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L. Stodolsky

Publications and source records attributed to L. Stodolsky.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
arXiv2009

Scintillator Non-Proportionality and Gamma Quenching in CaWO4

We measure and explain scintillator non-proportionality and gamma quenching of CaWO4 at low energies and low temperatures. Phonons that are created following an interaction in the scintillating crystal at temperatures of 15mK are used for a calorimetric measurement of the deposited energy, and the scintillation light is measured with a separate cryogenic light detector. Making use of radioactivity intrinsic to the scintillating crystal, the scintillator non-proportionality is mapped out to electron energies <5keV. The observed behavior is in agreement with a simple model based on Birks' law and the stopping power dE/dx for electrons. We find for Birks' constant $k_B=(18.5\pm0.7)$nm/keV in CaWO4. Gamma lines allow a measurement of the reduced light yield of photons with respect to electrons, as expected in the presence of scintillator non-proportionality. In particular, we show that gamma-induced events in CaWO4 give only about 90 percent of the light yield of electrons, at energies between 40keV and 80keV.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2009

Electron and Gamma Background in CRESST Detectors

The CRESST experiment monitors 300g CaWO_4 crystals as targets for particle interactions in an ultra low background environment. In this paper, we analyze the background spectra that are recorded by three detectors over many weeks of data taking. Understanding these spectra is mandatory if one wants to further reduce the background level, and allows us to cross-check the calibration of the detectors. We identify a variety of sources, such as intrinsic contaminations due to primordial radioisotopes and cosmogenic activation of the target material. In particular, we detect a 3.6keV X-ray line from the decay of 41-Ca with an activity of (26\pm4)μBq, corresponding to a ratio 41-Ca/40-Ca=(2.2\pm0.3)\times10^{-16}.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2009

Discrimination of Recoil Backgrounds in Scintillating Calorimeters

The alpha decay of $\n{{}^{210}Po}$ is a dangerous background to rare event searches. Here, we describe observations related to this alpha decay in the Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers (CRESST). We find that lead nuclei show a scintillation light yield in our $\n{CaWO_4}$ crystals of $0.0142\pm0.0013$ relative to electrons of the same energy. We describe a way to discriminate this source of nuclear recoil background by means of a scintillating foil, and demonstrate its effectiveness. This leads to an observable difference in the pulse shape of the light detector, which can be used to tag these events. Differences in pulse shape of the phonon detector between lead and electron recoils are also extracted, opening the window to future additional background suppression techniques based on pulse shape discrimination in such experiments.

astro-ph.IM↗
arXiv2009

Commissioning Run of the CRESST-II Dark Matter Search

The CRESST cryogenic direct dark matter search at Gran Sasso, searching for WIMPs via nuclear recoil, has been upgraded to CRESST-II by several changes and improvements.We present the results of a commissioning run carried out in 2007. The basic element of CRESST-II is a detector module consisting of a large (~ 300 g) CaWO_4 crystal and a very sensitive smaller (~ 2 g) light detector to detect the scintillation light from the CaWO_4.Information from light-quenching factor studies allows the definition of a region of the energy-light yield plane which corresponds to tungsten recoils. A neutron test is reported which supports the principle of using the light yield to identify the recoiling nucleus. Data obtained with two detector modules for a total exposure of 48 kg-days are presented. Judging by the rate of events in the "all nuclear recoils" acceptance region the apparatus shows a factor ~ten improvement with respect to previous results, which we attribute principally to the presence of the neutron shield. In the "tungsten recoils" acceptance region three events are found, corresponding to a rate of 0.063 per kg-day. Standard assumptions on the dark matter flux, coherent or spin independent interactions,then yield a limit for WIMP-nucleon scattering of 4.8 \times 10^{-7}pb, at M{WIMP} ~50 GeV.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

