arXiv subjects

J. Hamblen

Publications and source records attributed to J. Hamblen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

From Commissioning to Precision Data-Taking: Resolving Operational Challenges in the Nab Detector Systems

Our understanding of the weak mixing of quarks, described by the Cabibbo Kobayashi Maskawa (CKM) matrix, currently presents an anomaly. Thanks to major strides in both theory and experiment, improved precision in determinations of the first row of matrix elements has revealed disagreement with the expectation of unitarity. The Nab experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source is designed to precisely extract the first matrix element $V_{ud}$ and shed light on experimental tensions within the neutron beta decay dataset. Nab's asymmetric spectrometer allows coincident reconstruction of the decay proton and electron energies, which will be used to determine the electron-neutrino correlation coefficient, and thus (with the neutron lifetime) determine $V_{ud}$. This unique approach has provided a more comprehensive view of neutron beta decay, including a first observation of the full momentum phase space of the decay above detector thresholds and limits on exotic neutron states. Recent upgrades to the Nab detector system have improved the robustness and stability of the detector performance in terms of proton detection efficiency, noise performance, and detector segment availability, setting the stage for high precision physics data-taking.

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arXiv2024

The 3He(\vec n,p)3H parity-conserving asymmetry

Recently, the n$^3$He collaboration reported a measurement of the parity-violating (PV) proton directional asymmetry $A_{\mathrm {PV}} = (1.55\pm 0.97~\mathrm {(st\ at)} \pm 0.24~\mathrm {(sys)})\times 10^{-8}$ in the capture reaction of ${}^3$He$(\vec {n},{\mathrm p}){}^3$H at meV incident neutron energies. The result increased the limited inventory of precisely measured and calculable PV observables in few-body systems required to further understand the structure of hadronic weak interaction. In this letter, we report the experimental and theoretical investigation of a parity conserving (PC) asymmetry $A_{\mathrm {PC}}$ in the same reaction (the first ever measured PC observable at meV neutron energies). As a result of S- and P-wave mixing in the reaction, the $A_{\mathrm {PC}}$ is inversely proportional to the neutron wavelength $\lambda$. The experimental value is $(\lambda\times A_{\mathrm {PC}})\equiv\beta= (-1.97 \pm 0.28~\mathrm{(stat)}\pm 0.12~\mathrm{(sys)}) \times 10^{-6}$ Amstrongs. We present results for a theoretical analysis of this reaction by solving the four-body scattering problem within the hyperspherical harmonic method. We find that in the ${}^3$He$(\vec {n},{\mathrm p}){}^3$H reaction, $A_{\mathrm {PC}}$ depends critically on the energy and width of the close $0^-$ resonant state of ${}^4$He, resulting in a large sensitivity to the spin-orbit components of the nucleon-nucleon force and even to the three-nucleon force. The analysis of the accurately measured $A_{\mathrm {PC}}$ and $A_{\mathrm {PV}}$ using the same few-body theoretical models gives essential information needed to interpret the PV asymmetry in the ${}^3$He$(\vec {n}, {\mathrm p}){}^3$H reaction.

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arXiv2023

Fundamental Neutron Physics: a White Paper on Progress and Prospects in the US

Fundamental neutron physics, combining precision measurements and theory, probes particle physics at short range with reach well beyond the highest energies probed by the LHC. Significant US efforts are underway that will probe BSM CP violation with orders of magnitude more sensitivity, provide new data on the Cabibbo anomaly, more precisely measure the neutron lifetime and decay, and explore hadronic parity violation. World-leading results from the US Fundamental Neutron Physics community since the last Long Range Plan, include the world's most precise measurement of the neutron lifetime from UCN$\tau$, the final results on the beta-asymmetry from UCNA and new results on hadronic parity violation from the NPDGamma and n-${^3}$He runs at the FNPB (Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline), precision measurement of the radiative neutron decay mode and n-${}^4$He at NIST. US leadership and discovery potential are ensured by the development of new high-impact experiments including BL3, Nab, LANL nEDM and nEDM@SNS. On the theory side, the last few years have seen results for the neutron EDM from the QCD $\theta$ term, a factor of two reduction in the uncertainty for inner radiative corrections in beta-decay which impacts CKM unitarity, and progress on {\it ab initio} calculations of nuclear structure for medium-mass and heavy nuclei which can eventually improve the connection between nuclear and nucleon EDMs. In order to maintain this exciting program and capitalize on past investments while also pursuing new ideas and building US leadership in new areas, the Fundamental Neutron Physics community has identified a number of priorities and opportunities for our sub-field covering the time-frame of the last Long Range Plan (LRP) under development. This white paper elaborates on these priorities.

