arXiv subjects

J. Carvalho

Publications and source records attributed to J. Carvalho.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

A class of Hartree-Fock systems with null mass via Nehari-Pohozaev with logarithmic interactions

We establish the existence and qualitative properties of nontrivial solutions for a class of Hartree-Fock type systems defined over the whole space $\mathbb{R}^2$. By introducing a suitable Nehari-Pohozaev manifold, we prove the existence, regularity and we describe the asymptotic behavior of solutions with respect to the interaction parameter $\beta > 0$. In particular, we show that the system admits either a vector ground state or a semitrivial ground state solution, depending on the magnitude of $\beta$.

math.AP↗

arXiv2025

Measurement of reactor antineutrino oscillation at SNO+

The SNO+ collaboration reports its second spectral analysis of reactor antineutrino oscillation using 286 tonne-years of new data. The measured energies of reactor antineutrino candidates were fitted to obtain the second-most precise determination of the neutrino mass-squared difference $\Delta m^2_{21}$ = ($7.96^{+0.48}_{-0.42}$) $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ eV$^2$. Constraining $\Delta m^2_{21}$ and $\sin^2\theta_{12}$ with measurements from long-baseline reactor antineutrino and solar neutrino experiments yields $\Delta m^2_{21}$ = ($7.58^{+0.18}_{-0.17}$) $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ eV$^2$ and $\sin^2\theta_{12} = 0.308 \pm 0.013$. This fit also yields a first measurement of the flux of geoneutrinos in the Western Hemisphere, with $73^{+47}_{-43}$ TNU at SNO+.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Motion Planning Diffusion: Learning and Adapting Robot Motion Planning with Diffusion Models

The performance of optimization-based robot motion planning algorithms is highly dependent on the initial solutions, commonly obtained by running a sampling-based planner to obtain a collision-free path. However, these methods can be slow in high-dimensional and complex scenes and produce non-smooth solutions. Given previously solved path-planning problems, it is highly desirable to learn their distribution and use it as a prior for new similar problems. Several works propose utilizing this prior to bootstrap the motion planning problem, either by sampling initial solutions from it, or using its distribution in a maximum-a-posterior formulation for trajectory optimization. In this work, we introduce Motion Planning Diffusion (MPD), an algorithm that learns trajectory distribution priors with diffusion models. These generative models have shown increasing success in encoding multimodal data and have desirable properties for gradient-based motion planning, such as cost guidance. Given a motion planning problem, we construct a cost function and sample from the posterior distribution using the learned prior combined with the cost function gradients during the denoising process. Instead of learning the prior on all trajectory waypoints, we propose learning a lower-dimensional representation of a trajectory using linear motion primitives, particularly B-spline curves. This parametrization guarantees that the generated trajectory is smooth, can be interpolated at higher frequencies, and needs fewer parameters than a dense waypoint representation. We demonstrate the results of our method ranging from simple 2D to more complex tasks using a 7-dof robot arm manipulator. In addition to learning from simulated data, we also use human demonstrations on a real-world pick-and-place task.

cs.RO↗

arXiv2021

The SNO+ Experiment

The SNO+ experiment is located 2 km underground at SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada. A low background search for neutrinoless double beta ($0νββ$) decay will be conducted using 780 tonnes of liquid scintillator loaded with 3.9 tonnes of natural tellurium, corresponding to 1.3 tonnes of $^{130}$Te. This paper provides a general overview of the SNO+ experiment, including detector design, construction of process plants, commissioning efforts, electronics upgrades, data acquisition systems, and calibration techniques. The SNO+ collaboration is reusing the acrylic vessel, PMT array, and electronics of the SNO detector, having made a number of experimental upgrades and essential adaptations for use with the liquid scintillator. With low backgrounds and a low energy threshold, the SNO+ collaboration will also pursue a rich physics program beyond the search for $0νββ$ decay, including studies of geo- and reactor antineutrinos, supernova and solar neutrinos, and exotic physics such as the search for invisible nucleon decay. The SNO+ approach to the search for $0νββ$ decay is scalable: a future phase with high $^{130}$Te-loading is envisioned to probe an effective Majorana mass in the inverted mass ordering region.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Development, characterisation, and deployment of the SNO+ liquid scintillator

A liquid scintillator consisting of linear alkylbenzene as the solvent and 2,5-diphenyloxazole as the fluor was developed for the SNO+ experiment. This mixture was chosen as it is compatible with acrylic and has a competitive light yield to pre-existing liquid scintillators while conferring other advantages including longer attenuation lengths, superior safety characteristics, chemical simplicity, ease of handling, and logistical availability. Its properties have been extensively characterized and are presented here. This liquid scintillator is now used in several neutrino physics experiments in addition to SNO+.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

