arXiv subjects

Joshua L. Barrow

Publications and source records attributed to Joshua L. Barrow.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Vertex reconstruction for a search for neutron-antineutron conversions with HIBEAM

The HIBEAM/NNBAR programme (incorporated into the FINESSE/NNBAR programme) at the European Spallation Source is proposed to search for neutrons converting to antineutrons. An important observable is the reconstructed vertex arising from charged particles produced by an antineutron annihilating on a thin target foil and which pass through a time projection chamber. This paper studies track clustering and foil-plane vertex reconstruction for this topology. Both non-machine-learning methods and graph-neural-network methods are tested and compared with each other, including deterministic clustering, trackless projection and a hybrid clustering/graph-neural-network chain with track classification and vertex refinement. We conclude that, for the geometrically simple events in the HIBEAM TPC, classical reconstruction methods perform on-par with machine-learning based methods in terms of vertex coordinate reconstruction. Custom machine-learning based methods can, however, deliver event-shape information that may be important in downstream analyses.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

Avoiding Blindness in Baryon Number Violating Processes: Free-Beam and Intranuclear Paths to Neutron-Antineutron Transitions

Experimental searches for neutron--antineutron ($n \rightarrow \bar n$) transitions can be considered via two approaches: conversion in free-neutron beams and intranuclear transformation leading to matter instability in large-mass detectors. Plans for next-generation searches make it timely to highlight the complementarity, necessity, and limitations of each method. Converting the bound neutron limit into one for free neutrons traditionally utilizes nucleus-specific estimates of the in-medium suppression of $n \rightarrow \bar n$, obtained within mean-field theory under a single-operator assumption. This paper highlights how this suppression can be scenario-dependent, which can lead to deviations from the standard approach that can span several orders of magnitude. A further goal of the paper is to point out the need for a broader phenomenology program for $n\rightarrow \bar{n}$ that is akin to those developed for electric dipole moments and other systems for which short-distance new physics must be studied in-medium.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Baryon Number Violation: From Nuclear Matrix Elements to BSM Physics

Processes that violate baryon number, most notably proton decay and $n\bar n$ transitions, are promising probes of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) needed to understand the lack of antimatter in the Universe. To interpret current and forthcoming experimental limits, theory input from nuclear matrix elements to UV complete models enters. Thus, an interplay of experiment, effective field theory, lattice QCD, and BSM model building is required to develop strategies to accurately extract information from current and future data and maximize the impact and sensitivity of next-generation experiments. Here, we briefly summarize the main results and discussions from the workshop "INT-25-91W: Baryon Number Violation: From Nuclear Matrix Elements to BSM Physics," held at the Institute for Nuclear Theory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, January 13-17, 2025.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Snowmass Early Career

The Snowmass 2021 strategic planning process provided an essential opportunity for the United States high energy physics and astroparticle (HEPA) community to come together and discuss upcoming physics goals and experiments. As this forward-looking perspective on the field often reaches far enough into the future to surpass the timescale of a single career, consideration of the next generation of physicists is crucial. The 2021 Snowmass Early Career (SEC) organization aimed to unite this group, with the purpose of both educating the newest generation of physicists while informing the senior generation of their interests and opinions. SEC is the latest in a series of the previously dubbed "Snowmass Young" organizations, from 2013 and 2001. This iteration has expanded on these efforts to significantly increase involvement and broaden the representation of the early career community in the process. Early career physicists are the future of the field. They will design, build, and operate next-generation experiments, and put in the work to usher in new discoveries. They are also disproportionately involved in work to improve the climate within HEPA. This document summarizes the work of SEC in consolidating a huge variety of physics perspectives and community opinions towards a bright, strategic future.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Snowmass 2021 Community Survey Report

The Snowmass Community Survey was designed by the Snowmass Early Career (SEC) Survey Core Initiative team between April 2020 and June 2021, and released to the community on June 28, 2021. It aims to be a comprehensive assessment of the state of the high-energy particle and astrophysics (HEPA) community, if not the field, though the Snowmass process is largely based within the United States. Among other topics, some of the central foci of the Survey were to gather demographic, career, physics outlook, and workplace culture data on a large segment of the Snowmass community. With nearly $1500$ total interactions with the Survey, the SEC Survey team hopes the findings and discussions within this report will be of service to the community over the next decade. Some conclusions should reinforce the aspects of HEPA which are already functional and productive, while others should strengthen arguments for cultural and policy changes within the field.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Neutrino Scattering Measurements on Hydrogen and Deuterium: A Snowmass White Paper

Neutrino interaction uncertainties are a limiting factor in current and next-generation experiments probing the fundamental physics of neutrinos, a unique window on physics beyond the Standard Model. Neutrino-nucleon scattering amplitudes are an important part of the neutrino interaction program. However, since all modern neutrino detectors are composed primarily of heavy nuclei, knowledge of elementary neutrino-nucleon amplitudes relies heavily on experiments performed in the 1970s and 1980s, whose statistical and systematic precision are insufficient for current needs. In this white paper, we outline the motivation for attempting measurements on hydrogen and deuterium that would improve this knowledge, and we discuss options for making these measurements either with the DUNE near detector or with a dedicated facility.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Bubble Chamber Detectors with Light Nuclear Targets: A Snowmass 2021 White Paper

