$ C.L.) corresponding to a branching ratio of 5 $\%$ has been deduced.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2020

Hit-time and hit-position reconstruction in strips of plastic scintillators using multi-threshold readouts

In this article, a new method for the reconstruction of hit-position and hit-time of photons in long scintillator detectors is investigated. This research is motivated by the recent development of the positron emission tomography scanners based on plastic scintillators. The proposed method constitutes a new way of signal processing in Multi-Voltage-Technique. It is based on the determination of the degree of similarity between the registered signals and the synchronized model signals stored in a library. The library was established for a set of well defined hit-positions along the length of the scintillator. The Mahalanobis distance was used as a measure of similarity between the two compared signals. The method was validated on the experimental data measured using two-strips J-PET prototype with dimensions of 5x9x300 mm$^3$. The obtained Time-of-Flight (TOF) and spatial resolutions amount to 325~ps (FWHM) and 25~mm (FWHM), respectively. The TOF resolution was also compared to the results of an analogous study done using Linear Fitting method. The best TOF resolution was obtained with this method at four pre-defined threshold levels which was comparable to the resolution achieved from the Mahalanobis distance at two pre-defined threshold levels. Although the algorithm of Linear Fitting method is much simpler to apply than the Mahalanobis method, the application of the Mahalanobis distance requires a lower number of applied threshold levels and, hence, decreases the costs of electronics used in PET scanner.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Estimating relationship between the Time Over Threshold and energy loss by photons in plastic scintillators used in the J-PET scanner

Time-Over-Threshold (TOT) technique is being used widely due to its implications in developing the multi channel readouts mainly when fast signal processing is required. Using TOT technique as a measure of energy loss instead of charge integration methods significantly reduces the signals readout cost by combining the time and energy information. Therefore, this approach can potentially be used in J-PET tomograph which is build from plastic scintillators characterized by fast light signals. The drawback in adopting this technique is lying in the non-linear correlation between input energy loss and TOT of the signal. The main motivation behind this work is to develop the relationship between TOT and energy loss and validate it with the J-PET tomograph. The experiment was performed using the $^{22}$Na beta emitter source placed in the center of the J-PET tomograph. One can obtain primary photons of two different energies: 511 keV photon from the annihilation of positron (direct annihilation or through the formation of para-Positronim atom or pick-off process of ortho-Positronium atoms), and 1275 keV prompt photon. This allows to study the correlation between TOT values and energy loss for energy range up to 1000 keV. As the photon interacts dominantly via Compton scattering inside the plastic scintillator, there is no direct information of primary photon energy. However, using the J-PET geometry one can measure the scattering angle of the interacting photon. Since, $^{22}$Na source emits photons of two different energies, it is required to know unambiguously the energy of incident photons and its corresponding scattering angle for the estimation of energy deposition. In this work, the relationship between Time Over Threshold and energy loss by interacting photons inside the plastic scintillators used in J-PET scanner is established for a energy deposited range 100-1000 keV

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Study of Three-Nucleon Dynamics in the dp breakup collisions using the WASA detector

Differential cross section for the 1H(d,pp)n breakup reaction at deuteron beam energy of 340 MeV has been measured with the use of WASA detector at COSY-Juelich. The set of proton-proton coincidences registered at Forward Detector has been analysed on dense grid of kinematic variables, giving in total around 5600 data points. The cross section data are compared to theoretical predictions based on the state-of-the-art nucleon-nucleon potentials, combined with three-nucleon force, Coulomb interaction or carried out in a relativistic regime.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2019

K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption cross sections and branching ratios in $Λ$p and $Σ^0$p final states

The determination of low-energy cross sections and branching ratios of the K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption processes in $Λ$p and $Σ^0$p final states performed by the AMADEUS collaboration is presented. Low momentum K$^-$ ($p_\mathrm{K} \simeq$ 127 MeV/c) produced at the DA$Φ$NE collider are impinged on a Carbon target within the KLOE detector and the two and three nucleon absorption processes are disentangled by comparing the experimental data to phenomenological calculations. The $Λ$p spectra are interpreted in terms of K$^-$ multi-nucleon absorption processes; the possible contribution of a K$^-$pp bound state is demonstrated to overlap with the two nucleon capture process, its absolute yield thus resulting indistinguishable.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2018

A feasibility study of the time reversal violation test based on polarization of annihilation photons from the decay of ortho-Positronium with the J-PET detector

The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) is a novel de- vice being developed at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland based on or- ganic scintillators. J-PET is an axially symmetric and high acceptance scanner that can be used as a multi-purpose detector system. It is well suited to pur- sue tests of discrete symmetries in decays of positronium in addition to medical imaging. J-PET enables the measurement of both momenta and the polarization vectors of annihilation photons. The latter is a unique feature of the J-PET detector which allows the study of time reversal symmetry violation operator which can be constructed solely from the annihilation photons momenta before and after the scattering in the detector.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