A Quantum Ring in a Nanosphere

In this paper we study the quantum dynamics of an electron/hole in a two-dimensional quantum ring within a spherical space. For this geometry, we consider a harmonic confining potential. Suggesting that the quantum ring is affected by the presence of an Aharonov-Bohm flux and an uniform magnetic field, we solve the Schrödinger equation for this problem and obtain exactly the eigenvalues of energy and corresponding eigenfunctions for this nanometric quantum system. Afterwards, we calculate the magnetization and persistent current are calculated, and discuss influence of curvature of space on these values.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Search for invisible modes of nucleon decay in water with the SNO+ detector

This paper reports results from a search for nucleon decay through 'invisible' modes, where no visible energy is directly deposited during the decay itself, during the initial water phase of SNO+. However, such decays within the oxygen nucleus would produce an excited daughter that would subsequently de-excite, often emitting detectable gamma rays. A search for such gamma rays yields limits of $2.5 \times 10^{29}$ y at 90% Bayesian credibility level (with a prior uniform in rate) for the partial lifetime of the neutron, and $3.6 \times 10^{29}$ y for the partial lifetime of the proton, the latter a 70% improvement on the previous limit from SNO. We also present partial lifetime limits for invisible dinucleon modes of $1.3\times 10^{28}$ y for $nn$, $2.6\times 10^{28}$ y for $pn$ and $4.7\times 10^{28}$ y for $pp$, an improvement over existing limits by close to three orders of magnitude for the latter two.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2016

Current Status and Future Prospects of the SNO+ Experiment

SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2km underground at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory detector, consisting of a 12m diameter acrylic vessel which will be filled with about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$νββ$) of 130Te. In Phase I, the detector will be loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130Te, with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of 55-133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility of deploying up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low-energy solar neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon, with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data taking. The 0$νββ$ Phase I is foreseen for 2017.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2015

The calibration system for the photomultiplier array of the SNO+ experiment

A light injection system using LEDs and optical fibres was designed for the calibration and monitoring of the photomultiplier array of the SNO+ experiment at SNOLAB. Large volume, non-segmented, low-background detectors for rare event physics, such as the multi-purpose SNO+ experiment, need a calibration system that allow an accurate and regular measurement of the performance parameters of their photomultiplier arrays, while minimising the risk of radioactivity ingress. The design implemented for SNO+ uses a set of optical fibres to inject light pulses from external LEDs into the detector. The design, fabrication and installation of this light injection system, as well as the first commissioning tests, are described in this paper. Monte Carlo simulations were compared with the commissioning test results, confirming that the system meets the performance requirements.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2014

Wikipedia edition dynamics

A model for the probabilistic function followed in Wikipedia edition is presented and compared with simulations and real data. It is argued that the probability to edit is proportional to the editor's number of previous editions (preferential attachment), to the editor's fitness and to an ageing factor. Using these simple ingredients, it is possible to reproduce the results obtained for Wikipedia edition dynamics for a collection of single pages as well as the averaged results. Using a stochastic process framework, a recursive equation was obtained for the average of the number of editions per editor that seems to describe the editing behaviour in Wikipedia.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2014

The dynamic nature of conflict in Wikipedia

The voluntary process of Wikipedia edition provides an environment where the outcome is clearly a collective product of interactions involving a large number of people. We propose a simple agent-based model, developed from real data, to reproduce the collaborative process of Wikipedia edition. With a small number of simple ingredients, our model mimics several interesting features of real human behaviour, namely in the context of edit wars. We show that the level of conflict is determined by a tolerance parameter, which measures the editors' capability to accept different opinions and to change their own opinion. We propose to measure conflict with a parameter based on mutual reverts, which increases only in contentious situations. Using this parameter, we find a distribution for the inter-peace periods that is heavy-tailed. The effects of wiki-robots in the conflict levels and in the edition patterns are also studied. Our findings are compared with previous parameters used to measure conflicts in edit wars.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2012

Evaluating strong measurement noise in data series with simulated annealing method

