arXiv subjects

M. Baker

Publications and source records attributed to M. Baker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Flux-tube structure in finite temperature QCD

We present a study of the structure of the chromoelectrical field created by a static quark-antiquark pair in lattice QCD with 2+1 flavours of dynamical quarks, where the quark masses are set to their physical values. The analysis covers a wide range of temperatures both above and below the chiral crossover, and explores varying quark-antiquark distances, with the aim of identifying signals of deconfinement and string breaking in the field structure. To this end we apply the zero-curl perturbative field subtraction method, developed in our earlier studies of pure gauge SU(3) theory and of full QCD at zero temperature.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Unveiling the flux tube structure in full QCD

We present lattice Monte Carlo results on the chromoelectric field created by a static quark-antiquark pair in the vacuum of QCD with 2+1 dynamical staggered fermions at physical masses. After isolating the nonperturbative, confining part of the field, we characterize its spatial profile for several values of the physical distances between the sources, ranging from about 0.5 fm up to the onset of string breaking. Moreover, we compare our results with a model of QCD vacuum as disordered chromomagnetic condensate.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

The MeerKAT 1.3 GHz Survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud

We present new radio continuum images and a source catalogue from the MeerKAT survey in the direction of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The observations, at a central frequency of 1.3 GHz across a bandwidth of 0.8 GHz, encompass a field of view ~7 x 7 degrees and result in images with resolution of 8 arcsec. The median broad-band Stokes I image Root Mean Squared noise value is ~11 microJy/beam. The catalogue produced from these images contains 108,330 point sources and 517 compact extended sources. We also describe a UHF (544-1088 MHz) single pointing observation. We report the detection of a new confirmed Supernova Remnant (SNR) (MCSNR J0100-7211) with an X-ray magnetar at its centre and 10 new SNR candidates. This is in addition to the detection of 21 previously confirmed SNRs and two previously noted SNR candidates. Our new SNR candidates have typical surface brightness an order of magnitude below those previously known, and on the whole they are larger. The high sensitivity of the MeerKAT survey also enabled us to detect the bright end of the SMC Planetary Nebulae (PNe) sample - point-like radio emission is associated with 38 of 102 optically known PNe, of which 19 are new detections. Lastly, we present the detection of three foreground radio stars amidst 11 circularly polarised sources, and a few examples of morphologically interesting background radio galaxies from which the radio ring galaxy ESO 029-G034 may represent a new type of radio object.

astro-ph.GA↗

arXiv2023

Unveiling SU(3) Flux Tubes At Nonzero Temperature: Electric Fields and Magnetic Currents

We report on the results of measuring the chromoelectric fields in a flux tube created by a static quark-antiquark pair in the finite-temperature SU(3) gauge theory. Below the deconfinement temperature the field behavior is similar to the zero-temperature case. Above the deconfinement temperature the field shape remains the same, but the field values drop when the distance between quark and antiquark increases, thus showing the disappearance of confining potential.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

CORE -- a COmpact detectoR for the EIC

The COmpact detectoR for the Eic (CORE) Proposal was submitted to the EIC "Call for Collaboration Proposals for Detectors". CORE comprehensively covers the physics scope of the EIC Community White Paper and the National Academies of Science 2018 report. The design exploits advances in detector precision and granularity to minimize size. The central detector includes a 3Tesla, 2.5m solenoid. Tracking is primarily silicon. Electromagnetic calorimetry is based on the high performance crystals. Ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors provide hadronic particle identification.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Snowmass 2021 Scintillating Bubble Chambers: Liquid-noble Bubble Chambers for Dark Matter and CE$\nu$NS Detection