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arXiv2022

Measurement of the Parity-Odd Angular Distribution of Gamma Rays From Polarized Neutron Capture on $^{35}$Cl

We report a measurement of two energy-weighted gamma cascade angular distributions from polarized slow neutron capture on the ${}^{35}$Cl nucleus, one parity-odd correlation proportional to $\vec{s_{n}} \cdot \vec{k_{\gamma}}$ and one parity-even correlation proportional to $\vec{s_{n}} \cdot \vec{k_{n}} \times \vec{k_{\gamma}}$. A parity violating asymmetry can appear in this reaction due to the weak nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction which mixes opposite parity S and P-wave levels in the excited compound $^{36}$Cl nucleus formed upon slow neutron capture. If parity-violating (PV) and parity-conserving (PC) terms both exist, the measured differential cross section can be related to them via $\frac{d\sigma}{d\Omega}\propto1+A_{\gamma, PV}\cos\theta+A_{\gamma,PC}\sin\theta$. The PV and PC asymmetries for energy-weighted gamma cascade angular distributions for polarized slow neutron capture on $^{35}$Cl averaged over the neutron energies from 2.27~meV to 9.53~meV were measured to be $A_{\gamma,PV}=(-23.9\pm0.7)\times 10^{-6}$ and $A_{\gamma,PC}=(0.1\pm0.7)\times 10^{-6}$. These results are consistent with previous experimental results. Systematic errors were quantified and shown to be small compared to the statistical error. These asymmetries in the angular distributions of the gamma rays emitted from the capture of polarized neutrons in $^{35}$Cl were used to verify the operation and data analysis procedures for the NPDGamma experiment which measured the parity-odd asymmetry in the angular distribution of gammas from polarized slow neutron capture on protons.

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arXiv2020

First Precision Measurement of the Parity Violating Asymmetry in Cold Neutron Capture on $^3$He

We report the first precision measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in the direction of proton emission with respect to the neutron spin, in the reaction $^{3}\mathrm{He}(\mathrm{n},\mathrm{p})^{3}\mathrm{H}$, using the capture of polarized cold neutrons in an unpolarized active $^3\rm{He}$ target. The asymmetry is a result of the weak interaction between nucleons, which remains one of the most poorly understood aspects of electro-weak theory. The measurement provides an important benchmark for modern effective field theory (EFT) calculations. Measurements like this are necessary to determine the spin-isospin structure of the hadronic weak interaction. Our asymmetry result is $A_{PV} = \left( 1.58 \pm 0.97 ~\mathrm{(stat)} \pm 0.24~\mathrm{(sys)}\right)\times10^{-8}$, which has the smallest uncertainty of any parity-violating asymmetry measurement so far.

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arXiv2020

The n$^3$He Experiment: Parity Violation in Polarized Neutron Capture on $^{3}$He

Significant progress has been made to experimentally determine a complete set of the parity-violating (PV) weak-interaction amplitudes between nucleons. In this paper we describe the design, construction and operation of the n$^3$He experiment that was used to measure the PV asymmetry $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$ in the direction of proton emission in the reaction $\vec{\mathrm{n}} + {^3}\mathrm{He} \rightarrow {^3}\mathrm{H} + \mathrm{p}$, using the capture of polarized cold neutrons in an unpolarized gaseous $^3\mathrm{He}$ target. This asymmetry has was recently calculated \cite{Viviani,Viviani2}, both in the traditional style meson exchange picture, and in effective field theory (EFT), including two-pion exchange. The high precision result (published separately) obtained with the experiment described herein forms an important benchmark for hadronic PV (HPV) theory in few-body systems, where precise calculations are possible. To this day, HPV is still one of the most poorly understood aspects of the electro-weak theory. The calculations estimate the size of the asymmetry to be in the range of $(-9.4 \rightarrow 3.5)\times 10^{-8}$, depending on the framework or model. The small size of the asymmetry and the small overall goal uncertainty of the experiment of $δA_{\mathrm{PV}} \simeq 1\times10^{-8}$ places strict requirements on the experiment, especially on the design of the target-detector chamber. In this paper we describe the experimental setup and the measurement methodology as well as the detailed design of the chamber, including results of Garfield++ and Geant4 simulations that form the basis of the chamber design and analysis. We also show data from commissioning and production and define the systematic errors that the chamber contributes to the measured $A_{\mathrm{PV}}$. We give the final uncertainty on the measurement.