Neutrino cross sections are a critical ingredient in experiments that depend on neutrino scattering to reconstruct event kinematics and infer neutrino characteristics, like NOvA and T2K. An opportunity exists to reduce the 5-10% broad uncertainty on neutrino cross sections by producing more measurements of neutrino scattering from light nuclear targets at the relevant energies. Bubble chambers with light nuclear targets would be ideal for these measurements but the most recent device designed for use with an accelerator neutrino source is at least fifty years old. A new bubble chamber with light nuclear targets could be designed by observing how the technology has progressed for use in dark matter experiments and producing smaller modular devices that use more efficient cooling systems. A smaller modular device could also be designed for deployment to all functioning neutrino beams, but an investigation of the proper operating characteristics is necessary to adapt newer detectors to the structure of contemporary neutrino beams.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Quasielastic Electromagnetic Scattering Cross Sections and World Data Comparisons in the {\fontfamily{qcr}\selectfont GENIE} Monte Carlo Event Generator

The usage of Monte Carlo neutrino event generators (MC$ν$EGs) is a norm within the high-energy $ν$ scattering community. The relevance of quasielastic (QE) energy regimes to $ν$ oscillation experiments implies that accurate calculations of $νA$ cross sections in this regime will be a key contributor to reducing the systematic uncertainties affecting the extraction of oscillation parameters. In spite of this, many MC$ν$EGs utilize highly phenomenological, parameterized models of QE scattering cross sections. Moreover, a culture of validation of MC$ν$EGs against prolific electron ($e$) scattering data has been historically lacking. In this work, we implement new $e A$ cross sections obtained from nuclear ab initio approaches in GENIE, the primary MC$ν$EG utilized by the FNAL community. In particular, we utilize results from Quantum MC methods which solve the many-body nuclear problem in the Short-Time Approximation (STA), allowing consistent retention of two-nucleon dynamics which are crucial to explain available nuclear electromagnetic (electroweak) data over a wide range of energy and momentum transfers. This new implementation in GENIE is fully tested against the world QE electromagnetic data, finding agreement with available data below $\sim2\,$GeV of beam energy with the aid of a scaling function formalism. The STA is currently limited to study $A\leq12$ nuclei, however, its semi-inclusive multibody identity components are exportable to other many-body computational techniques such as Auxiliary Field Diffusion MC which can reach $A\leq40$ systems while continuing to realize the factorization contained within the STA's multinucleon dynamics. Together, these developments promise to make future experiments such as DUNE more accurate in their assessment of MC$ν$EG systematics, $ν$ properties, and potentially empower the discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2020

Progress and Simulations for Intranuclear Neutron--Antineutron Transformations in ${}^{40}_{18} Ar$

With the imminent construction of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) and Hyper-Kamiokande, nucleon decay searches as a means to constrain beyond Standard Model (BSM) extensions are once again at the forefront of fundamental physics. Abundant neutrons within these large experimental volumes, along with future high-intensity neutron beams such as the European Spallation Source, offer a powerful, high-precision portal onto this physics through searches for $\mathcal{B}$ and $\mathcal{B}-\mathcal{L}$ violating processes such as neutron--antineutron transformations ($n\rightarrow\bar{n}$), a key prediction of compelling theories of baryogenesis. With this in mind, this paper discusses a novel and self-consistent intranuclear simulation of this process within ${}^{40}_{18} Ar$, which plays the role of both detector and target within DUNE's gigantic liquid argon time projection chambers. An accurate and independent simulation of the resulting intranuclear annihilation respecting important physical correlations and cascade dynamics for this large nucleus is necessary to understand the viability of such rare searches when contrasted against background sources such as atmospheric neutrinos. Recent theoretical improvements to our model, including the first calculation of ${}^{40}_{18} Ar$'s $\bar{n}$-intranuclear suppression factor, and Monte Carlo simulation comparisons to another publicly available $n\rightarrow\bar{n}$ generator within GENIE, are also discussed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2019

Neutrino Non-Standard Interactions: A Status Report

This report summarizes the present status of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI). After a brief overview, several aspects of NSIs are discussed, including connection to neutrino mass models, model-building and phenomenology of large NSI with both light and heavy mediators, NSI phenomenology in both short- and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrino cross-sections, complementarity of NSI with other low- and high-energy experiments, fits with neutrino oscillation and scattering data, DUNE sensitivity to NSI, effective field theory of NSI, as well as the relevance of NSI to dark matter and cosmology. We also discuss the open questions and interesting future directions that can be pursued by the community at large. This report is based on talks and discussions during the Neutrino Theory Network NSI workshop held at Washington University in St. Louis from May 29-31, 2019 (https://indico.cern.ch/event/812851/)

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

A model of antineutron annihilation in experimental searches for neutron-antineutron transformations

Searches for baryon number violation, including searches for proton decay and neutron-antineutron transformation, are expected to play an important role in the evolution of our understanding of beyond Standard Model physics. The neutron-antineutron transformation is a key prediction of certain popular theories of baryogenesis, and the experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and the European Spallation Source plan to search for this process with bound- and free-neutron systems. Accurate simulation of this process in Monte Carlo will be important for the proper reconstruction and separation of these rare events from background. This article presents developments towards accurate simulation of the annihilation process for use in a cold, free neutron beam for neutron-antineutron searches from antineutron-carbon annihilation, as carbon-12 is the target of choice for the European Spallation Source's NNBar Collaboration. Initial efforts are also made in this paper to perform analogous studies for intra-nuclear transformation searches in argon-40 nuclei, although this latter work will be properly addressed in our next publication.

hep-ex↗