arXiv subjects

Jason Gallicchio

Publications and source records attributed to Jason Gallicchio.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

A Digital Calibration Source for 21cm Cosmology Telescopes

Foreground mitigation is critical to all next-generation radio interferometers that target cosmology using the redshifted neutral hydrogen 21 cm emission line. Attempts to remove this foreground emission have led to new analysis techniques as well as new developments in hardware specifically dedicated to instrument beam and gain calibration, including stabilized signal injection into the interferometric array and drone-based platforms for beam mapping. The radio calibration sources currently used in the literature are broad-band incoherent sources that can only be detected as excess power and with no direct sensitivity to phase information. In this paper, we describe a digital radio source which uses Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) derived time stamps to form a deterministic signal that can be broadcast from an aerial platform. A copy of this source can be deployed locally at the instrument correlator such that the received signal from the aerial platform can be correlated with the local copy, and the resulting correlation can be measured in both amplitude and phase for each interferometric element. We define the requirements for such a source, describe an initial implementation and verification of this source using commercial Software Defined Radio boards, and present beam map slices from antenna range measurements using the commercial boards. We found that the commercial board did not meet all requirements, so we also suggest future directions using a more sophisticated chipset.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2021

The Deep Space Quantum Link: Prospective Fundamental Physics Experiments using Long-Baseline Quantum Optics

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Deep Space Quantum Link mission concept enables a unique set of science experiments by establishing robust quantum optical links across extremely long baselines. Potential mission configurations include establishing a quantum link between the Lunar Gateway moon-orbiting space station and nodes on or near the Earth. In this publication, we summarize the principal experimental goals of the Deep Space Quantum Link mission. These include long-range teleportation, tests of gravitational coupling to quantum states, and advanced tests of quantum nonlocality.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Relaxed Bell Inequalities with Arbitrary Measurement Dependence for Each Observer

Bell's inequality was originally derived under the assumption that experimenters are free to select detector settings independently of any local "hidden variables" that might affect the outcomes of measurements on entangled particles. This assumption has come to be known as "measurement independence" (also referred to as "freedom of choice" or "settings independence"). For a two-setting, two-outcome Bell test, we derive modified Bell inequalities that relax measurement independence, for either or both observers, while remaining locally causal. We describe the loss of measurement independence for each observer using the parameters $M_1$ and $M_2$, as defined by Hall in 2010, and also by a more complete description that adds two new parameters, which we call $\hat{M}_1$ and $\hat{M}_2$, deriving a modified Bell inequality for each description. These "relaxed" inequalities subsume those considered in previous work as special cases, and quantify how much the assumption of measurement independence needs to be relaxed in order for a locally causal model to produce a given violation of the standard Bell-Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt (Bell-CHSH) inequality. We show that both relaxed Bell inequalities are tight bounds on the CHSH parameter by constructing locally causal models that saturate them. For any given Bell inequality violation, the new two-parameter and four-parameter models each require significantly less mutual information between the hidden variables and measurement settings than previous models. We conjecture that the new models, with optimal parameters, require the minimum possible mutual information for a given Bell violation. We further argue that, contrary to various claims in the literature, relaxing freedom of choice need not imply superdeterminism.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Cosmic Bell Test using Random Measurement Settings from High-Redshift Quasars

In this Letter, we present a cosmic Bell experiment with polarization-entangled photons, in which measurement settings were determined based on real-time measurements of the wavelength of photons from high-redshift quasars, whose light was emitted billions of years ago, the experiment simultaneously ensures locality. Assuming fair sampling for all detected photons and that the wavelength of the quasar photons had not been selectively altered or previewed between emission and detection, we observe statistically significant violation of Bell's inequality by $9.3$ standard deviations, corresponding to an estimated $p$ value of $\lesssim 7.4 \times 10^{-21}$. This experiment pushes back to at least $\sim 7.8$ Gyr ago the most recent time by which any local-realist influences could have exploited the "freedom-of-choice" loophole to engineer the observed Bell violation, excluding any such mechanism from $96\%$ of the space-time volume of the past light cone of our experiment, extending from the big bang to today.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Testing the Weak Equivalence Principle using Optical and Near-Infrared Crab Pulses