On the Euclidean Version of the Photon Number Integral

We reconsider the Euclidean version of the photon number integral introduced in ref 1. This integral is well defined for any smooth non-self-intersecting curve in $\R^N$. Besides studying general features of this integral (including it s conformal invariance), we evaluate it explicitly for the ellipse. The result is $n_{ellipse}=(ξ^{-1}+ξ)π^2$, where $ξ$ is the ratio of the minor and major axes. This is in agreement with the previous result $n_{circle}=2π^2$ and also with the conjecture that the minimum value of $n$ for any plane curve occurs for the circle.

math-ph↗
arXiv2007

Brittle fracture down to femto-Joules - and below

We analyze large sets of energy-release data created by stress-induced brittle fracture in a pure sapphire crystal at close to zero temperature where stochastic fluctuations are minimal. The waiting-time distribution follows that observed for fracture in rock and for earthquakes. Despite strong time correlations of the events and the presence of large-event precursors, simple prediction algorithms only succeed in a very weak probabilistic sense. We also discuss prospects for further cryogenic experiments reaching close to single-bond sensitivity and able to investigate the existence of a transition-stress regime.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗
arXiv2007

Interpretation of Light-Quenching Factor Measurements

We observe that the pattern of the quenching factors for scintillation light from various ions, recently studied in $CaWO_4$ in connection with dark matter detectors, can be understood as a saturation phenomenon in which the light output is simply proportional to track length, independent of the ion and its energy. This observation is in accord with the high dE/dx limit of Birks' law. It suggests a simple model for the intrinsic resolution of light detectors for low energy ions, which we briefly discuss.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2007

Simulation of some quantum gates, with decoherence

Methods and results for numerical simulations of one and two interacting rf-Squid systems suitable for adiabatic quantum gates are presented. These are based on high accuracy numerical solutions to the static and time dependent Schroedinger equation for the full Squid Hamiltonian in one and two variables. Among the points examined in the static analysis is the range of validity of the effective two-state or ``spin 1/2'' picture. A range of parameters is determined where the picture holds to good accuracy as the energy levels undergo gate manipulations. Some general points are presented concerning the relations between device parameters and ``good'' quantum mechanical state spaces. The time dependent simulations allow the examination of suitable conditions for adiabatic behavior, and permits the introduction of a random noise to simulate the effects of decoherence. A formula is derived and tested relating the random noise to the decoherence rate. Sensitivity to device and operating parameters for the logical gates NOT and CNOT are examined, with particular attention to values of the tunnel parameter beta slightly above one. It appears that with values of beta close to one, a quantum CNOT gate is possible even with rather short decoherence times. Many of the methods and results will apply to coupled double-potential well systems in general.

cond-mat.supr-con↗
arXiv2006

Fracture Processes Observed with A Cryogenic Detector

In the early stages of running of the CRESST dark matter search using sapphire detectors at very low temperature, an unexpectedly high rate of signal pulses appeared. Their origin was finally traced to fracture events in the sapphire due to the very tight clamping of the detectors. During extensive runs the energy and time of each event was recorded, providing large data sets for such phenomena. We believe this is the first time the energy release in fracture has been directly and accurately measured on a microscopic event-by-event basis. The energy threshold corresponds to the breaking of only a few hundred covalent bonds, a sensitivity some orders of magnitude greater than that of previous technique. We report some features of the data, including energy distributions, waiting time distributions, autocorrelations and the Hurst exponent. The energy distribution appear to follow a power law, $dN/dE\propto E^{-β}$, similar to the power law for earthquake magnitudes, and after appropriate translation, with a similar exponent. In the time domain,the waiting time $w$ or gap distribution between events has a power law behavior at small $w$ and an exponential fall-off at large $w,$ and can be fit $\propto w^{-α}e^{-w/w_0}$. The autocorrelation function shows time correlations lasting for substantial parts of an hour. An asymmetry is found around large events, with higher count rates after, as opposed to before,the large event .