The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) Collaboration is developing liquid-noble bubble chambers for the quasi-background-free detection of low-mass (GeV-scale) dark matter and coherent scattering of low-energy (MeV-scale) neutrinos (CE$\nu$NS). The first physics-scale demonstrator of this technique, a 10-kg liquid argon bubble chamber dubbed SBC-LAr10, is now being commissioned at Fermilab. This device will calibrate the background discrimination power and sensitivity of superheated argon to nuclear recoils at energies down to 100 eV. A second functionally-identical detector with a focus on radiopure construction is being built for SBC's first dark matter search at SNOLAB. The projected spin-independent sensitivity of this search is approximately $10^{-43}$ cm$^2$ at 1 GeV$/c^2$ dark matter particle mass. The scalability and background discrimination power of the liquid-noble bubble chamber make this technique a compelling candidate for future dark matter searches to the solar neutrino fog at 1 GeV$/c^2$ particle mass (requiring a $\sim$ton-year exposure with non-neutrino backgrounds sub-dominant to the solar CE$\nu$NS signal) and for high-statistics CE$\nu$NS studies at nuclear reactors.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2022

Unveiling confinement in pure gauge SU(3): flux tubes, fields, and magnetic currents

A characteristic signature of quark confinement is the concentration of the chromoelectric field between a static quark-antiquark pair in a flux tube. However, the structure of this flux tube, and hence of the confining force, has not been completely understood. Here we perform new lattice measurements of field distributions on smeared Monte Carlo ensembles in SU(3) gauge theory. On the basis of these simulations we demonstrate that the confining force can be understood using the analogy with the basic principles of electromagnetism as elucidated by Maxwell. We derive a chromomagnetic Lorentz force density coupling the chromoelectric field to chromomagnetic currents and integrate this force density over the flux tube interior to obtain a Maxwell-like force that squeezes the flux tube in the transverse direction. We show that the strength of this transverse confining force is equal to the value of the string tension calculated numerically from the chromoelectric field on the midplane between the quarks, verifying the consistency of these two complementary pictures of confinement.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Atomtronic Many-Body Transport using Husimi Driving

Quantum systems with exact analytic solutions are rare - challenging the realisation of excitation-free transport methods for many-body systems. Husimi's 1953 treatment of linearly driven harmonic oscillators constitutes an important exception, describing a wavepacket which is spatially translated but otherwise unperturbed by the driving. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate the application of Husimi's solution to an interacting many-body system, namely optically- and magnetically-trapped Bose-Einstein condensates subject to resonant and off-resonant linear magnetic driving potentials. The observed centre-of-mass motion is consistent with theory and shows minimal excitation of the displaced condensate - a highly desirable property of any condensate manipulation technique. We demonstrate transport 72 times faster than adiabatic rates, and a novel Husimi driving-based trap frequency measurement. We finally propose future applications based on our experimental results: an atom interferometry scheme, and methods for extended transport and precision control of one-body, few-body, and many-body systems via Husimi driving.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

The flux tube profile in full QCD

We measure the spatial distribution of all components of the color fields surrounding a static quark antiquark pair in QCD with (2+1) HISQ flavors. We isolate the nonperturbative component of the longitudinal chromoelectric color field responsible for the linear term in the confining potential.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Physics reach of a low threshold scintillating argon bubble chamber in coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering reactor experiments

The physics reach of a low threshold (100 eV) scintillating argon bubble chamber sensitive to Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$\nu$NS) from reactor neutrinos is studied. The sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, neutrino magnetic moment, and a light $Z'$ gauge boson mediator are analyzed. A Monte Carlo simulation of the backgrounds is performed to assess their contribution to the signal. The analysis shows that world-leading sensitivities are achieved with a one-year exposure for a 10 kg chamber at 3 m from a 1 MW$_{th}$ research reactor or a 100 kg chamber at 30 m from a 2000 MW$_{th}$ power reactor. Such a detector has the potential to become the leading technology to study CE$\nu$NS using nuclear reactors.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2020