The Weak Equivalence Principle states that the geodesics of a test particle in a gravitational field are independent of the particle's constitution. To constrain violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle, we use the one-meter telescope at Table Mountain Observatory near Los Angeles to monitor the relative arrival times of pulses from the Crab Pulsar in the optical ($\lambda \approx 585$ nm) and near-infrared ($\lambda \approx 814$ nm) using an instrument which detects single photons with nanosecond-timing resolution in those two bands. The infrared pulse arrives slightly before the visible pulse. Our three analysis methods give delays with statistical errors of $\Delta t_{obs} = 7.41 \pm 0.58$, $0.4 \pm 3.6$, and $7.35 \pm 4.48$ microseconds (at most 1/4000 of the pulsar period). We attribute this discrepancy to systematic error from the fact that the visible and infrared pulses have slightly different shapes. Whether this delay emerges from the pulsar, is caused by passing through wavelength-dependent media, or is caused by a violation of the equivalence principle, unless there is a fine-tuned cancellation among these, we set the first upper limit on the differential post-Newtonian parameter at these wavelengths of $\Delta \gamma < 1.07 \times 10^{-10}~(3\sigma)$. This result falls in an unexplored region of parameter space and complements existing limits on equivalence-principle violation from fast radio bursts, gamma ray bursts, as well as previous limits from the Crab.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Quit Using Pseudorapidity, Transverse Energy, and Massless Constituents

Use a massive jet's true-rapidity instead of its pseudorapidity, even for event displays and for determining if a jet is near a calorimeter edge. Use transverse momentum instead of transverse energy since only the former is conserved. Use massive constituents because using massless constituents reduces the jet mass by an amount proportional to the square of the number of hadrons in the jet, and can amount to several GeV. These three recommendations are important for precision measurements when jets are constructed by adding constituent 4-vectors.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Astronomical random numbers for quantum foundations experiments

Photons from distant astronomical sources can be used as a classical source of randomness to improve fundamental tests of quantum nonlocality, wave-particle duality, and local realism through Bell's inequality and delayed-choice quantum eraser tests inspired by Wheeler's cosmic-scale Mach-Zehnder interferometer gedankenexperiment. Such sources of random numbers may also be useful for information-theoretic applications such as key distribution for quantum cryptography. Building on the design of an "astronomical random-number generator" developed for the recent "cosmic Bell" experiment [Handsteiner et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 060401 (2017)], in this paper we report on the design and characterization of a device that, with 20-nanosecond latency, outputs a bit based on whether the wavelength of an incoming photon is greater than or less than 700 nm. Using the one-meter telescope at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Table Mountain Observatory, we generated random bits from astronomical photons in both color channels from 50 stars of varying color and magnitude, and from 12 quasars with redshifts up to $z = 3.9$. With stars, we achieved bit rates of $\sim 1 \times 10^6$ Hz / m$^2$, limited by saturation for our single-photon detectors, and with quasars of magnitudes between 12.9 and 16, we achieved rates between $\sim 10^2$ and $2 \times 10^3$ Hz /m$^2$. For bright quasars, the resulting bitstreams exhibit sufficiently low amounts of statistical predictability as quantified by the mutual information. In addition, a sufficiently high fraction of bits generated are of true astronomical origin in order to address both the locality and freedom-of-choice loopholes when used to set the measurement settings in a test of the Bell-CHSH inequality.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Cosmic Bell Test: Measurement Settings from Milky Way Stars

Bell's theorem states that some predictions of quantum mechanics cannot be reproduced by a local-realist theory. That conflict is expressed by Bell's inequality, which is usually derived under the assumption that there are no statistical correlations between the choices of measurement settings and anything else that can causally affect the measurement outcomes. In previous experiments, this "freedom of choice" was addressed by ensuring that selection of measurement settings via conventional "quantum random number generators" was space-like separated from the entangled particle creation. This, however, left open the possibility that an unknown cause affected both the setting choices and measurement outcomes as recently as mere microseconds before each experimental trial. Here we report on a new experimental test of Bell's inequality that, for the first time, uses distant astronomical sources as "cosmic setting generators." In our tests with polarization-entangled photons, measurement settings were chosen using real-time observations of Milky Way stars while simultaneously ensuring locality. Assuming fair sampling for all detected photons, and that each stellar photon's color was set at emission, we observe statistically significant $\gtrsim 7.31 \sigma$ and $\gtrsim 11.93 \sigma$ violations of Bell's inequality with estimated $p$-values of $ \lesssim 1.8 \times 10^{-13}$ and $\lesssim 4.0 \times 10^{-33}$, respectively, thereby pushing back by $\sim$600 years the most recent time by which any local-realist influences could have engineered the observed Bell violation.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Testing Bell's Inequality with Cosmic Photons: Closing the Setting-Independence Loophole