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arXiv2020

The Nab Experiment: A Precision Measurement of Unpolarized Neutron Beta Decay

Neutron beta decay is one of the most fundamental processes in nuclear physics and provides sensitive means to uncover the details of the weak interaction. Neutron beta decay can evaluate the ratio of axial-vector to vector coupling constants in the standard model, $λ= g_A / g_V$, through multiple decay correlations. The Nab experiment will carry out measurements of the electron-neutrino correlation parameter $a$ with a precision of $δa / a = 10^{-3}$ and the Fierz interference term $b$ to $δb = 3\times10^{-3}$ in unpolarized free neutron beta decay. These results, along with a more precise measurement of the neutron lifetime, aim to deliver an independent determination of the ratio $λ$ with a precision of $δλ/ λ= 0.03\%$ that will allow an evaluation of $V_{ud}$ and sensitively test CKM unitarity, independent of nuclear models. Nab utilizes a novel, long asymmetric spectrometer that guides the decay electron and proton to two large area silicon detectors in order to precisely determine the electron energy and an estimation of the proton momentum from the proton time of flight. The Nab spectrometer is being commissioned at the Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Lab. We present an overview of the Nab experiment and recent updates on the spectrometer, analysis, and systematic effects.

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arXiv2018

First Observation of $P$-odd $γ$ Asymmetry in Polarized Neutron Capture on Hydrogen

We report the first observation of the parity-violating 2.2 MeV gamma-ray asymmetry $A^{np}_γ$ in neutron-proton capture using polarized cold neutrons incident on a liquid parahydrogen target at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. $A^{np}_γ$ isolates the $ΔI=1$, \mbox{$^{3}S_{1}\rightarrow {^{3}P_{1}}$} component of the weak nucleon-nucleon interaction, which is dominated by pion exchange and can be directly related to a single coupling constant in either the DDH meson exchange model or pionless EFT. We measured $A^{np}_γ= [-3.0 \pm 1.4 (stat) \pm 0.2 (sys)]\times 10^{-8}$, which implies a DDH weak $πNN$ coupling of $h_π^{1} = [2.6 \pm 1.2(stat) \pm 0.2(sys)] \times 10^{-7}$ and a pionless EFT constant of $C^{^{3}S_{1}\rightarrow ^{3}P_{1}}/C_{0}=[-7.4 \pm 3.5 (stat) \pm 0.5 (sys)] \times 10^{-11}$ MeV$^{-1}$. We describe the experiment, data analysis, systematic uncertainties, and the implications of the result.

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arXiv2018

Measurement of the absolute neutron beam polarization from a supermirror polarizer and the absolute efficiency of a neutron spin rotator for the NPDGamma experiment using a polarized $^{3}$He neutron spin-filter

Accurately measuring the neutron beam polarization of a high flux, large area neutron beam is necessary for many neutron physics experiments. The Fundamental Neutron Physics Beamline (FnPB) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a pulsed neutron beam that was polarized with a supermirror polarizer for the NPDGamma experiment. The polarized neutron beam had a flux of $\sim10^9$ neutrons per second per cm$^2$ and a cross sectional area of 10$\times$12~cm$^2$. The polarization of this neutron beam and the efficiency of a RF neutron spin rotator installed downstream on this beam were measured by neutron transmission through a polarized $^{3}$He neutron spin-filter. The pulsed nature of the SNS enabled us to employ an absolute measurement technique for both quantities which does not depend on accurate knowledge of the phase space of the neutron beam or the $^{3}$He polarization in the spin filter and is therefore of interest for any experiments on slow neutron beams from pulsed neutron sources which require knowledge of the absolute value of the neutron polarization. The polarization and spin-reversal efficiency measured in this work were done for the NPDGamma experiment, which measures the parity violating $γ$-ray angular distribution asymmetry with respect to the neutron spin direction in the capture of polarized neutrons on protons. The experimental technique, results, systematic effects, and applications to neutron capture targets are discussed.