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2006

Bursts from the very early universe

Bursts of weakly interacting particles such as neutrinos or even more weakly interacting particles such as wimps and gravitons from the very early universe would offer a much deeper ``look back time'' to early epochs than is possible with photons. We consider some of the issues related to the existence of such bursts and their detectability. Characterizing the burst rate by a probability $\cal P$ per Hubble four-volume we find, for events in the radiation-dominated era, that the natural unit of description is the present intensity of the CMB times $\cal P$. The existence of such bursts would make the observation of phenomena associated with very early times in cosmology at least conceptually possible. One might even hope to probe the transplanckian epoch if complexes more weakly interacting than the graviton can exist. Other conceivable applications include the potential detectability of the formation of "pocket" universes'' in a multiverse.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2005

Curves and The Photon

The study of the number of photons leads to a new way of characterizing curves and to a novel integral invariant over curves.

math-ph↗
arXiv2005

Simulations of "Decoherence" with Noise Pulses

A simulation of decoherence as random noise in the Hamiltonian is studied. The full Hamiltonian for the rf Squid is used, with the parameters chosen such that there is a double-potential well configuration where the two quasi-degenerate lowest levels are well separated from the rest. The results for these first two levels are in quantitative agreement with expectations from the ``spin 1/2'' picture for the behavior of a two-state system.

quant-ph↗
arXiv2005

Limits on WIMP dark matter using scintillating CaWO4 cryogenic detectors with active background suppression

We present first significant limits on WIMP dark matter by the phonon-light technique, where combined phonon and light signals from a scintillating cryogenic detector are used. Data from early 2004 with two 300 g CRESST-II prototype detector modules are presented, with a net exposure of 20.5 kg days. The modules consist of a CaWO4 scintillating ``target'' crystal and a smaller cryogenic light detector. The combination of phonon and light signals leads to a strong suppression of non-nuclear recoil backgrounds. Using this information to define an acceptance region for nuclear recoils we have 16 events from the two modules, corresponding to a rate for nuclear recoils between 12 and 40 keV of (0.87 +- 0.22) events/(kg day). This is compatible with the rate expected from neutron background, and most of these events lie in the region of the phonon-light plane anticipated for neutron-induced recoils. A particularly strong limit for WIMPs with coherent scattering results from selecting a region of the phonon-light plane corresponding to tungsten recoils, where the best module shows zero events.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

The CRESST Dark Matter Search

We present first competitive results on WIMP dark matter using the phonon-light-detection technique. A particularly strong limit for WIMPs with coherent scattering results from selecting a region of the phonon-light plane corresponding to tungsten recoils. The observed count rate in the neutron band is compatible with the rate expected from neutron background. CRESST is presently being upgraded with a 66 channel SQUID readout system, a neutron shield and a muon veto system. This results in a significant improvement in sensitivity.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Detection of the Natural Alpha Decay of Tungsten

The natural alpha decay of 180W has been unambiguously detected for the first time. The alpha peak is found in a (gamma,beta and neutron)-free background spectrum. This has been achieved by the simultaneous measurement of phonon and light signals with the CRESST cryogenic detectors. A half-life of T1/2 = (1.8 +- 0.2) x 10^18 y and an energy release of Q = (2516.4 +- 1.1 (stat.) +- 1.2 (sys.)) keV have been measured. New limits are also set on the half-lives of the other naturally occurring tungsten isotopes.

nucl-ex↗
arXiv2004

Coherence and the Clock

We discuss the notion of quantum mechanical coherence in its connection with time evolution and stationarity. The transition from coherence to decoherence is examined in terms of an equation for the time dependence of the density matrix. It is explained how the decoherence rate parameter arising in this description is related to the ``unitarity defect'' in interactions with the environment as well as the growth in entropy of the system. Applications to the ``Zeno-Watched Pot Effect'' and gravitational interactions are given. Finally, some recent results on applications to macroscopic coherence with the rf SQUID, where the transition from quantum to classical behavior could be studied experimentally, are shown.

quant-ph↗