We propose a practical scheme to use photons from causally disconnected cosmic sources to set the detectors in an experimental test of Bell's inequality. In current experiments, with settings determined by quantum random number generators, only a small amount of correlation between detector settings and local hidden variables, established less than a millisecond before each experiment, would suffice to mimic the predictions of quantum mechanics. By setting the detectors using pairs of quasars or patches of the cosmic microwave background, observed violations of Bell's inequality would require any such coordination to have existed for billions of years --- an improvement of 20 orders of magnitude.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

A Toolkit of the Stop Search via the Chargino Decay

The top squark (stop) may dominantly decay to a bottom quark and a chargino if the mass difference between the stop and the lightest neutralino is comparable or less than the top quark mass. Such a moderately compressed spectrum is a challenging scenario for the stop search at the Large Hadron Collider, because it is difficult to separate the signals from the top and anti-top background. In this paper we focus on the di-leptonic decay channel, and consider many kinematic variables as possible discriminators. These include several MT2 variables and new "compatible-masses" variables which fully utilize all kinematic information of the background. We use several sample spectra with different characteristics to study the efficiencies of these variables in distinguishing the signal from the background. The finding is that different combinations of variables or strategies should be used for different spectra to maximally enhance the signal significance and expand the reach of the stop search in this scenario. The new variables that we proposed in this paper are also useful for other new physics searches with di-leptonic top and anti-top events as the dominant background.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

The Shared Causal Pasts and Futures of Cosmological Events

We derive criteria for whether two cosmological events can have a shared causal past or a shared causal future, assuming a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe with best-fit ΛCDM cosmological parameters from the Planck satellite. We further derive criteria for whether either cosmic event could have been in past causal contact with our own worldline since the time of the hot "big bang", which we take to be the end of early-universe inflation. We find that pairs of objects such as quasars on opposite sides of the sky with redshifts z >= 3.65 have no shared causal past with each other or with our past worldline. More complicated constraints apply if the objects are at different redshifts from each other or appear at some relative angle less than 180 degrees, as seen from Earth. We present examples of observed quasar pairs that satisfy all, some, or none of the criteria for past causal independence. Given dark energy and the recent accelerated expansion, our observable universe has a finite conformal lifetime, and hence a cosmic event horizon at current redshift z = 1.87. We thus constrain whether pairs of cosmic events can signal each other's worldlines before the end of time. Lastly, we generalize the criteria for shared past and future causal domains for FLRW universes with nonzero spatial curvature.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Quark and Gluon Jet Substructure

Distinguishing quark-initiated jets from gluon-initiated jets has the potential to significantly improve the reach of many beyond-the-standard model searches at the Large Hadron Collider and to provide additional tests of QCD. To explore whether quark and gluon jets could possibly be distinguished on an event-by-event basis, we perform a comprehensive simulation-based study. We explore a variety of motivated and unmotivated variables with a semi-automated multivariate approach. General conclusions are that at 50% quark jet acceptance efficiency, around 80%-90% of gluon jets can be rejected. Some benefit is gained by combining variables. Different event generators are compared, as are the effects of using only charged tracks to avoid pileup. Additional information, including interactive distributions of most variables and their cut efficiencies, can be at http://jets.physics.harvard.edu/qvg.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Stop the Top Background of the Stop Search

The main background for the supersymmetric stop direct production search comes from Standard Model ttbar events. For the single-lepton search channel, we introduce a few kinematic variables to further suppress this background by focusing on its dileptonic and semileptonic topologies. All are defined to have end points in the background, but not signal distributions. They can substantially improve the stop signal significance and mass reach when combined with traditional kinematic variables such as the total missing transverse energy. Among them, our variable M^W_T2 has the best overall performance because it uses all available kinematic information, including the on-shell mass of both W's. We see 20%-30% improvement on the discovery significance and estimate that the 8 TeV LHC run with 20 fb-1 of data would be able to reach an exclusion limit of 650-700 GeV for direct stop production, as long as the stop decays dominantly to the top quark and a light stable neutralino. Most of the mass range required for the supersymmetric solution of the naturalness problem in the standard scenario can be covered.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Pure Samples of Quark and Gluon Jets at the LHC