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arXiv2015

Participant and spectator scaling of spectator fragments in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 19.6 and 22.4 GeV

Spectator fragments resulting from relativistic heavy ion collisions, consisting of single protons and neutrons along with groups of stable nuclear fragments up to Nitrogen (Z=7), are measured in PHOBOS. These fragments are observed in Au+Au (sqrt(sNN)=19.6 GeV) and Cu+Cu (22.4 GeV) collisions at high pseudorapidity ($η$). The dominant multiply-charged fragment is the tightly bound Helium ($α$), with Lithium, Beryllium, and Boron all clearly seen as a function of collision centrality and pseudorapidity. We observe that in Cu+Cu collisions, it becomes much more favorable for the $α$ fragments to be released than Lithium. The yields of fragments approximately scale with the number of spectator nucleons, independent of the colliding ion. The shapes of the pseudorapidity distributions of fragments indicate that the average deflection of the fragments away from the beam direction increases for more central collisions. A detailed comparison of the shapes for $α$ and Lithium fragments indicates that the centrality dependence of the deflections favors a scaling with the number of participants in the collision.

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arXiv2015

Nucleon-Gold Collisions at 200 AGeV Using Tagged d+Au Interactions in PHOBOS

Forward calorimetry in the PHOBOS detector has been used to study charged hadron production in d+Au, p+Au and n+Au collisions at sqrt(s_nn) = 200 GeV. The forward proton calorimeter detectors are described and a procedure for determining collision centrality with these detectors is detailed. The deposition of energy by deuteron spectator nucleons in the forward calorimeters is used to identify p+Au and n+Au collisions in the data. A weighted combination of the yield of p+Au and n+Au is constructed to build a reference for Au+Au collisions that better matches the isospin composition of the gold nucleus. The p_T and centrality dependence of the yield of this improved reference system is found to match that of d+Au. The shape of the charged particle transverse momentum distribution is observed to extrapolate smoothly from pbar+p to central d+Au as a function of the charged particle pseudorapidity density. The asymmetry of positively- and negatively-charged hadron production in p+Au is compared to that of n+Au. No significant asymmetry is observed at mid-rapidity. These studies augment recent results from experiments at the LHC and RHIC facilities to give a more complete description of particle production in p+A and d+A collisions, essential for the understanding the medium produced in high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions.

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arXiv2015

New measurement of the scattering cross section of slow neutrons on liquid parahydrogen from neutron transmission

Liquid hydrogen is a dense Bose fluid whose equilibrium properties are both calculable from first principles using various theoretical approaches and of interest for the understanding of a wide range of questions in many body physics. Unfortunately, the pair correlation function $g(r)$ inferred from neutron scattering measurements of the differential cross section $dσ\over dΩ$ from different measurements reported in the literature are inconsistent. We have measured the energy dependence of the total cross section and the scattering cross section for slow neutrons with energies between 0.43~meV and 16.1~meV on liquid hydrogen at 15.6~K (which is dominated by the parahydrogen component) using neutron transmission measurements on the hydrogen target of the NPDGamma collaboration at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The relationship between the neutron transmission measurement we perform and the total cross section is unambiguous, and the energy range accesses length scales where the pair correlation function is rapidly varying. At 1~meV our measurement is a factor of 3 below the data from previous work. We present evidence that these previous measurements of the hydrogen cross section, which assumed that the equilibrium value for the ratio of orthohydrogen and parahydrogen has been reached in the target liquid, were in fact contaminated with an extra non-equilibrium component of orthohydrogen. Liquid parahydrogen is also a widely-used neutron moderator medium, and an accurate knowledge of its slow neutron cross section is essential for the design and optimization of intense slow neutron sources. We describe our measurements and compare them with previous work.

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arXiv2010

Phobos results on charged particle multiplicity and pseudorapidity distributions in Au+Au, Cu+Cu, d+Au, and p+p collisions at ultra-relativistic energies

Pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles emitted in $Au+Au$, $Cu+Cu$, $d+Au$, and $p+p$ collisions over a wide energy range have been measured using the PHOBOS detector at RHIC. The centrality dependence of both the charged particle distributions and the multiplicity at midrapidity were measured. Pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles emitted with $|η|<5.4$, which account for between 95% and 99% of the total charged-particle emission associated with collision participants, are presented for different collision centralities. Both the midrapidity density, $dN_{ch}/dη$, and the total charged-particle multiplicity, $N_{ch}$, are found to factorize into a product of independent functions of collision energy, $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$, and centrality given in terms of the number of nucleons participating in the collision, $N_{part}$. The total charged particle multiplicity, observed in these experiments and those at lower energies, assumes a linear dependence of $(\ln s_{_{NN}})^2$ over the full range of collision energy of $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$=2.7-200 GeV.