Spin dependence of η meson production in proton-proton collisions close to threshold

Taking advantage of the high acceptance and axial symmetry of the WASA-at-COSY detector, and the high degree of the polarized proton beam of COSY, the reaction pp{\to} ppη has been measured close to threshold to explore the analyzing power Ay. The angular distribution of Ay is determined with the precision improved by more than one order of magnitude with respect to previous results allowing a first accurate comparison with theoretical predictions. The determined analyzing power is consistent with zero for an excess energy of Q = 15 MeV signaling s wave production with no evidence for higher partial waves. At Q = 72 MeV the data reveals strong interference of P s and P p partial waves and cancellation of (P p) and Ss*Sd contributions. These results rule out the presently available theoretical predictions for the production mechanism of the η meson.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2017

Time calibration of the J-PET detector

The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (J-PET) project carried out in the Institute of Physics of the Jagiellonian University is focused on construction and tests of the first prototype of PET scanner for medical diagnostic which allows for the simultaneous 3D imaging of the whole human body using organic scintillators. The J-PET prototype consists of 192 scintillator strips forming three cylindrical layers which are optimized for the detection of photons from the electron-positron annihilation with high time- and high angular-resolutions. In this article we present time calibration and synchronization of the whole J-PET detection system by irradiating each single detection module with a 22Na source and a small detector providing common reference time for synchronization of all the modules.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2016

Search for eta-mesic 4He in the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- reactions with the WASA-at-COSY facility

The search for 4He-eta bound states was performed with the WASA-at-COSY facility via the measurement of the excitation function for the dd->3He n pi0 and dd->3He p pi- processes. The beam momentum was varied continuously between 2.127 GeV/c and 2.422 GeV/c, corresponding to the excess energy for the dd->4He eta reaction ranging from Q=-70 MeV to Q=30 MeV. The luminosity was determined based on the dd->3He n reaction and quasi-free proton-proton scattering via dd->pp n_spectator n_spectator reactions. The excitation functions determined independently for the measured reactions do not reveal a structure which could be interpreted as a narrow mesic nucleus. Therefore, the upper limits of the total cross sections for the bound state production and decay in dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He n pi0 and dd->(4He-eta)_bound->3He p pi- processes were determined taking into account the isospin relation between both the channels considered. The results of the analysis depend on the assumptions of the N* momentum distribution in the anticipated mesic-4He. Assuming as in the previous works, that this is identical with the distribution of nucleons bound with 20 MeV in 4He, we determined that (for the mesic bound state width in the range from 5 MeV to 50 MeV) the upper limits at 90% confidence level are about 3 nb and about 6 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels, respectively. However, based on the recent theoretical findings of the N*(1535) momentum distribution in the N*-3He nucleus bound by 3.6 MeV, we find that the WASA-at-COSY detector acceptance decreases and hence the corresponding upper limits are 5 nb and 10 nb for npi0 and ppi- channels respectively.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2016

Search for an Isospin I =3 Dibaryon

Various theoretical calculations based on QCD or hadronic interactions predict that in addition to the recently observed dibaryon resonance $d^*(2380)$ with $I(J^P) = 0(3^+)$ there should also exist a dibaryon resonance with mirrored quantum numbers $I(J^P) = 3(0^+)$. We report here on a search for such a $NN$-decoupled state in data on the $pp \to ppπ^+π^+π^-π^-$ reaction. Since no clear-cut evidence has been found, we give upper limits for the production cross section of such a resonance in the mass range 2280 - 2500 MeV.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2016

Limit on the production of a new vector boson in $\mathrm{e^+ e^-}\rightarrow {\rm U}γ$, U$\rightarrow π^+π^-$ with the KLOE experiment

The recent interest in a light gauge boson in the framework of an extra U(1) symmetry motivates searches in the mass range below 1 GeV. We present a search for such a particle, the dark photon, in ${\rm e^+ e^-}\rightarrow {\rm U}γ$, U$\rightarrow π^+π^-$ based on 28 million $\mathrm{e^+ e^-} \rightarrow π^+ π^-γ$ events collected at DA$Φ$NE by the KLOE experiment. The $π^+ π^-$ production by initial-state radiation compensates for a loss of sensitivity of previous KLOE ${\rm U} \rightarrow \mathrm{e^+ e^-}$, $μ^+μ^-$ searches due to the small branching ratios in the $ρ-ω$ resonance region. We found no evidence for a signal and set a limit at 90\% CL on the mixing strength between the photon and the dark photon, $\varepsilon^2$, in the U mass range between $527$ and $987$~MeV. Above 700 MeV this new limit is more stringent than previous ones.

hep-ex↗