Roadmap on Atomtronics: State of the art and perspective

Atomtronics deals with matter-wave circuits of ultra-cold atoms manipulated through magnetic or laser-generated guides with different shapes and intensities. In this way, new types of quantum networks can be constructed, in which coherent fluids are controlled with the know-how developed in the atomic and molecular physics community. In particular, quantum devices with enhanced precision, control and flexibility of their operating conditions can be accessed. Concomitantly, new quantum simulators and emulators harnessing on the coherent current flows can also be developed. Here, we survey the landscape of atomtronics-enabled quantum technology and draw a roadmap for the field in the near future. We review some of the latest progresses achieved in matter-wave circuits design and atom-chips. Atomtronic networks are deployed as promising platforms for probing many-body physics with a new angle and a new twist. The latter can be done both at the level of equilibrium and non-equilibrium situations. Numerous relevant problems in mesoscopic physics, like persistent currents and quantum transport in circuits of fermionic or bosonic atoms, are studied through a new lens. We summarize some of the atomtronics quantum devices and sensors. Finally, we discuss alkali-earth and Rydberg atoms as potential platforms for the realization of atomtronic circuits with special features.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

The confining color field in SU(3) gauge theory

We extend a previous numerical study of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory in which we measured the spatial distribution of all components of the color fields surrounding a static quark-antiquark pair for a wide range of quark-antiquark separations, and provided evidence that the simulated gauge invariant chromoelectric field can be separated into a Coulomb-like 'perturbative' field and a 'non-perturbative' field, identified as the confining part of the SU(3) flux tube field. In this paper we hypothesize that the fluctuating color fields not measured in our simulations do not contribute to the string tension. Under this assumption the string tension is determined by the color fields we measure, which form a tensor $F_{\mu \nu}$ pointing in a single direction in color space. We call this the Maxwell mechanism of confinement. We provide an additional procedure to isolate the non-perturbative (confining) field. We then extract the string tension from a stress energy-momentum tensor $T_{\mu \nu}$ having the Maxwell form, constructed from the non-perturbative part of the tensor $F_{\mu \nu}$ obtained from our simulations. To test our hypothesis we calculate the string tension from our simulations of the color fields for ten values of the quark-antiquark separation ranging from 0.37 fm to 1.2 fm. We also calculate the spatial distributions of the energy-momentum tensor $T_{\mu \nu}$ surrounding static quarks for this range of separations, and we compare these distributions with those obtained from direct simulations of the energy-momentum tensor in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2018

Spatial structure of the color field in the SU(3) flux tube

We report on the chromoelectric and chromomagnetic fields generated by a static quark-antiquark pair at zero temperature in pure gauge SU(3). From the spatial structure of chromoelectric field we extract its nonperturbative part and discuss its properties.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2018

Isolating the confining color field in the SU(3) flux tube

Using lattice Monte Carlo simulations of SU(3) pure gauge theory, we determine the spatial distribution of all components of the color fields created by a static quark and antiquark. We identify the components of the measured chromoelectric field transverse to the line connecting the quark-antiquark pair with the transverse components of an effective Coulomb-like field $\vec{E}^C $ associated with the quark sources. Subtracting $\vec{E}^C$ from the total simulated chromoelectric field $\vec{E}$ yields a non-perturbative, primarily longitudinal chromoelectric field $\vec{E}^{NP}$, which we identify as the confining field. This is the first time that the chromoelectric field has been separated into perturbative and nonperturbative components, creating a new tool to study the color field distribution between a quark and an antiquark, and thus the long distance force between them.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2016

Direct imaging of a digital-micromirror device for configurable microscopic optical potentials

Programable spatial light modulators (SLMs) have significantly advanced the configurable optical trapping of particles. Typically, these devices are utilized in the Fourier plane of an optical system, but direct imaging of an amplitude pattern can potentially result in increased simplicity and computational speed. Here we demonstrate high-resolution direct imaging of a digital micromirror device (DMD) at high numerical apertures (NA), which we apply to the optical trapping of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). We utilise a (1200 x 1920) pixel DMD and commercially available 0.45 NA microscope objectives, finding that atoms confined in a hybrid optical/magnetic or all-optical potential can be patterned using repulsive blue-detuned (532 nm) light with 630(10) nm full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) resolution, within 5% of the diffraction limit. The result is near arbitrary control of the density the BEC without the need for expensive custom optics. We also introduce the technique of time-averaged DMD potentials, demonstrating the ability to produce multiple grayscale levels with minimal heating of the atomic cloud, by utilising the high switching speed (20 kHz maximum) of the DMD. These techniques will enable the realization and control of diverse optical potentials for superfluid dynamics and atomtronics applications with quantum gases. The performance of this system in a direct imaging configuration has wider application for optical trapping at non-trivial NAs.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2015

