SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Lluis Marti-Magro

Publications and source records attributed to Lluis Marti-Magro.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Development of an early warning method incorporating pre-supernova neutrino light curves

Massive stars ($M>8\mathrm{M_\odot}$) emit neutrinos known as pre-supernova (pre-SN) neutrinos through thermal and nuclear interactions for cooling the stellar core during the final stage of stellar evolution. Real-time monitoring of their pre-SN neutrino interaction rate offers a crucial opportunity to issue an early warning to a core-collapse supernova. Some neutrino detectors, including KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande already operate pre-SN alarm systems based on a statistically significant excess of the observed event rate over the expected background. To improve alarm sensitivity, an alarm method which incorporates the time evolution of the observed pre-SN neutrino event rate was proposed in A. Sheshukov et al. (2021). We evaluate the performance of the light-curve likelihood approach under realistic KamLAND and SK operating conditions, including realistic background rates, global false-alarm-rate calibration, and the combined alarm. The results demonstrate a significant improvement in the alarm time and distance compared to the conventional rate-only method, while maintaining the same false alarm rate.

astro-ph.HE

Gadolinium concentration measurement with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer

Because gadolinium (Gd) has the highest thermal neutron capture cross section, resulting in an 8 MeV gamma cascade upon capture, it has been proposed for dissolution in water Cherenkov detectors to achieve efficient neutron tagging capabilities. While metallic Gd is insoluble in water, several compounds are very easy to dissolve. Gadolinium sulfate, Gd$_2$(SO$_4$)$_3$, has been thoroughly tested and proposed as the best candidate. Accurate measurement of its concentration, free of doubt from impurities in water, is crucial. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS) is a device that suits this purpose and is widely used to measure the concentration of many elements. In this study, we describe three different approaches to measure Gd sulfate concentrations in water using an AAS: doping samples with potassium and lanthanum, and employing tantalum and tungsten platforms.

physics.ins-det

Supernovae in SuperK-Gd and other experiments

Core-collapse supernovae are one of the most energetic events in the universe ($10^{46} J$). When a massive star (M $>$ 8 M$_{\odot}$) ignites its last fusion stage where silicon fusion makes iron, its end is then very close. Basically, the core of the star falls inwardly and the gravitational energy is then released in a supernova explosion. The basic picture of this explosion was confirmed by the few neutrinos detected from the SN1987a supernova at Kamiokande, IMB and Baksan detectors. However, there are many details that are still unknown. Since then, a large detector network has grown with better capabilities. Nowadays, in the case of a supernova explosion in our galaxy, the information that we would acquire would allow us to learn much more about these energetic events and constrain our models. Here, I present a brief summary of this network with special emphasis in SuperK-Gd (the upgraded Super-Kamiokande detector with efficient neutron tagging).

hep-ex