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arXiv2008

Scaling properties in bulk and p$_{\rm T}$-dependent particle production near midrapidity in relativistic heavy ion collisions

The centrality dependence of the midrapidity charged-particle multiplicity density ($|η|$$<$1) is presented for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC over a broad range of collision energies. The multiplicity measured in the Cu+Cu system is found to be similar to that measured in the Au+Au system, for an equivalent N$_{\rm part}$, with the observed factorization in energy and centrality still persistent in the smaller Cu+Cu system. The extent of the similarities observed for bulk particle production is tested by a comparative analysis of the inclusive transverse momentum distributions for Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions near midrapidity. It is found that, within the uncertainties of the data, the ratio of yields between the various energies for both Au+Au and Cu+Cu systems are similar and constant with centrality, both in the bulk yields as well as a function of p$_{\rm T}$, up to at least 4 GeV/$c$. The effects of multiple nucleon collisions that strongly increase with centrality and energy appear to only play a minor role in bulk and intermediate transverse momentum particle production.

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arXiv2008

System size, energy, centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of charged-particle density in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC

Charged particle pseudorapidity distributions are presented from the PHOBOS experiment at RHIC, measured in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=19.6, 22.4, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV, as a function of collision centrality. The presentation includes the recently analyzed Cu+Cu data at 22.4 GeV. The measurements were made by the same detector setup over a broad range in pseudorapidity, |eta|<5.4, allowing for a reliable systematic study of particle production as a function of energy, centrality and system size. Comparing Cu+Cu and Au+Au results, we find that the total number of produced charged particles and the overall shape (height and width) of the pseudorapidity distributions are determined by the number of nucleon participants, N_part. Detailed comparisons reveal that the matching of the shape of the Cu+Cu and Au+Au pseudorapidity distributions over the full range of eta is better for the same N_part/2A value than for the same N_part value, where A denotes the mass number. In other words, it is the geometry of the nuclear overlap zone, rather than just the number of nucleon participants that drives the detailed shape of the pseudorapidity distribution and its centrality dependence.

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arXiv2008

Non-flow correlations and elliptic flow fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200GeV

We present first results on event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus collisions corrected for effects of non-flow correlations where the magnitude of non-flow correlations has been independently measured in data. Over the measured range in centrality, we see large relative fluctuations of 25-50%. The results are consistent with predictions from both color glass condensate and Glauber type initial condition calculations of the event-by-event participant eccentricity fluctuations.

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arXiv2007

The Importance of Correlations and Fluctuations on the Initial Source Eccentricity in High-Energy Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

In this paper, we investigate various ways of defining the initial source eccentricity using the Monte Carlo Glauber (MCG) approach. In particular, we examine the participant eccentricity, which quantifies the eccentricity of the initial source shape by the major axes of the ellipse formed by the interaction points of the participating nucleons. We show that reasonable variation of the density parameters in the Glauber calculation, as well as variations in how matter production is modeled, do not significantly modify the already established behavior of the participant eccentricity as a function of collision centrality. Focusing on event-by-event fluctuations and correlations of the distributions of participating nucleons we demonstrate that, depending on the achieved event-plane resolution, fluctuations in the elliptic flow magnitude $v_2$ lead to most measurements being sensitive to the root-mean-square, rather than the mean of the $v_2$ distribution. Neglecting correlations among participants, we derive analytical expressions for the participant eccentricity cumulants as a function of the number of participating nucleons, $\Npart$,keeping non-negligible contributions up to $\ordof{1/\Npart^3}$. We find that the derived expressions yield the same results as obtained from mixed-event MCG calculations which remove the correlations stemming from the nuclear collision process. Most importantly, we conclude from the comparison with MCG calculations that the fourth order participant eccentricity cumulant does not approach the spatial anisotropy obtained assuming a smooth nuclear matter distribution. In particular, for the Cu+Cu system, these quantities deviate from each other by almost a factor of two over a wide range in centrality.

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arXiv2007

System Size, Energy and Centrality Dependence of Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

We present the first measurements of the pseudorapidity distribution of primary charged particles in Cu+Cu collisions as a function of collision centrality and energy, \sqrtsnn = 22.4, 62.4 and 200 GeV, over a wide range of pseudorapidity, using the PHOBOS detector. Making a global comparison of Cu+Cu and Au+Au results, we find that the total number of produced charged particles and the rough shape (height and width) of the pseudorapidity distributions are determined by the number of nucleon participants. More detailed studies reveal that a more precise matching of the shape of the Cu+Cu and Au+Au pseudorapidity distributions over the full range of pseudorapidity occurs for the same Npart/2A value rather than the same Npart value. In other words, it is the collision geometry rather than just the number of nucleon participants that drives the detailed shape of the pseudorapidity distribution and its centrality dependence at RHIC energies.

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