A New Constraint on Effective Field Theories of the QCD Flux Tube

Effective magnetic $SU(N)$ gauge theory with classical $Z_N$ flux tubes of intrinsic width $\frac{1}{M}$ is an effective field theory of the long distance quark-antiquark interaction in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory. Long wavelength fluctuations of the $Z_N$ vortices of this theory lead to an effective string theory. In this paper we clarify the connection between effective field theory and effective string theory and we propose a new constraint on these vortices. We first examine the impact of string fluctuations on the classical dual superconductor description of confinement. At inter-quark distances $R\sim \frac{1}{M}$ the classical action for a straight flux tube determines the heavy quark potentials. At distances $R \gg \frac{1}{M}$ fluctuations of the flux tube axis $\tilde{x}$ give rise to an effective string theory with an action $S_{eff} (\tilde{x})$, the classical action for a curved flux tube, evaluated in the limit $\frac{1}{M} \rightarrow 0~$. This action is equal to the Nambu-Goto action. These conclusions are independent of the details of the $Z_N$ flux tube. Further, we assume the QCD flux tube satisfies the additional constraint: $$\int_0^\infty r dr \frac{T_{\theta \theta} (r)}{r^2} =0,$$ where $\frac{T_{\theta \theta}(r)}{r^2}$ is the value of the $\theta\theta$ component of the stress tensor at a distance $r$ from the axis of an infinite flux tube. Under this constraint the string tension $\sigma$ equals the force on a quark in the chromoelectric field $\vec{E}$ of an infinite straight flux tube, and the Nambu-Goto action can be represented in terms of the chromodynamic fields of effective magnetic $SU(N)$ gauge theory, yielding a field theory interpretation of effective string theory.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Bottomonium Hyperfine Splitting on the Lattice and in the Continuum

We revise the analysis of the bottomonium hyperfine splitting within the lattice nonrelativistic QCD. The Wilson coefficients of the radiatively improved lattice action are evaluated by a semianalytic approach based on the asymptotic expansion about the continuum limit. The nonrelativistic renormalization group is used to estimate the high-order radiative corrections. Our result for the $1S$ hyperfine splitting is $M_{\Upsilon(1S)}-M_{\eta_b(1S)}=52.9\pm 5.5~{\rm MeV}$. It reconciles the predictions of the continuum and lattice QCD and is in very good agreement with the most accurate experimental measurement by Belle collaboration.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2015

Searches for Time Dependent Neutrino Sources with IceCube Data from 2008 to 2012

In this paper searches for flaring astrophysical neutrino sources and sources with periodic emission with the IceCube neutrino telescope are presented. In contrast to time integrated searches, where steady emission is assumed, the analyses presented here look for a time dependent signal of neutrinos using the information from the neutrino arrival times to enhance the discovery potential. A search was performed for correlations between neutrino arrival times and directions as well as neutrino emission following time dependent lightcurves, sporadic emission or periodicities of candidate sources. These include active galactic nuclei, soft $\gamma$-ray repeaters, supernova remnants hosting pulsars, micro-quasars and X-ray binaries. The work presented here updates and extends previously published results to a longer period that covers four years of data from 2008 April 5 to 2012 May 16 including the first year of operation of the completed 86-string detector. The analyses did not find any significant time dependent point sources of neutrinos and the results were used to set upper limits on the neutrino flux from source candidates.

astro-ph.HE↗