Many stochastic time series can be described by a Langevin equation composed of a deterministic and a stochastic dynamical part. Such a stochastic process can be reconstructed by means of a recently introduced nonparametric method, thus increasing the predictability, i.e. knowledge of the macroscopic drift and the microscopic diffusion functions. If the measurement of a stochastic process is affected by additional strong measurement noise, the reconstruction process cannot be applied. Here, we present a method for the reconstruction of stochastic processes in the presence of strong measurement noise, based on a suitably parametrized ansatz. At the core of the process is the minimization of the functional distance between terms containing the conditional moments taken from measurement data, and the corresponding ansatz functions. It is shown that a minimization of the distance by means of a simulated annealing procedure yields better results than a previously used Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, which permits a rapid and reliable reconstruction of the stochastic process.

physics.data-an↗

arXiv2011

A Layer Correlation technique for pion energy calibration at the 2004 ATLAS Combined Beam Test

A new method for calibrating the hadron response of a segmented calorimeter is developed and successfully applied to beam test data. It is based on a principal component analysis of energy deposits in the calorimeter layers, exploiting longitudinal shower development information to improve the measured energy resolution. Corrections for invisible hadronic energy and energy lost in dead material in front of and between the calorimeters of the ATLAS experiment were calculated with simulated Geant4 Monte Carlo events and used to reconstruct the energy of pions impinging on the calorimeters during the 2004 Barrel Combined Beam Test at the CERN H8 area. For pion beams with energies between 20 GeV and 180 GeV, the particle energy is reconstructed within 3% and the energy resolution is improved by between 11% and 25% compared to the resolution at the electromagnetic scale.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2008

Collider aspects of flavour physics at high Q

This review presents flavour related issues in the production and decays of heavy states at LHC, both from the experimental side and from the theoretical side. We review top quark physics and discuss flavour aspects of several extensions of the Standard Model, such as supersymmetry, little Higgs model or models with extra dimensions. This includes discovery aspects as well as measurement of several properties of these heavy states. We also present public available computational tools related to this topic.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

ATLAS sensitivity to Wtb anomalous couplings in top quark decays

We study the sensitivity of the ATLAS experiment to Wtb anomalous couplings in top pair production with semileptonic decay, pp -> t tbar -> W+ b W- bbar, with one of the W bosons decaying leptonically and the other hadronically. Several observables are examined, including the W helicity fractions and new quantities recently introduced, such as the ratios of helicity fractions and some angular asymmetries defined in the W rest frame. The dependence on anomalous couplings of all these observables has been previously obtained. In this work we show that some of the new observables also have smaller systematic uncertainties than the helicity fractions, with a dependence on anomalous couplings similar or stronger than for helicity fractions. Consequently, their measurement can significantly improve the limits on anomalous couplings. Moreover, the most sensitive measurements can be combined. In this case, the precision achieved in the determination of Wtb anomalous couplings can be of a few percent in the semileptonic channel alone.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2007

Study of ATLAS sensitivity to FCNC top decays

The ATLAS experiment sensitivity to top quark Flavour Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) decays was studied at LHC using ttbar events. While one of the top quarks is expected to follow the dominant Standard Model decay t->bW, the other decays through a FCNC channel, i.e. t-> Z u(c), t-> gamma u(c) or t-> g u(c). Different types of analyses, applied to each FCNC decay mode, were compared. The FCNC branching ratio sensitivity (assuming a 5sigma signal significance) and 95% confidence level limits on the branching ratios (in the hypothesis of signal absence) were obtained.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2007

Probing anomalous Wtb couplings in top pair decays

We investigate several quantities, defined in the decays of top quark pairs, which can be used to explore non-standard Wtb interactions. Two new angular asymmetries are introduced in the leptonic decay of top (anti)quarks. Both are very sensitive to anomalous Wtb couplings, and their measurement allows for a precise determination of the W helicity fractions. We also examine other angular and energy asymmetries, the W helicity fractions and their ratios, as well as spin correlation asymmetries, analysing their dependence on anomalous Wtb couplings and identifing the quantities which are most sensitive to them. It is explicitly shown that spin correlation asymmetries are less sensitive to new interactions in the decay of the top quark; therefore, when combined with the measurement of other observables, they can be used to determine the t tbar spin correlation even in the presence of anomalous Wtb couplings. We finally discuss some asymmetries which can be used to test CP violation in t tbar production and complex phases in the effective Wtb vertex.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

A statistical method for luminosity monitoring in high energy collider experiments

A statistical method which uses a combination of two subdetectors to monitor the luminosity in high energy interactions is presented. To illustrate its performance, this method was applied to random triggered minimum bias data collected in the commissioning period of the HERA-B experiment in spring 2000. It is found that luminosity estimates with an intrinsic systematic error of 3% can be obtained.

physics.ins-det↗