Having pure samples of quark and gluon jets would greatly facilitate the study of jet properties and substructure, with many potential standard model and new physics applications. To this end, we consider multijet and jets+X samples, to determine the purity that can be achieved by simple kinematic cuts leaving reasonable production cross sections. We find, for example, that at the 7 TeV LHC, the pp {\to} γ+2jets sample can provide 98% pure quark jets with 200 GeV of transverse momentum and a cross section of 5 pb. To get 10 pb of 200 GeV jets with 90% gluon purity, the pp {\to} 3jets sample can be used. b+2jets is also useful for gluons, but only if the b-tagging is very efficient.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Quark and Gluon Tagging at the LHC

Being able to distinguish light-quark jets from gluon jets on an event-by-event basis could significantly enhance the reach for many new physics searches at the Large Hadron Collider. Through an exhaustive search of existing and novel jet substructure observables, we find that a multivariate approach can filter out over 95% of the gluon jets while keeping more than half of the light-quark jets. Moreover, a combination of two simple variables, the charge track multiplicity and the $p_T$-weighted linear radial moment (girth), can achieve similar results. While this pair appears very promising, our study is only Monte Carlo based, and other discriminants may work better with real data in a realistic experimental environment. To that end, we explore many other observables constructed using different jet sizes and parameters, and highlight those that deserve further theoretical and experimental scrutiny. Additional information, including distributions of around 10,000 variables, can be found on this website http://jets.physics.harvard.edu/qvg .

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Multivariate discrimination and the Higgs + W/Z search

A systematic method for optimizing multivariate discriminants is developed and applied to the important example of a light Higgs boson search at the Tevatron and the LHC. The Significance Improvement Characteristic (SIC), defined as the signal efficiency of a cut or multivariate discriminant divided by the square root of the background efficiency, is shown to be an extremely powerful visualization tool. SIC curves demonstrate numerical instabilities in the multivariate discriminants, show convergence as the number of variables is increased, and display the sensitivity to the optimal cut values. For our application, we concentrate on Higgs boson production in association with a W or Z boson with H -> bb and compare to the irreducible standard model background, Z/W + bb. We explore thousands of experimentally motivated, physically motivated, and unmotivated single variable discriminants. Along with the standard kinematic variables, a number of new ones, such as twist, are described which should have applicability to many processes. We find that some single variables, such as the pull angle, are weak discriminants, but when combined with others they provide important marginal improvement. We also find that multiple Higgs boson-candidate mass measures, such as from mild and aggressively trimmed jets, when combined may provide additional discriminating power. Comparing the significance improvement from our variables to those used in recent CDF and DZero searches, we find that a 10-20% improvement in significance against Z/W + bb is possible. Our analysis also suggests that the H + W/Z channel with H -> bb is also viable at the LHC, without requiring a hard cut on the W/Z transverse momentum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Seeing in Color: Jet Superstructure

A new class of observables is introduced which aims to characterize the superstructure of an event, that is, features, such as color flow, which are not determined by the jet four-momenta alone. Traditionally, an event is described as having jets which are independent objects; each jet has some energy, size, and possible substructure such as subjets or heavy flavor content. This description discards information connecting the jets to each other, which can be used to determine if the jets came from decay of a color singlet object, or if they were initiated by quarks or gluons. An example superstructure variable, pull, is presented as a simple handle on color flow. It can be used on an event-by-event basis as a tool for distinguishing previously irreducible backgrounds at the Tevatron and the LHC.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Inflation on the Brane with Vanishing Gravity

Many existing models of brane inflation suffer from a steep irreducible gravitational potential between the branes that causes inflation to end too early. Inspired by the fact that point masses in 2+1 D exert no gravitational force, we propose a novel unwarped and non-supersymmetric setup for inflation, consisting of 3-branes in two extra dimensions compactified on a sphere. The size of the sphere is stabilized by a combination of a bulk cosmological constant and a magnetic flux. Computing the 4D effective potential between probe branes in this background, we find a non-zero contribution only from exchange of level-1 KK modes of the graviton and radion. Identifying antipodal points on the 2-sphere projects out these modes, eliminating entirely the troublesome gravitational contribution to the inflationary potential.

hep-th↗